by Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Associate, Pipeline

Like I said, fate is a funny thing. Long before meeting Natalia and working for Pipeline, I came across Women’s Education Project (WEP) on idealist.org. Women’s Education Project helps women of limited means discover their unlimited potential for college and career success to improve their lives, families, and communities. I joined the mailing list and was receiving updates in my inbox over the last few months. Fast forward to a meeting with Natalia and listing the women we should reach out to for our #womaninnovator interviews. “Zoe Timms! She would be so great to interview,” Natalia suggested.

Zoe Timms, the founder of WEP, had participated in the TBL Incubator program (formally NYWSE Incubator). Zoe Timms, whose emails I had been receiving for months regarding her fantastic nonprofit, would answer my questions and discuss the creation of the nonprofit I had been interested in for quite some time. So, on an afternoon in Madison Square Park, I finally met Zoe. She answered my questions with poise and certainty. We discussed the joys and trials of working abroad, the importance networking effectively, and the term #womaninnovator.

Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Associate. Her responsibilites include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observatinos as she navigates through her own personal pipeline.

by Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Associate, Pipeline

Geri and I met on a sunny summer morning at Le Pain Quotidien in midtown. Over coffee, we discussed her career pipeline as the Founder of Ventureneer.com, an online education and peer support community. Among her many roles, she takes great pride in her work as a mentor. “I play more of a coaching role,” she noted. As a mentor, Geri works with the TBL Incubator (formally the NYWSE Incubator), Columbia Business School, and NYU Stern School of Business. For Geri, it’s important that her mentees think through their problems themselves. Cultivating a woman innovator requires a mentor to actively listen and provide feedback, and Geri happily fills that need.

Does she identify with the term “woman innovator”? She had to think about her definition first. Is she entrepreneurial? Yes. Starting a business where no one has gone before? Check. Concentrating in social innovation and corporate responsibility? Oh, yeah. Geri said, “I didn’t think that I fit into it, but as I put my own definition to it I said, ‘Yeah, I am a woman innovator. Yeah, I am!”

Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Associate. Her responsibilites include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observatinos as she navigates through her own personal pipeline.

by Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Associate, Pipeline

Laina Vlasnik is the EPIC (Effective Practice Incentive Community) Partnerships Manager at New Leaders for New Schools, a national educational nonprofit organization that ensures outstanding leadership for urban public schools in the United States. Laina and I sat down to discuss her career pipeline. Thanks to her passion for equality in education coupled with her go-getter attitude, she continues to blossom as a woman innovator. As a participant in the TBL Mastermind program (formerly the NYWSE’s Mastermind-Mentoring Initiative), Laina experienced firsthand the power of female collaboration and co-mentorship:

I was fascinated to hear about the important work that New Leaders for New Schools is doing. Laina radiates an air of security in her work, confident in her organization’s ability to correct the achievement gap in schools. “It’s thinking about the future and what’s possible for our kids,” she said. “If it’s innovation to work hard and want that every day, then I’m proud to be an innovator.” 
 

Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Associate. Her responsibilites include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observatinos as she navigates through her own personal pipeline.