Issue 156 — January 10, 2021
Were you eager to leave 2020 behind?
Surprise. The first week in this brave new year has tried our souls even more than the year we thought we left behind. Whoever said the past is never really past knew what she was talking about.
Read MoreIssue 155 — December 28, 2020
You’d think this year is an animate being one could punch or despise or dress down. Every other headline on those end-of-year emails clogging our inboxes rails against poor old 2020. Worst year ever, leave it in the rearview mirror, kick it to the curb, and so on.
Read MoreIssue 154 — December 21, 2020
Today on the winter solstice, the stars align. For the first time since 1226, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will be so close in the night sky that they might look like one large star.
Astronomers call it the Great Conjunction. Some people call it the Christmas star.
Read MoreIssue 153 — December 14, 2020
This week Jupiter and Saturn will be observably closer to each other than they have been since and they won’t be as close again until 2080. This is a phenomenon not to be missed! The clearest view will happen on my wedding anniversary and the winter solstice, December 21. How cool is that?
Read MoreIssue 152 — December 6, 2020
“There are plenty of top-notch people in every demographic group for even the most high-level jobs. You just have to see them and open the barricades that have blocked them from serving.”
— Jodi Enda re Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s diverse choices of top advisors.
Real change is in the air. And it’s happening fast.
Read MoreIssue 151 — November 29, 2020
Do you sometimes feel powerless in these challenging days?
Let me assure you of this: you have the power to help women recover from the pandemic’s effects on their lives and livelihoods when you make a contribution to Take The Lead.
And — great news — your contribution will be matched by our amazing board members, led by chair Dr. Nancy O’Reilly.
Read MoreIssue 150 — November 23, 2020
Happy Pre-Thanksgiving. I hope you are well and that however you plan to spend the holiday will be enjoyable.
Whatever you have planned, we can all breathe a big sigh and agree on this: It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? One we can’t even describe yet because it’s not over and every day brings new surprises. But there are a few things we know for sure.
This pandemic has made us more creative.
Read More2020 came dancing in with such hope.
2020 was going to be Take The Lead’s year to scale up after seven years of building our credibility, developing our unique methodology of accelerating women’s advancement in leadership, and proving that it works. We’d earned the opportunity to grow exponentially. We had an amazing year of programming planned. Symbolically, 2020 being the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote after seven decades of struggle, seemed like the perfect time.
But just as the suffrage amendment was flawed by not assuring voting rights to Asian, Indigenous, and Black women, 2020 brought to light many deficiencies. Like those punching balloons that keep popping back up for more, it seemed like every time we thought it couldn’t get worse, it did.
Read MoreThis graphic circulated around the internet quickly upon breaking news that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would become the next President and Vice President of the United States. Harris is smashing one of our two highest and hardest glass ceilings. In doing so, she represents so much of our history and more importantly, our future.
Harris Represents Women — the obvious, overarching 51% of the population that has waited since 1776 to see one of its gender represented in the highest halls of power. Her white suit was a nod to the 100 year anniversary of the 19th amendment writing women’s right to vote into the U.S. Constitution — and the decades-long battles afterward to make sure all American women have the unfettered right to exercise that primary civic duty.
Read MoreIssue 147 — November 2, 2020
The leaves are starting to turn in New York’s Central Park. Daylight savings time has given us back the hour it stole last spring. The pandemic rages on.
And a momentous election is taking place. The world is watching. Americans have cast more early votes than any time in history. You can feel the anxiety in the air.
Read MoreIssue 146 — October 26, 2020
Save the date! Thursday October 29, at 8 pm eastern time — celebrate your right to vote with a brilliant performance by Ari Afsar and Lauren Gunderson from their new “Jeannette: the Musical.”
Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress and an ardent suffragist.
Read MoreIssue 144 — October 5, 2020
I’ve gotta tell you, I get really tired of people complaining to me about something they saw in the news coverage of women. Whether it’s criticizing or loving Kamala Harris’s Chucks or the tone and timbre of a female leader’s voice, and don’t get me started on Hillary Clinton’s ankles and yellow pantsuit, women in leadership roles are scrutinized and stereotyped much more often than men. That’s surely true.
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