Remembering the 2017 Women’s March on Washington – Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation, Inspiration, Activism for Women, Women Entrepreneurs and Females in 2018

In three days, 300+ women from all over New York State – upstate and downstate – will gather in Rochester, New York for the first of three consecutive annual women’s equality conferences leading up to America’s Suffrage Centennial in 2020. Women still have not gained equality in many areas so its essential they continue to rise up, like they did on January 20, 2017 at the Women’s March on Washington, to empower each other, listen to inspirational female speakers, network with their sisters and walk away motivated to stay active in areas of female inequality. I hope you read this re-post of my blog post written after the 2017 March to inspire you to sign up for the event this week! Women, we need you there. Click here to learn more or register for the event.

January 2017 – Insights on the Women’s March in Washington

“She believed she could, so she did,” is the saying on the bracelet on my left arm given to me by my friend worn all the way to the Women’s March on DC and back. Not only did I believe but so did the 110 women who traveled with me via bus with an friendly bus driver who performed a light show for us as we sang Donna Summer songs when the trip got long.

After landing in Fredrick, Maryland for the night before the March, I threw a dinner reception for all these women who did not know each other. Some were in their 70s, a few in the 20s, some African American and some white, a few were Jewish and others Catholic but we instantly bonded over one cause, one heart beat and in unity. A dance party broke out which most women took part in until the hotel manager made me shut it down. Only women would dance together in song so joyously.

The father of two girls and wife who were in the next room, told me they were marching for women’s rights and asked if their family could join us. Next thing I knew I was dancing with 12 and 9 year old sisters smack dab in the middle of our big dance circle. “Y.M.C.A.” played and the two girls happily danced in the center of the circle of grown up women. At the end, I gave them both shirts and told them to continue to fight for what they believe in from this age forward. They hugged me three times and hopped off to bed because they were getting up at 4 a.m. to go to the march. You would have thought Santa Claus was coming to town.

The next morning after boarding a train to DC at the end of the Shady Grove Metro line, I struck up a conversation with two twenty year old college students from Maryland traveling in to stand up for “human rights”. We shared our hopes and dreams during the 30 minute train ride. They became new sisters in solidarity.

Then we stood, marched, held up signs, spoke to old women, young women, young girls and men all with different reasons for attending. We witnessed a group holding a 6’ long pink yarn uterus for a woman’s right to choose. We shouted up to a Canadian women in the tree with her daughter telling us we could move to Canada if things didn’t work out in the USA. We broke into chants, songs, hymns, and hugs with people we did not know.

In front of the Capitol Building, I ran into my ESPNW contact and was interviewed about the importance of supporting female athletes and why equal pay for women counts. Later that night the video was aired. In it you’ll see the enthusiasm that jumped into the interview with me – other women. I embraced it. It was about sisterhood – energetic, happy, sisterhood.

On the train ride home, I sat with a young transgender youth who proudly told me she had changed her gender. He was 15. Next to him was a young girl in the arts. They both told me about why they marched on Washington and their dreams. They shared photos with me. We hugged as we departed and I told them to keep up their own dreams and fights. They thanked me and went on their way. My heart was changed forever in that moment. People are good. Children are good. Our future will be good because of them.

I returned home with a much larger pink heart than I ever had before – and that is saying something after 22 years of serving, promoting and inspiring women in New York State – and a new urgency to create a larger company that has four distinct divisions – one for business, one for sports, one for equality and one for life – all for women. I will hire women to help me so we can spread our message stronger from this day forward. I know I can do it because, “I believe and I will.”