Breaking Down Barriers & Biases🚦Ain’t No Stopping Us

The Friday Power Lunch will focus on the barriers, challenges, and opportunities women experience in the workplace, especially in the political world.

We are inspired every day by women leading the way. Their grit and determination opened doors to have a seat at the table in the most challenging environments. Many women have broken down barriers but here’s a short list of women inspiring us and making history today: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Kamala Harris, Margaret Morrison (Member of the Friday Power Lunch community and lifelong civil rights activist), E. Jean Carroll (author and advice columnist who won two related defamation suits against Trump), Norma Anderson (the 91-year-old former Republican state lawmaker whose case (Trump v. Anderson) to have Trump taken off the Colorado ballot went to the Supreme Court), and the largest group of women in history to serve in the Virginia General Assembly.

Join us for our conversation with:

• Amy Diehl, information technology leader and gender equity researcher, will talk about her new book, Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work. Amy will help us understand gender bias and the barriers that are like glass walls limiting women’s potential. She will also present practical solutions for leaders, workplace allies, and individual women.
• Lynlee Thorne, Political Director of Rural GroundGame, will discuss the barriers faced by rural candidates.
• Karen Baker, Democratic candidate in Virginia’s 9th Congressional District, a rural district in southwestern Virginia, will speak about women in rural areas who face the usual barriers and gender biases that come with running for office but also prejudice related to geography.
• Delegate Vivian Watts, the longest-serving woman in the Virginia House of Delegates will talk about the strides women have made in elected office.