Women inPower Napa Valley is a local community movement connecting women through empowering discussions, workshops and events designed to elevate one another and advance them to the highest levels of leadership. “We believe women are natural mentors with the ability to teach, learn and collaborate by sharing personal stories and experiences,” says Chapter Co-Leader, Ingrid Hohimer McNicoll.
The Women inPower Napa Valley chapter started as a unified local response to gender parity that continues to exist in our society. Ingrid was inspired by her own mentor and the Women inPower New York at the 92Y, and joined with Julie Savoia and Cheri Piscia- Nichols to form a local Napa Valley chapter. Their goal is to create opportunities for women to engage in multigenerational fellowship and uplifting dialogue – the best way to ensure their daughters will hear a different narrative.
Women inPower Napa Valley wants to empower and inspire women of all ages to find their voices, promote gender equality in our community, focus on work/life integration, and peer-to-peer mentoring in an uplifting and inspiring environment.
Women inPower Napa Valley hosts an annual International Women’s Day event, featuring women leaders in many different industries and showcasing organizations that help empower women in our community. Through panel discussions, women share experiences and inspire each other to fight for gender equality. At the International Women’s Day celebration in March 2018, keynote speaker Tiffany Shlain explained that it is up to women to change that narrative, and that women have more power than they realize. She explained that being the primary purchasers for households and the inevitable accumulated wealth managers for their families, woman are in prime position to realize their power in the marketplace as well as the workplace.
Ingrid recalls, “For me, the pivotal moment at last year’s conference was meeting Desra Dervin, an amazing 8th grade activist, who told me she believed in what we were doing and wanted to join in. She soon made us realize that if we excluded anyone, particularly young people, from this conversation we are missing an opportunity for positive change. We quickly added her to our team and listened to what she had to say:
‘When I became an active member of Women inPower Napa Valley, we introduced ourselves by sharing stories of the first time we experienced gender based bullying and unkind behavior that erodes our power. As my memory on the subject was freshest, I was asked to chair the next event reaching out to young girls, Young Women inPower. The event gave me the opportunity to become a mentor for girls just entering middle school. Thinking as an 8th grader, I knew that middle school can be the worst when it comes to bullying. Adolescents are changing and lashing out. It is also the time that many girls lose a lot of their self-confidence and feel pressured to meet society’s standard of ‘perfect’. I wanted this event to be a way to remind young girls they never have to change for anyone. Through scripted role playing, I joined other teenage mentors to help them practice how to protect themselves from bullies using their powerful words.’ ”
Women In Power Napa Valley is dedicated to stepping up efforts in addressing young Women inPower. Mentoring is by no means an easy feat, but through cooperation and community empowerment, they believe that they can facilitate progress in this area. They strive to make a difference in Napa Valley, and invite other passionate leaders and partners like Cope Family Center to learn more and lend support.
On Sunday, March 10, 2019 Women inPower Napa Valley will host their 2nd International Women’s Day “Balance for Better” Celebration at the CIA at Copia in Napa from 1-6pm. Join in celebrating the achievements and contributions of women in business, culinary arts, winemaking, music, health care and community service here in the Bay Area. Women inPower Napa Valley invites people of all ages to come together to ignite the conversation and inspire a call to action, to engage in open and intimate discussions led by local women dedicated to uplifting other women in our community. Their motto: Better the balance. Better the world.
For more information and tickets, visit womeninpowernapavalley.org. March 10 1-6pm CIA at Copia