Recently, I was in a conversation with the women from my gym. The question came up, “Who is more of a badass, Wonder Woman or General Antiope, the woman who trained her?” Most of the women in this conversation said “Wonder Woman”. You’d be surprised to hear that I said Antiope. Yes, Wonder Woman had the skills and the talent within her to become Wonder Woman, but she needed another strong woman to bring those skills out of her. She needed someone to teach her how to use those skills.
Last night, I attended Emerge Wisconsin’s 10-year anniversary celebration. Emerge trains Democratic women to run for office. It was an inspiring night. There were so many alumnae present, most of who would tell you that if it wasn’t for Emerge, they wouldn’t have run for office.
To me, the alumnae of Emerge are Wonder Woman. They have the talent to run for office. They have it within them to take on the boys club and run, even when others say to “wait their turn”. Many alumnae did not wait their turn. They used their training to run for Village Board all the way up to Congress. Utilizing their Emerge training, alumnae are serving at all levels of state and local government. One day, we will see an alumnae in statewide office and in Congress.
Emerge Wisconsin is General Antiope. These women had the ability within them to run. Emerge helped them bring it out. Emerge taught these women how to use their skills to the best of their ability. It is because Emerge recruited and trained these women that they run and serve and are Wonder Women.
If you watched the Wonder Woman movie, you know that Antiope did not train Wonder Woman (Diana) on her own. She had a team of other Amazons who sparred with Diana to help her become the strong and mighty Wonder Woman.
You can also be part of the team to train and support the Emerge Wonder Women. There are two ways you can be part of this team:
First, recommend a woman to Emerge Wisconsin. While applications are closed for 2017 part 2, you can get a woman on the list for 2018!
Second, you can donate to Emerge Wisconsin. There has such an amazing amount of interest from women who want to run for office, Emerge is training a second cohort this year. It takes a lot of resources to make sure these future Wonder Women are ready to run. Please consider making a donation of any size to Emerge Wisconsin. Every little bit will help build this team of Wonder Women who will go on to serve and use their powers for good.
Full Disclosure: I served as Executive Director of Emerge Wisconsin from 2010 to 2014.
Recent Comments