by contributor Suzanne Stuglinski
Photo credit: Andrew Dubbs
Passion, support –and coffee– are just some of the ingredients in the recipe for launching a successful movement, according to three top women innovators at the Politico, Google and the Tory Burch Foundation’s “Women Rule: Innovating a Movement” panel held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel.
Brianna Keilar
Politico Events Editor Lois Romano, who moderated the panel with CNN’s Brianna Keilar, said the goal of the events was to create solutions and ideas.
“No whining” Romano said. “We know we still have a ways to go, so let’s just be kind of positive about this.”
The conversation ranged from everything on how the women moved from idea to execution to what kept them going and how women work together.
Lois Romano, Beverly Bond and Lauren Bush Lauren
Lauren Bush Lauren, Founder and CEO of FEED, who came on stage carrying one of the organization’s signature bags, said her “a-ha moment” came when she figured out she could create the bag with the intent that the proceeds would feed one child for one year. So far FEED has donated more than $6 million and 60 million meals through the United Nations World Food Programme.
“I am a big believer that anyone can do anything” Bush Lauren said, who noted that the organization’s success did not come overnight but through the support of others, especially the women and – one man – on her team.
Stephanie Cutter
Stephanie Cutter, host of CNN’s Crossfire and a partner at Precision Strategies talked about her role in launching First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity.
“Passion is catchy, it spreads,” Cutter said. Honing in on Obama’s popularity helped but it was clear the cause was not without “minefields,” she said.
Cutter explained that sometimes “strange bedfellows” can lead to success, noting that Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee and other Republicans were some of the first phone calls they made when trying to get the program going to help make this not about politics or the Obamas but what the country can do as a whole to help children.
Beverly Bond
Beverly Bond, founder and executive director of Black Girl Rocks!, a youth empowerment mentoring organization, said her idea moved from motivation T-shirt to a televised awards ceremony under the same name to honor black role models. She said her passion and vision made others believe it was possible but the support she received from other women was incredible.
“I don’t want to male bash,” Bond said, but noted that the way women approach problems and look to work things out is different from how men approach things.
“I always have had great experiences working with women … I have not been in a situation of having women who don’t work well together,” Bond said. “I always feel like that’s a myth but I don’t want to say that because maybe other people have had that experience, but for me, I always think I don’t buy into that.”
Bond said working with the girls involved in the program keeps her going “and then coffee,” she said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
Thursday’s panel was the first in the four-part “Women Rule” series:
