EWIP 2015: Taking Risks, Blazing Trails

Event: EWIP’s 7th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference
Date: March 26, 2015
Location: Clark Kerr Conference Center
University of California, Berkeley
2601 Warring Street, Berkeley, CA 94720 [map]
Host Sponsor: kdmcBerkeley
9 A.M. – 7 P.M.

About this Event: Taking Risks, Blazing Trails
Our seventh Women’s Leadership conference promises to inspire and inform content creators of all stripes. With our signature all-female speaker roster you can dive into three program tracks: creating top-notch content, reaching more readers, and the best strategies for making money. Sessions will include exceptional speakers, engaging panel discussions, and hands-on training. Join us for the day of learning and celebrate with the EWIP Award presentation and cocktail reception. Taking risks and blazing trails is all about connecting with people and ideas that will help you transform your career.

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Rocking the Podium: Top Women in Media Awards

I recently attended Folio: magazine’s Top Women in Media awards luncheon in New York. I was invited as a representative of EWIP to present several of the awards, which was a great honor—and also fun!

This was Folio:’s first year presenting these awards, and the room was certainly packed with media star power! Awards were given out in a number of categories: corporate visionaries, industry leadership, director-level doers, entrepreneurs, rising starts, and mentors. Folio: VP of Content Tony Silber and Editorial Director Bill Mickey invited each recipient to the stage to say a few words and to accept a glass award (occasionally accompanied by a spirited video made by colleagues who had secretly nominated them).

Certain themes emerged in the women’s words of thanks. As Poppy McDonald, Publisher and President of National Journal, said “we all know we have to work harder as women.” It was clear from the accomplishments, energy, and dedication evinced by the award winners that this was indeed a ballroom full of women who work extremely hard to succeed.

Carolyn Kremins, Senior VP & General Manager of Epicurious, vowed to pioneer on behalf of other women and to help “watch each other’s back.” Jennifer Follett, Executive Editor of The Channel Company, challenged attendees to find a young woman to mentor, and Stacy Hawes, SVP of Data Solutions at Epsilon recommended that winners “put one hand behind you and grab the hand of another woman to help.” Nancy Gibbs, Editor at Time, said that women are in a good place now, and Tessa Gould, Director of Native Advertising at Huffington Post exclaimed that the awards proved that “girls can and do run the world!”

Keynote Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Network, spoke about important leadership qualities which include: a tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to work in the unknown, and an insatiable curiosity. She cited studies that demonstrate that “corporate leaders who are high performers have these attributes.” These people get promoted and advance faster. She believes these qualities contribute to the success of many of the award winners.

Overall, the award winners seemed quite pleased and proud to be part of this event. Many brought along numerous colleagues (men too!), and several brought husbands along as well to help celebrate their achievements. Says Editorial Director Bill Mickey, “Folio:’s Top Women in Media event was a terrific success. It was exciting to have so many high-powered executives in one room, and the sense of camaraderie was inspiring. This year marked the debut of an important event that we intend to make an annual franchise. Next year will be even bigger and better.”

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Lynn Rosen runs Open Book, providing editorial, marketing, and event-planning services. Contact her

Give Some, Get Some

What does publishing even mean these days? It is a terribly hard industry to define. Yet creating content for magazines, books, websites, and smartphones, building a community around ideas, producing video that has impact, putting your work “out there”—all of that— remains one of the most exciting and challenging careers exactly because of the diversity and complexity of this so-called industry.  Whether you are just starting your career, or changing course and re-tooling it, then making smart choices in order to achieve your goals takes time, and support, skills, and lots and lots of constructive feedback. That is why EWIP focuses most on education and connection. We help each other be excellent. We encourage everyone to be, or seek out mentors, and to seriously give back at every stage. Become a member of EWIP and learn more, connect better, and use whatever boost you get in life to help someone else along the way. At the core of what we offer is support to manage the delicate balance of living a complete life, in other words, live to be exceptional.

Big Gains for Women & Minorities

Tammy Baldwin (Wis.)American voters rejected big money influence when much of the one billion dollars spent by outside groups proved to be ineffective. The 2012 election, however, reaped huge gains for Democrats, progressive women, minorities, and the environment. Voters in Missouri, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Indiana sent candidates home with an electoral smack down for miscalculating what really matters to women and non-whites, the rising American electorate.

Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)It was a record-breaking year for women with satisfying victories happening in Missouri, where Todd “legitimate rape” Akin was shut down by Claire McCaskill, and in Indiana, where Richard Mourdock, a Tea Party candidate lost his bid for a Senate seat after asserting he would not make an exception for abortions in the case of rape because pregnancies are “something that God intended to happen.”

Credit is given to Washington senator and Democratic senatorial campaign chair, Patty Murray, who kept reproductive rights, Medicare, and jobs front and center. She identified candidates like McCaskill, Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) as a key part of the Democratic Party’s strategy to keep the Senate. The 113th Congress will include the most female Senate members ever (20), with numerous “firsts”. Baldwin, will be the first openly gay Senator, and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) is the first Asian-American woman and first Buddhist to join the Senate.

Tammy Baldwin (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)