No, not there…
Here…look over here…
Where are the women leaders?
We’re here. We’re all around you. We’re just not household names. Nowhere was that more evident than at last week’s ‘Women Making History’ event supporting the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM) and its goal of building a Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The three women honored were remarkable and it was eye-opening to be around them. They were women some “know”, but most do not know their names or their stories. First to be honored was Ann Veneman, the first (and only) female United States Secretary of Agriculture, and former Executive Director of UNICEF, among so many more accomplishments. Her resume is a litany of “first female…” I have never felt more like a slacker. Aesha Ash was a professional ballerina with several world renowned companies including New York City Ballet. She was among the first African-American ballerinas there. (And she was there before Misty Copeland came to prominence with the American Ballet Theater.) Today she is retired from professional dancing but has started an initiative called the Swan Dreams Project to help ensure that all girls, especially girls of color, know that stereotypes or media images do not have to define them.
Finally, the Museum honored Christine Walevska, world renowned cellist and master musician. In an intimate setting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C., Walevska played three pieces for the attendees – and we were supposed to be honoring her! What an honor it was. And here she was just feet away from us, playing her cello, and sharing her thoughts. Even without the acoustics of a concert hall, she moved us with her artistry and connected with us in a warm and personal way. I spend time at Tanglewood every summer (the summer home of the Boston Symphony), and there are female cellists in the orchestra, but I have yet to see a cello soloist, with the exception of YoYo Ma (who is wonderful… don’t get me wrong). I never thought about the fact that never have I seen a female playing a cello solo there.
Seeing and learning about the Women Making History honorees only reinforced for me the need to tell the stories of the many, many accomplished women here in the US and around the world. I truly believe that the stories of strong, accomplished people can do a lot to counterbalance so much of the negative rhetoric that surrounds us daily. As National Women’s History Month comes to an end I feel an even greater sense of urgency to make sure that our nation’s heroines are not unsung.
