Billy Faires, executive director of marketing and communications
ADVISORY BOARD
President Mary Dana Hinton, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Anita Walton, Associate Vice President for Alumnae/i Engagement and Strategic Initiatives Lauren Sells Walker ’04, Director of Public Relations Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11, Donor Relations and Research Manager Meredith Cope-Levy ’12, M.F.A. ’18
DESIGNERS
Sarah Sprigings, David Hodge
Anstey Hodge Advertising Group, Roanoke, VA
PRINTER
Progress Printing, Lynchburg, VA
Hollins (USPS 247/440) is published quarterly by Hollins University, Roanoke, VA 24020. Entered as Periodicals Postage Paid at Roanoke, VA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hollins, Hollins University, 7916 Williamson Rd., Box 9688, Roanoke, VA 24020 or call (800) TINKER1.
Opinions expressed in Hollins are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent official positions of Hollins University or the views of the university administration. Hollins University does not discriminate in admission because of sexual orientation, race, color, national or ethnic origin, disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, age, political beliefs, religion, and/or pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, and maintains a nondiscriminatory policy throughout its operation. Questions, comments, corrections, or story ideas may be sent to:
Magazine Editor
Hollins University
7916 Williamson Rd. Box 9657 Roanoke, VA 24020 magazine@hollins.edu
The expanded HOPE Scholarship will “meaningfully alter the course of Hollins’ future as we strive to become the nation’s leading liberal arts college for women.” by
Billy Faires
This past year, Hollins University launched a multi-pronged, student-led advocacy campaign to tackle this public health crisis known as period poverty. by Sarah Achenbach ’88
Are women more generous than men? We interviewed five Hollins graduates and philanthropy leaders for their take. by Sarah Achenbach ’88, featuring Illustrations by Lexi Hall M.F.A. ’27
The following is excerpted from President Mary Dana Hinton’s welcome remarks to alumnae during Reunion Weekend 2024. Her message in its entirety is available online at hollins.edu/magazine
Our mission today at Hollins is as steadfast as it was yesterday and so it will remain forever:
Hollins University is dedicated to academic excellence, creativity, belonging, and preparing students for lives of purpose. Hollins provides an outstanding and academically rigorous undergraduate liberal arts education for women and entrepreneurial and innovative graduate programs for all in a genderinclusive environment. We lift our eyes, Levavi Oculos, to create a just future as we build on our past.
This mission is timeless. In fact, I went back to check what I believe to be the original purpose of the institution. It reads: “The plan and policy of this school recognizes the principle that in the present state of society in our country young women require the same thorough and rigid training as that afforded to young men.”
Our foundational mission, a rigorous undergraduate education for women, is unyielding, unchanging, and undeterred. In fact, our new strategic plan, Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives: The Levavi Oculos Strategic Plan, is squarely focused on ensuring that we can forevermore provide the type of education that nurtured each of you: Creating a fellowship of women who rely upon one another is central to the strategic plan, especially as we think about access, academic excellence, and wellness.
But as resonant, relevant, and rich as our mission and strategic plan are, I know that what brings you back home is the indescribable nature of Hollins.
Institutions have characters just as people do. After all the cells in a person are replaced, and after every single person in an institution changes, those distinctive characters persist. Many people have described returning to Hollins, after a long interval, full of fear—fear that changes would have wrecked the place. These people report, glowing, that it’s all still on campus. New ideas come in and out, new information and theories, and Hollins stirs with excitement, as it always has. New buildings arise, new leaders emerge, new talent pours into the freshman class, and it’s still Hollins: where girls become women, where students have time to learn in depth and professors have time to give them, where the grass is green and the mountains are blue, where friendships thrive, minds catch fire, careers begin, and hearts open to a world of possibility.
That’s what Hollins was for you, what Hollins is today, and what we are determined to create well into the future. That is the character you sense in the air, in the beating hearts of our students, and in the vision we have to move forward.
You see the way friendships thrive at Hollins. You know that the people who have journeyed with you in good times and bad, who have been there for life’s most important moments, were met in this place. I think about Ti-Shawn and Zoe. Ti-Shawn grew up in Jamaica and currently lives in New York City. Zoe grew up in the Bay Area of California. But at Hollins, they have become sisters. They cheer for each other. They work together. They foster dogs for the day and bring them to the office.
They make each other study and go to the doctor together. I know that they will see one another through relationships and marriages, births, and death. I know that their bond—like yours— is because of this place.
Rebecca Mullins from Richmond, Va., expresses it this way: “My very favorite part of my experiences thus far has been the relationships I have made. Hollins attracts phenomenal, kind, artistic, and beautiful human beings. My close friend group last year was from all around the world: Rwanda, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Seattle, Belgium, Argentina, and, of course, Appalachia! So many different people from different places have come to this tiny campus, and we became a family.”
By facilitating relationships, we create a space for hope, trust, and vulnerability. And when we allow vulnerability, we allow students to stretch their minds. What enables minds to catch fire and careers to begin is Hollins’ deep belief in each and every student we serve. We continue to ignite the intellects of young women each and every day.
In our graduating class of 2023, 92.4% were employed or enrolled in graduate school* within six months of graduation. Of this group, around twothirds went straight to work at places like the NIH, CDC, Edward Jones, or the Smithsonian. More than one in five 2023 Hollins graduates went on to some of the best graduate schools and programs in the world, including NYU, Georgetown, UVA, and the London School of Economics. Six percent began volunteer work or entered the military within six months of graduation, giving their lives to service.
Esteemed alumna Annie Dillard wrote:
Minds also caught fire and careers have begun in the class of 2024, wherein we have students heading to graduate school at Sarah Lawrence, Duke, UVA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Tufts Veterinary School, and EMLyon Business School in France. Employers include Hershey, Disney, and the City of Charlotte. Our returning students spent the summer doing research at Virginia Tech and the University of Missouri, as actuarial interns at New York Life, and more.
Our students deserve, and thrive with, an excellent liberal arts education, which leads to my last point.
To me, the most compelling part of the liberal arts is the call to love. William Cronon wrote: “Liberal education aspires to nurture the growth of human talent in the service of human freedom, which is to say that in the end it celebrates love.” He argues that that love is what those of us educated in the liberal arts reflect in a shared set of intellectual qualities:
They listen and they hear.
They read and they understand.
They can talk with anyone.
They can write clearly and persuasively and movingly.
They can solve a wide variety of puzzles and problems.
They respect rigor not so much for its own sake but as a way of seeking truth.
They practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism.
They understand how to get things done in the world.
They nurture and empower the people around them.
Cronon continues, “Being an educated person means being able to see connections that allow one to make sense of the world and act within it in creative ways.” He concludes: “Whether we speak of our schools or our universities or ourselves, I hope we will hold fast to this as our constant practice, in the full depth and richness of its many meanings: Only connect.”
To be a liberal arts graduate is to open your heart and connect: with the people around you who will enrich your life; to the natural environment in the shadow of Tinker Mountain; with learning, knowledge, and wisdom that call you to be more and do more; and with yourself and your grandest aspirations. Open your heart and connect to love and be loved.
At Hollins our hearts and minds are tethered. Love empowers the learning that happens across our campus. Love is the fuel that powers our community as
a whole. In the end, that’s what matters most. That we choose to see one another’s humanity; that we choose to see the purpose of our work and the liberal arts as connecting with joy. Then we are left with no choice in the end but to work— daily—to become the beloved community.
Bessie Carter Randolph, class of 1912, who served as president of Hollins from 1933-1950, wrote: “Higher institutions must, if they are to survive, adhere with unflinching faith to the long-run task of preparing thinkers, never selling truth to serve the hour.”
Because Hollins is a liberal arts institution, we never sell the truth to serve the hour. Rather, we create and hold space for new souls to join us, for friendships to thrive, for minds to catch fire, for careers to begin, and for hearts to open.
Levavi Oculos
Hollins Joins Initiative to Host Endurance Mountain Biking National Championships
Hollins University, the City of Roanoke, and Roanoke County are teaming up to present the 2025 and 2026 USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships, hosted by Virginia’s Blue Ridge.
Consisting of seven days of racing events, the championships will feature over 1,500 athletes competing for national titles. The multi-day competition will combine cross-country and marathon mountain bike events. Next year, cyclists will compete July 14-20 in a variety of landscapes, including the trails of Carvins Cove, Explore Park, and Elmwood Park.
The Roanoke Times reported that “Carvins Cove will host the marathon on the first day and will use Hollins University for parking and to serve as a beginning and end location for the race.”
“We are thrilled that Virginia’s Blue Ridge has been selected as the host destination for this event,” said Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge President Landon Howard. “It will help build on our already shining reputation as America’s East Coast mountain biking capital.”
USA Cycling President and CEO Brendan Quirk added, “With this exciting announcement of the Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships, it’s evident why Virginia’s Blue Ridge is one of America’s foremost cycling destinations.” The area hosted the Amateur Road National Championships in 2022 and 2023.
Rita McClenny, president and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation, noted that the event “will not only highlight our beautiful trails and vibrant community but also contribute to our local economy,” bringing in an estimated $2.2 million in direct visitor spending.
Professor Publishes First
English Translation of
Haiti’s
First Woman Novelist
Assistant Professor of French Jeanne Jégousso has translated two works by Haiti’s first published female novelist for a new book released in June by Rutgers University Press.
Jégousso translated the acclaimed novels Cruel Destiny (1929) and The White Negress (1934) by Cléante Desgraves Valcin (1891-1956), a poet, writer, and feminist who employed her sentimental fiction to explore matters of race, gender, nationalism, and sovereignty.
A contemporary of Harlem Renaissance writers such as Nella Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston, Valcin emerged as an influential writer and political figure among the Black Atlantic diaspora. In recognition of the book’s publication and her scholarly achievement, Jégousso was honored with an Author Celebration Award at the 50th annual conference of the Caribbean Studies Association.
Hollins, Simple Gifts Fund Partner to Bolster Education Pipeline for North Carolina’s Sampson County
For the past several years, Hollins has been privileged to welcome students from one particular southeastern North Carolina county, thanks to the generosity of a local nonprofit organization.
Each year, The Simple Gifts Fund (SGF) awards scholarships to high school seniors graduating from a school within Sampson County, North Carolina. The scholarships are intended to address unmet need in order to help students attend a private liberal arts college or university outside the state and earn a four-year degree. The scholarships are given to students who graduate in the top quarter of their class, demonstrate academic achievement and excellence, and epitomize outstanding character and leadership.
“The Simple Gifts scholarship has had a significant influence on my life,” said Jennifer Moreno-Gomez ’25, a psychology major. “It’s not just about financial support; I’ve had endless opportunities to create some of the best memories, study abroad, and figure out what I’m truly passionate about. [I’m helping to] prove that firstgeneration Latina students have the power to make a difference.”
Lilibeth Arzate ’25, a double major in Spanish and political science, says, “Being a first-generation student, I grew up with little to no resources in my life around the idea of access to higher education.” Arzate learned about the SGF scholarship through her family and her high school, and “Hollins caught my eye at a college fair. The ambassador happened to be an SGF scholar, and instantly I knew that if she could do it, I could, too.”
Ariana Romero ’26, who is also majoring in psychology, called the ability to attend college debt-free “a blessing” and believes she has “learned a lot about myself, grown independently, and [gained] an opportunity to achieve and prosper” while at Hollins.
Documentary by Hollins Alumna Wins Peabody Award
Afilm coproduced by a Hollins Dance M.F.A. alumna about renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones and his epic ballet, “D-Man in the Waters,” has won a 2024 Peabody Award.
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, a documentary by Rosalynde LeBlanc M.F.A. ’11 and Tom Hurwitz, was honored at the 84th Annual Peabody Awards in June in Beverly Hills, California. The film is one of 34 projects to receive the distinction this year out of 1,100 entries.
“We are profoundly honored to have our work recognized by this award that speaks to excellence in storytelling,” said LeBlanc and Hurwitz, “and we sincerely thank everyone involved with us in funding, making, and distributing Can You Bring It.”
The documentary received unanimous critical acclaim during its theatrical release. Kimber Myers of the Los Angeles Times said, “Death and grief may exist in the soul of ‘D-Man in the Waters’ but Can You Bring It is full of vitality and energy, a testament to the power of art in the face of tragedy.”
Hollins Earns A+ Financial Health Grade from Forbes
Hollins University is the only private college in Virginia and one of just 27 private institutions nationwide to receive an A+ in Forbes magazine’s report of College Financial Grades for 2024.
Relying on data collected over the past fiscal year from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, Forbes employed nine components to measure operational vigor and balance sheet fitness for almost 900 private colleges with 500 or more full-time students. These markers included endowment assets per full-time equivalent student, primary reserve ratio, viability ratio, core operating margin, tuition as a percentage of core revenues, return on assets,
admissions yield, percent of first-year students receiving grant aid, and instruction expenses per full-time equivalent student.
University Business magazine notes that “Endowment assets per FTE was the most important determinant in a college’s long-term financial health, per Forbes.”
Emma Whitford, who covers higher education for Forbes, explains, “Balance sheet strength is never mentioned on the list of must-haves. But it should be. For any student who wants to spend their college days on the same campus—especially if that school is small to begin with— selecting a financially sound school is more important than ever.”
Phi Beta Kappa Chapter Welcomes New Members
The Iota of Virginia Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Hollins inducted 16 new student members at a ceremony held in April in the university’s Botetourt Reading Room.
Inducted were seniors Sophia Ciatti, Gabriella de Ornelas, Natté Fortier, Naomi Gakusi, Zeina Ghanem, Ally Goguen, Marie Gruver, Alexa Hulse, Amy Nguyen, Linh Nguyen, Viktor Oler, Eleanor Robb, Olivia Sacci, and Meisoon Shalaby. Matilda Sieger and Sam Stuhlmiller were also welcomed as junior class members.
Since 1776, Phi Beta Kappa has championed education in the arts and sciences, fostered freedom of thought, and recognized academic excellence. As America’s most prestigious academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa honors the best and brightest liberal arts and sciences undergraduates from 293 top schools across the nation through a highly selective, merit-based invitation process.
2024 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature Winners Announced
Hollins has honored author, illustrator, and art director of children’s books Lucy Ruth Cummins as the recipient of the ninth annual Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature.
Cummins received an engraved medal and a $1,000 cash prize for Our Pool, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Judges for this year’s Margaret Wise Brown Prize also named one Honor Book: Stranded!
A Mostly True Story from Iceland, written by Ævar Þór Benediktsson, illustrated by Anne Wilson, and published by Barefoot Books.
“I am thrilled by this year’s choices,” stated Elizabeth Dulemba, director of the graduate programs in children’s literature and illustration at Hollins. “Our Pool highlights the simple joys in life that picture books can so elegantly share, while Stranded! showcases science through an unusual and fun lens.”
Each year, Hollins invites nominations for the prize from children’s book publishers located across the country and around the world. A three-judge panel, consisting of established picture book authors, reviews the nominations and chooses a winner.
Hollins established the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature as a way to pay tribute to one of its best-known alumnae and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. Margaret Wise Brown graduated from Hollins in 1932 and went on to write Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and other children’s classics before she died in 1952.
Elani Spencer ’27 is Roanoke’s First-Ever Youth Poet Laureate
AHollins undergraduate has been selected as Roanoke’s first Youth Poet Laureate.
Elani Spencer ’27 earned the title through a competition sponsored by the Roanoke Arts Commission in partnership with Roanoke Public Libraries and Soul Sessions Roanoke. The initiative welcomed young poets between the ages of 13 and 19 who are civic-minded and whose quality of work is demonstrated through their performance and commitment to the community.
Meighan Sharp, visiting assistant professor of English and creative writing at Hollins and volunteer chair
for the Roanoke Arts Commission, said, “Our program identifies powerful youth poets who have a history of artistic success, civic and community engagement, social impact, and youth leadership.”
The Roanoke Youth Poet Laureate program is part of the National Youth Poet Laureate Program founded by Urban Word to celebrate youth at the intersection of artistic excellence and civic engagement. The Roanoke Arts Commission is working with Spencer to provide opportunities for her to share creative thought at various city and state events.
Commencement
The threat of inclement weather led Hollins University to hold its 182nd Commencement Exercises indoors, and the enthusiastic celebration of the class of 2024 was not dampened literally or figuratively as 182 undergraduate and graduate students received degrees at the morning ceremony on Sunday, May 19.
Hollins made the decision on May 16 to move this year’s commencement from its traditional location on the university’s historic Front Quad to the Berglund Center Coliseum in downtown Roanoke after considerable rainfall was predicted for the weekend.
“Today I see a group of students ready to tackle anything that the world puts before them,” said President Mary Dana Hinton in her welcome. “I have watched you grow into fiercely intelligent leaders. I see it in your academic work through your thesis presentations and honor society inductions. I see it in your athletic pursuits on the court, in the pool, and in the ring. I see it in your job and graduate school offers. But most of all, I see it in your eyes.”
This year’s guest speaker, Metropolitan Opera dramatic soprano Helena Brown ’12, urged the class of 2024 to “live your life from your own truth and turn your
adversity, your failures, and your setbacks into wisdom.”
Brown has received three Grammy certificates for her performances in productions at the Met, including Terence Blanchard’s Champion, which recently won the 2024 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. She has also appeared at Lincoln Center Theatre and on the New York Harlem Theatre European tour. A strong ally for the arts, Brown serves as a vice president of the choristers, actors, and staff performers in the American Guild of Musical Artists and is also an advisory director on the Metropolitan Opera Board of Directors.
Senior Class President Lew Neils assured the graduates that “what you have chosen is to be a part of a class of brilliant minds, hopeless romantics, and creative geniuses. I hope, down the line, you look back at this class, or this moment, and all the other moments from when you applied, and you realize you have become the best person you can be because of these choices.” Neils thanked “family, faculty, staff, and friends for supporting this graduating class with persistence and love.”
2024
More than 325 alumnae/i returned to campus on the first weekend of June to celebrate an unforgettable Reunion Weekend. The class of 1974, always competitive and committed, had a record number of alumnae— 94 in total—attend to celebrate their 50th reunion. The class of 1984 showed up with an impressive 44 alumnae.
Thanks to the participation of so many reunion-year alumnae/i, Hollins celebrated having received more than $1.5 million in reunion gifts to the Hollins Fund and just under $2.5 million to all funds for the fiscal year ending June 30.
A special surprise took place on June 1 following the “Rock the Village” parade, when a house in the student village was named in honor of distinguished alumna and current Senior Philanthropic Advisor Suzy Mink ’74. Suzy’s unwavering dedication and contributions to our community have left an indelible mark, and this recognition, supported by generous donations from her classmates, is a testament to her impactful service.
As a student, Suzy served as vice president of the Student Government Association and captain of the lacrosse and field hockey teams, earning 12 varsity letters in four sports. She was elected by her classmates for the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, which is presented at graduation to the senior “who has shown by daily living those qualities that evidence a spirit of love and helpfulness to other men and women.”
Since her graduation, Suzy has been an exemplar of those qualities, particularly in service to her beloved alma mater. From 1978 to 1981, she served as director of the Hollins Fund. She returned to the staff in 2013, serving as vice president for external relations from 2017 to 2021, and staying on in her current role as senior philanthropic advisor. Within her roles, she was instrumental in fundraising for the Student Village. She is known for inspiring alumnae to stay close to Hollins—and to support it generously.
Mark your calendars for next year’s Reunion Weekend, taking place May 30-June 1, 2025!
BY BILLY
FAIRES
Since its founding, Hollins has helped young women discover, nurture, and use their voices as leaders in their community, our nation, and around the globe.
Hollins established its original HOPE Scholars program in 2021 to cover the full cost of tuition for qualified students who live within a 40-mile radius of Roanoke, Virginia. “We did not want a lack of access to financial resources to prevent academically talented students from maximizing their future success,” said Hollins President Mary Dana Hinton.
Since that time, Hinton explained, “HOPE students have thrived at Hollins. The program’s tremendous success encouraged us to think more broadly, expand nationally, and enhance the scholarship benefits beyond just tuition, allowing our students to benefit from a remarkable residential experience as well.”
The program has been an outstanding success in regard to enrollment and retention, and the 62 HOPE Scholars who return to campus this fall “have immeasurably brightened our campus community,” Hinton noted. An additional 30 first-year HOPE Scholars will join them this fall, bringing the total number to 92.
The recently launched Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives: The Levavi Oculos Strategic Plan (featured in the Winter 2024 issue) embraced a big vision for Hollins and for HOPE. And now, as part of that strategic plan, Hollins has expanded HOPE nationwide to give more incredibly talented young women hope for an education, hope for their families, hope for their future.
Beginning in August, first-time, first-year domestic undergraduate students who apply to attend Hollins and are eligible for the Pell Grant (generally those whose family household income is at or below $65,000) will automatically receive consideration for
a HOPE scholarship. New incoming HOPE Scholars, who will begin at Hollins in fall 2025, will have the direct cost of on-campus food and housing (traditionally noted as “room and board”) and fees covered in addition to tuition.
“We believe in the power of the Hollins academic and residential experience and want to ensure that students can access this experience regardless of income level. At Hollins, students learn inside and outside of the classroom, and the generous and comprehensive HOPE Scholars program makes a holistic experience possible,” Hinton said.
made possible through funding from Hollins as well as applicable federal and state grants.
Hinton believes that taking the HOPE program nationwide “will elevate what Hollins can be when we lift our eyes with love in our hearts. HOPE will meaningfully alter the course of Hollins’ future as we strive to become the nation’s leading liberal arts college for women and a leader in higher education for social, economic, and civic mobility.”
Fundraising to meet the needs of the program’s initial two years is already well underway and ongoing, with a plan to fund the program in perpetuity through additional gifts to the endowment.
“To the future leaders, the budding scientists, the talented artists, and the change makers: We see you, and we know you’re the future.”
Emphasizing that “affordability has been and will remain a priority for Hollins,” Vice President for Enrollment Management Ashley Browning noted that “our many other generous scholarships remain in place for those who do not qualify for HOPE. Accepted students will continue to receive a minimum of $24,000 in scholarships, and accepted Virginia residents receive at least $29,000 through a combination of Hollins scholarships and the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG). In fact, the average Hollins undergraduate student today receives over $34,000 in scholarships and grants, which is well over half the cost of attendance.”
“To the future leaders, the budding scientists, the talented artists, and the change makers: We see you, and we know you’re the future,” Hinton said. “Our HOPE Scholars program will allow you to pursue your passions and achieve a college education with no debt and no loans.” She added that HOPE is
Hinton added, “Our ability to offer HOPE Scholarships is only possible because of the incredible generosity of our Hollins alumnae/i and friends. Our trustees have given us their full confidence, and as more people learn more about it, we invite them to show their enthusiastic support for and investment in this amazing program because of the impact it will have on future generations of students.”
Find out more at hollins.edu/hope.
If you would like to offer your financial support for HOPE, please contact Vice President for Institutional Advancement Anita Walton at waltonab@hollins.edu or at (540) 362-6413.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN’S HEALTH. PERIOD.
“While there is much work to be done [to address period poverty], there is a strong global community committed to driving positive change.”
— Charvi Gangwani ’24
BY SARAH ACHENBACH ’88
Roughly two billion women menstruate every month, according to the National Institutes for Health. “At a given point each day,” their report states, “800 million women and girls menstruate, comprising 26% of the global population.”
If you are one of them and living in the U.S., chances are you have what you need for a safe and healthy period. Clean water. Sanitation and hygienic facilities. Education. And affordable, safe period products.
But one in three adults—and one in four students—in the U.S. lack access to the essentials to manage this basic need. Globally, more than 35 percent of the world’s women and girls have periods without necessities or dignity in cultures where menstruation is cloaked in shame.
This past year, Hollins University launched a multi-pronged, student-led advocacy campaign to tackle this public health crisis known as period poverty. Hollins Against Period Poverty Initiative (HAPPI) is a collaboration among students and faculty, the Hollins University Black Alumnae group, and the international nonprofit Youth Advocates Programs, Inc. (YAP). HAPPI benefits YAP’s sister agency, the Sierra Leone Youth Advocate Program (SLYAP), with menstrual supplies and financial support. HAPPI is shedding light on the issue of period poverty abroad, in the U.S., and even on the Hollins campus.
HAPPI started by happenstance. One day in summer 2023, Shaneka Bynum ’07, an active member of the Hollins Black Alumnae group and new Alumnae Board member, was doing what she does every day: texting her Hollins friends. As Anna Koranteng ’05 texted about her recent trip to Ghana, she commented on the high cost of menstrual products there. Bynum recalls thinking, “For real?” Period poverty, Koranteng tapped into the text, was a huge issue in Ghana.
Eager to learn more, Bynum started her self-education at YAP, where she is the national director for employee development. She learned that thousands of women and girls in Sierra Leone lack period products, water, and hygienic facilities, the impact of which lasts
well beyond a few days each month. School-aged girls must miss school while menstruating and fall behind in their studies. SLYAP endeavors to provide them with knowledge and options for a dignified, safe menstrual cycle.
Bynum knew that partnering with YAP to bring awareness to period poverty was a great opportunity for Hollins. Ramona Kirsch, Ed.D., the university’s director of global learning, needed no convincing. “Hollins has a long history of advancing women’s empowerment and addressing inequities. Collaborating with an international nonprofit fosters a dynamic exchange needed to create global change,” says Kirsch. To get the initiative off the ground, Kirsch tapped Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies Lindsey Breitwieser and Assistant Professor and Chair of Public Health Abubakarr Jalloh. Frequent collaborators, the three were already planning Hollins’ firstever Short Term trip to Kenya to study reproductive health in January 2024, thanks to a grant they had from the U.S. Department of States’ Diversify Education Abroad for US Students (IDEAS) program.
Breitwieser added period poverty into her Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS) course in fall 2023, and it was there that HAPPI took shape. “Developing HAPPI was part of the students’ work products for the course, giving them experience in nonprofit organization, project management, research, and (some) public speaking,” explains Breitweiser. The students devised the name, developed HAPPI’s priorities and activities, and researched the topic in depth.
For Jalloh, HAPPI is the perfect Venn diagram. Born and raised in Sierra Leone, he researches social determinants of health and health equity, health disparities, and multicultural health within the context of global health. Prior to coming to Hollins, he worked on women’s health projects such as female genital circumcision in West Africa and gender equality initiatives. Throughout the fall, Breitwieser, Bynum, Jalloh, Kirsch, and YAP leaders continued to meet virtually and speak to Breitweiser’s students as they developed HAPPI.
One in four students in the U.S. lack access to the essentials to manage this basic need.
Globally, more than 35 percent of the world’s women and girls have periods without necessities or dignity in cultures where menstruation is cloaked in shame. >35%
In February, HAPPI’s awareness campaign kicked into gear, fittingly, just as the six students who accompanied Breitwieser and Jalloh to Kenya for Short Term returned to campus. In Kenya, the group studied the impact of community, medical, and legal influences on reproductive health care and justice. Their experience and deepened perspective of health care access and inequities in Africa added to HAPPI discussions.
On February 16, Breitwieser and HAPPI students led a workshop at Hollins’ 2024 Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice Conference (Leading EDJ) on the global issue of period poverty. They discussed the social stigma, inaccessibility, and the cost of menstrual supplies abroad, which led to an illuminating conversation about period poverty closer to home.
At Leading EDJ, students shared that Hollins students often lack access to products, a reality affecting more students than many realize in colleges and universities across the country. In 2021, the National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments noted that over 14 percent of students who menstruate could not afford products
Last January, students traveled to Kenya with Director of Global Learning Ramona Kirsch, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies Lindsey Breitwieser, and Assistant Professor and Chair of Public Health Abubakarr Jalloh. Their 17-day journey, in collaboration with Kenyatta University, aimed to “foster a global perspective on healthcare needs, access, and medical practice as our students explore social, scientific, and juridical influences on sexual and reproductive life.” Kirsch is hoping to organize a similar January Short Term experience in Sierra Leone in the coming years. To read more about their trip to Kenya last January, visit kenya.hollins.edu.
at some point in the previous year. Other more recent studies suggest the percentage of students who can’t afford menstrual products is 20-25 percent.
The school bookstore no longer stocks period supplies. Not everyone has a car to drive to the store, and the half-mile walk down Williamson Road to CVS is far from ideal. Purchasing menstrual care products—a box of pads or tampons costs $6 to $8—can be a financial burden.
HAPPI member Charvi Gangwani ’24 [See Q&A] was part of that discussion. “Hollins is predominantly composed of menstruating individuals, and it’s worth noting that 100% of admitted undergraduate students receive some form of scholarships or financial aid,” she says. Free menstrual products alleviate financial stressors and disruptions to school or classes, she adds, citing studies that show a link between period poverty and increased rates of depression.
“There are people who have to decide [whether] to buy groceries or menstrual products. That’s the conversation,” Bynum says of an inequity that continues beyond campuses around the country. “Many of us are seasoned in our careers and well-established and
are forgetting that part. Millions of menstruating people must make that decision. And that shouldn’t be a decision that people have to make.”
Kirsch concurs: “One of the things that came out of the Leading EDJ discussion is that people on our campus now realize that period poverty isn’t something that’s distant. It’s the reality of some people at Hollins.”
The Hollins Public Health Outreach Club, advised by Jalloh, placed period product collection boxes across campus. Donated tampons will stock the Hollins period pantries [see sidebar], while all other collected products will be sent to SLYAP. Tampons, Jalloh explains, cannot be shipped to Sierra Leone due to socio-cultural inappropriateness. The club also streamed an educational video on period poverty at the Mean Girls movie night sponsored by the Hollins Activity Board and educated Hollins students at the popular bingo night. HAPPI also collected products during the 2024 Reunion Weekend.
HAPPI’s social media campaign, designed and run by Celeste Landry Hernandez ’24, kicked off in April and culminated on Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, an annual day to bring
CHARVI GANGWANI ’24 , PERIOD POVERTY INNOVATOR
Biology major, three-year track
Charvi’s advocacy for mental health awareness and the need to combat the stigma surrounding mental health challenges earned her an invitation to a celebration of the International Day of the Girl held in Washington, D.C., last fall. Organized by the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, and the Office of Global Youth Issues at the U.S. Department of State, the event highlighted the achievements of young women worldwide and featured discussions on critical issues impacting today’s youth.
For her Hollins independent research project, Gangwani is creating an environmentally friendly sanitary pad made from sisal and other sustainable products plentiful in her home region of Indore, India. With research from her January Term at a nonprofit focused on menstrual inequity in Kolkata, India, and with Jalloh’s guidance—he was her faculty advisor—she is hoping to create a functional prototype to distribute commercially in her community.
Q: How did your research projects inspire you?
A: In January, I witnessed women and girls in rural and urban areas, particularly those living at or below the poverty line, using clothes and tent tarps to manage their periods due to the high cost of commercial pads. Simply distributing period products sporadically is not a sustainable solution. I interviewed experts at Pad Care, an Indian company that recycles pads using patented technology, and researched sustainable and cost-effective solutions.
At Hollins this past spring, with funding from the Beatrice E. Gushee/ Janet L. MacDonald Endowed Fund and the Warren W. Hobbie Ethics and Service Endowment, I prototyped and tested sustainable menstrual pads made from hemp, flax, bamboo, and sisal. I was accepted into the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Christian Dior’s Women at Dior program, where I am paired with a mentor to guide me. I am using the open-source absorbency protocol used by the Prakash Lab along with the Plant Pad Consortium, which focuses on decentralized production using locally abundant resources to address period poverty and reduce plastic waste. This past summer in India, I conducted an analysis of the environmental impact of material availability in my home region. Sisal is easily cultivated in dry regions with limited water resources. I created my prototype pad and am testing user feedback this fall to refine design and functionality. I hope to submit my final prototype this December for the Women at Dior and UNESCO global conference.
Q: What is the environmental impact of period products?
A: Disposable menstrual products contribute significantly to plastic waste. As a part of HAPPI, I raised awareness about the environmental impact and facilitated discussions to brainstorm sustainable menstrual hygiene products and gather feedback from the Hollins community. A 2018 EuropeanJournalofSustainable Development study notes that an average menstruator generates 150 kg [331 lbs.] of non-biodegradable waste from menstrual products annually. By developing sustainable pads using locally available plant fibers, I hope to address both the affordability and environmental issues associated with menstrual hygiene.
Q: What is your goal?
A: I would love to create a functional, biodegradable pad to commercially distribute in my community. I also plan to donate a percentage of the profits to menstruating individuals in war-torn areas or places where menstrual products are not readily accessible. Everyone deserves access to safe, affordable, and sustainable menstrual care that is also kinder to our planet.
awareness to menstrual health. Landry Herandez is the first Hollins intern for YAP, a position Kirsch suggested to bridge the gap between YAP and Hollins by having a YAP representative on campus. A double major in gender and women’s studies and international relations, Landry Hernandez was mentored by Bynum and worked virtually from Hollins.
Her internship focused on digital media and graphic design—she created the HAPPI logo and several infographics, which she translated into Spanish. She also participated in the Short Term to Kenya, an experience that fueled her longtime passion for reproductive justice work. While in high school in Nepal, she was part of the student-led PLUM (Please Learn and Understand Menstruation) to destigmatize menstrual taboos and provide homemade kits for girls across Kathmandu. The kits include reusable, homemade, safe, and sanitary products, educational materials (in Nepali and English), and sanitary dos and don’ts to distribute to local communities and schools.
During annual service trips to rural parts of the country focused on community development for local schools, PLUM members prepared hundreds of kits and created informational classroom binders about puberty and menstruation to be shared by Nepali-speaking students.
“In certain regions of Nepal, when a woman is menstruating, she cannot cook,” Landry Hernandez explains of Chaupadi, the widespread (though legally banned) practice. “Chaupadi is mainly practiced in the far western and midwestern parts of the country where for the entirety of a woman’s period, she lives in a hut isolated from her family because she is ‘unclean’ and ‘intouchable.’ Over the last several decades, there have been multiple deaths as a result of Chaupadi, as the conditions in these huts are often unsanitary, tightly closed, dark spaces with little ventiliation.”
Because of remote learning her first two years at Hollins and working on her senior thesis, Landry Hernandez hadn’t done a lot of reproductive justice work during college. She was considering another on-campus internship until
Career and Life Design at Hollins mentioned the new YAP internship. Turns out, she’s as passionate about graphic design and content curation as she is about destigmatizing menstruation. “One of the most rewarding aspects of this internship has really been the creative freedom that’s been granted to me,” says Landry Hernandez. “This is a full-circle moment because in high school, I was doing [period poverty] work. And at the end of my college career, I’m right back kind of where I started. I love doing this—it really fuels me.”
“HAPPI allows us to think globally but act locally,” Kirsch says. “We’re connected with YAP, doing initiatives and raising awareness here, but also talking with others around the world about this through YAP’s International Peer Forum.” Each month, YAP convenes a virtual forum with its global partners around a topic. On March 28, Gangwani and Ti-Shawn Willington ’25 represented HAPPI, with Breitwieser moderating the event that included participants from ten countries.
“It was so inspiring to learn more about their experiences, thoughts, and perspectives on the social perceptions of periods, available resources, and the supportive environments to aid menstruating individuals to manage periods without embarrassment or stigma,” Gangwani says. “[The forum] provided me with multiple perspectives and reinforced my beliefs that while there is much work to be done, there is a strong global community committed to driving positive change.”
HAPPI’s social media campaign, designed and run by Celeste Landry Hernandez ’24.
What’s next for HAPPI? This past summer, Bynum, Kirsch, Jalloh, Breitwieser, and YAP leadership continued to build out HAPPI’s infrastructure with the goal of facilitating a student organization moving forward. Breitwieser is completing a comprehensive, global educational period toolkit that can be used by YAP with background on period poverty, maps of the continents with findings and facts, a glossary of reproductive health terms, ideas on getting started with local assessment and organizing, how-tos on empathy, and more. Other toolkits, she discovered, are too generic and focus primarily on period product donation and distribution.
“[That’s] fantastic and necessary, but period poverty is a multidimensional issue that requires not just attention to what supplies are or are not available, but also plumbing and waste management infrastructure, sex education policies, stigmatization of bodily functions and blood, and gender-based violence,” Breitwieser explains. The HAPPI toolkit offers a full scope of the problem to empower readers to identify problems in their communities and organize to create change.
She and Jalloh also are researching possible grants for HAPPI, with a dream of a larger reproductive justice lab at Hollins. The group is also researching the feasibility of a period-povertyfocused Short Term trip to Sierra Leone in conjunction with SLYAP and a local university.
The topic of period poverty will continue in Breitwieser’s introductory course, fostering new advocates and HAPPI leadership. “I witness students’ commitment to public engagement, responsible citizenship, and human rights advocacy daily,” Breitwieser reflects. “I am so proud of the work our students have done this year to bring HAPPI to life and to raise awareness about the personal and political impacts of period poverty locally and globally.”
Bynum is looking forward to mentoring what she hopes is a long line of Hollins YAP interns and is working to connect smaller nonprofits to HAPPI. “When we think about the legislative impact we can have, there’s power in numbers,” she says. “I’m also thinking
about our sister colleges to make it an even bigger conversation.”
“This semester laid the foundations for what I can only hope will be a really strong and long-lasting collaboration between Hollins and YAP, which speaks to broader collaborative power of NGOs and historically women’s colleges,” adds Landry Hernandez, who hopes to work for a nonprofit that advocates for menstrual health before attending graduate school.
For Jalloh, he remains excited about the focus on such a critical global health issue, particularly one affecting his home country, and how it has galvanized his students in his adopted one. “I strongly believe in youth empowerment and advocacy, which includes having them sit at the table and be part of the decision-making process and implementation of this important global health issue,” he says. “Our plan is to make this initiative one that will continue to generate sustainable change both here on the Hollins campus and around the world.”
Who is the Hollins Period Fairy?
In mid-winter, an anonymous Hollins student posted on Instagram that they would begin providing free tampons and pads in a handful of bathrooms around campus. Self-dubbed the Hollins Period Fairy—the name is inspired by their mom proclaiming that “the period fairy came” after buying menstrual products— this person (maybe it’s a few people?) kept three bathrooms stocked with supplies. Because finding a tampon on campus shouldn’t be a mystery.
HAPPI doesn’t claim this homegrown initiative, but it’s certainly a happy coincidence during the launch of HAPPI’s period poverty awareness campaign. Follow the Hollins Period Fairy on Instagram @hollinsperiodfairy.
Sarah Achenbach ’88 is a freelance writer living in Baltimore.
Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies Lindsey Breitwieser (standing at podium) presents at the 2024 Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice Conference in February. The students standing with her were involved in HAPPI and researched issues around period poverty in Sierra Leone.
PHILANTHROPY Hollins Women in
BY SARAH ACHENBACH ’88
FEATURING ILLUSTRATIONS
BY LEXI HALL M.F.A. ’27
It’s been an amazing year and change for female-driven philanthropy. Mega-donor MacKenzie Scott gave $2.1 billion in 2023 and continues to donate $1 to $2 million gifts to hundreds of U.S. nonprofits this year. In May, Melinda Gates founded Pivotal, pledging to give $1 billion by year’s end to U.S. nonprofits working to protect the rights of and empower women and girls.
Women are leading the surge of giving circles in the country. Over the last seven years, the number of collective giving groups more than doubled, with women comprising 84% of all members. Almost half of the 4,000 circles are female-only (source: Philanthropy Together).
These trends beg the question: Are women more generous than men? While men’s net worth is roughly double that of women, as women’s income increases, they’re more likely to give than men, according to the Indiana University Women’s Philanthropy Institute.
We went to the source—five Hollins graduates and philanthropy leaders—for their take on the trends, the industry, their career journey, and the impact women can have on the conversation when money talks.
PHILANTHROPY
Wendy McGrady ’88
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE CURTIS GROUP INCOMING CHAIR, GIVING USA FOUNDATION
Women are making an impact through philanthropy and volunteering. They’re leveraging relationships and influence, using their vote, organizing, bringing friends to the process, leading, [creating] giving circles, staffing, or leading a nonprofit and boards, and—more than ever—making policy decisions. I think women are giving more strategically than they have in the past, certainly with a gender equity lens but also toward leveraging their resources for partnerships, venture philanthropy, or raising up marginalized communities.
We’re half the population, but less than two percent of all dollars given in the U.S. are going to women’s and girls’ causes. If a woman is in a leadership position and not using [her] money, skills, experience, time, and connections to make a difference in [her] community or the world, then who’s going to do it? In an election year, if you care about women’s health, reproductive rights, or women’s leadership opportunities, you have a voice in your vote. Get in the game in some way.
Nobody sets out to be a fundraiser, and specifically a fundraising consultant. During Hollins, I had a summer job doing events. I learned that people burn out quickly in events and that the major gift side is what can make an organization fly. While working in marketing jobs, I got a call that Tidewater Community College needed a
chief development officer. I did that for five years before joining the consultant firm I had worked with at Tidewater. I like playing a small role in advancing a lot of organizations. It feels good to help raise that tide that lifts all ships.
In fundraising and philanthropy, leadership makes or breaks it. When you’re in a nonprofit, you’re head down. Developing your board and bench for future leadership is not top of mind, but it can change the trajectory of your organization. Nonprofits probably don’t spend much thought or time on this until they’re ready to do a big campaign, build a building, or start an endowment. Then they think, “Oh, I don’t have anybody who can make those calls.”
Find your lane and run. You don’t have to be a major gift asker or the $100,000 check writer. You can be the organizer and host an event for people who can write the bigger checks. Connectedness is what a lot of women can bring to the game.
Some people are intimidated by the concept of [being a] philanthropist. If you look at it more in terms of a generosity of spirit, of lifting up the people around you, I think Hollins fostered that. I also was taught that we have the responsibility to do what we can to make the world a better place.
“Connectedness is what a lot of women can bring to the game.”
Anna Beth Gorman White ’04
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, WOMEN’S FOUNDATION OF ARKANSAS
I don’t necessarily think of myself as a philanthropist. I think of myself as an advocate for women and girls. [Growing up] and at Hollins, I would’ve said that I’m going to be a lawyer or maybe a lobbyist. My trajectory, which got me to Hollins, was that I always found safe spaces in women-serving organizations. I was a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient [the highest honor] and was raised in a family of Eagle Scouts, so scouting was a big deal. I earned a scholarship from my local Girl Scout Council, and Hollins gave me a Batten Scholarship. Hollins provided this incredibly safe, loving environment where, as small as it is, you meet girls that are so different from you. The real world isn’t homogeneous.
looks different from my peers in Colorado, Arizona, California, and New York right now. But this incredible network is addressing the problems that women face today.
I think nonprofits should operate like businesses. People want to invest in successful businesses. My profit looks like advocacy work to show how investing in women is the best possible investment because there is a multiplier effect. When you invest in a woman-serving organization or business, you’re investing in solving problems. You’re investing in transforming lives. A woman is going to turn her profit back into her community.
“I’m passionate about helping women be the best version of themselves.”
After Hollins, I worked for a law firm and then for the Texas Senate, but I was bored. I loved being a Girl Scout and thinking about solving problems to make the world a better place. [A friend] suggested I work for the Girl Scouts. Within a week, I had an interview at the local Girl Scout Council in Austin. The nonprofit sector is where I feel I find value and meaning. I’m passionate about helping women be the best version of themselves. I was an executive with the Girl Scouts of Arkansas for almost eight years. After my master’s in public administration and graduate certificate in nonprofit management, I was hired by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas as its only employee. Now we have six full-time employees and a $2 million budget.
Women’s foundations address the systemic barriers and challenges that women and girls face. Each has a different lens based on where they are. I’m in a Southern, deep-red state, so the work that I do
There is a huge transfer of wealth now, but institutions are getting it wrong. It’s being transferred from partner to partner first, not from one generation to the next. Women outlive men, and certain generations right now are coming into disposable income at different rates than we’ve ever seen before. That’s great for philanthropy but dangerous for women because they become objects of deceptive practices and people taking advantage of them. We’re trying to educate the financial institutions about how they should be talking to women because their products and services were designed by men for men. Women need a lawyer, a CPA, financial advisor, and a banker, and we need to make sure that they have similar values [as ours]. If not, they’re not going to lead you in the right direction.
Women, I think, are much more comfortable with the word “generous” than “philanthropic.” I want to encourage women that philanthropy is not something that is inaccessible to you. It’s about giving, but it’s also about finding the vehicles that align to your values. Write down your top five values and what’s been impactful in your life. Look for [ways] to be generous to those things.
There has been a movement in trust-based philanthropy in the last five years. When I give to Hollins, I trust that it is the expert on higher ed and how to serve women on college campuses. I am not that expert. I trust that the Girl Scouts are ensuring that the money I give today serves girls now and in ten years. Do your due diligence and research, [but] trust the nonprofit to use your gift well.
Shamecca Bryant ’05
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, BRYANT CONSULTING SOLUTIONS
I fell into this career because of the Hollins phonathon. I realized that I was very comfortable asking alumnae/i to support the current students. I also participated in various [campus] groups that led me to my passion for event planning, like the Black Student Union. My [early] jobs were doing events for the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, Virginia, and the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Richmond. After my master’s degree in sociology with a policy focus at American University, I moved to the Triangle region to be development director, then executive director, for the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. This combination of advocacy, education, and prevention really hits all of the marks for how we create change in society.
I was one of a handful of Black executive directors in Chapel Hill. There were so few female leaders of color in the community. I was able to create my own network and opened my consulting business in 2015. I select projects that align with my personal values, usually social justice-related causes. Women of color have led in philanthropy for a very long time, and that work has gone unnoticed. I grew up in the Bronx and remember Black women collectively putting their resources together to help feed people, pool resources to house women [experiencing] domestic violence, and make sure kids went to school with all the resources they needed. We’ve defined philanthropy as making a large financial gift, but philanthropy in various communities can also be time.
Women of color have far exceeded many regarding education and advanced degrees. They are now higher earners but are rarely asked to lead in the nonprofit sector. The church is the best example in terms of actual dollars and Black women leading various ministries. There is a shift that I’m seeing of Black women leading other nonprofits—and would love to continue to see because that impacts philanthropy for those causes.
It’s important for women to know when to get out of the way and to allow for other voices. I don’t need to serve on a board, but I can write a check. I know the things that I’m most passionate about and focus my energy there. Be strategic about how, about where you put your energies, how you pass the torch, and how you uplift the next generation who is going to be at the helm.
Use the Hollins network. When I first arrived in Chapel Hill, Wyndham Robertson ’58 personally took me around to vouch for me and my leadership. If Wyndham says that you’re a leader, people pay attention. I was 27 when I became an executive director. Wyndham didn’t step in and ask to be on the board. She said, “I know this young woman, and everyone needs to give her a chance.” Wyndham is a very good example of providing spaces for the next generation to be able to have a successful path. I brainstorm with Hollins women every day through a group chat. Every success and setback that I have ever had, a Hollins woman was there.
“Be strategic about how, about where you put your energies, how you pass the torch, and how you uplift the next generation who is going to be at the helm.”
I went to college knowing I wanted to be a professional fundraiser. I graduated a semester early from high school and worked for the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. They were doing a capital campaign, which was a fantastic moment to learn about fundraising. I learned quickly that most people are terrified of fundraising, but I am not. At Hollins, I was able to do internships on fundraising for statewide organizations, political campaigns, higher education, and political action committees. Hollins was transformational for me as a leader, and I was student government president. One thing that often gets overlooked are the skits and songs of Tinker Day and Ring Night, all the moments that help you be comfortable being silly, which make you a much more approachable leader. This has helped me create collaborative teams and is such a powerful tool that I draw on each day. [These skills] really help my current position raising funds and creating partnerships for two home visiting programs that serve families experiencing adverse social determinants of health, intergenerational cycles of poverty, trauma, intimate partner violence, substance use, and houselessness.
You get into fundraising because you believe in the impact that you have, but people burn out so quickly.
People are undercompensated and not getting support from management to be successful in their work. You need to take time off, really disconnect, and set clear boundaries. I don’t respond to a donor email beyond work hours except in extreme cases to finalize a major gift. The Association of Fundraising Professionals and
certifications are moving us toward being perceived as a genuine career sector like accounting and social work. It really magnifies my ability to work with my donors when they understand that I’m an expert in philanthropy and a thought partner on how they can have the biggest impact.
Women are the dominant force in fundraising teams and the origins of fundraising as a profession. [Historically] women had time to fill because their husbands were wealthy, their homes were staffed, and their children were with nannies or in boarding school. They fundraised for social causes. I think that is why historically, [the profession] is underresourced and underpaid, that it’s a job for people that don’t need money. I’m very lucky to work in New York City, where the philanthropic sector has competitive salaries.
We’re in an exciting moment of women’s philanthropy. MacKenzie Scott is redefining a lot of what philanthropy looks like. As someone who works for an organization that’s been a beneficiary of one of her grants, I am already seeing the impact of the flexibility that she provides. It’s hard to [paint] any broad strokes about women as philanthropists because they are shaped so much from where in the country they are, economic and religious background. But I do see women philanthropists more willing to put the trust in the organizations to be the experts in how those dollars can be best used.
I’m really intentional about my own giving. I was very lucky to attend Hollins on a full scholarship, and it was very important to me to pay that forward by giving back. I pivoted a lot of my philanthropy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and really looked at the resources that I could take for granted. One of the big causes I support now is my community library and anti-gentrification organization in my neighborhood in Flatbush, Brooklyn, recognizing that I am white living in a primarily Black and immigrant community. It really comes down to giving your values. Do your research, talk to people about where they give, and become a monthly donor—so many organizations rely on monthly donations. It lets you give larger amounts of money than if you’re just giving a one-off gift at the end of the year and really systematizes your philanthropy.
Anna Koranteng ’05
MANAGER OF STATE AND FOUNDATION SERVICES, NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
After graduation, I worked with marginalized families doing in-home therapy for families in Richmond. It was hard, impactful work, but I knew that I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I went to North Carolina Central University for a master’s degree in sociology and discovered my love of research and gerontology. I ended up getting a second master’s in Gerontology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I worked in institutional research and effectiveness at Bennett College, a historically Black women’s college, which set me up for my research trajectory. I recently worked as senior research analyst at digitalunited, a nonprofit focused on economic growth for Latina and Black women entrepreneurs and innovators. I just started a new position at NCQA in Washington, D.C., managing research projects related to health care.
I researched minority-serving institutions when I was at the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Data shows that alumni of historically Black colleges and universities are least likely to give back to their institutions. My sociology brain kicked in, and I thought it was a really good research question. This led to me moderating a Hollins Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice panel in 2022 on why we see so few people of color in higher education philanthropy. The conversation brought some issues to the forefront.
In 2005, I didn’t really see a whole lot of representation for myself. That’s one of the reasons why I give back in the ways in which I do. A lot of things have changed in recent years, but for older [Black] alums, their experiences weren’t the best at Hollins. As a student of color, I understand that sentiment. I think Hollins has done a great job of learning and unlearning some of the things that have gone on. Another thing that came out of my research and discussions with alumnae of color is that the outreach just wasn’t there. I’m really proud of the new scholarship that Shaneka Bynum ’07 helped to create for Black students to pursue study abroad or other
educational experiences. The formation of the Hollins University Black Alumni Chapter in 2022 also helped to bring some more alumnae into the fold. They’re more willing to come back in because they feel like Hollins has created a space for them.
Women think across the board and see that we have similar challenges. Breaking down silos is so important. One of the biggest things we can do is seek opportunities and knowledge through volunteering. How can we really cultivate relationships to reach across the aisle and empathize with what people are going through? I am still working with women entrepreneurs to help them with their business development from the data perspective side. It’s empowering them and their communities.
Sarah Achenbach
Baltimore.
Less than one percent of venture capital funding funnels down to women entrepreneurs of color. During the pandemic, there was so much commitment to supporting these businesses, and now the conversations have gone cold. So many businesses across this country are women owned. We really need to get behind other women. I honestly believe that women are the ones to get things done, but passion alone doesn’t keep the business open.
“One of the biggest things we can do is seek opportunities and knowledge through volunteering.”
Lexi Hall is a painter, writer, and illustrator from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, currently based in Boston. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Children’s Book Writing and Illustration at Hollins. In Boston, she works as a freelance artist, bookseller, and art instructor. Visit her website, lexihall.com, to learn more.
’88 is a freelance writer living in
Experiential Learning Highlights
During last February’s Leading EDJ conference, through collaboration and support from Hollins’ Career and Life Design and Global Learning offices, 28 Hollins students participated in an Experiential Learning Showcase. They created posters highlighting their experiences in study abroad and internship opportunities. The broad range of experiences and insights is impressive and indicative of the boundless opportunities offered to students as Hollins undergraduates.
During the showcase, posters like the ones you see depicted here were hung throughout the room. Faculty, staff, and student visitors could explore and view or even ask questions of the student presenters, who shared memorable stories and highlights from their experiences.
This was the fourth annual Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice (EDJ) Conference, a program that continues to evolve since it began in 2020. The theme for this year’s conference was “The Heart of Social Justice” and kicked off on Thursday night, February 15, with a special showing of Professor of Film Amy Gerber-Stroh’s HopeofEscape, a new feature-length historical drama she wrote, directed, and coproduced.
The last three years, classes have been canceled on the day of Leading EDJ to give all members of the campus community—students, faculty, and staff— an opportunity to engage in the conference, either by attending or presenting.
See more student experiences at hollins.edu/magazine
