In late May, Dr. Nancy and Women Connect4Good’s Team Leader Melissa Miller Young traveled to New York to spend the evening with members of the ERA Coalition Forward and celebrate the leadership and legacy of their new Chair Emerita, Carol Jenkins. The evening featured an intimate salon in her honor held at the home of her friend and renowned journalist and feminist, Gloria Steinem.
ERA Coalition Chair Lisa Ann Walter, star of the hit comedy Abbott Elementary, served as co-chair of the host committee and was in attendance. Host committee members, including Dr. Nancy, were also invited to join an exclusive reception with Jenkins, Steinem, and Walter before the salon.
Jenkins has served in nearly every role available in the ERA Coalition since its founding in 2014, including President and CEO from 2019 to 2022 and Chair from 2023 to 2024. Her efforts led to a revitalized movement for the Equal Rights Amendment, and during her tenure, she witnessed the last three required states ratify the ERA, the House of Representatives vote to affirm the ERA twice, and the Senate vote to affirm the ERA with a bipartisan majority. She has been dedicated to promoting and highlighting the leadership of women of color in the ERA movement, both current and historical, as she set the stage for creating a truly equal future.
Before her work with the ERA Coalition, Jenkins spent 25 years serving as an anchor and correspondent for WNBC TV in New York. An Emmy Award-winning journalist, she was also the founding president of The Women’s Media Center, a social-profit organization that promotes women’s participation and representation in the media. Currently, she hosts Black America on CUNY TV, which is now in its 10th season of conversations, and has produced and anchored two award-winning documentaries for the program.
The event was limited in size for two reasons – it was held in Steinem’s home, and organizers hoped those in attendance would have the opportunity to have meaningful discussions. Meaningful, however, is an understatement. The next day, Jenkins summed it up as an “evening one dreams of – a room full of smart, kind women who together can save the world,” adding that she is looking forward to all the great things that will come from the event’s conversation.
Zakiya Thomas, President & CEO of the ERA Coalition/ERA Coalition Forward, also weighed in, sending her thanks to both Walter and Steinem. “We’re grateful to Lisa Ann and Gloria for chairing the event and to Gloria for opening her home and providing a forum for an intimate, rich, and reinvigorating conversation. We hope you left feeling optimistic and that, as Gloria stated, ‘alone we are a problem, together we are a force.’”
In a time where division and isolation have become the norm, when the word “women” is being erased from our narrative, and while we are witnessing women’s voices silenced and our rights rolled back, that simple statement serves as a powerful reminder of what can happen when women come together. We amplify our voices, expand our collective reach, and make real progress toward equality. And that is something that we can all do. We can connect with our friends, join others in support of causes that resonate, and create change.
At Women Connect4Good, we understand the importance of coming together. We are surrounded by like-minded organizational partners, allies, and friends—leaders in the movement—who share our commitment to creating a fair and just world. We strategize, share resources, celebrate successes, and support one another through meetings, phone calls, and text threads. In fact, we are more focused than ever, ensuring our work remains impactful and true to its purpose. Why? Because “together we are a force.”