This month, WPLN hosted our State Partner Retreat in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. It was wonderful to reunite with women leaders from across the country and listen to their inspiring stories.
Our annual State Partner Retreat is an opportunity for us to bring together the women leaders from across the country running our State Partner organizations, as well as our supporters to hear about the current challenges and successful practices they are seeing in their states. Our State Partner Network of state-based, nonprofit organizations is doing the work on the ground to build a pipeline of diverse, effective public leaders. Learn more about our State Partner Network.
On Friday, July 15, we kicked off our retreat with our Leadership Dinner, featuring a conversation between WPLN partner Veterans Campaign Executive Director Seth Lynn and Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears. We were honored to be joined by Lt. Governor Sears, the first woman of color elected statewide in Virginia's history.
The Lt. Governor shared her story, approach to leadership, and advice for the next generation. We appreciated the opportunity to learn from Lt. Governor Sears’ experience, and the conversation was one of the highlights from the weekend!
HBW Resources Senior Director of Media and Communications Kristin Marcell introducing Lt. Governor Sears. HBW was one of our sponsors for the event, and Kristin is running for Pennsylvania’s 178th Legislative District.
Lt. Governor Sears on the stage!
"When I ran, I was trying to give people hope... That's what I would say to you, paint the picture of what you want the voters to see." — Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears
Felicia Kalan (candidate for New York City Council District 22 and Co-Founder of Gotham Rising); Maureen McInerney (WPLN Director of Deveopment); Lt. Governor Winsome Sears; Julianne Condrey (Lt. Governor Sears’ Chief of Staff and Founder of WPLN training partner Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition); and Jennifer Churchfield (Chair of WPLN training partner Colorado Women’s Alliance Foundation)
Mercedes Blackwood (WPLN Director of Strategic Impact); Maureen McInerney (WPLN Director of Deveopment); Julianne Condrey (Lt. Governor Sears’ Chief of Staff and Founder of WPLN training partner Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition); Renee Amar (Executive Director of WPLN training partner Louisiana Women Lead); and Cheryl Tolbert (Chair of the Board of Directors for Louisiana Women Lead)
June Cutter (former president of WPLN training partner California Women’s Leadership Association); Julianne Condrey (Lt. Governor Sears’ Chief of Staff and Founder of WPLN training partner Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition); Lt. Governor Winsome Sears; Meghan Stringer; and Bobbie Daniel (candidate for Mesa County Commissioner District 2 and Chair of WPLN training partner Colorado Women’s Alliance)
Ashley Mae Hunt (Founder of IA Strategies)
Amy Kroll (Founder and Executive Director of WPLN training partner LBJ Women's Campaign School) and Molly Quirk (LBJ Advisory Board Member and mayor of San Leanna, TX) with Karen Owen (Founder of WPLN training partner VoteHer Georgia) and Amanda Iovino (Executive Director of Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition)
Jennifer Churchfield (Chair of WPLN training partner Colorado Women’s Alliance Foundation); Dawn Crandall (CEO and Founder of WPLN training partner She Holds the Key MI); Maralyn Beck (Founder of New Mexico Child First Network); and Jill Michel (Board Member of New Mexico Child First Network)
Liz Arnold (Founder of WPLN training partner Nevada Women’s Leadership Alliance) and Joni Inman (Executive Director of WPLN training partner Colorado Women’s Alliance)
Emily Lewis (Programs Assistant at WPLN training partner Virginia Conservative Women's Coalition); Karen Owen (Founder of WPLN training partner VoteHer Georgia); Julianne Condrey (Lt. Governor Sears’ Chief of Staff and Founder of WPLN training partner Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition) and Amanda Iovino (Executive Director of Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition)
On Saturday, July 16, we held sessions on several issues necessary for any campaign and candidate, including sessions on Fundraising and Pitch from Aaron Brown of American Philanthropic; on Outreach, Growth and Marketing from WPLN Director of Communications Sunita Theiss; and on Digital Security from Erica Arbetter of Google. Thank you to all of our state partners and special guests for such a powerful weekend!
WPLN Director of Development Maureen McInerney and WPLN Director of Communications Sunita Theiss leading a session.
Taking diligent notes on learnings!
From taking notes to taking photos, our state partners wanted to capture it all.
Julianne Condrey (Lt. Governor Sears’ Chief of Staff and Founder of WPLN training partner Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition) with WPLN President and Co-Founder Larissa Martinez
At our WPLN inaugural summit in February, Julianne was the recipient of our WPLN Architect of Society Award. Julianne was unable to join us in person in February, so we were proud to honor her in person during our retreat!
To see even more photos from the weekend, click here for our Facebook group. (If you're not a member of our Facebook group, click here to join!) Everyone enjoyed the chance to connect with so many women leaders -- and that's more than evident in the photos!
Lastly, thank you to our sponsors for making this weekend possible (HBW Resources, LLC; Sarver Strategies; Texas Star Alliance; Majority Strategies; Dirigo Partners; Advantage Capital; ReflectUS; and University of San Francisco | MA in Public Leadership) and to our annual sponsors (Google, the American Petroleum Institute, and Hess Corporation). We are so grateful for your support!
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Our network of nonprofit partners in 11 states (and counting!) offer women critical resources on the ground. These organizations are run by women who are working in higher education, government affairs, polling, and more who lend their practical knowledge and networks to this effort.
Click here to view our state resources and see if we have a State Partner in your state!
Don’t see a partner organization in your state? If you’d like your organization to be considered as a State Partner or you’d be interested in creating a new organization in your state, please contact us at hello@womenspublicleadership.net.
