At the fifth annual Westchester Women’s Summit – held Friday, March 14, at the Sonesta Downtown White Plains — New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins talked about “the power of the sisterhood….the power of your wisdom, the power to recreate what can be recreated.
“We have power, and I say this at a time when people feel powerless.”
If you thought Stewart-Cousins – the first woman and first African American woman to serve as Majority Leader – was referring to the Trump Administration’s excision of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, which seek to level the playing field for minorities in schools and the workplace, well, you would be right.
“We’re being told to let non-DEI people take over. Not gonna happen.” She noted that one-third of the members of the State Senate were women, and that New York had passed an Equal Rights Amendment.
Stewart-Cousins’ impromptu remarks, which drew a standing ovation from the 450 attendees, also considered the power of history – “the power of the ancestors. We are the fruits of their labors.”
And in turn, “we have history to make.” Just as we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before, she added, the future stands on ours.
It was an inspirational highlight in a day of addresses, panels and workshops – along with a networking grab-and-go lunch and a wine, chocolate and shopping closing reception — presented by summit founder Rose Capa-Rotunno and The Event Department, in partnership with the Westchester County Office of Women and NewYork-Presbyterian. (The diamond sponsors were C&A Digital, Corporate Audio Visual Services, Wartburg and Westfair Business Journal. For a complete list of sponsors as well as speakers, click here.)
Ostensibly, the day about all kinds of wellness, physical, mental, financial, professional and community. But underlying the conference was Stewart-Cousins’ theme, power, a subject that women, who until recently in history have not widely held overt public power, have had an ambivalent relationship with.
Financial independence
Power is in part about money. In a morning panel on “Future-Proof Finances: Planning for Caregiving, Retirement & Your Passion,” experts navigated the complexity and importance of financial and estate planning, wills and trusts.
“Get started as early as possible,” said Greg Sirett, CFP, CRC, a retirement plan adviser at Empower. “Einstein said compounding is the eighth wonder of the world. Sign up for a 401k plan on day one. One key thing to do as an investor is to diversify it. Historically, stocks have the best rate of return, although not in the past few weeks.”
But that’s why you diversify your portfolio, weighting it less to stocks and more to conservative instruments as you age. Sirett also advised waiting to collect Social Security – which may be undergoing changes to its already daunting claims process — to maximize the benefit, which is an 8% increase at age 70, beyond which the benefit increase stops. Among the reasons to begin collecting at 62, the earliest age, he added, are poor health or a family history of poor health. In general, Sirett said, you want to wait until at least the full retirement age, which is 67.
As the lawyer on the panel Joanna C. Feldman, a partner in Maker, Fragale & Di Costanzo LLP, discussed the necessity of a power of attorney and a will or trust, although whether you have a will or a trust and what kind of trust, depends on the individual.
“Estate planning is a kind of insurance,” she said, adding, “it’s not one size fits all. What you put in your estate depends on what you want to do.”
That’s why — said Maria Bronzi, partner, Strategic Alliances -Altium Wealth Partners — it’s important to have a team, including a fiduciary financial planner and an estate lawyer, led by someone “who understands what you want your life to look like.” Such a team, she added, will bring you peace of mind.
Psychological independence
But peace of mind also starts from within. “You need to cultivate your inner world as much as your outer world,” said Patricia Stark, a former broadcaster (WABC, Fox, PBS) turned personal and professional development coach (Patricia Stark Communications) and author of “Calmfidence: How to Trust Yourself, Tame Your Inner Critic and Shine in Any Spotlight.” People with “calmfidence” trade their inner critic for an inner coach, a voice that gives them the confidence not only to succeed themselves but to help others.
Sometimes that’s easier said than done. But the workshop leader who followed Stark – Sarena Diamond, CEO and founder of the Diamond Solutions Group – built on that idea. Diamond had a dream job and boss until someone higher up decided she didn’t. Instead of withdrawing into herself, she went on an already planned family vacation to Hawaii, where she realized that she could be the boss she wanted to have and created a business that has helped companies like IBM, Pepsi Co and Mellon Investor Services in the areas of management, communications and training.
Like Stark’s “Calmfidence” workshop, Diamond’s talk about “Becoming Unstoppable” drew on the core principle of ancient Roman Stoic philosophy – the only thing you can really control in life is your attitude toward it.
It’s something Juju Chang, the multiple Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC’s “Nightline” alluded to in her keynote address and conversation with mistress of ceremonies Tara Rosenblum, herself a multiple Emmy Award-winning anchor and reporter at News 12. Chang – a self-described “part-time Westchester resident who lives at the intersection of Whole Foods in Port Chester, the H Mart in Hartsdale, Balducci’s in Rye Brook and Wegmans in Harrison “ – recalled a storied career with its share of challenges. Arriving in the United States at age 4 with her family from Seoul, South Korea, and growing up in Northern California, where not many students looked like her, she was an overachieving people pleaser who decided to be an engineer until a test in which she got 27 out of 100 answers told her that hers would be another path.
At the time, Connie Chung was breaking barriers as an Asian American woman anchor and reporter for the major networks. Chang graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and communication and joined ABC News as an entry-level desk assistant in 1987 and ascended to “World News Tonight” and “Good Morning America.”
At “GMA,” she was removed as newsreader, something that could’ve been a stumbling block. Instead, she embraced “Nightline,” ABC’s late-night news program celebrating its 45th anniversary, where she has distinguished herself for her social justice reporting on violence against Asian Americans; refugees at the southern border; the LGBTQ+ community; and Covid’s and climate change’s racial disparities. (She also reports on major news events for “GMA” and “20/20” as well.)
In her talk and subsequent Q and A with Rosenblum, Chang considered a number of issues challenging society as well as journalism, from AI to the litigiousness that has the media in some instances muzzling itself. (ABC paid $15 million to President Donald J. Trump, who sued the network’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” for his mischaracterization of Trump’s conviction in the E. Jean Carroll case.) Even on her way to the women’s summit, Chang said she was on the phone with ABC lawyers to go over her due diligence on a story.
Another issue that journalism and society are encountering, she added is toxic masculinity, which manifests itself in violent, anti-women, homophobic behavior. It’s something she has told her three sons – Chang is married to WNET president and CEO Neal Shapiro – to guard against.
Instead, the optimistic Chang believes “it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,” words that have been attributed to former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
“What’s our superpower?” she asked. “Empathy.”
