Paige Oxendine, a Consultant with Habitat Communication & Culture, co-founded Rosie with Rachel Anderson in 2016 with the purpose of helping women to connect and access resources for professional development, business assistance and leadership. Paige and Rachel had both been student body presidents in their respective colleges. They both also wanted to help women access board service opportunities and other alliances that would serve them professionally and benefit Springfield, Missouri, with women’s leadership. They launched Rosie with a grant from United-We, a foundation in Kansas City that promotes economic and civic leadership opportunities for women, and announced the launch party on Facebook two weeks after the 2016 presidential election. They expected 20 or 30 women to show up, but over 200 attended their first meeting and Rosie quickly grew a network of more than 1,000 women.
Now Rosie is advancing into its next stage, opening the door to even more opportunities for growth and resources through Leadership Springfield. As a member of the national Association of Leadership Programs (ALP), Leadership Springfield provides community leadership programs for area professionals of all ages and stages and local students, unlocking the potential in the community to meet real needs in Springfield, Missouri. Since the 1980’s, Leadership Springfield has served as a community leadership organization with over 2,000 alumni serving as a resource to lead social impact in the community. Paige says that they’ve had more than 40 Signature Classes to prepare people to step into leadership throughout the Springfield region, so it made perfect sense to her and Rachel to transition Rosie into its 2.0 stage with Leadership Springfield.
Why Women Need Rosie
Named for Rosie the Riveter, who was the symbol of women flooding the labor market during WWII, Rosie sprung to life from an equally pressing need for an advocate network for women who are current and prospective founders, business owners, and leaders in the greater Springfield area. In her earlier conversation with Dr. Nancy, Paige said that there were only six women who served on boards in Springfield at that time. She echoed that problem in this conversation and added that when women were offered another board position, they wouldn’t say no because they were afraid that the seat would be filled by a man. These women were overworked and needed help. Rosie supplies a list of boards in the region and offers to advocate for women interested in serving. Today over 50 Rosie members have been appointed to boards and commissions.
Rosie is a free resource that is open to everyone. Paige says that if you’re new in town and want to connect with someone to get acquainted with the community, join Rosie. If you’re a business owner and need to connect with community resources, shout out on the Rosie Facebook page. The closed Rosie group on Facebook will still be there too, growing and strong where women can connect, ask questions, post job opportunities and seek a mentor–just as it has been doing for six successful years. The only difference is that now the network is bigger and more resourceful thanks to the transition to Leadership Springfield.
Check Out Leadership Springfield for More
Listen to or watch this conversation to learn more of Paige’s personal story about how she chose this path of community alliance and leadership. She says the most valuable experiences in her past are when someone brought her along with them and helped her voice be heard. She urges others to do the same. If you have a seat at the table, open a door, or make an introduction. Paige says, “It doesn’t always have to be a big and grand gesture, but simple things…to continue to elevate one another.”
If you don’t have an organization like Rosie in your area, create one. It’s a great model and demonstrates what two resourceful women can do to help women become leaders for the good of their communities.
Learn more and get connected at springfieldleadership.org/rosie.
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