June 21, 2022 • 17 mins
Local women’s rights advocate Jennet Robinson Alterman, who has helped expand CofC's Women's and Gender Studies Program, has worked tirelessly to advance women's rights locally and internationally. As one of the speakers of the second annual Women for Women summit sponsored by the College's School of Business, Alterman joins a group of remarkable women to inspire, offer insight and share stories about their paths to success.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erika LeGendre (00:11):
Hello and Welcome to Speaking of College
of Charleston. I'm EricaLeGendre from the School of
Business, and in this episodeI'll speak with Janet Ultraman
nonprofit consultant and women'srights advocate will talk about
her time in the Peace Corps. Asdirector of the Center for
Women, and as an advocate forwomen's rights in South
Carolina. Jeannet will alsoshare stories about her father,
(00:35):
Emmett Robinson, who was deeplyinvested in the arts and culture
in Charleston. Hi, Jeanette.
Welcome to the podcast.
Jennet Robinson Alterman (00:44):
Hi, Erica, I'm delighted to be here.
Erika LeGendre (00:48):
So your father, Emmett Robinson was a student
and then a faculty member in thetheater department at the
college. He was described as a"present day reincarnation of a
renaissance man" when hereceived an honorary degree from
the College in 1971. How didhaving a renaissance man as a
father shape your life?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (01:10):
Oh, where to start on that one. I
will tell you this, he was alifelong learner. My mother
wrote murder mysteries andplays. And I think he was the
first person that I knew who gota word processor, which was the
old fashioned version of acomputer, he would type up her
books. He also had an enormousframe of reference. He kept
(01:31):
files in his study on everysingle period of history,
costuming, paintings, art,geography, everything he he
literally was a wealth ofknowledge. And I think for me,
the greatest impact he had washe told me very early on, he
said, You can do anything youput your mind to. I never heard
anything about, you know, whenyou get married, or when you
(01:53):
have children, or, you know, anyof the sort of traditional
advice that one might give achild back in the late 60s,
early 70s. And he set me on avery strong path as a result of
that. And I'm also happy to saythat almost 50 years later, from
the time he received hishonorary degree from the
(02:13):
College, I also received one.
And I found that a particularlynostalgic and sentimental thing
to embrace at the time.
Erika LeGendre (02:24):
Sounds like it runs in the family. Do you have
memories of spending time oncampus while your father was a
faculty member?
Jennet Robinson Alterm (02:34):
Vaguely.
He was on the faculty on and offfor many, many years. I do
remember vividly though, whenthe college was literally just
the cistern area and the yardand Randolph Hall. And the book
basement was in one of thelittle buildings sort of across
the way. I just remember theschool being very, very small,
although to me as a single digitchild, it felt huge. But I also
(02:55):
remember dad telling me that hisgraduating class only had
something like 50 people in it.
And he had to take Greek as wellas Latin. But he so enjoyed his
time at the college. And formany years, he would be
remembered by so many people Iwould run into for production.
(03:16):
He did have Romeo and Juliet in1934. And he did it on the
system. And he used the balcony,Randolph Hall for the balcony
seats. The only wrinkle was ithad to be done at night. And
according to dad, he ran milesand miles of extension cords,
from buildings nearby to be ableto put the big spotlights up in
(03:39):
the trees, you know, surroundingthe system. And then people who
saw it, never ever forgot it. Itwas a big deal.
Erika LeGendre (03:46):
That's amazing.
So you've achieved so much as awomen's rights advocate locally
and internationally. How did youget involved in this line of
work? And looking back can youtalk about a milestone that was
particularly rewarding duringyour time as director of the
Center for Women?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (04:06):
Well, it took me a while to get the
message is clear from theGoddesses about what I really
was to do with my life. I I wascertainly no groundbreaking
feminist when I was in highschool, although I did go to an
all female high school which Ithink made a difference in my
ability to develop leadershipskills. And I guess it wasn't
(04:30):
until college that I started tozone in on some of the
discrimination and the prejudiceagainst women and I want to say
this right up front. As a whitewoman I had it far better than
my sisters who were brown orblack. Believe me I know that.
I went to Davidson College whichis the time was all male. They
(04:52):
allowed 10 women from differentcolleges to come for one year to
quote see if women could handlethe academic load. Before I know
it shock sheet. They didn't getaway with saying that, before
they decided whether or not togo co Ed and I had a great
experience my issues were notwith the students, but with the
professors who honestly believedthat women did not belong on
(05:15):
that campus that we did not havethe intellectual stamina to make
it. The good news is at the endof the first semester, none of
us made below a B, and thecollege decided to go coed the
following year. So I was veryproud of that. And since then, I
know a lot of people, a lot ofwomen who've gone to Davidson,
yes, I do remind them that theywouldn't be there had nine, I
(05:36):
try not, you know, trod beforethem.
But it really was when I joinedthe Peace Corps in 1976. And I
was sent to Afghanistan at atime when it was really the best
of times there. And I'm sorrythat people in your generation
only have seen Afghanistan as awarzone, because it's a really
(05:56):
magnificent country. But while Iwas there, I was assigned to
work with traditional midwives,who were being trained into, in
how to do a more hygienic birth,because these traditional
midwives out in the villagesdidn't have a lot to work with.
And the infant and maternalmortality rate in Afghanistan
was shocking. So I started goingout to these small villages
(06:22):
working with the trainedmidwives. And you know, it hit
me pretty hard when I saw an 11year old child give birth, and
realize that not only did shenot have access to prenatal or
postnatal care, but she wasn'tgoing to get an education, she
wasn't allowed to vote, shewouldn't be allowed to vote, she
was allowed to have money in herown account, any man in her
(06:45):
family could could take thingsaway from her it was it really
it did shock me to my core. Andof course, a very wise man who
was very involved with theCollege of Charleston, John
Henry Dick, who left Dixieplantation to the college, had
done a lot of traveling in thethird world. And he told me
before I left, he said, this wasimportant. Never tell the poor,
(07:07):
they're poor. That's yourperception of them, you're gonna
find that you meet many peoplewho are poor by your standards,
but who aren't by theirs. Inother words, don't be the ugly
American. So that really kickedme off into the the women's
rights advocacy.
And I came back to SouthCarolina after that experience,
(07:28):
and went to Columbia and workfor Nancy Stevenson, who was the
first woman ever electedstatewide, and South Carolina,
she was lieutenant governor. SoI got to watch how women were
treated at that level by thelegislature and state
government. And it wasn'tpretty, it was one of those
things where we had to fightevery day to be heard and taken
(07:49):
seriously. And my career justsort of evolved from there into
other areas of working withwomen's rights advocacy. And if
I'm going to look back on theCenter for Women, which was a
wonderful 12 years, I have tosay, and I will take
responsibility for puttingwomen's economic issues on the
(08:10):
table in this community as asubject of discussion. Probably
the highlight of my time, therewas when Oprah Winfrey
recognized us and gave us arather substantial grant.
And she came to do her, youknow, live your best life
workshop and gave us sometickets. And we got to meet her.
(08:32):
And one of the side bars of thatstory was, I called her her
granting organization, which wasOprah's Angel Network. After she
had given us the grant. And Icalled I said, I want to know
who to send the thank you noteto because yes, I was raised in
Charleston. And I do know theimportance of the thank you
note. And basically, and then Isaid, How did you find us? You
(08:54):
know, did you have a lot ofother organizations that you
asked to submit a grantproposal? And she said, No, you
were the only one. And I went,really? I mean, this was a
nationwide kind of search. And Isaid, How did you conduct your
search? Did you send someone toCharleston in a trench coat to
sort of skulk around and seewhat different women's
organizations were doing? Andshe said, No, we did our entire
(09:17):
search online, you have amagnificent website. And we did.
And as a nonprofit that wasstrapped for cash resources. We
made the best use possible thatwe could of social media. So
that was a great lesson to learnfrom that.
Erika LeGendre (09:34):
Thank you for that. So you spoke about your
time in the Peace Corps. Why doyou think volunteering,
especially as a young adult isworthwhile?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (09:45):
Oh, I think it's critical. I think
it's absolutely critical. Itwill change. It will change your
perspective because so many ofus were in the same town with
the same group of people untilwe go to college and if we go to
college somewhere else, we get alittle bit of a break. But to go
and live in another culture, andto live as someone who is there
to provide a service, not to askto get anything, is a wonderful
(10:11):
lesson to learn, you know, inyour early, late, you know, late
teens, early 20s. And itcertainly had that impact on me.
I was a volunteer for two yearsin Afghanistan. And then I spent
another eight years on seniorstaff of Peace Corps. And all I
did was travel the third world.
And one of the great lessons Ilearned were the commonalities
in the way women were treatedalmost exclusively across the
(10:34):
Third World. And unfortunately,it's still similar to the way a
lot of women in this country aretreated. But I do recommend the
Peace Corps, or any kind ofprogram that will get you out of
your comfort zone, and put youin a situation where you learn
about another culture.
Erika LeGendre (10:55):
Yes, actually, many of our graduates, I know,
they spend a lot of time in thePeace Corps too. So it's just
great that our students can giveback in that way. Definitely. So
the Women's and Gender Studiesprogram at the College explores
the intersections of gender,class, race, ethnicity, age,
(11:16):
religion, ability, andsexuality. Tell me about your
involvement with thisdepartment.
Jennet Robinson Alterman (11:23):
Oh, the Women and Gender Studies
program? Well, you know, itreally came into its own when
the magnificent, AllisonPiepmeier came to the College of
Charleston, campus, and I hopeshe is still a legend because
she, she truly was, and I wasdelighted to help Allison,
really grow the program. And oneof the more interesting stories
(11:43):
from that period is, there wereso many people who wanted to
major in women and genderstudies, but only a minor was
being offered. So Alison wentthrough, you know, the hoops and
all the paperwork you have to doto apply to add a major to the
college. And that had to gothrough the Commission on Higher
(12:04):
Education. And so Alison went upthere. And this is going to
sound so old fashioned when Isay it, but it just gives you an
idea of some of the things wehad to deal with Allison went up
there to defend, you know, thereasoning for having a Women and
Gender Studies Program and thefact that all these people were
minors, and they really wantedto be majors. And the only thing
(12:27):
that produced a stumble was thefact that the women and gender
studies program had startedproducing the Vagina Monologues
every February because EveEnsler, the author of that play
allowed colleges to produce itduring February, as long as the
(12:47):
proceeds from it went to a localnonprofit. And unfortunately,
there was a woman on theCommission on Higher Education,
who, excuse me, was notcomfortable with that, not to
mention the title. And soAllison had to do a quick and
run and pull that out, and handit over to the counseling
(13:10):
center, who I believe still doesit and save the major single
handedly. So I like the story ofAlison getting up there and
standing up to the good ol boysand women. So gender studies is
Women and Gender Studies is allabout.
Erika LeGendre (13:23):
Absolutely. So the theme of the second annual
Women for Women Summit is great.
Can you talk a bit about why youwanted to be involved, and what
does grit mean to you?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (13:36):
Oh, grit. It's not the singular for
grits. Certainly. grit to me isis not giving up, it is going
after something that you wantand holding on to it like a dog
with a bone. It is overcomingobstacles, it is standing up for
yourself. A wonderful quote, Ifound recently is if standing up
(14:01):
for yourself burns a bridge, Ihave matches and we ride at
dawn. My most favorite quoterecently and that's really what
grit is about. And I think thatthe organizers for this
conference really want to helpjumpstart women who had been in
for in many situations out ofthe workforce for the last two
(14:23):
years due to COVID are workingremotely. And it's time to get
back into the groove. But also Ithink it's very important for
the women who are attending thisconference to understand that
they have a responsibility nowto push for changes in the
workplace that benefit families,things like paid family leave,
(14:44):
for example, there is nothingmore important than paid family
leave than pay equity. Andthat's going to be one of the
messages that I hope to getacross in conference.
Erika LeGendre (14:56):
Do you have any advice for young women getting
ready to graduate who arethinking about a career?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (15:03):
Yes, I do. Number one, your career is a
process of elimination. Okay?
Gone are the days when you got ajob out of college and 40 years
later, you retired and they gaveyou a gold watch and all was
well, in this world today,you're lucky if you stay in a
job for two years. So look at itas a process of elimination.
(15:24):
Now, one hard and true fact thatI do want to stick with, if
you're in a job, stay at leasttwo years, not one year stay at
least to tough it out. Okay?
Because your potential managersand supervisors are going to
look at your background in termsof how often you change jobs.
(15:47):
The other thing is to take withyou from one job to the next
what you've learned on thatfirst job, okay, and be able to
weave that into your interviewfor the next job. I'll give you
just a very quick example. It'stoo long a story to explain why,
but somehow my first real jobout of college was as a
television news reporter atChannel Five WC SC TV. Okay, I
(16:12):
was in that job for three years.
But what I learned about themedia what I learned about
television, what I learned aboutediting, stayed with me
throughout my whole career. AndI'd like to think that one of
the reasons I have a comfortlevel with doing this interview
with you is because of theskills I developed at Channel
540, some years ago.
Erika LeGendre (16:33):
Thank you very much. And thank you for speaking
with us today.
Jennet Robinson Alterman (16:37):
Happy to do it. Happy to do it. The
college is near and dear to myheart.
Erika LeGendre (16:46):
Thanks for listening to this episode of
speaking of College ofCharleston with Jeanette
Ultraman. For more episodes andto read stories about our guest,
visit the College of Charlestonofficial news site, the college
today@today.cfc.edu. You canalso find this in past episodes
on all major podcast platformsincluding Apple podcasts,
(17:09):
Spotify and Stitcher. If youlike what you hear, please
subscribe and leave a review.
This episode was produced by AmyMercer from University
Communications, recording andsound engineering by Jessie 10s
From the Division of InformationTechnology
Hello and Welcome to Speaking of College
of Charleston. I'm EricaLeGendre from the School of
Business, and in this episodeI'll speak with Janet Ultraman
nonprofit consultant and women'srights advocate will talk about
her time in the Peace Corps. Asdirector of the Center for
Women, and as an advocate forwomen's rights in South
Carolina. Jeannet will alsoshare stories about her father,
(00:35):
Emmett Robinson, who was deeplyinvested in the arts and culture
in Charleston. Hi, Jeanette.
Welcome to the podcast.
Jennet Robinson Alterman (00:44):
Hi, Erica, I'm delighted to be here.
Erika LeGendre (00:48):
So your father, Emmett Robinson was a student
and then a faculty member in thetheater department at the
college. He was described as a"present day reincarnation of a
renaissance man" when hereceived an honorary degree from
the College in 1971. How didhaving a renaissance man as a
father shape your life?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (01:10):
Oh, where to start on that one. I
will tell you this, he was alifelong learner. My mother
wrote murder mysteries andplays. And I think he was the
first person that I knew who gota word processor, which was the
old fashioned version of acomputer, he would type up her
books. He also had an enormousframe of reference. He kept
(01:31):
files in his study on everysingle period of history,
costuming, paintings, art,geography, everything he he
literally was a wealth ofknowledge. And I think for me,
the greatest impact he had washe told me very early on, he
said, You can do anything youput your mind to. I never heard
anything about, you know, whenyou get married, or when you
(01:53):
have children, or, you know, anyof the sort of traditional
advice that one might give achild back in the late 60s,
early 70s. And he set me on avery strong path as a result of
that. And I'm also happy to saythat almost 50 years later, from
the time he received hishonorary degree from the
(02:13):
College, I also received one.
And I found that a particularlynostalgic and sentimental thing
to embrace at the time.
Erika LeGendre (02:24):
Sounds like it runs in the family. Do you have
memories of spending time oncampus while your father was a
faculty member?
Jennet Robinson Alterm (02:34):
Vaguely.
He was on the faculty on and offfor many, many years. I do
remember vividly though, whenthe college was literally just
the cistern area and the yardand Randolph Hall. And the book
basement was in one of thelittle buildings sort of across
the way. I just remember theschool being very, very small,
although to me as a single digitchild, it felt huge. But I also
(02:55):
remember dad telling me that hisgraduating class only had
something like 50 people in it.
And he had to take Greek as wellas Latin. But he so enjoyed his
time at the college. And formany years, he would be
remembered by so many people Iwould run into for production.
(03:16):
He did have Romeo and Juliet in1934. And he did it on the
system. And he used the balcony,Randolph Hall for the balcony
seats. The only wrinkle was ithad to be done at night. And
according to dad, he ran milesand miles of extension cords,
from buildings nearby to be ableto put the big spotlights up in
(03:39):
the trees, you know, surroundingthe system. And then people who
saw it, never ever forgot it. Itwas a big deal.
Erika LeGendre (03:46):
That's amazing.
So you've achieved so much as awomen's rights advocate locally
and internationally. How did youget involved in this line of
work? And looking back can youtalk about a milestone that was
particularly rewarding duringyour time as director of the
Center for Women?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (04:06):
Well, it took me a while to get the
message is clear from theGoddesses about what I really
was to do with my life. I I wascertainly no groundbreaking
feminist when I was in highschool, although I did go to an
all female high school which Ithink made a difference in my
ability to develop leadershipskills. And I guess it wasn't
(04:30):
until college that I started tozone in on some of the
discrimination and the prejudiceagainst women and I want to say
this right up front. As a whitewoman I had it far better than
my sisters who were brown orblack. Believe me I know that.
I went to Davidson College whichis the time was all male. They
(04:52):
allowed 10 women from differentcolleges to come for one year to
quote see if women could handlethe academic load. Before I know
it shock sheet. They didn't getaway with saying that, before
they decided whether or not togo co Ed and I had a great
experience my issues were notwith the students, but with the
professors who honestly believedthat women did not belong on
(05:15):
that campus that we did not havethe intellectual stamina to make
it. The good news is at the endof the first semester, none of
us made below a B, and thecollege decided to go coed the
following year. So I was veryproud of that. And since then, I
know a lot of people, a lot ofwomen who've gone to Davidson,
yes, I do remind them that theywouldn't be there had nine, I
(05:36):
try not, you know, trod beforethem.
But it really was when I joinedthe Peace Corps in 1976. And I
was sent to Afghanistan at atime when it was really the best
of times there. And I'm sorrythat people in your generation
only have seen Afghanistan as awarzone, because it's a really
(05:56):
magnificent country. But while Iwas there, I was assigned to
work with traditional midwives,who were being trained into, in
how to do a more hygienic birth,because these traditional
midwives out in the villagesdidn't have a lot to work with.
And the infant and maternalmortality rate in Afghanistan
was shocking. So I started goingout to these small villages
(06:22):
working with the trainedmidwives. And you know, it hit
me pretty hard when I saw an 11year old child give birth, and
realize that not only did shenot have access to prenatal or
postnatal care, but she wasn'tgoing to get an education, she
wasn't allowed to vote, shewouldn't be allowed to vote, she
was allowed to have money in herown account, any man in her
(06:45):
family could could take thingsaway from her it was it really
it did shock me to my core. Andof course, a very wise man who
was very involved with theCollege of Charleston, John
Henry Dick, who left Dixieplantation to the college, had
done a lot of traveling in thethird world. And he told me
before I left, he said, this wasimportant. Never tell the poor,
(07:07):
they're poor. That's yourperception of them, you're gonna
find that you meet many peoplewho are poor by your standards,
but who aren't by theirs. Inother words, don't be the ugly
American. So that really kickedme off into the the women's
rights advocacy.
And I came back to SouthCarolina after that experience,
(07:28):
and went to Columbia and workfor Nancy Stevenson, who was the
first woman ever electedstatewide, and South Carolina,
she was lieutenant governor. SoI got to watch how women were
treated at that level by thelegislature and state
government. And it wasn'tpretty, it was one of those
things where we had to fightevery day to be heard and taken
(07:49):
seriously. And my career justsort of evolved from there into
other areas of working withwomen's rights advocacy. And if
I'm going to look back on theCenter for Women, which was a
wonderful 12 years, I have tosay, and I will take
responsibility for puttingwomen's economic issues on the
(08:10):
table in this community as asubject of discussion. Probably
the highlight of my time, therewas when Oprah Winfrey
recognized us and gave us arather substantial grant.
And she came to do her, youknow, live your best life
workshop and gave us sometickets. And we got to meet her.
(08:32):
And one of the side bars of thatstory was, I called her her
granting organization, which wasOprah's Angel Network. After she
had given us the grant. And Icalled I said, I want to know
who to send the thank you noteto because yes, I was raised in
Charleston. And I do know theimportance of the thank you
note. And basically, and then Isaid, How did you find us? You
(08:54):
know, did you have a lot ofother organizations that you
asked to submit a grantproposal? And she said, No, you
were the only one. And I went,really? I mean, this was a
nationwide kind of search. And Isaid, How did you conduct your
search? Did you send someone toCharleston in a trench coat to
sort of skulk around and seewhat different women's
organizations were doing? Andshe said, No, we did our entire
(09:17):
search online, you have amagnificent website. And we did.
And as a nonprofit that wasstrapped for cash resources. We
made the best use possible thatwe could of social media. So
that was a great lesson to learnfrom that.
Erika LeGendre (09:34):
Thank you for that. So you spoke about your
time in the Peace Corps. Why doyou think volunteering,
especially as a young adult isworthwhile?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (09:45):
Oh, I think it's critical. I think
it's absolutely critical. Itwill change. It will change your
perspective because so many ofus were in the same town with
the same group of people untilwe go to college and if we go to
college somewhere else, we get alittle bit of a break. But to go
and live in another culture, andto live as someone who is there
to provide a service, not to askto get anything, is a wonderful
(10:11):
lesson to learn, you know, inyour early, late, you know, late
teens, early 20s. And itcertainly had that impact on me.
I was a volunteer for two yearsin Afghanistan. And then I spent
another eight years on seniorstaff of Peace Corps. And all I
did was travel the third world.
And one of the great lessons Ilearned were the commonalities
in the way women were treatedalmost exclusively across the
(10:34):
Third World. And unfortunately,it's still similar to the way a
lot of women in this country aretreated. But I do recommend the
Peace Corps, or any kind ofprogram that will get you out of
your comfort zone, and put youin a situation where you learn
about another culture.
Erika LeGendre (10:55):
Yes, actually, many of our graduates, I know,
they spend a lot of time in thePeace Corps too. So it's just
great that our students can giveback in that way. Definitely. So
the Women's and Gender Studiesprogram at the College explores
the intersections of gender,class, race, ethnicity, age,
(11:16):
religion, ability, andsexuality. Tell me about your
involvement with thisdepartment.
Jennet Robinson Alterman (11:23):
Oh, the Women and Gender Studies
program? Well, you know, itreally came into its own when
the magnificent, AllisonPiepmeier came to the College of
Charleston, campus, and I hopeshe is still a legend because
she, she truly was, and I wasdelighted to help Allison,
really grow the program. And oneof the more interesting stories
(11:43):
from that period is, there wereso many people who wanted to
major in women and genderstudies, but only a minor was
being offered. So Alison wentthrough, you know, the hoops and
all the paperwork you have to doto apply to add a major to the
college. And that had to gothrough the Commission on Higher
(12:04):
Education. And so Alison went upthere. And this is going to
sound so old fashioned when Isay it, but it just gives you an
idea of some of the things wehad to deal with Allison went up
there to defend, you know, thereasoning for having a Women and
Gender Studies Program and thefact that all these people were
minors, and they really wantedto be majors. And the only thing
(12:27):
that produced a stumble was thefact that the women and gender
studies program had startedproducing the Vagina Monologues
every February because EveEnsler, the author of that play
allowed colleges to produce itduring February, as long as the
(12:47):
proceeds from it went to a localnonprofit. And unfortunately,
there was a woman on theCommission on Higher Education,
who, excuse me, was notcomfortable with that, not to
mention the title. And soAllison had to do a quick and
run and pull that out, and handit over to the counseling
(13:10):
center, who I believe still doesit and save the major single
handedly. So I like the story ofAlison getting up there and
standing up to the good ol boysand women. So gender studies is
Women and Gender Studies is allabout.
Erika LeGendre (13:23):
Absolutely. So the theme of the second annual
Women for Women Summit is great.
Can you talk a bit about why youwanted to be involved, and what
does grit mean to you?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (13:36):
Oh, grit. It's not the singular for
grits. Certainly. grit to me isis not giving up, it is going
after something that you wantand holding on to it like a dog
with a bone. It is overcomingobstacles, it is standing up for
yourself. A wonderful quote, Ifound recently is if standing up
(14:01):
for yourself burns a bridge, Ihave matches and we ride at
dawn. My most favorite quoterecently and that's really what
grit is about. And I think thatthe organizers for this
conference really want to helpjumpstart women who had been in
for in many situations out ofthe workforce for the last two
(14:23):
years due to COVID are workingremotely. And it's time to get
back into the groove. But also Ithink it's very important for
the women who are attending thisconference to understand that
they have a responsibility nowto push for changes in the
workplace that benefit families,things like paid family leave,
(14:44):
for example, there is nothingmore important than paid family
leave than pay equity. Andthat's going to be one of the
messages that I hope to getacross in conference.
Erika LeGendre (14:56):
Do you have any advice for young women getting
ready to graduate who arethinking about a career?
Jennet Robinson Alterman (15:03):
Yes, I do. Number one, your career is a
process of elimination. Okay?
Gone are the days when you got ajob out of college and 40 years
later, you retired and they gaveyou a gold watch and all was
well, in this world today,you're lucky if you stay in a
job for two years. So look at itas a process of elimination.
(15:24):
Now, one hard and true fact thatI do want to stick with, if
you're in a job, stay at leasttwo years, not one year stay at
least to tough it out. Okay?
Because your potential managersand supervisors are going to
look at your background in termsof how often you change jobs.
(15:47):
The other thing is to take withyou from one job to the next
what you've learned on thatfirst job, okay, and be able to
weave that into your interviewfor the next job. I'll give you
just a very quick example. It'stoo long a story to explain why,
but somehow my first real jobout of college was as a
television news reporter atChannel Five WC SC TV. Okay, I
(16:12):
was in that job for three years.
But what I learned about themedia what I learned about
television, what I learned aboutediting, stayed with me
throughout my whole career. AndI'd like to think that one of
the reasons I have a comfortlevel with doing this interview
with you is because of theskills I developed at Channel
540, some years ago.
Erika LeGendre (16:33):
Thank you very much. And thank you for speaking
with us today.
Jennet Robinson Alterman (16:37):
Happy to do it. Happy to do it. The
college is near and dear to myheart.
Erika LeGendre (16:46):
Thanks for listening to this episode of
speaking of College ofCharleston with Jeanette
Ultraman. For more episodes andto read stories about our guest,
visit the College of Charlestonofficial news site, the college
today@today.cfc.edu. You canalso find this in past episodes
on all major podcast platformsincluding Apple podcasts,
(17:09):
Spotify and Stitcher. If youlike what you hear, please
subscribe and leave a review.
This episode was produced by AmyMercer from University
Communications, recording andsound engineering by Jessie 10s
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