This month, Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting the women leaders who are committed to making a difference in the world and who are at the helm of the amazing teams we work with every day. Follow along on social with #BSDWomen.
At the start of the month, we introduced you to Jamiah Adams from the NAACP and Jenna Lowenstein from EMILY’s List. Today, we’re spotlighting Dionne Scott, Director of Communications Operation at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
1. What do you enjoy most about working at CRR? What are the challenges?
There’s never a dull moment at the Center. I really enjoy it, but it’s also stressful.
Before coming here from the fast-paced television news world, I never imagined that a non-profit would have such breakneck work speeds and unpredictable moments. But it does.
As an example, right before Christmas, I came into work and all hell broke loose. It was just a few days before our offices and the whole city shut down for the holidays. But by the middle of that morning, we were frantically producing a proposal for the artist Yoko Ono.
We wanted Yoko to lend her name and creative work to a campaign commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Weeks before, we’d pitched her on the idea, but hadn’t heard back, and figured—it’s not happening. So it was HUGE when she reached out, asking for more information. Fantastic news!
But her office was closing very soon. And the Roe v Wade anniversary was less than a month away. So if there was any chance we were going to pull this off, we had to get Yoko the most convincing proposal ASAP.
Forty-eight hours later, my brilliant team did it. We managed to create an amazingly creative proposal. And two weeks later, Yoko signed off.
Most of our unexpected moments don’t involve celebrities, but they all can be nerve-racking. Still, they’re also a lesson in allowing your creative instincts drive you versus the pressure/stress, and finding your sense of humor.
Check out the campaign—War on Women is Over, If You Want It!
2. What’s one tip you would give a young woman who is embarking on her career, especially in the nonprofit world?
Don’t be afraid to look stupid, to make mistakes, to be wrong, to be corny… you get the idea. And that advice applies to how you present yourself, the ideas that you suggest, when you ask questions, etc.
As women in the workplace, many of us have experienced being under greater scrutiny than our male colleagues, and it has made us feel the pressure to be uber competent, completely on point, and always right. As a black woman, I was taught that being good at whatever I did was not enough, that I had to be perfect.
Forget ALL of that.
Pursuing perfection and trying not to make mistakes isn’t practical. It’s paralyzing because it’s impossible. And most importantly, it impedes your learning process and your figuring out what strategies and creative ideas that ARE on point and do work.
Communications work at a nonprofit (where we don’t have big budgets to do tons of marketing research) requires lots of experimentation to determine the best ways to talk to your audiences. You won’t know unless you allow yourself to guess.
3. Who do you admire?
My mother, Dorothy Scott. My mother grew up in the segregated South during the 40s, 50s and 60s, and experienced plenty of the indignities that many a black girl was forced to endure, but remarkably plowed through with her head held high and emerged with a strong sense of self-worth.
I’m sure I don’t even know the half of it what she’s dealt with, but the few stories she has shared with me could easily and understandably add up to anyone’s defeat. As a reproductive rights activist, one story that stands out for me was her experiences giving birth to me.
The hospital where I was born in Louisiana separated the pregnant white women from the black women in two different rooms. When the nurses would call on the white women patients to see the doctor, they’d call Mrs. so-and-so, while the black women would just be called by their first names.
If that wasn’t infuriating enough, my mother says that when she was at the height of labor pains and was, naturally, moaning, a white nurse snapped at her, “oh, I wish you would just shut up.” At the time, my mother had just been given pain medication and was too out of it to respond back.
But the fact that my mother rose above this and countless other dings to her dignity—strong and able to raise two good, honest, and loving people is mind-blowing. Her experiences have inspired me to work in social justice, and to choose communications work as a career to change the hearts and minds of people.
4. What’s the first website you check in the morning?
I’m old-school, so I must read The New York Times or I don’t feel complete. I read their daily briefings which summarize the top news of the day from around the world, political news and New York City news. It’s like my news foundation.
After that, I try to read websites that seem to be popular with our online audiences, and so I know what folks are talking about. I use the newsreader app Pulse so I can read a mix of summaries of top news from outlets like Jezebel, Gawker, The New Yorker, Politico, and Talking Points Memo.