Today’s post is by Alison Turkos. Alison is a Development & Events intern with NARAL Pro Choice NY. She volunteers as a clinic escort, and she is currently attempting to enjoy all the feminist fun that New York City has to offer.
This past September I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the 9th annual Women and Power Conference at the OMEGA Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.
Each year OMEGA chooses a focal point for the conference, a reoccurring theme which stretches across multiple mediums throughout the weekend. This year the conference dialogue revolved around the topic of leadership. The conference was loosely based on a few core questions, such as:
- How do we define leadership?
- What are the critical issues women face as leaders at home, in families, at work and in the world?
- How can we support each other in the shift to a leadership paradigm that emphasizes partnership with others?
With multiple keynote speakers including OMEGA co-founder Elizabeth Lesser, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, Zainab Salbi, and president and co-chair of the NoVo Foundation Jennifer Buffett, along with many more. The entire weekend showed attendees diverse forms, and definitions of leadership.
The conference began Friday evening with a wonderful OMEGA welcome. Carla Goldstein, director of the Women’s Institute at OMEGA opened the conference speaking about leadership as a whole. Carla asked the audience to “break the barriers that separate us,” and told us “the thing that unites us is our womanhood.” Her zest and overall enthusiasm was a wonderful beginning to the weekend. Carla ended her welcoming words with a amazingly powerful statement that not only excited me for what was to come. Carla told us that “the time for talking is over. The time to lead is NOW.” [Read more...]
