Women Leaders in Education Reflect on the Past Year

A Women’s Fellowship Breakfast was hosted by the Education Research & Development Institute (ERDI) and the President and CEO, Jennifer Ferrari, in Chicago on July 10th. The breakfast was sponsored by Lisa Schmucki, Founder and CEO of edWeb.net, and co-hosted with Kathy Hurley, President of Kathy Hurley Consulting, and Marilyn Schutz, President of Big Deal Media. 

Women's Fellowship Breakfast

What are some of the things that helped us survive the past year with the coronavirus? The Education Research & Development Institute (ERDI) hosted a Women’s Fellowship Breakfast for 50 women leaders in education, mostly school district administrators, plus education industry leaders. We spent time reflecting on the things that helped us get through this past year of chaos and crisis. Some of us were gathering in person for the first time in a very long time, and the mood was joyful and thankful, and that was reflected in comments we gathered from the guests.

We didn’t have time at the breakfast for everyone to share their thoughts individually, but we had each table sum up what helped them the most this past year and attendees shouted out wine, medication, faith, their colleagues, and their students! 

During the breakfast, we asked the women to write down what helped them the most professionally, personally, and emotionally. We collected all the notes. There were many common themes and so many activities mentioned that helped.

  • Almost everyone mentioned support from family and friends.
  • Others found relief in opposing activities like turning on the TV or turning it off.
  • There were lots of new practices from gratitude to fishing to mixology.
  • We could not have survived without Zoom and FaceTime whether it was connecting with friends, family, and colleagues; seeing grandchildren; taking courses and webinars; or having happy hours.

There was so much gratitude expressed for family, friends, colleagues, mentors, women, faith, and more. There were so many practices and routines that clearly required attention, thoughtfulness, and consistency. Education leaders are very resourceful and showed great agency and collaboration to survive the past year. There is also a sense that education leaders had more time, even amidst the chaos, and it was used to deepen relationships, learn new things, and take on challenges.

As I read through all of the comments by these amazing education leaders, the last comment I came to seemed to sum up this past year so well, “Loss leading to opportunities I never would have come across.”

The answers below provide a great checklist of what can help you survive a pandemic!

What helped you the most professionally?

  • Being honest and transparent
  • Building tech skills
  • Cabinet team
  • Can-do spirit
  • Candid conversations with ed leaders
  • Co-workers
  • Collaboration
  • Collaborative and innovative colleagues
  • Courage to step away from a comfortable career path into a more challenging role
  • Design work
  • Fellow superintendents
  • Flexible and supportive team
  • Friends
  • God
  • Immense collaboration
  • Innovative viewpoints at work
  • Keeping in touch with past colleagues
  • Learning from others
  • Learning high productivity via Zoom, MS Teams, Webex
  • Learning new skills on Zoom
  • Loss of a job leading to a new opportunity
  • Meeting new people on webinars
  • Mentorships
  • Networking
  • New job
  • New job that was challenging but had great team support
  • Online courses
  • Online trainings and webinars
  • Opportunities to continue learning
  • Other women, especially my boss
  • Partners and vendors who provided free access to programs
  • Plugging into new channels
  • Podcasts
  • Professional development opportunities and mentors
  • Starting a podcast
  • Starting my own company
  • Staying calm during chaos
  • Staying connected virtually
  • Sticking to my values
  • Strong network of women
  • Structured gratitude practice with leadership team
  • Supportive family
  • Supportive team that doesn’t quit despite challenges
  • Supportive work family
  • Supportive, committed team
  • Taking time to learn about leadership, equity, trauma, negotiation
  • Women mentors
  • Working collaboratively across districts
  • Working remotely and staying connected
  • Zooms

Women's Fellowship Breakfast

What helped you the most personally?

  • Affirming meetings via Zoom
  • Alcohol
  • Better relationships with my daughters
  • Binge watching TV series
  • Buying a fishing kayak
  • Calls with friends and family
  • Connecting with friends
  • Cooking with my children
  • Exercise
  • FaceTime with long lost friends
  • Faith in God
  • Family
  • Fostering dogs
  • Gardening
  • Getting 6 – 8 hours sleep
  • God
  • Good friends
  • Happy hour Zooms
  • Health
  • Help from my mom and sister with our kids
  • Home gym
  • Joys of shared time
  • Keeping to a routine
  • Learning new skills – art and calligraphy
  • Less pressure to travel
  • Loss leads to opportunities I would never have come across
  • Making fun new cocktails with my husband
  • Meals around the table
  • Mentorship
  • Mindset that believes everything will be ok
  • Mixology
  • Moral imperative, purpose
  • Motivational books
  • My children’s resilience
  • My faith and prayer
  • My girlfriends
  • Nature
  • Normal routines
  • Ongoing contact with groups of friends
  • Owning a dog
  • Pandemic puppy
  • Peloton
  • Phone calls with mom
  • Prayer
  • Quality time with family
  • Reaching out to others
  • Reading
  • Reconnecting with children, husband, family
  • Seeing the bigger picture
  • Setting aside time for myself, my children, and husband
  • Slowing down to spend more time with family
  • Social media group
  • Students
  • Support of family
  • Supportive network of family and friends
  • Supportive team
  • Taking walks
  • The DOLS
  • Time for self-care
  • Time to read and refresh each morning
  • Turning off social media and TV
  • Walking and listening to audiobooks
  • Wine
  • Yoga
  • Zooming with friends

Women's Fellowship Breakfast

What helped you the most emotionally?

  • Amazing colleagues
  • Calls with friends
  • Calm app
  • Coffee
  • Colleagues
  • Consistent self-care
  • Coworkers
  • Cross-country skiing
  • Exercise
  • FaceTime
  • FaceTime with grandkids
  • Family
  • Family dogs
  • Family drives
  • Fellowship
  • Fishing
  • Food
  • Friends
  • Friends who are like family
  • Game nights
  • Getting fresh air
  • Giving to a food bank
  • God
  • Good sleep
  • Gratitude
  • Having a goal
  • Healthy meals
  • Hikes
  • Journaling
  • Keeping in touch with family and friends via phone calls and Zoom
  • Knowing you’re not alone
  • Leadership
  • Making time for self-care
  • Massages
  • Medication
  • Mindfulness
  • More time with my husband
  • My kids
  • My newborn son
  • Nature
  • Nature walks
  • Outdoor activities with children
  • Peloton
  • Podcasts
  • Practicing gratitude
  • Prayer
  • Quiet time
  • Reconnecting with people
  • Remembering I can only control certain things
  • Running
  • Self-talk
  • Splurging on really good wine
  • Staying centered
  • Supportive husband
  • Time with grandbaby
  • Together time
  • Walks
  • Weekly walks with my best friend
  • Wine
  • Zoom happy hours

The Women’s Fellowship Breakfast was hosted by the Education Research & Development Institute (ERDI) and the President and CEO, Jennifer Ferrari, in Chicago on July 10th. The breakfast was sponsored by Lisa Schmucki, Founder and CEO of edWeb.net, and co-hosted with Kathy Hurley, President of Kathy Hurley Consulting, and Marilyn Schutz, President of Big Deal Media.