3rd Annual Empowerment Brunch: opportunity and amplification

The Baobab Society and USA (with a little help from the ESF Women's Caucus) hosted the 3rd

Annual EMPOWERMENT BRUNCH on November 12, 2017.  Elissa Johnson, Food Science (SU) keynoted (food is a social justice issue); panel with Dr. Rebecca Gardner, Upstate; Dr. Marie-Odile Fortier, ESF-FNRM; Dr. Malika Carter, ESF; and Jason Bonet, an undergrad in Conservation Biology.  Laura Crandall was presented an award for (among other things) her work empowering students through the Leadership Training series. 

Take home messages from keynote and panel: mentor matter; sheer representation is not enough, need to think about systemic change; those with privilege can amplify the voices of those without.  Empowerment comes from within but also from community, equal treatment and opportunity—including assumptions about income potential, transformative power sharing. language matters.  Choose battles.

Baobab members also used “conversation mapping” for everyone to weigh in on questions like “What is Empowerment”, “How can men be allies”, “how to encourage women to pursue STEM”, “how to encourage women of color to pursue STEM.”  Participants were encouraged to write responses, and star those that resonated.  Baobab members then shared some of them, including:  allies can listen and give credit, and empower coworkers so they aren’t overburdened with the “representation” tasks; mentors share stories of success and failure, media shows science as elitist and inaccessible so we are challenged to make it relevant; acknowledge women’s contributions to STEM, don’t sexualize nerdiness, build better pathways for girls providing quality education preK on up. Images are available at:  https://www.instagram.com/p/BbaBD8QB7_Y/?taken-by=thebaobabsociety