It’s a little blurry, angry, hurty and smudged with lotion, but here is a first look at my tattoo, forever found on my upper back. The design is based off of The Last Unicorn, which I think is pretty awesome.

Previous to this life of craft and writing, I was employed in the non-profit environmental sector. Shortly after moving to the city, I became involved in a group called EcoWomen.

Their main function was an “EcoHour” where top women in the environmental and conservation field came and talked and shared their career paths. What an inspiring time this turned out to be! Not only did you get to hear from Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post, and Maude Barlow, the author of Blue Gold, but the very first speaker of EcoWomen was Alisa Gravitz the Executive Director of Co-op America.

The point to the organization is to foster a community of women in the environmental and conservation field. Attendees at these monthly events spanned every sector that touched on the field: non-profits, government, agency, private sector. It reiterated that the field was large and very diverse and also how very male dominated it still was.

In my experience, the environmental field is very male in the upper echelons of organizations. Yes, speakers at EcoWomen included the likes of Rebecca Wodder, Jamie Rappaport Clark, and Margie Brand, but they are exceptions to the rule. Women dominate entry level and mid-management in this field. When I first started it was an internal joke in my office about the lack of male colleagues, when woman after woman was hired into entry level positions. But it wasn’t so funny when I saw my fellow female colleagues passed over for promotion or have to fight harder for it, again and again.

The environmental community is still an ol’ boys club. Only seven out of 29 members of the Green Group, a loose coalition of organizations concerned with the environment, have women as CEOs/Executive Directors. It is a striking contrast to all that women have done to advance the environmental movement. Just look at Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai, to name a few.

I’m not saying this to discredit anything that these women have done for the movement, because they all have done so much, and have amazing stories to tell. It is another reason that EcoWomen was formed, to honor and learn from those that have come before us and to learn of other women that we might not have heard of like Jessy Tolkan or Bettina Poirier, who are leading the charge now. Women and the environment have come a long way and it’s just that sometimes I feel there is still a ways to go.

That is one of the reasons why I became involved in the “behind the scenes” of EcoWomen not long after moving to D.C., and this year I have taken on the role of Chair of the Executive Board of DC EcoWomen.

As with most job searches, it isn’t necessarily about what you know, but who you know and EcoWomen is a great place to network, collaborate and make contacts in a field that is fast growing and in need of some gender diversity. It is about empowering a community to make change and help those who have been advocating on behalf of the environment to have a seat at the table.

On June 23rd, EcoWomen will be celebrating their fifth year in existence. We are honored to have Lois Gibbs, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, as our keynote speaker for the evening. Lois has an amazing and very inspiring environmental story. She was the lead community activist that fought the infamous “Love Canal.”

Not only will we be inspired by Lois, but we will also hear from a couple of the founders of EcoWomen, all in the lovely setting of the U.S. Botanical Gardens.

So be prepared to be inspired and reflect on where women and the environment are today and explore why you are an EcoWomen. Nosh on great food provided by Main Event Caterers (a very green company) and network with those in the environmental and conservation field. All are welcome.

To buy tickets please visit: www.ecowomen.org/fiveyear.htm

I hope to see you there.

Dear Blog,

Please accept my apologies for my constant neglect and the broken promises of updates and content. I know I don’t treat you as well as the other blogs that I write for. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me as I will hopefully find more time in my schedule to treat you like the real blog that you are.

xoxo,
Kelly

[Image by The Master Shake under a Creative Commons license]

I had an interesting conversation with Matt from greenUPGRADER last week. On doing some research on a topic, he happened upon a line in my bio that’s floating around on these here internets. The one where I proclaim that handmade will save the world.

It’s something that, to be honest I haven’t put a whole lot of thought into. It’s not a fully developed thought and while talking with Matt, I realized that there is a lot to think about, but I had a lot of opinions on it too. And while I don’t have a solid thesis to go off of, it’s something that I believe in 100%. Completely and absolutely, hence the line in my bio.

Sounds crazy right?

Well over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to fully explore this here belief of mine and outline for you why I know that handmade will save the world. And be on the lookout for an article from Matt on the same subject.

Perhaps at the end of the discussion, I’ll have converted you as well.

I had to make a very tough call the other day. I had an interview scheduled for the evening of the 30th for a job that I have been waiting to move forward on for a long time. That morning, I woke up with a tremendous head cold. My sinuses were filled, ripe with pressure, and my head was pounding.

I had a tough decision to make. Should I keep my interview and show up sick or try and reschedule?

Both options have their pros and cons and it seems like an even worse position to be in because of the economic climate.

If I kept my appointment I would have shown up sick, hurting and barely able to form complete sentences. But I could have put forth the perception that I can over come small obstacles like sickness and “buck up;” that I can do whatever to get the job done.

If I rescheduled my appointment I could have looked weak in the eyes of the interviewers; that I can’t power through. On the flip side I could have saved myself from looking unprofessional by showing up sick and infectious and being an over all mess.

As my head continued to pound, I decided to take my chances with rescheduling. I left a rambling message explaining my situation and it took me several trys to get a coherent email with proper sentence structure out the door. I could only imagine how unimpressive I would have looked and sounded in front of a group of interviewers when answering their questions about my successes and failures.

Time will only tell if I ultimately made the right decision. I know that if I get in front of them, I’ll have a chance. And right now, that is the tricky part.