Speaker 1: Hi. This is Malayan Vervier and this is Kim Azarelli.
Speaker 1: We are co authors of the book Fast Forward, How
Speaker 1: Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose. And you're listening to
Speaker 1: Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose, brought to you
Speaker 1: by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the special edition. During these difficult times, we're
Speaker 1: talking to experts who can help us gain perspective on
Speaker 1: the impact coronavirus as well as share tips, resources and
Speaker 1: some much needed inspiration. Today I'm joined by Elie Nelson.
Speaker 1: Elice is the co founder of Vital Voices and the
Speaker 1: current president and CEO of the Vital Voices Global Partnership. Alice,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having
Speaker 1: me our pleasure. So for our listeners who don't know
Speaker 1: which I hope is none, what is Vital Voices and
Speaker 1: who does the organization work with sor so? We were
Speaker 1: founded on a very simple idea that no country, no community,
Speaker 1: no corporation can move ahead if pass the population women,
Speaker 1: girls are left behind. And what we do today has
Speaker 1: really evolved with women leaders as we have evolved over
Speaker 1: the last twenty three years that we've been in existence.
Speaker 1: What we do now is we search the world for
Speaker 1: women who have a daring vision for change, and we
Speaker 1: invest in her through training, mentoring, and network of her peers,
Speaker 1: financial support, visibility and credibility so that she can take
Speaker 1: that vision of hers to scale. And I think what
Speaker 1: we do is is quite frankly, quite different because we're
Speaker 1: not going into a community and saying, you know, we
Speaker 1: we know the answers to the problems in Afghanistan right
Speaker 1: from the United States. We find the leaders who are
Speaker 1: doing it. We find the leaders who are maybe combating
Speaker 1: human rights bolence against women. We final leaders who are uh,
Speaker 1: you know, making policy change and running for political office,
Speaker 1: uh and changing the game. We support leaders for social entrepreneurs,
Speaker 1: developing businesses to solve climate change and other inequities and communities.
Speaker 1: We're absolutely supporting women on the stiflines change and today
Speaker 1: we support eighteen thousand women across the hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: two countries. But I think what's so beautiful about the
Speaker 1: organization is that these women stay connected to us, so
Speaker 1: it's not a one off investment or opportunity. It is
Speaker 1: something that is a lifelong investment in these women's leaderships.
Speaker 1: Sounds like an incredibly powerful model. And obviously I've been
Speaker 1: involved with you for for many, many years, and I've
Speaker 1: seen how many people you've been impacting, and not just
Speaker 1: as you say, the eighteen thousand women, which is incredible
Speaker 1: that are part of the network, but then as we
Speaker 1: always talk about that multiplier effect of all the other
Speaker 1: people women, men, and children in their communities that they're impacting.
Speaker 1: So the impact is just incredible, enormous. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's millions, it's millions. So for someone who has been
Speaker 1: very connected to women all over the world for really
Speaker 1: your entire career, it's not your entire life. Are women
Speaker 1: having a unique experience during the coronavirus and why would
Speaker 1: a global pandemic hit women harder than men? No. I
Speaker 1: think if we look at anytime the world is in
Speaker 1: crisis or communities in crisis, women very disproportionate impact of
Speaker 1: that and all the difficulties that come. So, for example,
Speaker 1: with COVID nineteen, if we think about it, women are
Speaker 1: globally the majority of frontline healthcare workers and nurses around
Speaker 1: the world. They make up the majority of those who
Speaker 1: are obviously right now picking up a lot of care,
Speaker 1: whether it be care for elderly, for people who are sick, uh,
Speaker 1: for children who are out of school. Uh. So that's
Speaker 1: another piece. They are often the first to lose their businesses. UM.
Speaker 1: So we all know that small businesses are really hurting
Speaker 1: right now. UM. So that that is just a few things.
Speaker 1: But you layer on top of that violence against women's
Speaker 1: like anytime you have a crisis, um, and you think
Speaker 1: about it, if you're being told right now in this
Speaker 1: crisis where you know anxiety is already high, that now
Speaker 1: you have to stay in your home on lockdown with
Speaker 1: your abuser. What we saw in some communities in China
Speaker 1: in the height of COVID at increase in domestic violence.
Speaker 1: So this is a time where women are really facing uh,
Speaker 1: disproportionate difficulties in this crisis. But you know, Kim, talking
Speaker 1: to women around the world that we work with, I
Speaker 1: can also see that yes, they're disproportionately impacted, but they
Speaker 1: also bring extraordinary solutions. And I think was one of
Speaker 1: the reasons we are the reason we have supported women
Speaker 1: around the world but He's passed more than condecades, is
Speaker 1: because they lead differently. You know, they see a problem
Speaker 1: and they immediately want to step up and help solve it.
Speaker 1: They see you wrong, they want to write it. They
Speaker 1: lead with empathy, and you know, I can't help but
Speaker 1: think that. I mean, I hope that's similar to the
Speaker 1: financial crisis. We might come out of this thinking, oh wow,
Speaker 1: women's leadership. The way they lead with empathy, with passion,
Speaker 1: with collaboration, with that motivation to to UH to bring
Speaker 1: positive impact to their communities, that's the kind of leadership
Speaker 1: we need. So so that's you know, a small bit
Speaker 1: of the silver lining I see UM or or I
Speaker 1: hope to see UM. But we've got a long way
Speaker 1: to go. Obviously, you and I share that vision and
Speaker 1: passion and recognition that women do lead UM in incredible
Speaker 1: ways and in our words, they use their power for purpose.
Speaker 1: But everything you've described is really, I think the heart
Speaker 1: of what Widal Voices stands for and what has done
Speaker 1: for so effectively for twenty three years. It's incredible, UM.
Speaker 1: But even in this moment um, you know, you have
Speaker 1: these incredible women leaders around the world that you always
Speaker 1: support and frankly who I know inspire you and all
Speaker 1: of us. What are you doing, UM in response to COVID,
Speaker 1: because you've recently launched a really I think important initiative. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: you know Camp, Honestly, every time I don't know exactly
Speaker 1: how to move forward, I turned back to our network
Speaker 1: and we have sort of a core groups of the
Speaker 1: leaders of the network. It's a bit a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty women across many different countries, and I immediately reached
Speaker 1: out to them and said, I'm thinking of you in
Speaker 1: this crisis. We've just closed our offices, we're all working
Speaker 1: at home, and I want to know what's going on
Speaker 1: in your communities. I've been thinking about you. How bad
Speaker 1: is the situation. Are you also under lockdown? What impact
Speaker 1: is this having on your business, on your on your
Speaker 1: n g O. And the responses that I got were
Speaker 1: just tremendous, And the only word that came to mind
Speaker 1: was rebilious per severance, right, but that in this time
Speaker 1: of christ say. They were like, yes, this is difficult,
Speaker 1: but we're going to push forward. And there were so
Speaker 1: many disheartening stories about the impact that the crisis was
Speaker 1: having on their communities, but how they were immediately stepping
Speaker 1: up to do something about it, how they were changing
Speaker 1: their models just on a dime, just so nimbly. One
Speaker 1: of the women leaders who worked with for example, in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: leads an incredible organization called four one to Food Rescue.
Speaker 1: Her name is Leo is Rando, and what she does
Speaker 1: is she has a mobile app. She connects UH hotels
Speaker 1: and restaurants that have perfectly good food that they're going
Speaker 1: to throw out with a network of ten thousand volunteer drivers.
Speaker 1: Those volunteer drivers across six cities go and pick up
Speaker 1: the the perfectly good but food that it's about to
Speaker 1: be thrown now, and they deliberate to you know, a
Speaker 1: nonprofit UH that needs you know, our communities that are
Speaker 1: food and secure. And she's immediately pivot it obviously because
Speaker 1: so many restaurants are closing down now, really basing up
Speaker 1: the number of UH stories that she's going to. She
Speaker 1: told me, in the last two weeks she's gotten two
Speaker 1: thousand more volunteer driver ury so are like, I want
Speaker 1: to do something. What can I do? She's immediately pivoted
Speaker 1: to actually serving school lunches at bus stops. But I
Speaker 1: mean they're trying to figure out, Okay, the kids won't
Speaker 1: go to school, they won't get that hot meal they
Speaker 1: need each day. So we're gonna go to the bus
Speaker 1: stops and we're going to liver these hot meals, and
Speaker 1: they delivered hundreds of hot meals to kids, so they're
Speaker 1: really pivoted and now we're actually like preparing meals. We'll
Speaker 1: be back after this break. At least tell me how
Speaker 1: many countries you reach, because that's really I think important
Speaker 1: for people to understand what we are across the hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty two countries. And you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: actually been fascinating as I have been talking to so
Speaker 1: many women leaders across our network tell the the experience
Speaker 1: is very much the same. And again women hit harder. Um.
Speaker 1: But you were asking before about Beadship we launched, and
Speaker 1: you know by the Voices was founded for and because
Speaker 1: of women leaders. So everything we do is so much
Speaker 1: in a response to what their needs are as leaders
Speaker 1: in their communities. And I think now is that moment
Speaker 1: where you know, people are stepping up in bigger ways
Speaker 1: and so we have to step up in bigger ways.
Speaker 1: So we we quickly developed the Voices of Resilience, very
Speaker 1: much based off this one word that came into my
Speaker 1: head as I was reading all these emails coming in
Speaker 1: from women around the world, and that initiative really has
Speaker 1: um for core components UH to support women across our network.
Speaker 1: The first pieces, we just wanted to share their stories,
Speaker 1: so we immediately within a couple of days, launched the
Speaker 1: Voices of Resilience podcast and that's the daily podcast. We've
Speaker 1: never done daily podcasts. We usually do a podcast that
Speaker 1: comes out every two weeks. It's been an incredible experience
Speaker 1: for me because I host the podcasts and we've been
Speaker 1: interviewing all of these women and hearing these incredible stories.
Speaker 1: So it has really kept me focused and going and
Speaker 1: generating creative ideas. But we're also providing critical direct resources.
Speaker 1: So we established fund to provide um Urgent financial support.
Speaker 1: We already had a fund that was providing uh Urgent
Speaker 1: assistance to women who are victims of extreme forms of
Speaker 1: gender based violence. This builds on that to really look
Speaker 1: at how can we help women, you know, who have
Speaker 1: become the backbone in their community, you know, and in
Speaker 1: so many places around the world you don't have health
Speaker 1: care systems, hospitals and so leading in the communities, whether
Speaker 1: it be you know Ruba who is based in UH
Speaker 1: in Lebanon and works with Sarian refugees when they've become
Speaker 1: those frontline healthcare workers. Um, they've become the people who
Speaker 1: are mobilizing and and supporting, and so how can we
Speaker 1: provide them with support that they need, that they can
Speaker 1: keep going and that they don't have to get it
Speaker 1: another thought, They can just step up, um and keep going.
Speaker 1: And that that's something you know, we are constantly trying
Speaker 1: to raise money for his funds. You can quickly get
Speaker 1: get money out the door. Um. The certain areas really
Speaker 1: around that virtual connection of women around the world. So
Speaker 1: what we know and what we immediately heard is that
Speaker 1: they wanted to be connected to each other. I was
Speaker 1: talking the other day to a mayor of Nelson. It's
Speaker 1: both a region and a and a city in New Zealand,
Speaker 1: and she was saying, you know, my connection to my
Speaker 1: cohort at BIDO voices other women political leaders around the
Speaker 1: world is the only thing that's kept me going. And
Speaker 1: you know, we hear that from so many women's We've thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is our opportunity for rapid digit will integrated. This
Speaker 1: is our opportunity to sort of shift a lot of
Speaker 1: the resources that we would have spent traveling out and
Speaker 1: bringing people together physically, which is still so valuable and
Speaker 1: I'm sure we will do it in the future, but
Speaker 1: pivoting some of those resources towards really building an extraordinary
Speaker 1: hub where we can bring all those leaders together and
Speaker 1: quite briskly, Kim. It's something we've wanted to do forever.
Speaker 1: We have become a far more digital organization. Uh. And
Speaker 1: it's been amazing because in some ways I feel more
Speaker 1: connected to our team and to the women around the world. Well,
Speaker 1: we are so um happy that you are there, that
Speaker 1: you are leading Vital Voices, That Vital Voices is there
Speaker 1: for women in so many countries, um. And it's such
Speaker 1: a it's such a stabilizing force. Um. And I think
Speaker 1: you're right. I think we will see everybody emerging stronger
Speaker 1: from this um And and maybe, as you know, as
Speaker 1: I know, you and I both agree that women's leadership
Speaker 1: is different, and maybe we have a chance to prove
Speaker 1: why that model is so critical. So I think we
Speaker 1: know what gives us optimism in this moment, which is,
Speaker 1: as you said, the resilience of women. But how can
Speaker 1: our listeners directly support Little Voices? Certainly go to our
Speaker 1: website by a Voice of dot org. There you can
Speaker 1: sign up for the Voices of Resilience podcasting. You can
Speaker 1: sign up quite frankly, anywhere you get your podcasts, whether
Speaker 1: it be iTunes or Spotify, you can support our work.
Speaker 1: I mean we we um obviously, like any organization, take
Speaker 1: a hit during this time, but I think more important
Speaker 1: that we want to make sure we will be there
Speaker 1: for other women leaders around the world through the creation
Speaker 1: of this fund. And I should just mention the last
Speaker 1: um component actually of that Voices of Resilience initiative is
Speaker 1: mobilizing collective action. And really that came from women leaders
Speaker 1: that we worked with saying what shall we do as
Speaker 1: a global network across almost every single country around the world,
Speaker 1: thousands of women and that's a lot of millions, what
Speaker 1: can we do together? And so they're starting to come
Speaker 1: up with a number of sort of hacking solutions on
Speaker 1: a global scale. There's some great ideas bubbling about a
Speaker 1: sort of a collection of products made by women across
Speaker 1: the network and basically sold to help women entrepreneurs during
Speaker 1: this time. There's a lot of ideas growing, so stay
Speaker 1: tuned for that. Well, at least it is so fantastic
Speaker 1: to talk to you in this moment. I know the
Speaker 1: leaders of Vital Voices around the world. Connected will be
Speaker 1: a very powerful concept. So appreciate everything you're doing and
Speaker 1: please let us continue to know how to support you
Speaker 1: and thank you for your your vision and your leadership.
Speaker 1: Can you're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on Power and
Speaker 1: Purpose brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio with support from founding partner p ANDNG.
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