Feminist Work

It dawned on me in the shower the other day that all of my professional jobs have been at institutions with feminist (in some way) origins. Yes, I do all my thinking in the shower. Because I am A. alone and B. awake when I am there.

Anyway...In college, I interned at Women Strike for Peace - which was born out of a group of mom activists for peace and against nuclear proliferation. After grad school, I worked at SafePlace, a center for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Then I went to work at my alma mater, Sarah Lawrence, an institution that pioneered progressive education for women. And now I work for the Nested Ps, where we talk about women's rights each and every day. (For the record, I've also been paid to work at ESPN, Subway, various temp agencies - with one assignment to a defense contractor - now THAT was interesting!, a frame shop, and Tesoros - from whence came any Peruvian folk art you bought here in the US.)

And what do all these place have in common other than feminism? At each of these places I had amazing female bosses. I seriously have never had a bad boss in my entire career so far. And I hope to never have one. Or be one. I've had mentiors, friends, teachers, challengers and role models. How amazing is that? I can't say these places didn't have some crazy ass people working in them, or that a feminist organization is automatically a healthy and functional workplace. But I have been oh so lucky.

And now that I am a boss, and have almost 2 years of bossing experience, I am finally feeling confident enough in supervising to begin thinking abut how I can be an amazing boss too... Good thing I have had such great models!