Our Favorite Communicators of the Last Century: 19th Amendment Edition
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which prohibited states from denying individuals the right to vote on the basis of sex - meaning women had finally earned their right to rock the ballot. To celebrate the occasion (and today, August 26th, the date the amendment was adopted and also Women’s Equality Day) and commemorate the last 100 years of women flexing their political muscles, the Scott Circle Communications team wanted to highlight our favorite women whose inspiring and influential communication impacted the world.
Dani Townsend on the Forever First Lady
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, I’m celebrating my forever first lady Michelle Obama. With every memory I have of watching her speak, I’m always in awe of her poise and how she conveys her message with such purpose. Even her fashion sense communicates her strength and class. My all time favorite Michelle Obama speech is the one she delivered at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in which she reminded Americans that “when they go low, we go high.”
Daniella Burgos on the Queen of All Media
The art of storytelling is key to communications and no one tells or produces a story better than the Queen of Media herself - OPRAH. She is a powerhouse when it comes to production, literature, pop culture and media. She’s a woman with a clear and simple message that made sure she entered our homes and hearts with personal and relatable stories. In the opening line of her Golden Globes speech, when she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award, she paints a very relatable picture: “In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for the best actor at the 36th Academy Awards….” I too, sat on my parents carpet watching Oprah everyday after school learning that representation and the way we communicate matters.
Dee Donavanik on Senator Elizabeth Warren (aka Bailey’s Mom)
Part of being a great political communicator is knowing how to translate seemingly complex policy issues into something everyone can understand. Though we all know she is a policy wonk who has a thorough plan for everything, Elizabeth Warren has excelled at storytelling to help us understand why certain policies are so needed. For example, not everyone fully understands the ins and outs of universal child care, but we can all empathize with Warren’s now infamous story about her Aunt Bee. As a young single working mother with two children, Warren was at a crossroads dealing with a lack of affordable child care options. She felt like she was failing both at her job and at being a parent - so she was considering quitting. But after hearing of her struggles, her Aunt Bee packed up and moved in (staying for sixteen years) to help her get to where she is today. Knowing that not everyone is lucky enough to have their own “Aunt Bee,” and that many others in her position did end up having to quit their jobs, Warren makes the case through storytelling, that there is too much of a burden put on working families and why access to affordable and high-quality child care should be a right for everyone.
Kellie Murphy on Activist Emma González
There are so many amazing women communicators from which to choose, it makes me proud, inspired and hopeful. But it sure made selecting just one really difficult!. The Congressional testimonies last year by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Fiona Hill will stick with me forever. I think Kamala Harris, AOC, Gabby Giffords, Tammy Duckworth and Tammy Baldwin all hit it out of the park at the recent Democrat National Convention. And I always love a good “Ginsburn” from RBG. But I’m choosing Emma González, Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor and gun control activist. She speaks with wisdom and bravery beyond her tender years. Her first-hand experience with gun violence and her advocacy work make her an authentic and authoritative spokesperson. She is able to put adults in her shoes when she talks about what she suffered, and she makes young people believe that one person - no matter what age - can affect change by focusing on clear, common sense solutions. Like Malala and Greta, Emma demonstrates that age, education and position don’t give communicators their power -- courage, compassion and conviction do.
Laura Gross on the Founding Mothers of NPR
As a former member of the NPR public relations team and current public radio addict, I am picking the founding mothers of NPR: Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts. When NPR first started almost 50 years ago, it was almost unheard of to have so many women on the same network. Stamberg was the first woman to host a national broadcast; Totenberg has been covering the Supreme Court for 40 years and broke the Anita Hill story; Werthemier was the first director of All Things Considered and eventually became a host of the show. And, when Roberts first started, it was rare to have a woman commenting on politics. Their vivid storytelling, news reporting and the ability to pick unique aspects of a story while breaking gender barriers is inspiring. Just think - if it wasn’t for these four women, who knows if podcasts and radio shows like How I Built This, Serial and Morning Edition would be as popular as they are today.
Matheson Sharp on Maya Angelou
Communication comes in many different styles and forms, and Dr. Maya Angelou was a master of all. A poet, composer, author, filmmaker, dancer, historian, and activist to name a few of her vocations, Angelou had a gift for communicating her experiences and the challenges she faced and overcame, and for depicting the world and the injustices therein. Her style as an autobiographer created a lasting impact on the genre, and her influence on literature, the arts and public discourse cements her standing as a cultural icon. Her legacy will live on in the words she wrote, images she conjured and the numerous awards she received for her work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A bit of advice from the great woman herself, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.