SPOTLIGHT
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP BREAKFAST SHOWCASES HOW TO “LEAD CONFIDENTLY”
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n April 30, Junior League of Washington (JLW) members, community members, colleagues, and friends gathered virtually to attend the 2021 Women’s Leadership Breakfast (WLB). Unlike in previous years, WLB attendees did not gather for breakfast at The Hamilton in downtown Washington, DC, but rather huddled in their home offices, kitchens, and spare bedrooms. Despite the separate locations, participants were drawn together to learn from a dynamic fireside chat, complete training exercises, and hear from a celebrated keynote speaker. WLB is one of the largest annual JLW events that serves as a fundraiser and educational opportunity for members and the broader Washington, DC community. “We are able to raise funds to continue the League’s philanthropic work in the community through an event that promotes women and the great work they are doing,” says Catherine “Cady” Clapp, WLB Co-Chair, on the importance of the event. According to Clapp, “In addition to hearing from speakers in leadership roles, we provide a specific training opportunity during the breakfast for participants to hone a key leadership skill.” This year’s WLB programming included several components, with participants first listening in to a Fireside Chat with Gina Shaefer, owner and operator of 13 ACE Hardware stores, and Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, moderated by award-winning journalist and WUSA9 weeknight anchor Lesli Foster. Afterward, Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts, a Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business,
Hannah Overton conducted a training exercise on leading diverse teams. This year’s virtual WLB concluded with keynote speaker Susan Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic. Under her leadership, National Geographic has been Susan Goldberg credits her success to one key attribute: resiliency. honored with nine National Magazine Awards, including four awards in 2020 and the top prize for General Excellence in 2019. Goldberg spoke to the importance of determination: “Being resilient means we keep trying. We say yes to things that scare us. The WLB panel highlighted the importance of confidence and individuality. We don’t give up — we show up.” In previous years, WLB has been limited to 350 people due Many people also enjoyed the Speaker Series to physical space constraints, and focused taking place in the evening because their solely on its flagship event. However, the job does not allow them to attend daytime transition to a virtual event came with events without having to take off work,” some exciting opportunities, including Clapp said. Further, Clapp explained that farther geographic reach and the three “The tickets were less expensive than our part Speaker Series. The series, which normal in-person event, but each person still occurred in the months leading up to received a giftcard to purchase breakfast that WLB, featured local business women and they can use either the morning of the event how they had to pivot in response to the or at another time. The benefit of the event COVID-19 pandemic. being virtual is that we are now able to have “We were able to expand our audience to people from all over the country attend and anywhere across the U.S. and even outside benefit from hearing our speakers advice on of the U.S. for non-resident members. how to lead confidently.”
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