September 13, 2021

Happy Monday BOSLadies,

Thank you to everyone who went to last Thursday's meeting and to Sara for hosting! Attendance was all virtual for myriad reasons but I think that once we are already out and about and in the city, the stress and effort of being in person will slowly decrease.

If you would like to host our October meeting (there does not need to be an in-person option if you are unable or uncomfortable) so if you'd like to pick our book, please let me know!

Thank you also to Brittany for writing last week's Love Note. Tonight is the first PRG meeting so if you are a parent, an ally or just curious, join in!

The Weekly Three

1.Something about topics discussed: If you missed the meeting last Thursday, here are some of the discussion points (thank you Sara for taking notes for me!)

• Are women only events positive or negative? It can be detrimental as it isolates/separates. Does the separation imply weakness? Inclusive events can help open eyes to womens' natural strengths that wouldn't come out in other settings.

• Gender roles in work – women have abilities that support/strengthen culture/management/negotiation/client nurturing etc.

• Boundaries/Self respect/self care/Choices – what makes me happy vs. what do I feel like should do? Upper limits of getting things done is endless, many competing priorities, tuning into what makes us feel good and following good more than "should" can be fulfilling, small things can add up to big things, not everything is fireworks all the time (good things don't always have to be GREAT! AMAZING! they can just be good)

• Multitasking – good thing or bad thing? Hyper efficiency, leading to imbalance in priorities/never feeling like you’re enough/getting ahead etc.

• Failing - Quote from Justin Brown of Lam: “Fail often to succeed sooner"

2. Something about feminism and facial expression: Feminists: What Were They Thinking is a documentary on Netflix that revisits activism in the 70s by asking those in iconic photos what they were thinking at the time the picture was taken. The documentary was brought up in our meeting when talking about communication with masks. As one attendee said about in person interaction, "the eyes aren't enough". Even in person, seeing someone that you haven't seen in over a year isn't satisfying if you cannot see their smile, if you cannot see their entire expression. Their eyes are not enough. The documentary came out in 2018 and is interesting to watch and consider what the events depicted would have been like if everyone were masked.

3. Something about building a bond from nothing: Like so many other things, the on boarding process was made much more difficult by COVID. Whether you are the new employee or the person doing the on boarding, you know that it can be difficult even in the best of circumstances. If you're not in the office, you can't take anyone to lunch or overhear office chatter to familiarize yourself with company culture. Let's be honest - it's very difficult to really get to know a whole new team just over the computer. Pretty hard to feel like a team member if you don't have any quality time to build off of. A humorous comparison to this "bonding from nothing" was made on Thursday to the show Married at First Sight, in which couples are matched by experts and only meet for the first time at their wedding. At the end of six weeks together, they then decide if they want to remain married or get divorced. A humorous comparison - thanks for the laugh!

Thanks as always for your time and have a great week,

Amber