After celebrating International Women’s Day with two amazing panel events where women shared their stories of resilience and equity, I’m reminded of two of the great women who helped to raise me!

These two women, “The Aunts” Grace and Elsie, have both passed away over the last year; I am grateful for their humble beginnings, and for their resilience in moving–with no money–out of Newfolden, Minn., to graduate from college and become teachers. I love all the lessons in equity that they taught me, especially through their later lives which they spent fighting for LGBTQ+ equity in their small-town Lutheran churches. What a powerful example they were for our family, and for me, to stand for a cause often demeaned by their origins!

I have learned during the panel events that we of privilege need to go from “ally to accomplice” (thank you for that Kelli Williams,  CEO at The BrandLab) for those needing access, and Grace and Elsie were truly accomplices in their 80’s: I am inspired by them, and I celebrate them as I celebrate International Women’s Day, and Women’s History Month! Bravo, Grace and Elsie!