9 minute read
The Buzz on Women’s Empowerment
CHLOE DOWNEY
As we sat down to chat, I couldn’t help but notice her silent obsession with skulls and the color jet black, as well as beaming yellow hues and the word “Bumble” on just about every surface and article of clothing. This girl is definitely not your average college student. A typical day in the life of 23-year-old Connie Rodarte includes working at the golf course in town and keeping up with classwork at Texas A&M University as a Communication major, all while managing nine Bumble Campus teams across Texas, Kentucky, and Kansas.
How did you come to be a Bumble Community Leader?
I’ve been working for Bumble within their college ambassador program, Bumble Honey, for over two years now! Originally, I joined as an ambassador for the campus team at Texas A&M and quickly fell in love with the brand and everything Bumble stood for in terms of their mission and values. My passion for Bumble’s mission of empowerment continued to grow and over this past summer, I accepted my current position as the Community Leader for the upcoming semester. When I was offered the position, I felt an immediate rush of emotions that quickly took over me—I cried, laughed, screamed, and finally announced the news to everyone close to me. This moment was exactly what I had worked for all this time. What’s great about being a part of Bumble’s ambassador program is that your work doesn’t go unnoticed and I’m so excited to continue to be a part of the Bumble team.
How has working for Bumble enhanced your college experience?
Working for Bumble has not only helped me grow professionally but also personally in my day to day life. Professionally, it has allowed me to learn and build a healthy work ethic, and gain a variety of experiences in brand marketing and interpersonal skills. Personally, Bumble has helped me grow into the empowered, strong, and confident woman I am today at 23 years old. I couldn’t have come this far without the extensive support of my entire community, including my fellow Community Leaders and the wider Bumble team who have become my best friends!
Was there a reason you chose to work for Bumble over other dating applications/sites?
Absolutely. I chose to work for Bumble because of the company’s commitment to women empowerment and its mission in helping people make safe and equitable connections.
Bumble’s initiative to only allow women to message first in a heterosexual match is unheard of in the world of dating applications. How do you think this rule allows Bumble to differentiate itself in a heavily saturated market?
Empowering women to make the first move in the context of heterosexual dating is the feature that sets Bumble apart. When Bumble launched in 2014, no other dating app required women to make the first move and it also wasn’t something that was normalized. Women have always been told to wait until a guy approaches them first when dating, but our Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd wanted to flip the traditional gender dynamics of dating by encouraging women to make the first move and go after what they want in life. Whitney believed that being the first mover would translate into other aspects
of their lives as well. In the beginning, there was a lot of skepticism around this concept and people said no woman would make the first move. Fast forward to 2020, Bumble has facilitated over a billion women-led first moves and is now the first of its kind to bring networking, friendfinding, and dating to a single platform.
Here at A-Line, we are a magazine by and for college women. Our values are kept by encouraging selfexpression and emboldening ourselves, along with those around us. Like Bumble, we’re female-founded and passionate about inspiring young women to grow. What does women empowerment look like for you?
Women empowerment is about encouraging women to be the most authentic version of themselves and to confidently go after what they truly want in life. It’s also about being able to enjoy the freedom of making your own choices and not being afraid to make the first move.
As a young college woman yourself, what has been your biggest challenge and can you describe how you grew from that experience?
The biggest challenge in college was finding what I was truly passionate about. We get so wrapped up in trying to be a perfect student that we often forget that college is also about the journey of learning who we really are and finding what we truly love.
Where do you think women empowerment is headed in the next decade?
I believe that women empowerment will become a larger movement across the globe, especially with the new generation of young women who are passionate and vocal about gender equality and inclusivity. To me, this means that we could potentially see more women leaders across different industries that are traditionally more male- dominated—such as politics, tech, businesses, or entertainment. An inspiring example of this is Kamala Harris, who is the first woman (and woman of color) to become the U.S. Vice President-elect.
With social distancing and the unexpected closure of common date locations, how has Bumble incentivized dating this year? How have your dating experiences been?
2020 has brought an unprecedented change in our lives and this extends to dating as well. With new complexities around dating due to the ongoing pandemic, we’ve been encouraging the Bumble community to leverage our virtual dating features to stay connected. In fact, we’ve seen that Bumble users are enjoying features like Video Chat and Voice Call, which allows people to make voice and video calls within the app without exchanging personal information like a phone number or an email, to get to know their matches on a deeper level during this time of social distancing. This feature was actually launched pre-pandemic in 2019, but it’s gotten popular over the course of the pandemic as it’s a way for people to go on “pre-dates” to get to know their Bumble match before deciding where to take their relationship next. Personally, I have made so many connections on Bumble across our three modes (Bumble Date, Bumble BFF, and Bumble Bizz).
Describe the perfect quarantine date.
My perfect quarantine date would be cooking the same meal with my Bumble date via the Video Chat and Voice Call feature on the app so we’re getting some face-to-face time while having a blast cooking together! Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies, which I take so much pride in. We would both get the same ingredients, our drink of choice, and go through the cooking steps together to make a delicious meal!
How do YOU make the first move?
Making the first move is taking it beyond swiping on the app. To me, this looks like making your own decisions— taking those leaps of faith, applying for that higher position at that dream company, or taking initiative in different areas of your life, whether that’s in dating, friendship, or professional networking.
After connecting over the shared experiences of finding our place in the world, it’s clear that Connie is as much of a kind, gentle soul as she is a fiery businesswoman. To open up about the challenges we face as college women—venturing out into an era where we are beginning to take the first initiative—is remarkable, and if nothing else, inspiring to both younger and older generations. The saying, “The future is female” has opened up room to question: is the future now?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, We Owe it All to You
KORTNIE FRANZEN
On September 18th, 2020, Justice Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87 from pancreatic cancer. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, otherwise known as Notorious RBG, has paved the way for women’s equality and will forever be remembered as a warrior of equal opportunity. Let’s take some time to honor her accomplishments and reflect on all of the progress she has brought about for women. Standing at only 5’1”, Ginsburg has always been a force to be reckoned with. She was one of only nine women in a class of over 500 students when she attended Harvard Law School back in 1956. While in college, her beloved husband Martin Ginsburg was diagnosed with cancer. In order to help him graduate on time, she attended his classes for him in addition to her own. She managed to juggle her own school work along with her husband’s, and the caretaking of both her sick spouse and their toddler all at once. The strength of this woman was unmatched.
Before she was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Ginsburg worked as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, otherwise known as the ACLU. This is where her fight against sex discrimination began. Here, she fought over 300 cases regarding gender discrimination and co-founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. Thanks to Ginsburg’s efforts, it is no longer required that women have a male co-signer to apply for credit cards and mortgages. Additionally, women can no longer be denied admission to state-funded schools on the basis of sex. Overall, Ginsburg worked endlessly to help women preserve their own decision-making power in regards to their reproductive rights, and so much more.
One of Ginsburg’s landmark cases that should be mentioned is the United States v. Virginia proceeding. The Virginia Military Institute, otherwise known as VMI, was a men’s state university that barred women from being admitted into the institution. The question RBG was dealing with within this case was whether this rule to omit women from admission, based on preconceived notions of what women are capable of, is validated within our Constitution or not. Ultimately, the court ruled the VMI institution as not upholding the values of the Constitution. As a result, women are now granted admission to the institution and are treated equally as cadets within VMI. This is just one example of the many successful cases driven by Ruth Ginsburg that have revolutionized the way we view gender equality today.
In 1993, former President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the Supreme Court of the United States, commemorating her as the second woman in U.S. history to take a seat. Since her appointment, Ginsburg engaged in numerous monumental cases regarding civil rights. Court cases ranging from same-sex marriage to reproductive rights, RBG has advocated for not only women’s equality, but for that of all American citizens. Through and through, she fought incredibly hard to sustain her ideals and influential presence on the Supreme Court. Even when battling colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and suffering the loss of her husband, she still managed to gather her strength and lead. What an icon.
Through life and death, Ginsburg will be forever known as a fierce pioneer for equality. From her, we have legislative certainty that women belong in the workforce, that we are capable of doing anything we set our minds to, and that our gender does not make us inferior. She has proven to us what a confident, powerful woman can truly accomplish. She has empowered women for decades and will continue to do so for decades to come. Consequently, we must carry on her legacy and continue support young girls and women in all of their endeavors. to
