March 15, 2023 • 29 mins
We are celebrating Women’s History Month with the Executive Director of the Alice Paul Institute, Rachael Glashan Rupisan. The centennial anniversary of the 1923 Equal Right Amendment, the Alice Paul Institute strives to develop leadership, programming, and community activism to honor the legacy of Alice Paul’s work for gender equality through education and leadership development. What does a leader look like? How to inspire women? How can we as a society empower gender equality in our world? Rachel and Brooke reflect on sisterhood, gender justice, and community strengthening. Follow API @alicepaulinstitute
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Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (00:00):
Welcome to Rowan College at Burlington
County's Baroness podcast I'mDr. Brooke Mailhiot program
chair and assistant professor ofour entertainment technologies
department. I'm the chair of theWomen's Advocacy Group a
subcommittee of the President'sAdvisory Council on diversity,
equity and inclusion. Thismonthly series highlights women
in leadership while encouraginglisteners to build their skills,
(00:21):
connect with the community andvisualize the opportunities
available to women in variousprofessions. Tune in for a
female perspective on theBurlington County community. We
are here to listen to theseamazing women. If you want to
hear from women who lead andinspire this podcast is for you.
Welcome to our March podcast.This month, we are honoring
(00:45):
Women's History Month. We havethe fantastic Rachael Glashan
Rupisan is the executivedirector of the Alice Paul
Institute, a nonprofit dedicatedto using the past to inspire
others to take action for genderjustice. Now, before her work
with API's, she led fundraisingand development strategies for
(01:06):
crushed Dance Company and thePhiladelphia ballet. Rachel
holds a Bachelor of Fine Artsfrom Temple University and an
Executive Women in Leadershipcertificate from Yale
University. Rachel serves on theLEA Stein dance company board of
directors in Philadelphia.Welcome.
Rachael Glashan Rupisan (01:23):
Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Unknown (01:26):
I am so glad you're here. I think what was very
interesting when you know, I'mall about connections, and in
every one of our podcasts, myguests come from really amazing
connections. And we actually hadDr. Jean cernak on here before
and I was telling her I'm like,you know, I need to find like,
you know, something regardingwomen's rights, and I want to
(01:49):
find the right person. And shewas like, Rachel. And I was
like, okay, and then instantlywhen we talked, I mean, you were
just so wonderful to have a preinterview with and I just would
love everybody to kind of learnabout where did the Alice Paul
Institute and like yourbackground on fine arts and
(02:11):
dance and all these kind of howdid they connect for you? Where
did this all began?
Rachael Glashan Rupisan (02:16):
Oh, that's a great question. I also
have to tell you, the number ofthings Dr. Joon Saranac has
gotten me into over the past fewmonths, I just need to give her
a shout out. So thank you, Dr.Train. So how did I How did I
become the executive director ofa women's empowerment and
advocacy organization having adance background? It's such a
(02:39):
good question. I'm still tryingto figure that one out, to be
honest. So I got a bachelor offine arts and dance from Temple.
And then throughout my career,I've always worked for dance
companies. And, you know,probably mid career, I started
doing a lot of fundraising, andkind of focused on development
(02:59):
and raising funds for theorganizations that I love so
much. And after my tenure withthe Philadelphia ballet, I got a
call from our former executivedirector, Lucy beard. And we
talked about the developmentdirector position at the Alice
Paul Institute. And honestly,Lucy sold me on it, I was like,
you're amazing. I want to workwith you. Let's do it. So I got
(03:24):
to the Institute in 2019, andjust fell in love with the
mission and fell in love withthe history. And I think that
the arts and the museum reallyintersect in so many different
ways. But really, ballet is sortof history where we're
performing all of thesehistorical ballets and pieces of
(03:47):
work that meant so much to aspecific time period. So that
intersection was really cool toexperience coming to API, the
Alice Paul Institute. So we saythat we're fighting for gender
justice. And sometimes when wesay that people are like, What
are you talking about genderjustice, you know, there is a
quality, everything is fair. Andthat's just not the case. So,
(04:11):
you know, again, bringing thehistory into it. For me, it's
really important to be able tohave a perspective on the past
to inform your decision makingmoving forward.
Unknown (04:22):
Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So that's,
I don't know if I actually justanswered the question or not,
but that's sort of how I gothere. And I became the executive
director just in October. AndI'm just thrilled to be stepping
into this role because theorganization is just thriving
and our team is stellar. Ourstaff is just so talented, and
(04:45):
just so focused on making surethat people of all genders are
just treated fairly by the lawin the United States.
And what I find so interestingis also you know, we'll bring up
Dr. June again, you know, She'sso involved in so many of these
local places that some you've,you've heard of. And there's you
(05:06):
know, and I know a little bitdeeper of information. And I
knew the API was was local, andI had heard the term, but I
didn't really know what youstood for. And that mission of
that gender justice and thatgender equality, could you go in
for our listeners who reallydon't know, like, who is Alice
Paul, like, and why is it namedthe Alice Paul Institute,
(05:28):
AP, my girl AP. So Alice, Paulwas a suffer jest who fought to
get the 19th amendment passed,which gave women most women, the
right to vote in America. So shereally helped in franchise half
of the country. And most peopledon't know who she is, which is
tragic. So what we do at theAlice Paul Institute is we
(05:51):
leverage her story to again,inspire, inspire people to take
action for themselves in theircommunity. Alice was a doer, she
was a strategist, you know, she,she actually was not the type of
person to get in front of amicrophone and start getting on
a soapbox or anything like that.But she was the person planning
all of those details out in thebackground. So another reason
(06:15):
why we look to Alice is becauseshe's not the archetype of what
a leader looks like, in thiscountry. And we think that's
really special. And that'sreally important for young
people to look to, hey, I can bea leader, and it doesn't need to
look like something superspecific. I have innate
leadership qualities withinmyself that can affect change in
(06:35):
my community. You know,
you say you do so many thingsthere. As Executive Director, I
can only imagine the events andthings that you're that you're
planning. What are some thingsthat you know, we're here on a
college campus today? What aresome things that that these
college students can do everyday? That are little things,
(06:56):
right? We're not, you know, likeyou said, we're taking things
from our past to learn about ourfuture, what are some of those
things that they can they canslowly implement, to do that
change to bring that thatequality change to life?
That is an excellent question. Ithink that, you know, such a
small thing is just being reallyintentional about treating
(07:18):
people fairly, when youencounter someone, making sure
that if you see a smallinjustice, you stick up for
that. And recognizing that allof us, you know, especially if
you're in a situation whereyou're able to attend college,
you have some type of privilege.So to be able to recognize that
and use that to help and affectchange, I think is really
(07:42):
important. And it's probably thefirst step in in this larger
fight, is recognizing what youhave to be able to give back to
others.
So there's a big anniversary,big centennial anniversary of
the fight that we're stillfighting. Yes. Tell us about
that.
(08:03):
Yes. So back in 1923, Alice coauthored the Equal Rights
Amendment, or the era, and theera is a piece of legislation
that is supposed to beintroduced into the United
States Constitution. Right now,the word woman does not exist in
the United States Constitution,and most people think that it's
(08:24):
there. So it's really importantthat legislation like this gets
involved to put protections inplace for people of all genders.
So those people can continue tobe treated fairly in this
society. So this year, it's thecentennial of the era. And at
API, we're celebrating in anumber of different ways. We're
(08:45):
actually hosting a symposiumwith the New Jersey State Bar
Association on March 24, wherepeople can come and attend learn
about the history of the EqualRights Amendment. Alice
introduced it in 1923. There wasa large focus on it in the 1970s
and 1980s. I don't know ifyou've seen the FX show, Mrs.
(09:07):
America, but it talks all aboutthe drama. And it's really an
interesting show. And then itkind of fizzled out a little
bit. And we're seeing momentumagain, I think because of recent
Supreme Court decisions andthings of that nature that have
come out, I think people arereally amped up to get this
piece of legislation solidifiedand really make it a part of the
(09:29):
United States Constitution.
You know what I find sointeresting, and he uses word
connection that and then when westarted off our conversation,
you're like, Yeah, how didsomeone from dance now get here?
And I was thinking that whileyou're talking, I'm like, How
did somebody from a dancebackground now start talking
about the equal rights of the ofAmerica which is so interesting,
(09:53):
you know, you're located theAPIs located right in Mount
Laurel. And you you're thrivingand you have So many you know,
this March 24 is just one of theevents, you've allotted
interesting programming, youthprogramming and programming all
across the board. Could you talkabout a little bit about what
does the institute bring to thecommunity, because I think a lot
(10:16):
of people don't realize allthose beautiful, you know,
educational resources that youhave in programs that you have,
and to provide us with?
Absolutely, we do so manythings. As I take a deep sigh.
You wear many hats, we do a lotof different things, we sort of
have three pillars that wereally focus on. The first is
(10:37):
leadership development. So wehave what we call our girls
Leadership Council. And thatprogram is for high school aged
girls to participate in. Andit's not really your standard,
hey, here's how you be a leader,come here, and we'll do a resume
writing workshop with you.Sometimes we do those sorts of
things. But really, you know, asI touched on earlier, what we're
(10:58):
trying to emphasize is thatthese girls have a voice. And
they need to activate thatvoice. So they can go into their
next phase of life, whetherthat's college, whether that's
work, whether that's whateverthey decide to pursue, and be
leaders in the spaces that theyoccupy. So that's a primary area
of focus for us. We also do anumber of different public
(11:20):
programs with public schools inthe area where we go in and we
teach programs about women'shistory. Because, shocker, you
know, sadly, our public schoolsystem doesn't always teach
those things. So we're happy tobe able to subsidize those
programs for public schools. Wealso host a number of adult
programs on site virtual andother locations where we talk
(11:41):
about contemporary topics andchallenges facing women today.
One of them being the EqualRights Amendment. And that's
really our focus over the nextyear. But really, what we're
trying to do with our adultprogram is trying to unite the
community to be able to seewomen in positions of power,
(12:03):
claiming their power in thespaces that they occupy. And
it's been really powerful to seethat.
Why do you think it's such achallenge? Still, now we're in
2023? Why do you think you'renow in the centennial thick of
it in here? Let's mean, right?What is it about? That, that
(12:24):
we're still trying to move theneedle?
I have so many thoughts. Okay,so many we've got
time people are listening, theywant to hear?
Sadly, I think that one factoris that we hold ourselves back
sometimes. And I think that'swhy it's so important to
recognize that voice withinyourself that intuition,
(12:47):
whatever you want to call it. Ican't tell you how many times in
my own career where I've knownthe answer to something. I've
known what I need to do to moveforward to move a project or an
initiative forward. But I secondguess, my own decision making
because of a comment made to me,or a comment made to a teammate
(13:07):
or something along those lines,and then I'm completely second
guessing myself. And I thinkthat continues to happen. So
that's exactly what we're tryingto address with these girls is
no listen to your intuition.Listen to your voice, and say
what you need to say, we're notalways right. But a lot of
times, we are right. So I thinkyou know, that's one area. I
(13:32):
think also that, you know, withmoving legislation forward, it
gets really tricky, because Ithink the public doesn't, isn't
fully aware that these thingsdon't exist already. Right. I
agree. So, you know, you'regoing about your daily life.
You're, you know, you feel likeyou have total autonomy and
(13:53):
control over what your choicesare. Until you don't, you know,
and I think that that's what,you know, some women are facing
now in different states, again,going back to the SCOTUS
decision, but I think that's abig challenge for us and moving
legislation forward is peoplejust aren't aware about what the
(14:14):
policies are that don't exist.
So you see this word awareness,and I think the community,
you've done a great job so muchin your role of making the
community aware. But like yousaid, there's still like, our,
our, this generation and thegeneration before us, you know,
like you said, we've been wehave these roadblocks that have
(14:35):
been along the way as women. Imean, I know I've had it. I'm in
the entertainment industry. I'vehad numerous times situations
come up, like, you know, it's avery male dominated industry.
You know, and I've, like yousaid, you have these things that
are, you know, off the cuffcomments even and they don't
even have to be directly to you.And one of the things that I saw
(14:58):
that Alice says she's a quote,recalling her mother's advice
that she says, when you put yourhand to the plow, you can't put
it down until you get to the endof the row. And what's amazing
to me is that we're stillplowing. And we're still trying
to make it through. And I thinkevery day, we're trying to make
(15:20):
it to that end of the row. Sohow do you or what is your
personal or maybe it's yourdaily, you know, thought to
yourself, right? Like your dailythought, when you when you walk
into API, and you're, and you'redoing your role, what keeps you
going every day to try and makeit to the end of that row?
(15:41):
My work lives. But in allseriousness, it's just the women
that I work with. And it's notjust my current team, you know,
my current team is amazing. AndI know that we support each
other, both professionally andpersonally. And that means so
much. And I think that also saysa lot because of the type of
institution that we are. Buteven in past roles, and the
(16:05):
arts, you know, I had thosewomen that I was really standing
shoulder to shoulder with, andwe were in it, we were the ones
doing it, and we were the onesfeeling it. And they inspire me.
They inspire me so much,
bringing back Dr. June, one ofthe things she said, you know,
she's she's a lady of manystories, but one of her things
(16:27):
was she has this sisterhood. Shetalks about it like her divas,
her group of divas and hersisterhood. And you brought up
the same thing. And actuallylast month on our special with
Julia cine moss and Deb Bryce,they also talked about a
sisterhood and it's this kind ofcontinuing vibe that us women,
we need this kind of group ofpowerful divas sisterhood, work
(16:53):
wives, whatever that may be, toto keep us afloat to keep us
going. We we brainstorm withthem. We call them you know,
when we're down when it's ahighlight in our life when it's
you know, when it's when the upsand the downs. And I think
basically that symbolizes almostAlice Paul's, you know, struggle
(17:17):
for the justice of keeping itgoing to the end of the row like
Who did she use? What what whowere her partners in her in her
life. And I think you sharingthat is really powerful, because
I think a lot of women stillstruggle to find that where they
have someone that they're notsure how to form those
(17:38):
relationships. And I think it'sreally powerful. How did these,
you know inspiring divas? Thesethe sisterhood, the sisterhood,
this work wife group? How didthis come about? Is it is an
organic thing? Is it? What wasthat for you?
I think it's I think it's anorganic thing. But I think
(18:00):
there's some intentionalitybehind it too. I think that, you
know, in our society right now,the way that the system is kind
of structured is to pin womenagainst each other. And not all
women want to have those typesof relationships. Not all women
(18:21):
want to be supportive of eachother. And that's challenging in
itself. And I think that,especially when you're
experiencing those things withothers, that unites you, because
you're experiencing somethingthat's challenging and trying to
overcome that together. Youknow, I think that we need to
(18:42):
just be okay with empoweringeach other. And recognizing that
doesn't take anything away fromme, my light doesn't diminish
because your light is shiningbrighter right now. And if your
light is shining brighter rightnow, I'm going to cheer you on
and throw glitter at you andjust, you know, take out the
(19:03):
dance shoes, whatever, andcelebrate that. And I think that
that is so hard for women to do.And that is a trauma response to
patriarchal structures that arecurrently in place to pin women
against each other.
And I think, you know, Alice,and her vision and mission is,
(19:25):
you know, so similar in thetrack of of finding that. What
do you think Alice would besaying
immediately when we were talkingabout Alice's pals I thought of
Lucy burns, they were the bestof pals and they really achieved
so much together and then alsocrystal Eastman, who helped her
co author that era. Alice lovedworking collaboratively. I think
(19:50):
one of Alice's best traits isthat she saw each person's
unique qualities and was able tokind of piece things together in
a way to highlight Everyone'sstrengths. And that's teamwork.
Right? That's
yeah. DivX leadershipdefinition. Yeah.
(20:10):
You know. So I think that shedid that so well, particularly
with how she moved the 19th.Amendment forward.
You know, you bring up this termleadership. And I know, I
thought it was very interesting,I saw that you have the women's
in leadership from Yale, Iactually got the women's in
leadership from Cornell, Ithought it was a really
(20:30):
inspirational piece that I addedand an educational piece that I
added to my professional life.What inspired you to kind of go
after that certificate? What wasit about getting, you know, you
can get a leadershipcertificate, but you went and
did women's and leadership? AndI think that kind of really is,
(20:52):
speaks volumes?
Sure. So I decided to go withthat certificate program for a
couple of different reasons.Okay, so this might not be the
right thing to say, but I'mgonna say it anyway, I hate that
there has to be a labeled womenin leadership certificate. It's
just you are just being aleader. You know, and I, I was
(21:16):
actually intrigued, because Iwas like, what makes this so
different than every otherleadership certificate? And, you
know, as I was going through theprocess, it really touched a lot
on social emotional learning,and those types of skills.
Which, to me, I'm like, This isso obvious, of course, people in
(21:40):
leadership need to understandhow to interact with others, and
how to interpret their emotions.What are men getting this? Are
the men's leadership coursesgetting this because they did
too. So those were like thefirst things that were like
running through my head, when Idecided to do that program. I
actually ended up loving it. Itwas great. It was great to
(22:02):
network. And I think one of thetakeaways that I got from it is
that there are so few spaceswhere women can come together
and actually just talk aboutsome of the challenges we face.
And that was a real highlight,being able to do that and
network and have that spacewhere we could be open and share
freely.
Yeah, I mean, I agree, I thinksome of those smaller group
sessions and collaborations thatI had, you know, just verifying
(22:27):
that, yeah, I'm not the only onethat has experienced this. I'm a
woman in a profession. And thenthere's other women who are
feeling the same way. Yeah. Andit was like this really, you
know, it was like an approvallike, okay, yeah, that is
something to talk about. That issomething to bring to the
(22:50):
foreground. And, and that'sreally what API also stands for
is that we're trying to bringthis equality forward, and still
continuing to do that work. AndI think that's, you know, round
of applause to you and yourteam, you know, for doing that.
What are some things that you'rehoping for, for API in the
(23:10):
future? Where do you see itgoing?
We have so many plans. So we'vestarted to kind of joke because
we have so many big ideas. We'relike, okay, that's the five year
plan. That's the 10 year plan.Maybe that's the 25 year plan.
But I think for us, what we'rereally focusing on over the next
few years is going to beemphasizing the space Paul sale
(23:34):
itself, which is right here inMount Laurel, we have six and a
half acres of property, andwe're thinking about how we're
going to activate the outdoorspace. So there are lots of
discussions about bringing indifferent community partners who
can utilize the space itself orhaving different types of
concession and things of thatnature to aid our programming.
(23:54):
So there's lots of that indiscussion. I think, also, we're
really going to start focusingmore on our advocacy efforts for
the Equal Rights Amendment. Imean, frankly, it's just
ridiculous that it hasn't beensolidified yet. So anything that
we can do to help bring thatawareness to the public, we're
working on doing
um, I love that you said aboutthe space of Mount Laurel, those
(24:16):
of our listeners that have neverbeen there. Can you walk us
through what would theyexperience when they go to API?
Sure. So API is, or Paul styleis the site itself. It's one of
the most serene spaces I've everbeen to. So you come down this
really long driveway, and youdrive up to the farmhouse where
(24:38):
Alice Paul was born, and there'sthis beautiful foliage and
acreage and it's just a lovelywraparound porch. So that's your
first impression of the spacejust, this is really serene. And
it's funny because we talk aboutAlice's relationship to the
space a lot. And in her adultlife, she didn't live there any
(24:58):
longer. She actually did most toher work down in Washington, DC,
but she used to come back toPaul stale as her place of rest
in refuge to kind of take abreather and take a break, which
is also really important forwomen to do as we're taking on
the world. So that's sort of thefirst impression that you get
when you walk inside the spaceitself. We do have an exhibit up
(25:21):
currently that's, that describesAlice's life and her
accomplishments. And we do havea temporary exhibit up right now
called equality is the verb,which connects the suffrage
movement and the era movement.So you get to see all of those
things.
What's interesting to me isevery time I'm here we have I
(25:41):
have a little pod deck. And Ihave a stack of cards. And it's
kind of like the wild wild westof probing questions. And I try
and I ended with a few things.So this is going to be one of
these things. So I'm going topick a card. What would you do?
If you could not fail?
(26:03):
What would I do if I could notfail? This is
actually really perfect for ourtopic today, right?
What I do if I could not fail? Iwould probably Oh, this is a
hard question. Would I do if Icould not fail?
(26:25):
You always put people on thespot. And here at rcbc? I'm
gonna
say, I would say, This is reallyhard. If I could not fail, I
would bake my son's birthdaycake. If I could not fail at it.
I love that. See, I don't bakeso I'm all about the box. I
(26:48):
can't bake for anything. I loveto cook. Yes. Because you can
you can add a little I canimprovise. I'm an improviser.
But it's too exact for me tobake. I am the same way and I
need I need other elements to beadded. You don't even have to
you can't do that when you'rebaking. Now you can choose
specific. One more? What wouldyou like to change about the
(27:11):
world?
Well, I would like the world tobe a little bit more fair. That
would be great.
I think that's beautiful. So thediscussion here we were talking
and I like to write down allthese like, very prominent
positive words that we've saidthroughout our discussion. I'm
just going to read them and Ilike to use them as kind of like
the hashtag for hashtags for ourpodcast today. And then I want
(27:35):
to ask what your personalhashtag would be. So let's
listen to all these reallypowerful beautiful words that
you said okay? Hashtag strengthhashtag equality. Hashtag
support, work lives controlautonomy, hold back, intuition,
development, arts mission,gender, Justice suffragist vote,
(27:56):
inspire archetypes leader,fairly injustice, empowering,
teamwork, serene rest and refugeand take on the world. My
hashtag
would be slow down a little.
I don't think a lot of women doknow how to do that. Because we
(28:16):
feel that energy that we have totake on so much and that there
isn't that downtime and thatrest in that refuge that you
were talking about. So I reallylove that you said that. I want
to thank Rachael Glashan Rupisanfor joining us today. Please
visit our website for moreinformation about our dei
initiatives and our committeesat rcbc.edu/diversity. If you
(28:42):
want to hear from women who leadand inspire this podcast is for
you. You've been listening tothe rcbc bareness podcast, which
highlights women in leadershipwhile encouraging listeners to
build their skills, connect withthe community and visualize the
opportunities available to womenin various professions. For more
information about this podcastand other podcasts available on
(29:04):
the rcbc Podcast Network, visitrcbc.edu/podcast And subscribe
to the rcbc bareness podcastwherever you tune in for a
female perspective into theBurlington County community.
You've been listening to theBaroness Podcast Take care.
Thanks. You've been
Jason Varga (29:22):
listening to the rcbc Baroness podcast which
highlights women in leadershipwhile encouraging listeners to
build their skills, connect withthe community and visualize the
opportunities available to womenin various professions. For more
information about this podcastor other podcasts available on
the rcbc Podcast Network, visitrcbc.edu/podcast. And be sure to
subscribe to the rcbc barenesspodcast available on all
(29:44):
streaming platforms.
Welcome to Rowan College at Burlington
County's Baroness podcast I'mDr. Brooke Mailhiot program
chair and assistant professor ofour entertainment technologies
department. I'm the chair of theWomen's Advocacy Group a
subcommittee of the President'sAdvisory Council on diversity,
equity and inclusion. Thismonthly series highlights women
in leadership while encouraginglisteners to build their skills,
(00:21):
connect with the community andvisualize the opportunities
available to women in variousprofessions. Tune in for a
female perspective on theBurlington County community. We
are here to listen to theseamazing women. If you want to
hear from women who lead andinspire this podcast is for you.
Welcome to our March podcast.This month, we are honoring
(00:45):
Women's History Month. We havethe fantastic Rachael Glashan
Rupisan is the executivedirector of the Alice Paul
Institute, a nonprofit dedicatedto using the past to inspire
others to take action for genderjustice. Now, before her work
with API's, she led fundraisingand development strategies for
(01:06):
crushed Dance Company and thePhiladelphia ballet. Rachel
holds a Bachelor of Fine Artsfrom Temple University and an
Executive Women in Leadershipcertificate from Yale
University. Rachel serves on theLEA Stein dance company board of
directors in Philadelphia.Welcome.
Rachael Glashan Rupisan (01:23):
Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Unknown (01:26):
I am so glad you're here. I think what was very
interesting when you know, I'mall about connections, and in
every one of our podcasts, myguests come from really amazing
connections. And we actually hadDr. Jean cernak on here before
and I was telling her I'm like,you know, I need to find like,
you know, something regardingwomen's rights, and I want to
(01:49):
find the right person. And shewas like, Rachel. And I was
like, okay, and then instantlywhen we talked, I mean, you were
just so wonderful to have a preinterview with and I just would
love everybody to kind of learnabout where did the Alice Paul
Institute and like yourbackground on fine arts and
(02:11):
dance and all these kind of howdid they connect for you? Where
did this all began?
Rachael Glashan Rupisan (02:16):
Oh, that's a great question. I also
have to tell you, the number ofthings Dr. Joon Saranac has
gotten me into over the past fewmonths, I just need to give her
a shout out. So thank you, Dr.Train. So how did I How did I
become the executive director ofa women's empowerment and
advocacy organization having adance background? It's such a
(02:39):
good question. I'm still tryingto figure that one out, to be
honest. So I got a bachelor offine arts and dance from Temple.
And then throughout my career,I've always worked for dance
companies. And, you know,probably mid career, I started
doing a lot of fundraising, andkind of focused on development
(02:59):
and raising funds for theorganizations that I love so
much. And after my tenure withthe Philadelphia ballet, I got a
call from our former executivedirector, Lucy beard. And we
talked about the developmentdirector position at the Alice
Paul Institute. And honestly,Lucy sold me on it, I was like,
you're amazing. I want to workwith you. Let's do it. So I got
(03:24):
to the Institute in 2019, andjust fell in love with the
mission and fell in love withthe history. And I think that
the arts and the museum reallyintersect in so many different
ways. But really, ballet is sortof history where we're
performing all of thesehistorical ballets and pieces of
(03:47):
work that meant so much to aspecific time period. So that
intersection was really cool toexperience coming to API, the
Alice Paul Institute. So we saythat we're fighting for gender
justice. And sometimes when wesay that people are like, What
are you talking about genderjustice, you know, there is a
quality, everything is fair. Andthat's just not the case. So,
(04:11):
you know, again, bringing thehistory into it. For me, it's
really important to be able tohave a perspective on the past
to inform your decision makingmoving forward.
Unknown (04:22):
Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So that's,
I don't know if I actually justanswered the question or not,
but that's sort of how I gothere. And I became the executive
director just in October. AndI'm just thrilled to be stepping
into this role because theorganization is just thriving
and our team is stellar. Ourstaff is just so talented, and
(04:45):
just so focused on making surethat people of all genders are
just treated fairly by the lawin the United States.
And what I find so interestingis also you know, we'll bring up
Dr. June again, you know, She'sso involved in so many of these
local places that some you've,you've heard of. And there's you
(05:06):
know, and I know a little bitdeeper of information. And I
knew the API was was local, andI had heard the term, but I
didn't really know what youstood for. And that mission of
that gender justice and thatgender equality, could you go in
for our listeners who reallydon't know, like, who is Alice
Paul, like, and why is it namedthe Alice Paul Institute,
(05:28):
AP, my girl AP. So Alice, Paulwas a suffer jest who fought to
get the 19th amendment passed,which gave women most women, the
right to vote in America. So shereally helped in franchise half
of the country. And most peopledon't know who she is, which is
tragic. So what we do at theAlice Paul Institute is we
(05:51):
leverage her story to again,inspire, inspire people to take
action for themselves in theircommunity. Alice was a doer, she
was a strategist, you know, she,she actually was not the type of
person to get in front of amicrophone and start getting on
a soapbox or anything like that.But she was the person planning
all of those details out in thebackground. So another reason
(06:15):
why we look to Alice is becauseshe's not the archetype of what
a leader looks like, in thiscountry. And we think that's
really special. And that'sreally important for young
people to look to, hey, I can bea leader, and it doesn't need to
look like something superspecific. I have innate
leadership qualities withinmyself that can affect change in
(06:35):
my community. You know,
you say you do so many thingsthere. As Executive Director, I
can only imagine the events andthings that you're that you're
planning. What are some thingsthat you know, we're here on a
college campus today? What aresome things that that these
college students can do everyday? That are little things,
(06:56):
right? We're not, you know, likeyou said, we're taking things
from our past to learn about ourfuture, what are some of those
things that they can they canslowly implement, to do that
change to bring that thatequality change to life?
That is an excellent question. Ithink that, you know, such a
small thing is just being reallyintentional about treating
(07:18):
people fairly, when youencounter someone, making sure
that if you see a smallinjustice, you stick up for
that. And recognizing that allof us, you know, especially if
you're in a situation whereyou're able to attend college,
you have some type of privilege.So to be able to recognize that
and use that to help and affectchange, I think is really
(07:42):
important. And it's probably thefirst step in in this larger
fight, is recognizing what youhave to be able to give back to
others.
So there's a big anniversary,big centennial anniversary of
the fight that we're stillfighting. Yes. Tell us about
that.
(08:03):
Yes. So back in 1923, Alice coauthored the Equal Rights
Amendment, or the era, and theera is a piece of legislation
that is supposed to beintroduced into the United
States Constitution. Right now,the word woman does not exist in
the United States Constitution,and most people think that it's
(08:24):
there. So it's really importantthat legislation like this gets
involved to put protections inplace for people of all genders.
So those people can continue tobe treated fairly in this
society. So this year, it's thecentennial of the era. And at
API, we're celebrating in anumber of different ways. We're
(08:45):
actually hosting a symposiumwith the New Jersey State Bar
Association on March 24, wherepeople can come and attend learn
about the history of the EqualRights Amendment. Alice
introduced it in 1923. There wasa large focus on it in the 1970s
and 1980s. I don't know ifyou've seen the FX show, Mrs.
(09:07):
America, but it talks all aboutthe drama. And it's really an
interesting show. And then itkind of fizzled out a little
bit. And we're seeing momentumagain, I think because of recent
Supreme Court decisions andthings of that nature that have
come out, I think people arereally amped up to get this
piece of legislation solidifiedand really make it a part of the
(09:29):
United States Constitution.
You know what I find sointeresting, and he uses word
connection that and then when westarted off our conversation,
you're like, Yeah, how didsomeone from dance now get here?
And I was thinking that whileyou're talking, I'm like, How
did somebody from a dancebackground now start talking
about the equal rights of the ofAmerica which is so interesting,
(09:53):
you know, you're located theAPIs located right in Mount
Laurel. And you you're thrivingand you have So many you know,
this March 24 is just one of theevents, you've allotted
interesting programming, youthprogramming and programming all
across the board. Could you talkabout a little bit about what
does the institute bring to thecommunity, because I think a lot
(10:16):
of people don't realize allthose beautiful, you know,
educational resources that youhave in programs that you have,
and to provide us with?
Absolutely, we do so manythings. As I take a deep sigh.
You wear many hats, we do a lotof different things, we sort of
have three pillars that wereally focus on. The first is
(10:37):
leadership development. So wehave what we call our girls
Leadership Council. And thatprogram is for high school aged
girls to participate in. Andit's not really your standard,
hey, here's how you be a leader,come here, and we'll do a resume
writing workshop with you.Sometimes we do those sorts of
things. But really, you know, asI touched on earlier, what we're
(10:58):
trying to emphasize is thatthese girls have a voice. And
they need to activate thatvoice. So they can go into their
next phase of life, whetherthat's college, whether that's
work, whether that's whateverthey decide to pursue, and be
leaders in the spaces that theyoccupy. So that's a primary area
of focus for us. We also do anumber of different public
(11:20):
programs with public schools inthe area where we go in and we
teach programs about women'shistory. Because, shocker, you
know, sadly, our public schoolsystem doesn't always teach
those things. So we're happy tobe able to subsidize those
programs for public schools. Wealso host a number of adult
programs on site virtual andother locations where we talk
(11:41):
about contemporary topics andchallenges facing women today.
One of them being the EqualRights Amendment. And that's
really our focus over the nextyear. But really, what we're
trying to do with our adultprogram is trying to unite the
community to be able to seewomen in positions of power,
(12:03):
claiming their power in thespaces that they occupy. And
it's been really powerful to seethat.
Why do you think it's such achallenge? Still, now we're in
2023? Why do you think you'renow in the centennial thick of
it in here? Let's mean, right?What is it about? That, that
(12:24):
we're still trying to move theneedle?
I have so many thoughts. Okay,so many we've got
time people are listening, theywant to hear?
Sadly, I think that one factoris that we hold ourselves back
sometimes. And I think that'swhy it's so important to
recognize that voice withinyourself that intuition,
(12:47):
whatever you want to call it. Ican't tell you how many times in
my own career where I've knownthe answer to something. I've
known what I need to do to moveforward to move a project or an
initiative forward. But I secondguess, my own decision making
because of a comment made to me,or a comment made to a teammate
(13:07):
or something along those lines,and then I'm completely second
guessing myself. And I thinkthat continues to happen. So
that's exactly what we're tryingto address with these girls is
no listen to your intuition.Listen to your voice, and say
what you need to say, we're notalways right. But a lot of
times, we are right. So I thinkyou know, that's one area. I
(13:32):
think also that, you know, withmoving legislation forward, it
gets really tricky, because Ithink the public doesn't, isn't
fully aware that these thingsdon't exist already. Right. I
agree. So, you know, you'regoing about your daily life.
You're, you know, you feel likeyou have total autonomy and
(13:53):
control over what your choicesare. Until you don't, you know,
and I think that that's what,you know, some women are facing
now in different states, again,going back to the SCOTUS
decision, but I think that's abig challenge for us and moving
legislation forward is peoplejust aren't aware about what the
(14:14):
policies are that don't exist.
So you see this word awareness,and I think the community,
you've done a great job so muchin your role of making the
community aware. But like yousaid, there's still like, our,
our, this generation and thegeneration before us, you know,
like you said, we've been wehave these roadblocks that have
(14:35):
been along the way as women. Imean, I know I've had it. I'm in
the entertainment industry. I'vehad numerous times situations
come up, like, you know, it's avery male dominated industry.
You know, and I've, like yousaid, you have these things that
are, you know, off the cuffcomments even and they don't
even have to be directly to you.And one of the things that I saw
(14:58):
that Alice says she's a quote,recalling her mother's advice
that she says, when you put yourhand to the plow, you can't put
it down until you get to the endof the row. And what's amazing
to me is that we're stillplowing. And we're still trying
to make it through. And I thinkevery day, we're trying to make
(15:20):
it to that end of the row. Sohow do you or what is your
personal or maybe it's yourdaily, you know, thought to
yourself, right? Like your dailythought, when you when you walk
into API, and you're, and you'redoing your role, what keeps you
going every day to try and makeit to the end of that row?
(15:41):
My work lives. But in allseriousness, it's just the women
that I work with. And it's notjust my current team, you know,
my current team is amazing. AndI know that we support each
other, both professionally andpersonally. And that means so
much. And I think that also saysa lot because of the type of
institution that we are. Buteven in past roles, and the
(16:05):
arts, you know, I had thosewomen that I was really standing
shoulder to shoulder with, andwe were in it, we were the ones
doing it, and we were the onesfeeling it. And they inspire me.
They inspire me so much,
bringing back Dr. June, one ofthe things she said, you know,
she's she's a lady of manystories, but one of her things
(16:27):
was she has this sisterhood. Shetalks about it like her divas,
her group of divas and hersisterhood. And you brought up
the same thing. And actuallylast month on our special with
Julia cine moss and Deb Bryce,they also talked about a
sisterhood and it's this kind ofcontinuing vibe that us women,
we need this kind of group ofpowerful divas sisterhood, work
(16:53):
wives, whatever that may be, toto keep us afloat to keep us
going. We we brainstorm withthem. We call them you know,
when we're down when it's ahighlight in our life when it's
you know, when it's when the upsand the downs. And I think
basically that symbolizes almostAlice Paul's, you know, struggle
(17:17):
for the justice of keeping itgoing to the end of the row like
Who did she use? What what whowere her partners in her in her
life. And I think you sharingthat is really powerful, because
I think a lot of women stillstruggle to find that where they
have someone that they're notsure how to form those
(17:38):
relationships. And I think it'sreally powerful. How did these,
you know inspiring divas? Thesethe sisterhood, the sisterhood,
this work wife group? How didthis come about? Is it is an
organic thing? Is it? What wasthat for you?
I think it's I think it's anorganic thing. But I think
(18:00):
there's some intentionalitybehind it too. I think that, you
know, in our society right now,the way that the system is kind
of structured is to pin womenagainst each other. And not all
women want to have those typesof relationships. Not all women
(18:21):
want to be supportive of eachother. And that's challenging in
itself. And I think that,especially when you're
experiencing those things withothers, that unites you, because
you're experiencing somethingthat's challenging and trying to
overcome that together. Youknow, I think that we need to
(18:42):
just be okay with empoweringeach other. And recognizing that
doesn't take anything away fromme, my light doesn't diminish
because your light is shiningbrighter right now. And if your
light is shining brighter rightnow, I'm going to cheer you on
and throw glitter at you andjust, you know, take out the
(19:03):
dance shoes, whatever, andcelebrate that. And I think that
that is so hard for women to do.And that is a trauma response to
patriarchal structures that arecurrently in place to pin women
against each other.
And I think, you know, Alice,and her vision and mission is,
(19:25):
you know, so similar in thetrack of of finding that. What
do you think Alice would besaying
immediately when we were talkingabout Alice's pals I thought of
Lucy burns, they were the bestof pals and they really achieved
so much together and then alsocrystal Eastman, who helped her
co author that era. Alice lovedworking collaboratively. I think
(19:50):
one of Alice's best traits isthat she saw each person's
unique qualities and was able tokind of piece things together in
a way to highlight Everyone'sstrengths. And that's teamwork.
Right? That's
yeah. DivX leadershipdefinition. Yeah.
(20:10):
You know. So I think that shedid that so well, particularly
with how she moved the 19th.Amendment forward.
You know, you bring up this termleadership. And I know, I
thought it was very interesting,I saw that you have the women's
in leadership from Yale, Iactually got the women's in
leadership from Cornell, Ithought it was a really
(20:30):
inspirational piece that I addedand an educational piece that I
added to my professional life.What inspired you to kind of go
after that certificate? What wasit about getting, you know, you
can get a leadershipcertificate, but you went and
did women's and leadership? AndI think that kind of really is,
(20:52):
speaks volumes?
Sure. So I decided to go withthat certificate program for a
couple of different reasons.Okay, so this might not be the
right thing to say, but I'mgonna say it anyway, I hate that
there has to be a labeled womenin leadership certificate. It's
just you are just being aleader. You know, and I, I was
(21:16):
actually intrigued, because Iwas like, what makes this so
different than every otherleadership certificate? And, you
know, as I was going through theprocess, it really touched a lot
on social emotional learning,and those types of skills.
Which, to me, I'm like, This isso obvious, of course, people in
(21:40):
leadership need to understandhow to interact with others, and
how to interpret their emotions.What are men getting this? Are
the men's leadership coursesgetting this because they did
too. So those were like thefirst things that were like
running through my head, when Idecided to do that program. I
actually ended up loving it. Itwas great. It was great to
(22:02):
network. And I think one of thetakeaways that I got from it is
that there are so few spaceswhere women can come together
and actually just talk aboutsome of the challenges we face.
And that was a real highlight,being able to do that and
network and have that spacewhere we could be open and share
freely.
Yeah, I mean, I agree, I thinksome of those smaller group
sessions and collaborations thatI had, you know, just verifying
(22:27):
that, yeah, I'm not the only onethat has experienced this. I'm a
woman in a profession. And thenthere's other women who are
feeling the same way. Yeah. Andit was like this really, you
know, it was like an approvallike, okay, yeah, that is
something to talk about. That issomething to bring to the
(22:50):
foreground. And, and that'sreally what API also stands for
is that we're trying to bringthis equality forward, and still
continuing to do that work. AndI think that's, you know, round
of applause to you and yourteam, you know, for doing that.
What are some things that you'rehoping for, for API in the
(23:10):
future? Where do you see itgoing?
We have so many plans. So we'vestarted to kind of joke because
we have so many big ideas. We'relike, okay, that's the five year
plan. That's the 10 year plan.Maybe that's the 25 year plan.
But I think for us, what we'rereally focusing on over the next
few years is going to beemphasizing the space Paul sale
(23:34):
itself, which is right here inMount Laurel, we have six and a
half acres of property, andwe're thinking about how we're
going to activate the outdoorspace. So there are lots of
discussions about bringing indifferent community partners who
can utilize the space itself orhaving different types of
concession and things of thatnature to aid our programming.
(23:54):
So there's lots of that indiscussion. I think, also, we're
really going to start focusingmore on our advocacy efforts for
the Equal Rights Amendment. Imean, frankly, it's just
ridiculous that it hasn't beensolidified yet. So anything that
we can do to help bring thatawareness to the public, we're
working on doing
um, I love that you said aboutthe space of Mount Laurel, those
(24:16):
of our listeners that have neverbeen there. Can you walk us
through what would theyexperience when they go to API?
Sure. So API is, or Paul styleis the site itself. It's one of
the most serene spaces I've everbeen to. So you come down this
really long driveway, and youdrive up to the farmhouse where
(24:38):
Alice Paul was born, and there'sthis beautiful foliage and
acreage and it's just a lovelywraparound porch. So that's your
first impression of the spacejust, this is really serene. And
it's funny because we talk aboutAlice's relationship to the
space a lot. And in her adultlife, she didn't live there any
(24:58):
longer. She actually did most toher work down in Washington, DC,
but she used to come back toPaul stale as her place of rest
in refuge to kind of take abreather and take a break, which
is also really important forwomen to do as we're taking on
the world. So that's sort of thefirst impression that you get
when you walk inside the spaceitself. We do have an exhibit up
(25:21):
currently that's, that describesAlice's life and her
accomplishments. And we do havea temporary exhibit up right now
called equality is the verb,which connects the suffrage
movement and the era movement.So you get to see all of those
things.
What's interesting to me isevery time I'm here we have I
(25:41):
have a little pod deck. And Ihave a stack of cards. And it's
kind of like the wild wild westof probing questions. And I try
and I ended with a few things.So this is going to be one of
these things. So I'm going topick a card. What would you do?
If you could not fail?
(26:03):
What would I do if I could notfail? This is
actually really perfect for ourtopic today, right?
What I do if I could not fail? Iwould probably Oh, this is a
hard question. Would I do if Icould not fail?
(26:25):
You always put people on thespot. And here at rcbc? I'm
gonna
say, I would say, This is reallyhard. If I could not fail, I
would bake my son's birthdaycake. If I could not fail at it.
I love that. See, I don't bakeso I'm all about the box. I
(26:48):
can't bake for anything. I loveto cook. Yes. Because you can
you can add a little I canimprovise. I'm an improviser.
But it's too exact for me tobake. I am the same way and I
need I need other elements to beadded. You don't even have to
you can't do that when you'rebaking. Now you can choose
specific. One more? What wouldyou like to change about the
(27:11):
world?
Well, I would like the world tobe a little bit more fair. That
would be great.
I think that's beautiful. So thediscussion here we were talking
and I like to write down allthese like, very prominent
positive words that we've saidthroughout our discussion. I'm
just going to read them and Ilike to use them as kind of like
the hashtag for hashtags for ourpodcast today. And then I want
(27:35):
to ask what your personalhashtag would be. So let's
listen to all these reallypowerful beautiful words that
you said okay? Hashtag strengthhashtag equality. Hashtag
support, work lives controlautonomy, hold back, intuition,
development, arts mission,gender, Justice suffragist vote,
(27:56):
inspire archetypes leader,fairly injustice, empowering,
teamwork, serene rest and refugeand take on the world. My
hashtag
would be slow down a little.
I don't think a lot of women doknow how to do that. Because we
(28:16):
feel that energy that we have totake on so much and that there
isn't that downtime and thatrest in that refuge that you
were talking about. So I reallylove that you said that. I want
to thank Rachael Glashan Rupisanfor joining us today. Please
visit our website for moreinformation about our dei
initiatives and our committeesat rcbc.edu/diversity. If you
(28:42):
want to hear from women who leadand inspire this podcast is for
you. You've been listening tothe rcbc bareness podcast, which
highlights women in leadershipwhile encouraging listeners to
build their skills, connect withthe community and visualize the
opportunities available to womenin various professions. For more
information about this podcastand other podcasts available on
(29:04):
the rcbc Podcast Network, visitrcbc.edu/podcast And subscribe
to the rcbc bareness podcastwherever you tune in for a
female perspective into theBurlington County community.
You've been listening to theBaroness Podcast Take care.
Thanks. You've been
Jason Varga (29:22):
listening to the rcbc Baroness podcast which
highlights women in leadershipwhile encouraging listeners to
build their skills, connect withthe community and visualize the
opportunities available to womenin various professions. For more
information about this podcastor other podcasts available on
the rcbc Podcast Network, visitrcbc.edu/podcast. And be sure to
subscribe to the rcbc barenesspodcast available on all
(29:44):
streaming platforms.
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