New Blog Series: Engaging Notable Women

The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island is excited to announce a new blog series, “Engaging Notable Women.”

Around the state of Rhode Island and across various industries, women are accomplishing incredible feats and making waves to create social change and achieve gender equality, equity, and justice. And we want to celebrate their work!

As a volunteer blogger, communications committee member, and recent graduate from Brown University’s MPA program I will be interviewing women in office, women working in the nonprofit sector, entrepreneurs, educators, engaged students, advocates, lawyers, and many others You can look forward to reading about what these game-changers have to say on topics including domestic violence, the fight for fifteen, disability rights, economic independence, LGBT politics, and much more.

Stay tuned for each month’s release as we celebrate leaders, activists, and progressive thinkers doing BIG things in little Rhody.

To nominate an individual to be interviewed for this series, please send a note to info@wfri.org with the following information: name, credentials, title/position and organization, along with a quick introduction to the nature of their work and a brief summary on why you’d like to nominate them.

To give you an idea of what you’ll see here, I’ll leave you with my own answer to one of the questions we’ll be asking our upcoming guests.

Do you have any favorite quotes related to justice for women?

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

I am sure that I am not alone in saying that this 1976 gem by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is one of my favorite quotes, but the cliché favoritism doesn’t deter me. I think this quote is powerful and I still remember the day I first read it. I was absolutely, remarkably, and pleasantly dumbfounded. The words and the meaning struck a chord inside of me that in an instant helped me make sense of so much in my life.

The truncated backstory here is that I’ve often been called a boat-rocker or stubborn, or told that my standards are too high. And when I was a young, ambitious woman hearing this from authoritative figures during orientation in college, and then again at my first full-time job post-college, it felt—as intended—condemning. Despite having learned about women’s rights and attending leadership retreats, such as one to suffragette Susan B. Anthony’s house at this time, I couldn’t help but contemplate on how I could better comply. I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong, and why it was so hard for me to just accept the status quo. This quote changed those guilty feelings to ones of pride. Forty-two years after its first appearance, this quote makes me feel armored as I envision all the women before me that have made waves, stood their ground, and changed the course of history, science, aviation, literature, legislation, education, and so on. It is a philosophical anchor, one upon which today’s thundering anti-sexist, mansplaining, glass-shattering voice is projected.

*This piece was written for the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and partially featured in the October Newsletter “A Moment or a Movement?”

Blog Entry Thumbnail Photo Credit: Daiga Ellaby

Author Bio: Krystal is a volunteer with the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. She holds two master's degrees in Public Health and Public Affairs both from Brown University. She has a myriad of diverse aptitudes and experience in international and domestic health care, policy and nonprofit management but has a particular passion for accessibility and advocating for equity, justice, inclusion, and celebration of marginalized persons.