"One day I realized that people valued my work based on who I was married to. I got the sense that when I showed up not married to events it was a problem, that somehow a woman by herself isn't enough of a package? But I had, and women have a role to play in national security. When there are women gathering information and talking to other women in places of conflict, then we have more information, we know more." - Payton Iheme is the public policy manager for Facebook, former White House Senior Policy Advisor for Science and Technology and a former Army Intelligence Officer.
Mindy and Sophie Germain + Cindy and Lizzie Witkow
“I want to March in DC and have the experience of being united with people who have the same thoughts and opinions that I have. We really need to show up for ourselves and also as a way to say thank you to all the people who came before us and helped gained so many of our rights. Those rights are still being questioned.” - Lizzie Witkow (Daughter) High School senior from Port Washington, NY who will be marching in DC on Saturday.
“I am going to march in D.C. because my daughter wants to march. My comfort is secondary to trying to preserve the rights to equality that women and the LGBT community are enjoying. Roe v. Wade is still being questioned. Marching may mean we aren’t able to pee for 24 hours but we are sending a bold message to the incoming administration that we matter and we are committed to one another and we are very much still here and not planning to take a step backward.” Cindy Witkow (Mother) -works in the Professional Learning Department at the Helen Keller National Center and she will be marching in D.C. on Saturday.
“Because of the times we need to change our days. By going all the way to D.C. and walking the entire day we are showing that we are willing to make a sacrifice and that we want to make change. Marching in D.C, links us to so many heroes who have marched before us. It links us to Martin Luther King Jr, Black Lives Matter, and theLGBT Marches for Gay Marriage. At the march there will be people from all over the country. There’s a hostility right now between the states and now we will put all of that aside and together say what we are going to do now.” - Sophie Germain(Daughter) is a High School senior from Port Washington and she will marching in D.C. on Saturday.
“This isn’t a protest, this is activism. I am there for the women. I am not anti-Trump. This march is about empowering people. It doesn’t matter who you voted for, you go to show your support for women.” - Mindy Germain (Mother) is the only female water commission in Port Washington, she broke her own glass ceiling and she will be marching in D.C. on Saturday.
Krishanti Vignarajah
Krishanti Vignarajah - marched in D.C. this past week-end while pregnant and carrying her soon to be born daughter. Krishanti served as the Director of Policy for Michelle Obama and launched the Let Girl's Learn campaign.
"I was born in Sri Lanka and my family and I were planning to move to Nigeria. My parents had already bought the plane tickets. And then, fortunately their green cards came through and we moved to the United States. If we had moved to Nigeria, I would have lived in the region of Boko Haram. Here, I could become anything I wanted. This made the Let Girls Learn campaign very personal for me. It helped me have the empathy and determination to be a champion of women's education."
Donna Hylton
Donna Hylton lives in Brooklyn; she was one of the speakers at the D.C. march rally.
“Once, I wasn’t able to speak up for myself but now I can. I am the voice for all women who don’t have a voice or are not allowed a voice. Next week it will be 5 years since I was released from prison. And I am going to Washington to remind people that the women in prison are just like every other woman, mother, daughter, sister. But over 90% of women who are incarcerated are also victims of sexual violence. We have to talk about women and violence. Our very humanity is on the line.”
Jennifer Lin + Cory Stieg
Cory Stieg is a writer. She participated in the Women's March in New York City. (daughter)
Jennifer Lin is a journalist and author, who participated in the march in Philadelphia. (mother)
Cory: "I made a donation to Planned Parenthood as a gift to my mother for Christmas. I thought I would be going to an inauguration. It has been a really energetic couple of months on the Internet. I want to see what transpires in person.”
Jennifer: "When I was a young woman, I wrote an article about a casino owner. The casino owner phoned my editor and called me the ‘c’ word -- which I think is the most vile and disrespectful term. And now that casino owner is going to be president. I also thought I would be going to the inauguration with my daughter. We almost had the first female president and now instead we have a misogynist."
Cybele Tamulonis + Evie B.
Cybele Tamulonis (Mother) - will be marching in NYC: "My earliest childhood memory is being pushed by my mother in a stroller through Central Park with the Bread and Puppet theater while we protested the Vietnam War. I can't believe it's 2017 and women's rights and education are being targeted. Really anything that pertains to equality will be targeted. We live in Blairstown, NJ, and this is a very conservative community. I am marching so that we can join other women and have our voices heard. I am going to ensure that Evie has full control over the rights of her body."
Evie B. age 13 (Daughter) - will be marching in NYC: "I am marching because Trump is only supporting white working males. I think he will make more hate in the world and is trying to kick people out of the country because they are different. He is possibly taking away hate crime legislation. I live in a town surrounded by very conservative Christian people. It's very stressful trying to figure out who I am in this place. I don't feel safe to explore who I really am and who I want to be."
Elizabeth Beskin + Corey Greenblatt
"Thirty years ago I attended the Pro-Choice march in Washington. The moment I heard about this march I signed up and organized a bus to D.C. I am going again to support a woman's right to choose but also because of the Affordable Care Act. My son has type 1 diabetes. He has a "pre-existing" condition. I want to hold this new president accountable and I want to scream and shout with my gay, straight and multi-racial friends and let him know we will not be silenced." - Elizabeth Beskin (Mother) is a business owner and she will be participating in the Women's March on Washington in D.C.
"I am a 24 year old type 1 diabetic. I am in public health Master's program at Columbia University and I am living at home. My current job does not give me health benefits. The Affordable Care Act allows me to have health coverage and continue to work towards my Masters degree in healthcare policy analysis. My goal is to help design healthcare policies. I am going to the march because it is the right thing to do." - Corey Greenblatt (Son) is studying to earn a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University and will be marching in D.C. on Saturday.
Jacqueline Rickard
"I plan to go to one of the Women's Marches next week. I don't want to sit at home feeling victimized because of how the election went. I want to do something positive and make sure things that I value, like a woman's right to choose and affordable health care act are upheld. I like that the marches are inclusive and a way for women to show their strength and power and effectiveness." Jacqueline Rickard is a business owner.
Jacquie McArdle
"My Dad told us we could do anything we wanted to do. My sister and I were too young to know that at that time, it wasn't really true. He raised us to think more like boys, to be independent, adventurous, and he believed in us. My sister and I took a cargo ship to Argentina when we were young, we traveled across the country alone. My Mother was aware of the danger of two girls traveling alone - and she worried about us, but my father believed we could do anything." - Jacquie McArdle is a fashion designer.
Dorie Hagler
disclaimer: I am far more comfortable on the other side of the lens and not so good at selfies.
"I really love being a woman. For one, I can do this project. I can walk up to complete strangers, ask to make their photograph and then spend 5-10 minutes listening to them share with me important and intimate events from their lives. I have two wonderful daughters and I have a meaningful career. I might feel differently about being a woman if I weren't born in the United States. If I had to get up at 4am to walk a mile to the river in order to fetch water and had little access to education, I might not love being a woman so much." - Dorie Hagler photographer/activist founder of me&EVE.
Pallavi Sastry
"Well there's the race layer as well. Indian woman are marketed to by companies selling skin lightening products, hair straighteners or in ways to make us as sexually repressed as possible so that we are pure and clean slates for our husbands. When I was a freshman in college someone told me I needed to get back to my initial shape when I entered college because, as an actor, I would be getting off the bus in New York City and competing with every other black woman for the same role. I'm not black. My first agent said to me, "I have to figure out how to market you as something other than the pretty woman who can sing." - Pallavi Sastry is a actor and filmmaker.
Megan Densmore
"I was sexually assaulted by my theatrical agent and threatened into not pressing charges. I was young, 22 years old and he manipulated me. I put myself in the wrong place at the wrong time." - Megan Densmore is an actor, filmmaker and competitive weight lifter.
Laurence
"I have always wanted to be a man and I have always been proud to be a woman. It seems simpler to be a man, you know, I have my dick and my knife and I am ready. But I always knew that there was certain power in being a woman. Women have the skills and capacity to multitask, analyze, to look at problems, measure, assess them - we can even look at anything and know what container it will fit in - we just know how to get shit done." - Laurence is a European actor and dancer.
April Greene
"My father was one of six boys. His mother kept having children because she wanted to have a girl, but she never did. Instead she dressed my father like a girl until he was 5 or 6 years old. Not sure if this is why he was so gentle. My mother was the more hand's on, no nonsense parent - she worked hard and I don't think she ever had a manicure in her life. I was less receptive to the idea of sexism and it wasn't until recently when a female friend, who is a welder, was telling me about how her boss was always trying to get her to smile or laugh at his stupid jokes to gain her approval. She just wanted to get her work done and didn't think it was her job to make the boss feel good or laugh at his jokes. I had a boss once who used to pass by my desk and tell us to smile - it was annoying." - April Greene is a writes about workplace strategy for PlastArc.
Jennifer Vandermeer
"I was three years old, in the pew at church, and I told my Father I wanted to be a Catholic priest. He told me that I couldn't be a Catholic priest because that job was only for men. That experience sort of led me on a path to question and then gain access to places where women usually aren't. I am in the tech field, I often find myself in situations and at conferences where there aren't lines at the women's bathrooms and I wonder to myself why aren't there any women here?" Jennifer van der Meer is the founder and CEO of Reason Street, whose mission it is to help companies find the right business model.
Laura Mignott
"When I first got out of Grad School I had a job and was working with this dude. His previous job was cleaning the decks of a ship. So I taught him everything I knew and then he got promoted and became my boss. I realized then that the only way I was going to be able to control the future of my career and get ahead was if I became an entrepreneur. I made a promise to myself that before I was 30 years old I would start my business. My success has a lot to do with my smile. I'm friendly, I smile and then people want to talk to me." - Laura Mignott is the co-founder and managing partner of Digitalflash and she just launched The Reset, a five star podcast sponsored by Bose.
Susana Martinez
"I grew up in Mexico and my Father worked in construction. There's a lot of machismo in Mexico and my Father didn't think I could work like a man and didn't want me or my sisters to do construction work. He also didn't want me to play sports, except for tennis." - Susana Martinez is a part time student and works as a janitor.
Tracy Mack Parker
"Being a stepmother has given me the opportunity to learn from and teach my step-children how to set the bar high. To highlight for them the potential that woman have, as well as the challenges that we face. I want them to know they need to be all in, to be dedicated, because they already have what they need to change the world." - Tracy Mack Parker, CEO, The Philanthropy Workshop.
Laurie T. Franz
"I used to feel incredibly uncomfortable on the streets . The catcalls and how men talked to me made me avoid cities. I've developed more confidence and my work makes me realize that I am more than just a girl walking down the street." - Laurie T. Franz is President of the Five Together Foundation.
Briana Payton
"My mother is my role model. And since I am a woman, I can model my life and my character based on her example." - Briana Payton is a Truman Scholar studying Sociology at Princeton University. Briana attended the Truman Foundation's 4oth Anniversary Party at Gracie Mansion earlier this month.