The past six months for me, as I am sure for many of you, have seemed like a whirlwind; one minute plugging along, life as normal, and the next at a complete standstill. Even working from home and checking in with work or friends and family daily, it still isn’t our “normal”. The point of this post isn’t to further describe or assert any points about our current situation, but rather why in every situation, having a network like the Association for Women in Communications is relevant and valuable.
My membership had been coming up for renewal in March and not only was I feeling trepidacious about renewing because of the current economic climate, but also because I was reflecting on my experience in the past year and wasn’t sure if this was something I could justify. I had joined the year prior as an independent member and the only communication I had been receiving was the email blasts. Around Thanksgiving, Joelle Tomkins reached out to me and asked if I would like to be a part of the newly founded AWC – Greater Lehigh Valley Chapter. I jumped at the chance to make connections with women in my area and also from women in my hometown. Unfortunately, between the holidays and now our state’s shelter in place order, nothing is going according to plan and many of our in-person meetings or events had to be tabled. After considering the opportunities for the upcoming year and speaking to Joelle (Greater Lehigh Valley chapter president) and Allison Buehner (vice chair of AWC), I decided to give the organization another try.
In May this year, AWC – Greater Lehigh Valley, had our monthly meeting. It was small and informal and full of introductions and smiles and new members. With all gatherings being up in the air, there wasn’t much new business, but that didn’t hinder us from discussing our thoughts and most importantly what we wanted to see from the organization. One of our members, Megan Longenderfer, stated that what she wanted was “to make this a safe space to ask questions and to be a resource for one another and also to learn new things, and shame on us if we don’t build each other up as women”.
That’s when it hit me, what I had been missing last year, and this year so far – the connection with this group. That sentiment has resonated with me because that should be the goal of this organization and that is what I had been missing this past year. I was a member in name only, but I wasn’t connecting, I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t reaching out. I am a member of another women-centric organization that has members from many different professions coming together for one goal – volunteerism and helping our communities. In doing so, we also help and learn from each other. Is it a perfect system? Of course not, but if we aren’t supporting and building each other up, if we aren’t trying to make our companies, our worlds, and ourselves better than what is the point?
We all need a connection, we need a common goal. We all need to remember that we are players on the same team and we are all still learning. The hardest lesson to learn for some of us is that we can’t do everything ourselves and we may be experts in one area but hopelessly lost in another. Let’s make a commitment to ourselves and each other to make that extra effort and make those connections – to reach out, to ask questions, to build each other up.
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