Author: Jennifer Cortner

From Power Girls to a power lunch, Dr. Cole always inspires!

Posted on by Jennifer Cortner

I am so excited that Dr. Johnnetta Cole is going to be speaking at this year’s Leadership Luncheon.  I admire her and the work she is doing tremendously.

Last summer, I had the honor of getting to participate in her work directly, when I spoke at the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute’s Power Girls Summit.  As a gift after the summit, I received a wonderful, inspiring book of quotations by Dr. Cole, Dream the Boldest Dreams: And Other Lessons of Life. 

I thought I’d share a few of my favorites from the chapter called "Women" to help set the stage for the treat we’re in for with Dr. Cole speaking at our luncheon next week.  We’ve been talking a lot about her, but here are a few quotes that establish her ideas about women and women’s equality in her own voice:

The higher the pay, the less likely it’s going to be called women’s work.

It has been said: If you educate a man, you educate a man. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation.

We could stop a lot of things from falling if we just let women hold up half the sky.

A truly determined woman will succeed in doing what society has determined she is incapable of doing.

For us women folks, the distance between where we’ve been and where we’re going is surely determined by the speed at which we insist on going.

At The Women’s Foundation, we’re all about speeding things up for our region’s women and girls, and we’re thrilled to have Dr. Cole with us at this year’s Leadership Luncheon as we celebrate 10 years of our community’s efforts to close the gap between we’ve been and where we’re going! 

Jennifer Cortner is president of EFX Media, and a member of The Women’s Foundation’s board of directors.

The Dalai Lama gets it.

Posted on by Jennifer Cortner

At The Women’s Foundation, we have a phrase for men who support our mission.  We call them guys who get it.

We’re lucky to have many wonderful, supportive men in our camp here in our local area, including Leroy Pingho, Ralph Boyd, Jr. and Frederic L. Ballard, Jr.

This past Sunday’s Washington Post has a wonderful and thoughtful article in the Outlook section written by the Dalai Lama, titled, "My Vision of a Compassionate Future. "

He writes so eloquently about how we, as a global community, can and must bring about a more peaceful world through non-violent, pro-active approaches to social change. He tells us that we need to instill a sense of caring for others, to tap our compassion, and to teach our children to develop their brains and their hearts.

He goes on to write: "To promote greater compassion, we must pay special attention to the role of women. Given that mothers carry the fetus for months within their own bodies, from a biological point of view women in general may possess greater sensitivity of heart and capacity for empathy. My first teacher of love and compassion was my own mother, who provided me with maximum love. I do not mean to reinforce in any way the traditional view that a woman’s place is confined to the home. I believe that the time has come for women to take more active roles in all domains of human society, in an age in which education and the capacities of the mind, not physical strength, define leadership. This could help create a more equitable and compassionate society."

This paragraph nearly jumped off the page for me. The Dalai Lama speaks of something that we at The Women’s Foundation have known for a long time: that the world would be a much better place if women were given equitable opportunities and a chance to reach their full potential.

The Dalai Lama is definitely a guy who gets it.

Jennifer Cortner is president of EFX Media and serves on The Women’s Foundation’s board of directors and as the chair of the communications committee.  Our committees are just one of many ways that you can get involved in our work and making sure the women of our region get a chance to reach their full potential.  There’s a place for everyone at The Women’s Foundation.  Find yours today.

Leadership Luncheon '07: Changing others, changing ourselves!

Posted on by Jennifer Cortner

If you attended this year’s Leadership Luncheon, then you heard a lot about transformation. The work that The Women’s Foundation does really does transform so many lives. Not only do we help transform the lives of women and girls in the D.C. region, but we transform the lives of women who give.

I am one of those women.

My name is Jennifer Cortner, and I sit on the Board of The Women’s Foundation, and chair the communications committee. I became smitten with The Women’s Foundation about five or six years ago when I read an article in the Washington Post about the Rainmakers Giving Circle. I thought, what a cool idea to get women together to pool their resources, to make real change in our community.

I’ve become deeply engaged with The Women’s Foundation since then. My company, EFX Media, proudly supports The Women’s Foundation by offering pro bono communications support. This year, we designed and produced all the printed materials for the luncheon, and produced the video about one woman’s transformation.

Our video follows Laceiy Peay, a recent graduate of the Washington Area Women in the Trades program, which trains women to get into trade fields like construction, welding and cement masonry.  WAWIT is a unique program and is one of over 90 programs that are funded in part by Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

We taped Laceiy and her fellow students one very hot, summer day as they took a welding and carpentry class. The thing that struck me the most is the bond that these women had formed over the 12-weeks they had spent with each other. The WAWIT program is not easy — it’s physically demanding, and requires students to show up to class by 7 a.m. every day. A lot of women who sign up frankly do not make it. But those who do graduate, so so because of the support they receive from each other.

The WAWIT women really care about each other. When someone doesn’t understand something in class, her fellow classmate will help her out. When someone doesn’t show up for class, she’ll get a call from one of her colleagues. And the women who run WAWIT are there with them every step of the way.

After we finished the video, I asked if we could invite Laceiy and one of her fellow students, Sharan Mitchell, to speak at our luncheon.  After graduation, Laceiy accepted a job as a program assistant at WAWIT and Sharan is currently working construction at the Nationals Baseball Staduim (How cool is that?). I thought it would be a great idea for the women at the luncheon to meet them personally and hear their stories. They both graciously agreed.

Now there are two camps of people when it comes to public speaking: those who thrive on it, and those who rank it somewhere above the fear of death. But even the most seasoned speaker can be a little daunted by the notion of speaking in front of 1500 people.

If you were at the luncheon, then you know what happened:

Laceiy and Sharan brought the house down.

They took that stage with grace, poise and confidence. They graciously shared their story of how WAWIT and The Women’s Foundation transformed their lives.

In 4 short minutes, they helped transform 1,500 people in the room.

Including me.

If you were equally moved, I hope you become involved in The Women’s Foundation. You will become smitten just like I have. Help transform the lives of women and girls. There are lots of ways to engage. Join us!

Jennifer Cortner is the president of EFX Media and sits on the board of The Women’s Foundation.  She chairs The Women’s Foundation’s communications committee.  EFX Media donates services to foster The Women’s Foundation’s work.