Women’s History Month

Hi Everybody! Jody Ann Johnson here with the 74th episode of “Coffee with Jody”. And in this video, we’ll be talking about Women’s History Month here in the U.S and we also have International Women’s Day, which is March 8th about the contributions women have made. All those who came before us in important areas of life along with some of the ones that are here with us today who are role models and

“How we can be role models for the next generation?”

Some of the women that I was intrigued with when I was growing up were Golda Meir, who at the time was the Prime Minister of Israel. I don’t know anything about her politics, but I just remember being struck that she was the Prime Minister of a country like, WOW. I also was thinking of Margaret Thatcher, who was the Prime Minister in England at that time. 

There were not a lot of women role models in very high, powerful places when I was growing up that I was aware of anyway.  But there were a few that I heard about like Susan B. Anthony, who fought for our right as women to vote and it hasn’t really been that long, like maybe a hundred years that we’ve had the right to vote. Also Rosa Parks and her contribution to the civil rights movement, Katharine Graham, who was the first person to run a company Fortune 500, company. These women actually shattered what we call the glass ceiling for women.  

Now, personally, for me, I never really felt that I was held back as a woman. I don’t recall that experience. Maybe I was, maybe I didn’t have the same pay as the men in my profession in nursing. Maybe there were chances for me to advance that were kept from me, and if there were I wasn’t aware of it. However I know it is very real for many women.  

Today when we look around, you see somebody like Sarah Blakely, and you know what she’s done with Spanx and then from there onto her philanthropic efforts. Or Sheryl Sandberg and what she’s been able to do. Ellen DeGeneres, who is huge in LGBTQ+ rights movement.  

One of the women in my research that I found most intriguing was the story of Katherine Johnson, who worked at NASA. She worked on the Apollo 13 moon mission and a number of other projects, but most famously for that.  Which by the way was the basis of the movie “Hidden Figures” and what she was able to accomplish including receiving the Presidential medal of freedom, the congressional gold medal of honor, I mean, on and on for her contributions to space, you know, a smart, smart woman.  

Most recently here in Miami, we have our first female Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava. She’s also our first Jewish Mayor, a great, smart, loving, and capable person. And why not? Why not?  

The contributions that women make and this is not about male bashing, but the contributions that women make tend to be more holistic, they tend to be more relational, they tend to be more consequential in their thinking than the straight bottom line that men are most famously known for. It’s a stereotype, but we do see evidence of the difference in the way that women lead.  

So this month, the videos will be focusing on women, their contributions, and looking at how we as women can make it better for the next generation and the generation after that and their opportunities and possibilities in our world.  

If you got inspired from this video, please like it, share it and subscribe to my YouTube channel, where there’s all kinds of different ideas on employee engagement, on profiling, on different business opportunities and techniques. I’d love it if you subscribe to the channel. 

That’s it for today. Bye for now!