When you go to a conference like the SHE Summit you leave with a lot of things. Renewed connections. New contacts. Ideas. A goodie bag. A pile of notes. And a lot of inspiration.
The writer and the teacher in me is always looking for themes. Especially ones that circle back to the work I do. So when I hear people like Norma Kamali, Mariane Pearl and Kelly Rutherford reiterate the power and importance of sharing our story and how technology allows us access to more story, I admit to getting a bit tingly.
Or when Margaret White discusses social media with Krystal Ball and how it is a platform through which to drive change, I can barely stay in my seat.
I know things have changed when not one, not two, but three people with Greek names as difficult to spell and pronounce as mine grace the stage - Eleni Gianopoulos of Eleni's Cookies, Evy Poumpouras, former Secret Service Agent and on-air Security and Investigative Analyst and of course my good friend Agapi Stassinopoulos, inspirational speaker and author of Unbinding the Heart.
But I also know they haven't changed enough when the conversation continually turns to the fact that as far as women might have come from the days of Marlo Thomas' character in "That Girl" (yes - she spoke too and I was a bit star struck!) we haven't come far enough. Whether it was Geraldine Moriba of CNN or Ambassador Samantha Power sharing their stories or Justine Aitel, head of Cyber Risk at Dow Jones discussing the need for better role models so young girls will go into technology - the consensus was clear.
Change is happening - but not everywhere - and not enough.
This past Sunday the NY Times reported the list of the 200 highest paid CEOs and only 11 were women.
Which gives pause that there is still much work to do.
As Marlo Thomas so beautifully illustrated in paraphrasing her acting teacher, Lee Strasberg - acting is in the doing and so is change. Take a step and one step leads to another and to another and to another.
Which takes me back to Krystal Ball's conversation with Margaret White. In 2014 that step can be as small as optimizing the impact you - just one person - can have using a social network like Twitter.
Twitter's influence is disproportionate to the amount of people who actually use it. And it's no secret that the Media is using it to find their stories. Turn on any show today and they've figured out a way to incorporate Twitter into the mix or at the very least report on what Twitter is saying.
So use it. Tweet something relevant or useful. And occasionally funny. Share something someone else tweeted. Listen to what else is being shared. And see what you might influence.
At the end of the day on Thursday, Claudia Chan, the creator of the SHE Summit announced the event was trending on Twitter in NYC. I'd like to think at least one or two of my tweets contributed to this event getting the attention it deserves.
That's what taking a step or a tweet can do. And as Marlo reminded us - one leads to another and to another. That's how you influence in a digital age. That's how things change.
Try it - if you like this blog - click this link to tweet!
There I was. Mingling at an event hosted by Claudia Chan trying not to think about how much my feet were hurting after being in my heels all day, when someone heard me say I used to work for CBS Radio and wanted to know where.
Within minutes after discovering she was at WODS in Boston when I was at WOGL in Philly we were off on a trip down memory lane as we discovered the many connections we had in common. Each name had a memory attached. A funny story. A laugh. A smile. I was transported to that time when I knew what it was like to know real community in the workplace. When going to work was about so much more than just the paycheck and the benefits. When "people" were still considered an asset to a corporation and not merely a line item. When you could really have a career path - if you wanted one. When you got promoted, the first thing you were supposed to decide was who you were grooming to take your place when you got your next promotion.
Selling radio when I started was boot camp training for understanding business in general. I was trained to be a "marketing consultant" not merely a salesperson. I learned to listen to clients and figure out how my station could solve their problems. I learned how to write copy and create promotions. I had to learn just enough to be dangerous about how a multitude of industries operated. It was where I learned that all advertising would work. It was just up to me to convince the client why our station would work best.
It was also where I learned how to manage with integrity amidst a lot of noise. Radio stations - especially music stations were never quiet places. The soundtrack in the offices was the same one we sent out over the airwaves. It stayed on- all day - every day - if for no other reason than to assure everyone we were still on the air.
Maybe all that music infused in our psyches was part of the reason we were all so happy to be at work.
This - of course- was before the Reagan era of deregulation when the focus went off the product and the people and shifted to EBITDA and stock prices.
Then it all changed.
The sense of community fostered within the radio station and connection to the sister stations in other markets was hard to replicate as consolidation brought the fear of job cuts and the "every person for themselves era."
But while we reminisced about a time that makes me smile - still - as I type this post - I wasn't thinking about what came after. I had even stopped thinking about how much my feet hurt.
I was awash in memories of crazy client promotions, live remotes, pink Cadillacs, and friends I made for life. And feeling extraordinarily lucky to have been a part of it all.
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