Meeting Geena Davis

This past Friday I was had the privilege of attending the welcome dinner and reception of the Minnesota Go Run Political Leadership Training conference. I was there on behalf of Planned Parenthood, where I'm interning this summer in the Public Affairs department. The woman I work with there thought this might be a good first assignment for me. Little did I know the evening would involve a brush with fame too!

This weekend-long leadership training event was sponsored by the White House Project, a national, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization which aims to advance womens leadership in all communities and sectors, up to the U.S. Presidency (hence the name of the organization.) They strive to support women and the issues that allow women to lead in their own lives and in the world (hence why I was there with Planned Parenthood.)

At first the evening seemed like a typical conference welcome reception: cocktail hour in the lobby, opening remarks from the organizer, a musical performance by a local singer/songwriter, and buffet dinner followed by keynote speaker.

Except the keynote speaker was Geena Davis.

In a way, she is a logical choice. Not just because she is a celebrity and plays the President on TV, but because she embraces the role so whole-heartedly and actively supports the advancement of women into leadership positions. The character she portrays is fictional of course, but it is just real enough to make us take pause. That moment in one of the early episodes, when she walked around the oval office alone for the first time, truly realizing I am the first female president of the United States inspired awe and sent chills down my spine.

Hopefully the moment will come that some woman will have those thoughts in the real oval office, not in the TV set version. Fulfilling that goal is what the White House Project and the weekend training was all about.

The rest of the conversation between Ms. Davis and Marie Wilson, the President of the White House Project, was entertaining and inspirational, covering a whole range of topics, from why women dont run for office, becoming comfortable being in positions of authority, and learning to reframe questions to finding the courage to lead and trying to explain why it has taken this long to get a woman to the White House. (To which my favorite response was because we dont have the political will to be a democracy.)

After dinner we adjourned to the piano bar for desserts and a reception of Minnesota womens, cultural and political organizations. There I was, doing my thing handing out literature and signing people up for Planned Parenthoods email list, when here comes Geena Davis stopping by my table while making the rounds. I was really impressed that she stuck around after her required commitment of the dinner discussion to talk to ordinary local women about their issues, their goals, what office theyre running for or which organization they represent. She is truly a lovely, articulate and gracious woman- who now has a Stand Up for Choice! sticker from me! If only I'd had my camera...

Now if only all my weekends could start out like that!
Click here to read more...