The 23rd annual George Washington University Women’s Leadership Conference celebrated Women in Government Thursday evening, with a panel of four accomplished women, including George Washington University alumnae.
It was an evening of networking and recognition for the Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) that honors the legacy of Elizabeth J. Somers and the Mount Vernon Seminary and College that was founded in 1875 and became a part of GW in 1999. The program provides a living and learning experience for first-year students.
Planning the Women’s Leadership Conference each year is a collaboration between the WLP and its vibrant alumni communities from both Mount Vernon College and GW. This year’s conversation was sparked by WLP alumna Halea Kerr-Layton, B.A. ’19, M.A. ’21, deputy press secretary for the Partnership for Public Service.
“This marks the Elizabeth J. Somers Women’s Leadership Program's 23rd year hosting this event, sharing in conversation with leaders from a wide range of fields,” said WLP Director Carly Jordan, who is also associate professor of biological sciences. “Many WLP students find valuable learning experiences here in D.C. as interns working on the Hill or working for the National Institutes of Health, and they are curious to know what a career in the government might be like.”
WLP students introduced the panelists that included, Michelle Amante, M.P.A. ‘04, vice president of the Federal Workforce Programs of The Partnership for Service who served as moderator. Other panelists were Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, B.A. ’80, who is now the U.S. Department of State’s chief diversity and inclusion officer and the former U.S. Ambassador to Malta; Nancy Potok, Ph.D. ’09, former chief statistician of the United States in the Office of Management and Budget and a former deputy director and chief operating officer of the U.S. Census Bureau; Reem M. Ghandour, director, division of epidemiology in the Office of Epidemiology and Research; and Yolanda López, acting director at Voice of America.
For young women thinking of working in the federal government, Amante asked, what advice would you give them?
“At a very early age,” Potok said, “I had national and international impact that I would not necessarily have had in the private sector.”
As a journalist, López said, she had no intentions of working in government but found that Voice of America shared her sense of mission. “You want to change the world, to give a voice to the voiceless, to hold the government and authorities accountable,” she said.
“We [at Voice of America] are in dangerous places. We are not in the Western world. We are not in places where there is a free media. We are in places that are difficult for the private sector to access. That is our mission.”
Ghandour expected to be “up and out after two years” working in government but stayed for 22 years, winning the Samuel J. Hayman Service to America Medal for Science and Environment in 2021, the equivalent of an Oscars for federal service. Her first task as a counselor on an emergency hotline for survivors of intimate partners and sexual violence led her to realize desperate situations required other resources to tackle problems.
As a child, Abercrombie-Winstanley saw a television advertisement of happy people landscaping as Peace Corps volunteers. She joined the group a week after she graduated from GW. “I had two amazing years, found a husband and met diplomats who showed me a way of life not quite as hard as being a Peace Corps volunteer,” she said, “learning about other cultures, teaching about my own and leaving skills behind. That’s what the Peace Corps is about and making friends for America is what diplomacy is about.”
Asked about her role as a leader of diversity and inclusion, Abercrombie-Winstanley laid out the main steps for overcoming negative stereotypes that undermine confidence.
“You must know and feel in your bones, number one, that you are needed. Your perspectives and your lived experience, how you look at issues, what issues are important to you, frankly, are too often missing in the discourse of policy as we conduct ourselves and our business around the world,” Abercrombie-Winstanley said. “They would better reflect all America.”
Ghandour said that she learned how to work her way past structural barriers by finding her own management style and not mimicking the behavior of men and older women supervisors.
“Find your own way of doing it,” Ghandour said.
Considering all the advice about learning the system, advocating for yourself, bringing the whole person, Potok said, “You’ve got to work really hard. I often came in the earliest and stayed late… You want to be known as the person who gets things done.”
The WLP also recognized two alumna Dianne Sherman, MVC B.A. ’76, who has worked for the United Nations, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and Save the Children, and Halea Kerr-Layton, B.A. ’19, M.A. ’21, who is deputy press secretary for Partnership for Public Service.
