March 2020 - Electric Ladies

Driving Medical Innovation – Dr. Maria Freire, President, the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health

As COVID-19 spreads across the world and every country is aching for treatments and vaccines to stop it, listen to Joan’s conversation with a remarkable innovator tackling some of the toughest medical challenges. Dr. Maria Freire is President of the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and she developed a unique structure for expediting medical innovations. What can we learn from her? This interview was conducted before the coronavirus pandemic but Dr. Freire’s methodology is relevant to address it.

Managing Creativity – Deborah Rutter, President, John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts

As we cope with complete upheaval in our lives and work due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s time to step back, take a breath, and find creative ways forward.
Some of us are naturally creative, others of us are managers and leaders, needing to elicit and nurture creative ideas from our teams. But how? Listen to this enlightening and inspiring conversation between Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson and a master at doing this: Deborah Rutter, President of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for The Performing Arts, the nation’s premier arts center.

Lessons From Coronavirus For Future Climate Change Public Health Crises

Climate scientists have been warning us that, “Climate change carries a threat to human health and health care systems in the coming decades,” as ATS journal (of The American Thoracic Society) reported. I am not saying – and have not heard – that there is any association between the current novel coronavirus and climate change. However, this outbreak and how we manage it does provide lessons for how we ought to prepare for and manage any potential increase in infectious diseases that scientists predict will come with the extreme weather events, droughts and other environmental ecosystem changes brought on by climate change.

‘From Dowdy To Dazzling’ – Lessons For Women Today From The Suffragists

As we embark on a crucial presidential election, today, women voters are the largest single voting bloc, but, as most of us know, that right to vote was a hard-fought battle 100 years ago. That is, ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
To commemorate that centennial, this Women’s History Month, I sat down with one of the foremost chroniclers of the suffrage movement, Brooke Kroeger, to tell us how it happened and glean lessons for women today.

Strategies for Women’s Rights – Brooke Kroeger, Professor, Author, ‘The Suffragents”

As we embark on a crucial presidential election this year, women voters are the largest single voting bloc, but, that right was a hard-fought battle until passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Brooke Kroeger, NYU. To commemorate it, listen to my fascinating interview with one of the foremost chroniclers of the suffrage movement, Brooke Kroeger, including lessons for today. She is an NYU journalism professor, author of several books, including “The Suffragents: How Women Used Men To Get The Vote,” creator of SuffrageandtheMedia.org, and a former top journalist. Including lessons for women today.

The seeds of #MeToo started growing 100 years ago Opinion by Lori Harrison-Kahan

In their book “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement,” journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey detail how their reporting on the Harvey Weinstein case inspired women across the country to come forward with their own stories.
Lori Harrison-Kahan
But while the hashtag that originated with activist Tarana Burke went viral after Kantor, Twohey and Ronan Farrow exposed the sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, #MeToo as an idea isn’t new. Kantor and Twohey are part of a long tradition of women journalists whose work has fueled feminist movements, particularly by shedding light on the obstacles, indignities, and violence women face in the workplace.
The symbiosis between journalism and women’s activism dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a significant cohort of women entered the newspaper industry. Elizabeth Jordan, for example, began her career writing for the Chicago Tribune and the New York World in the 1880s and 1890s, eventually working her way up to the editorship of Harper’s Bazar (as it was then spelled).