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Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a keynote address at the Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women, Feb. 24, 2015, in Santa Clara, Calif.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. Declaring this the time to crack every last glass ceiling, Hillary Rodham Clinton advocated forcefully here Tuesday for greater economic mobility for women and said she hopes to lead a divided nation into a warm purple space of compromise.

Clintons appearance before 5,000 female leaders in the heart of Silicon Valleys technology industry left no doubt that she would run for president again. The overwhelming favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination, Clinton said that she would announce her campaign in good time and that she was nearly finished checking off her pre-campaign to-do list.

She previewed themes of economic fairness and gender equality that are expected to form the heart of her pitch to voters, test-driving a stump speech in which she wove together economic statistics and personal anecdotes to call for a 21st-century economy for 21st-century families.

We have to restore economic growth with rising wages for the vast majority of Americans, and we have to restore trust and cooperation within our political system so that we can act like the great country we are, said Clinton, a former secretary of state.

Central to her message was pay equity for women. Clinton singled out Oscar-winning actress Patricia Arquette for her advocacy during the Academy Awards telecast Sunday night.

We all cheered at Patricia Arquettes speech at the Oscars because shes right, Clinton said. Its time to have wage equality once and for all.

Clinton lamented that too many Americans feel the ground shifting under their feet. Wages for middle-class workers have been stagnant, she said, while executive pay continues to rise.

In so many ways, our economy still seems to be operating like its 1955, Clinton said. She added, If we want to find our balance again, we have to figure out how to make this new economy work for everyone.

Clintons speech, followed by a question-and-answer session with tech columnist Kara Swisher, was a paid appearance at Lead On, Watermarks Silicon Valley Conference for Women, where tickets sold for $245. Organizers did not disclose her fee, but Clintons typical rate for West Coast speeches is $250,000 to $300,000.

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Hillary Clinton previews 2016, says its time to crack every last glass ceiling