Em’s Pre-Summer Updates
Well summer is shaping up to be BUSY!
The Collective hired two interns for the summer and couldn’t be more excited to have these talented womxn getting us into shape! Liza will be continuing work towards our B Corp certification, focusing on adding in even more environmental justice, which fingers crossed will be granted early 2021. Melanie will be helping me sort through all our various communications to help bring order and a cadence to (my) social and editorial posts.
I am super excited and proud to share I was accepted into 2020's Take The Lead's: 50 Women Can Change the World program.
We kicked off our summer of learning and strategic leadership planning yesterday, and it was already so inspiring, which I needed more than I realized. I have been burnt out on the news, scrolling my twitter feed for a glimmer of hope. If I am honest, the lack of change and the amount of people still saying they don’t know what to do was getting to me.
The world is going through epic transformation and this gives me a front row seat. Journalism is an industry that needs our attention right now. Social justice and the possibility to create lasting changes towards creating equity is threatened by the right. They are a growing threat to our free press. We can see that even in PDX with the treatment of press by PPB.
Am I a journalist? Not yet! Do I love to write? Yup! Do I hope to publish more widely? Yes, hopefully with deeper research into creators, accessibility, design, and economics. Journalism has always been a sector I want to know better. What a solid opportunity to learn about this struggling business, surrounded by the experts, both seasoned and up-and-coming.
Getting progressive, innovative ideas out there from underrepresented voices, and getting marginalized communities better pay is still my #1 thing! It's why I went out on my own, left the corporate and agency world. It is literally why coFLOWco was founded on. Maybe one day soon I can host more writers and creators on my own platform, rather than write for Medium and guest blog.
Gloria Feldt—Her book was endorsed by Gloria Steinem—the leader and mind behind this program is also on a mission to create gender parity fast. She has been generously giving me 1:1 time to discuss gender in the workplace as we are both committed to seeing parity in our lifetime. The established practices rooted in DEI within the Take the Lead Women organization gives me confidence this will be a fruitful experience.
So why this program? For one thing I truly enjoy learning from strong, experienced, positive C-suite womxn in leadership. I am often cynical but I know there is power in positivity and measured, directed efforts.
I'm excited to learn all the challenges these womxn face in this industry. I already learned day 1, it's the same for womxn journalists as every other job: lack of promotion, support, leadership dev and pay. I am thrilled to connect with 50+ journalists and learn how the professionals do it! And I get to share what I know about creative, tech, design, agencies, advertising, social enterprise, nonprofits and leadership, and how to ask for more $$ with my amazing cohort of journalists.
