April 6, 2020 • 15 mins
The organization Vital Voices has a long history of supporting women leaders on the frontlines of change — and the coronavirus crisis doesn’t change that. President and CEO Alyse Nelson discusses the impact of the coronavirus on women worldwide, how the origination has quickly adapted to support its network and how women leaders have pivoted to offer solutions during this difficult time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hi. This is Malayan Vervier and this is Kim Azarelli.
We are co authors of the book Fast Forward, How
Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose. And you're listening to
Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose, brought to you
by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Welcome to the special edition. During these difficult times, we're
(00:37):
talking to experts who can help us gain perspective on
the impact coronavirus as well as share tips, resources and
some much needed inspiration. Today I'm joined by Elie Nelson.
Elice is the co founder of Vital Voices and the
current president and CEO of the Vital Voices Global Partnership. Alice,
Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having
me our pleasure. So for our listeners who don't know
(00:59):
which I hope is none, what is Vital Voices and
who does the organization work with sor so? We were
founded on a very simple idea that no country, no community,
no corporation can move ahead if pass the population women,
girls are left behind. And what we do today has
really evolved with women leaders as we have evolved over
(01:21):
the last twenty three years that we've been in existence.
What we do now is we search the world for
women who have a daring vision for change, and we
invest in her through training, mentoring, and network of her peers,
financial support, visibility and credibility so that she can take
that vision of hers to scale. And I think what
(01:42):
we do is is quite frankly, quite different because we're
not going into a community and saying, you know, we
we know the answers to the problems in Afghanistan right
from the United States. We find the leaders who are
doing it. We find the leaders who are maybe combating
human rights bolence against women. We final leaders who are uh,
(02:03):
you know, making policy change and running for political office,
uh and changing the game. We support leaders for social entrepreneurs,
developing businesses to solve climate change and other inequities and communities.
We're absolutely supporting women on the stiflines change and today
we support eighteen thousand women across the hundred and eighty
(02:24):
two countries. But I think what's so beautiful about the
organization is that these women stay connected to us, so
it's not a one off investment or opportunity. It is
something that is a lifelong investment in these women's leaderships.
Sounds like an incredibly powerful model. And obviously I've been
involved with you for for many, many years, and I've
seen how many people you've been impacting, and not just
(02:47):
as you say, the eighteen thousand women, which is incredible
that are part of the network, but then as we
always talk about that multiplier effect of all the other
people women, men, and children in their communities that they're impacting.
So the impact is just incredible, enormous. Yeah, I mean
it's millions, it's millions. So for someone who has been
very connected to women all over the world for really
your entire career, it's not your entire life. Are women
(03:11):
having a unique experience during the coronavirus and why would
a global pandemic hit women harder than men? No. I
think if we look at anytime the world is in
crisis or communities in crisis, women very disproportionate impact of
that and all the difficulties that come. So, for example,
with COVID nineteen, if we think about it, women are
(03:33):
globally the majority of frontline healthcare workers and nurses around
the world. They make up the majority of those who
are obviously right now picking up a lot of care,
whether it be care for elderly, for people who are sick, uh,
for children who are out of school. Uh. So that's
another piece. They are often the first to lose their businesses. UM.
(03:57):
So we all know that small businesses are really hurting
right now. UM. So that that is just a few things.
But you layer on top of that violence against women's
like anytime you have a crisis, um, and you think
about it, if you're being told right now in this
crisis where you know anxiety is already high, that now
(04:18):
you have to stay in your home on lockdown with
your abuser. What we saw in some communities in China
in the height of COVID at increase in domestic violence.
So this is a time where women are really facing uh,
disproportionate difficulties in this crisis. But you know, Kim, talking
(04:41):
to women around the world that we work with, I
can also see that yes, they're disproportionately impacted, but they
also bring extraordinary solutions. And I think was one of
the reasons we are the reason we have supported women
around the world but He's passed more than condecades, is
because they lead differently. You know, they see a problem
(05:01):
and they immediately want to step up and help solve it.
They see you wrong, they want to write it. They
lead with empathy, and you know, I can't help but
think that. I mean, I hope that's similar to the
financial crisis. We might come out of this thinking, oh wow,
women's leadership. The way they lead with empathy, with passion,
with collaboration, with that motivation to to UH to bring
(05:27):
positive impact to their communities, that's the kind of leadership
we need. So so that's you know, a small bit
of the silver lining I see UM or or I
hope to see UM. But we've got a long way
to go. Obviously, you and I share that vision and
passion and recognition that women do lead UM in incredible
(05:48):
ways and in our words, they use their power for purpose.
But everything you've described is really, I think the heart
of what Widal Voices stands for and what has done
for so effectively for twenty three years. It's incredible, UM.
But even in this moment um, you know, you have
these incredible women leaders around the world that you always
support and frankly who I know inspire you and all
(06:08):
of us. What are you doing, UM in response to COVID,
because you've recently launched a really I think important initiative. Yeah, so,
you know Camp, Honestly, every time I don't know exactly
how to move forward, I turned back to our network
and we have sort of a core groups of the
leaders of the network. It's a bit a hundred and
fifty women across many different countries, and I immediately reached
(06:32):
out to them and said, I'm thinking of you in
this crisis. We've just closed our offices, we're all working
at home, and I want to know what's going on
in your communities. I've been thinking about you. How bad
is the situation. Are you also under lockdown? What impact
is this having on your business, on your on your
n g O. And the responses that I got were
just tremendous, And the only word that came to mind
(06:55):
was rebilious per severance, right, but that in this time
of christ say. They were like, yes, this is difficult,
but we're going to push forward. And there were so
many disheartening stories about the impact that the crisis was
having on their communities, but how they were immediately stepping
up to do something about it, how they were changing
their models just on a dime, just so nimbly. One
(07:18):
of the women leaders who worked with for example, in Philadelphia,
leads an incredible organization called four one to Food Rescue.
Her name is Leo is Rando, and what she does
is she has a mobile app. She connects UH hotels
and restaurants that have perfectly good food that they're going
to throw out with a network of ten thousand volunteer drivers.
(07:42):
Those volunteer drivers across six cities go and pick up
the the perfectly good but food that it's about to
be thrown now, and they deliberate to you know, a
nonprofit UH that needs you know, our communities that are
food and secure. And she's immediately pivot it obviously because
so many restaurants are closing down now, really basing up
(08:04):
the number of UH stories that she's going to. She
told me, in the last two weeks she's gotten two
thousand more volunteer driver ury so are like, I want
to do something. What can I do? She's immediately pivoted
to actually serving school lunches at bus stops. But I
mean they're trying to figure out, Okay, the kids won't
go to school, they won't get that hot meal they
(08:25):
need each day. So we're gonna go to the bus
stops and we're going to liver these hot meals, and
they delivered hundreds of hot meals to kids, so they're
really pivoted and now we're actually like preparing meals. We'll
be back after this break. At least tell me how
(08:50):
many countries you reach, because that's really I think important
for people to understand what we are across the hundred
and eighty two countries. And you know, it's it's it's
actually been fascinating as I have been talking to so
many women leaders across our network tell the the experience
is very much the same. And again women hit harder. Um.
(09:12):
But you were asking before about Beadship we launched, and
you know by the Voices was founded for and because
of women leaders. So everything we do is so much
in a response to what their needs are as leaders
in their communities. And I think now is that moment
where you know, people are stepping up in bigger ways
and so we have to step up in bigger ways.
(09:32):
So we we quickly developed the Voices of Resilience, very
much based off this one word that came into my
head as I was reading all these emails coming in
from women around the world, and that initiative really has
um for core components UH to support women across our network.
The first pieces, we just wanted to share their stories,
(09:54):
so we immediately within a couple of days, launched the
Voices of Resilience podcast and that's the daily podcast. We've
never done daily podcasts. We usually do a podcast that
comes out every two weeks. It's been an incredible experience
for me because I host the podcasts and we've been
interviewing all of these women and hearing these incredible stories.
So it has really kept me focused and going and
(10:15):
generating creative ideas. But we're also providing critical direct resources.
So we established fund to provide um Urgent financial support.
We already had a fund that was providing uh Urgent
assistance to women who are victims of extreme forms of
gender based violence. This builds on that to really look
(10:37):
at how can we help women, you know, who have
become the backbone in their community, you know, and in
so many places around the world you don't have health
care systems, hospitals and so leading in the communities, whether
it be you know Ruba who is based in UH
in Lebanon and works with Sarian refugees when they've become
(11:01):
those frontline healthcare workers. Um, they've become the people who
are mobilizing and and supporting, and so how can we
provide them with support that they need, that they can
keep going and that they don't have to get it
another thought, They can just step up, um and keep going.
And that that's something you know, we are constantly trying
to raise money for his funds. You can quickly get
(11:22):
get money out the door. Um. The certain areas really
around that virtual connection of women around the world. So
what we know and what we immediately heard is that
they wanted to be connected to each other. I was
talking the other day to a mayor of Nelson. It's
both a region and a and a city in New Zealand,
(11:44):
and she was saying, you know, my connection to my
cohort at BIDO voices other women political leaders around the
world is the only thing that's kept me going. And
you know, we hear that from so many women's We've thought, Okay,
this is our opportunity for rapid digit will integrated. This
is our opportunity to sort of shift a lot of
the resources that we would have spent traveling out and
(12:06):
bringing people together physically, which is still so valuable and
I'm sure we will do it in the future, but
pivoting some of those resources towards really building an extraordinary
hub where we can bring all those leaders together and
quite briskly, Kim. It's something we've wanted to do forever.
We have become a far more digital organization. Uh. And
(12:28):
it's been amazing because in some ways I feel more
connected to our team and to the women around the world. Well,
we are so um happy that you are there, that
you are leading Vital Voices, That Vital Voices is there
for women in so many countries, um. And it's such
a it's such a stabilizing force. Um. And I think
you're right. I think we will see everybody emerging stronger
(12:50):
from this um And and maybe, as you know, as
I know, you and I both agree that women's leadership
is different, and maybe we have a chance to prove
why that model is so critical. So I think we
know what gives us optimism in this moment, which is,
as you said, the resilience of women. But how can
our listeners directly support Little Voices? Certainly go to our
website by a Voice of dot org. There you can
(13:12):
sign up for the Voices of Resilience podcasting. You can
sign up quite frankly, anywhere you get your podcasts, whether
it be iTunes or Spotify, you can support our work.
I mean we we um obviously, like any organization, take
a hit during this time, but I think more important
that we want to make sure we will be there
for other women leaders around the world through the creation
(13:34):
of this fund. And I should just mention the last
um component actually of that Voices of Resilience initiative is
mobilizing collective action. And really that came from women leaders
that we worked with saying what shall we do as
a global network across almost every single country around the world,
thousands of women and that's a lot of millions, what
(13:57):
can we do together? And so they're starting to come
up with a number of sort of hacking solutions on
a global scale. There's some great ideas bubbling about a
sort of a collection of products made by women across
the network and basically sold to help women entrepreneurs during
this time. There's a lot of ideas growing, so stay
(14:17):
tuned for that. Well, at least it is so fantastic
to talk to you in this moment. I know the
leaders of Vital Voices around the world. Connected will be
a very powerful concept. So appreciate everything you're doing and
please let us continue to know how to support you
and thank you for your your vision and your leadership.
Can you're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on Power and
(14:42):
Purpose brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network
and I Heart Radio with support from founding partner p ANDNG.
Listen to Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose on
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts, and please support this po cast by
telling your friends, subscribing and rating us. For more information
(15:04):
on Seneca Women, follow us on social media, visit our
website Seneca Women dot com, and check out the Seneca
Women app free in the app Store. Have a great day,
m
Hi. This is Malayan Vervier and this is Kim Azarelli.
We are co authors of the book Fast Forward, How
Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose. And you're listening to
Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose, brought to you
by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Welcome to the special edition. During these difficult times, we're
(00:37):
talking to experts who can help us gain perspective on
the impact coronavirus as well as share tips, resources and
some much needed inspiration. Today I'm joined by Elie Nelson.
Elice is the co founder of Vital Voices and the
current president and CEO of the Vital Voices Global Partnership. Alice,
Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having
me our pleasure. So for our listeners who don't know
(00:59):
which I hope is none, what is Vital Voices and
who does the organization work with sor so? We were
founded on a very simple idea that no country, no community,
no corporation can move ahead if pass the population women,
girls are left behind. And what we do today has
really evolved with women leaders as we have evolved over
(01:21):
the last twenty three years that we've been in existence.
What we do now is we search the world for
women who have a daring vision for change, and we
invest in her through training, mentoring, and network of her peers,
financial support, visibility and credibility so that she can take
that vision of hers to scale. And I think what
(01:42):
we do is is quite frankly, quite different because we're
not going into a community and saying, you know, we
we know the answers to the problems in Afghanistan right
from the United States. We find the leaders who are
doing it. We find the leaders who are maybe combating
human rights bolence against women. We final leaders who are uh,
(02:03):
you know, making policy change and running for political office,
uh and changing the game. We support leaders for social entrepreneurs,
developing businesses to solve climate change and other inequities and communities.
We're absolutely supporting women on the stiflines change and today
we support eighteen thousand women across the hundred and eighty
(02:24):
two countries. But I think what's so beautiful about the
organization is that these women stay connected to us, so
it's not a one off investment or opportunity. It is
something that is a lifelong investment in these women's leaderships.
Sounds like an incredibly powerful model. And obviously I've been
involved with you for for many, many years, and I've
seen how many people you've been impacting, and not just
(02:47):
as you say, the eighteen thousand women, which is incredible
that are part of the network, but then as we
always talk about that multiplier effect of all the other
people women, men, and children in their communities that they're impacting.
So the impact is just incredible, enormous. Yeah, I mean
it's millions, it's millions. So for someone who has been
very connected to women all over the world for really
your entire career, it's not your entire life. Are women
(03:11):
having a unique experience during the coronavirus and why would
a global pandemic hit women harder than men? No. I
think if we look at anytime the world is in
crisis or communities in crisis, women very disproportionate impact of
that and all the difficulties that come. So, for example,
with COVID nineteen, if we think about it, women are
(03:33):
globally the majority of frontline healthcare workers and nurses around
the world. They make up the majority of those who
are obviously right now picking up a lot of care,
whether it be care for elderly, for people who are sick, uh,
for children who are out of school. Uh. So that's
another piece. They are often the first to lose their businesses. UM.
(03:57):
So we all know that small businesses are really hurting
right now. UM. So that that is just a few things.
But you layer on top of that violence against women's
like anytime you have a crisis, um, and you think
about it, if you're being told right now in this
crisis where you know anxiety is already high, that now
(04:18):
you have to stay in your home on lockdown with
your abuser. What we saw in some communities in China
in the height of COVID at increase in domestic violence.
So this is a time where women are really facing uh,
disproportionate difficulties in this crisis. But you know, Kim, talking
(04:41):
to women around the world that we work with, I
can also see that yes, they're disproportionately impacted, but they
also bring extraordinary solutions. And I think was one of
the reasons we are the reason we have supported women
around the world but He's passed more than condecades, is
because they lead differently. You know, they see a problem
(05:01):
and they immediately want to step up and help solve it.
They see you wrong, they want to write it. They
lead with empathy, and you know, I can't help but
think that. I mean, I hope that's similar to the
financial crisis. We might come out of this thinking, oh wow,
women's leadership. The way they lead with empathy, with passion,
with collaboration, with that motivation to to UH to bring
(05:27):
positive impact to their communities, that's the kind of leadership
we need. So so that's you know, a small bit
of the silver lining I see UM or or I
hope to see UM. But we've got a long way
to go. Obviously, you and I share that vision and
passion and recognition that women do lead UM in incredible
(05:48):
ways and in our words, they use their power for purpose.
But everything you've described is really, I think the heart
of what Widal Voices stands for and what has done
for so effectively for twenty three years. It's incredible, UM.
But even in this moment um, you know, you have
these incredible women leaders around the world that you always
support and frankly who I know inspire you and all
(06:08):
of us. What are you doing, UM in response to COVID,
because you've recently launched a really I think important initiative. Yeah, so,
you know Camp, Honestly, every time I don't know exactly
how to move forward, I turned back to our network
and we have sort of a core groups of the
leaders of the network. It's a bit a hundred and
fifty women across many different countries, and I immediately reached
(06:32):
out to them and said, I'm thinking of you in
this crisis. We've just closed our offices, we're all working
at home, and I want to know what's going on
in your communities. I've been thinking about you. How bad
is the situation. Are you also under lockdown? What impact
is this having on your business, on your on your
n g O. And the responses that I got were
just tremendous, And the only word that came to mind
(06:55):
was rebilious per severance, right, but that in this time
of christ say. They were like, yes, this is difficult,
but we're going to push forward. And there were so
many disheartening stories about the impact that the crisis was
having on their communities, but how they were immediately stepping
up to do something about it, how they were changing
their models just on a dime, just so nimbly. One
(07:18):
of the women leaders who worked with for example, in Philadelphia,
leads an incredible organization called four one to Food Rescue.
Her name is Leo is Rando, and what she does
is she has a mobile app. She connects UH hotels
and restaurants that have perfectly good food that they're going
to throw out with a network of ten thousand volunteer drivers.
(07:42):
Those volunteer drivers across six cities go and pick up
the the perfectly good but food that it's about to
be thrown now, and they deliberate to you know, a
nonprofit UH that needs you know, our communities that are
food and secure. And she's immediately pivot it obviously because
so many restaurants are closing down now, really basing up
(08:04):
the number of UH stories that she's going to. She
told me, in the last two weeks she's gotten two
thousand more volunteer driver ury so are like, I want
to do something. What can I do? She's immediately pivoted
to actually serving school lunches at bus stops. But I
mean they're trying to figure out, Okay, the kids won't
go to school, they won't get that hot meal they
(08:25):
need each day. So we're gonna go to the bus
stops and we're going to liver these hot meals, and
they delivered hundreds of hot meals to kids, so they're
really pivoted and now we're actually like preparing meals. We'll
be back after this break. At least tell me how
(08:50):
many countries you reach, because that's really I think important
for people to understand what we are across the hundred
and eighty two countries. And you know, it's it's it's
actually been fascinating as I have been talking to so
many women leaders across our network tell the the experience
is very much the same. And again women hit harder. Um.
(09:12):
But you were asking before about Beadship we launched, and
you know by the Voices was founded for and because
of women leaders. So everything we do is so much
in a response to what their needs are as leaders
in their communities. And I think now is that moment
where you know, people are stepping up in bigger ways
and so we have to step up in bigger ways.
(09:32):
So we we quickly developed the Voices of Resilience, very
much based off this one word that came into my
head as I was reading all these emails coming in
from women around the world, and that initiative really has
um for core components UH to support women across our network.
The first pieces, we just wanted to share their stories,
(09:54):
so we immediately within a couple of days, launched the
Voices of Resilience podcast and that's the daily podcast. We've
never done daily podcasts. We usually do a podcast that
comes out every two weeks. It's been an incredible experience
for me because I host the podcasts and we've been
interviewing all of these women and hearing these incredible stories.
So it has really kept me focused and going and
(10:15):
generating creative ideas. But we're also providing critical direct resources.
So we established fund to provide um Urgent financial support.
We already had a fund that was providing uh Urgent
assistance to women who are victims of extreme forms of
gender based violence. This builds on that to really look
(10:37):
at how can we help women, you know, who have
become the backbone in their community, you know, and in
so many places around the world you don't have health
care systems, hospitals and so leading in the communities, whether
it be you know Ruba who is based in UH
in Lebanon and works with Sarian refugees when they've become
(11:01):
those frontline healthcare workers. Um, they've become the people who
are mobilizing and and supporting, and so how can we
provide them with support that they need, that they can
keep going and that they don't have to get it
another thought, They can just step up, um and keep going.
And that that's something you know, we are constantly trying
to raise money for his funds. You can quickly get
(11:22):
get money out the door. Um. The certain areas really
around that virtual connection of women around the world. So
what we know and what we immediately heard is that
they wanted to be connected to each other. I was
talking the other day to a mayor of Nelson. It's
both a region and a and a city in New Zealand,
(11:44):
and she was saying, you know, my connection to my
cohort at BIDO voices other women political leaders around the
world is the only thing that's kept me going. And
you know, we hear that from so many women's We've thought, Okay,
this is our opportunity for rapid digit will integrated. This
is our opportunity to sort of shift a lot of
the resources that we would have spent traveling out and
(12:06):
bringing people together physically, which is still so valuable and
I'm sure we will do it in the future, but
pivoting some of those resources towards really building an extraordinary
hub where we can bring all those leaders together and
quite briskly, Kim. It's something we've wanted to do forever.
We have become a far more digital organization. Uh. And
(12:28):
it's been amazing because in some ways I feel more
connected to our team and to the women around the world. Well,
we are so um happy that you are there, that
you are leading Vital Voices, That Vital Voices is there
for women in so many countries, um. And it's such
a it's such a stabilizing force. Um. And I think
you're right. I think we will see everybody emerging stronger
(12:50):
from this um And and maybe, as you know, as
I know, you and I both agree that women's leadership
is different, and maybe we have a chance to prove
why that model is so critical. So I think we
know what gives us optimism in this moment, which is,
as you said, the resilience of women. But how can
our listeners directly support Little Voices? Certainly go to our
website by a Voice of dot org. There you can
(13:12):
sign up for the Voices of Resilience podcasting. You can
sign up quite frankly, anywhere you get your podcasts, whether
it be iTunes or Spotify, you can support our work.
I mean we we um obviously, like any organization, take
a hit during this time, but I think more important
that we want to make sure we will be there
for other women leaders around the world through the creation
(13:34):
of this fund. And I should just mention the last
um component actually of that Voices of Resilience initiative is
mobilizing collective action. And really that came from women leaders
that we worked with saying what shall we do as
a global network across almost every single country around the world,
thousands of women and that's a lot of millions, what
(13:57):
can we do together? And so they're starting to come
up with a number of sort of hacking solutions on
a global scale. There's some great ideas bubbling about a
sort of a collection of products made by women across
the network and basically sold to help women entrepreneurs during
this time. There's a lot of ideas growing, so stay
(14:17):
tuned for that. Well, at least it is so fantastic
to talk to you in this moment. I know the
leaders of Vital Voices around the world. Connected will be
a very powerful concept. So appreciate everything you're doing and
please let us continue to know how to support you
and thank you for your your vision and your leadership.
Can you're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on Power and
(14:42):
Purpose brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network
and I Heart Radio with support from founding partner p ANDNG.
Listen to Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose on
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts, and please support this po cast by
telling your friends, subscribing and rating us. For more information
(15:04):
on Seneca Women, follow us on social media, visit our
website Seneca Women dot com, and check out the Seneca
Women app free in the app Store. Have a great day,
m
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.