Hello everyone! We know that all of you are just as happy as we are to see the last of 2020 and turn the page into a new year! All of us at Leadership Women hope you and your families have stayed healthy and strong through the stresses of the last few months – and we all have high hopes for 2021.
I don’t think any of us believe we are out of the woods yet – many more people have yet to be vaccinated and lots of businesses are struggling to survive. We know that schools and day care centers are dealing with continued uncertainty, and the labor market may never recover from the enormous numbers of women who have dropped out of the workforce. More than 2.2 million women have left the labor force since the beginning of the pandemic – more than four times that of men. Despite the hardships of the past several months, we must all somehow find the strength and determination to ensure these setbacks are not permanent – so we need our networks more than ever!
On the positive side, we have certainly made a strong start to the year. With the Inauguration and appointment of the first female and first African American and Asian American Vice President, the vaccination effort making good progress and more financial assistance on its way – for the first time in many months it feels like there is actually hope for the future. Which leads me to an inspirational video that many have seen, emailed and posted over the last couple of weeks. While the source or owner of the video is not credited, it is a powerful message. Even if you have seen it before, it warrants watching again – it’s so uplifting. Click on Empower Women and Change The World to view.
Here at Leadership Women, we are proud and pleased that – with the guidance of our Board of Directors and support from our Sponsors and all of you – we have come through 2020, and are optimistic for this year. Being forced by these circumstances to develop our virtual programming know-how on the spot has left us in a good place to enrich our in-person programming this year. For the first time, we will be combining our 2020 and 2021 classes in our flagship Leadership Texas and Leadership America programs, as well as adding the virtual sessions to ensure every participant is able to make the most of their experience this year. We will be introducing our new “LW Legacy” program for women who are retired or want to plan for retirement and continue the LW traditions of Learning and Leading. Watch for skills training offerings and when we are able to, new networking events as well as two Pipeline programs scheduled for the year.
We miss you all and can’t wait for the ‘all clear’ so we can get together again! Watch the website and these newsletters for updates on planned events and programs – and thank you again for all of your support.
