Organize Your Butterflies

This Black History Month, YWCA USA is especially honored to welcome Monica F. Walker, a Racial Justice Educator at the Racial Equity Institute, as this episode's guest. In this conversation between Monica and Organize Your Butterflies Host, Alejandra Y. Castillo, they discuss the significance of racial justice education and how Monica has continued to fulfill her lifelong passion through educating motivated audiences across the country. YWCA Metropolitan Chicago is spotlighted on this episode of Organize Your Butterflies. Alejandra chats with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago CEO Dorri McWhorter on several of their bold, innovative programs, their passion and commitment to our mission, plus, how she keeps her team inspired. As always, our segment closes with tips on how to best organize our butterflies. Along with a shout-out to her dog "Tuesday". To stay up to date on what's happening at YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, be sure to follow them on Twitter @ywcachicago.

Join YWCA USA CEO Alejandra Y. Castillo and Carolyn Flowers, a long-serving YWCA World Service Council member, in this episode of Organize Your Butterflies. Listen as they discuss the importance of giving back to both local and global communities. This episode's Association spotlight features YWCA Berkeley/Oakland. Executive Director Jenny DeRuntz chats with YWCA USA Communications Associate Sophia Clarke on the association's long standing relationship with the University of California, Berkeley, and how they are working with college students to mobilize their community through voluntarism and mentorship.

Why are we so obsessed with being busy? When do we make time for joy? How can we further incorporate play into hectic lives that demand caretaking, jobs, and other obligations? Brigid Schulte, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, the director of The Better Life, and this week's guest on Organize Your Butterflies seeks to answer these questions throughout her work and life every single day. Schulte, the New York Times bestselling author of Overwhelmed, Work, Love and Play when No one has the Time, offers her perspective on work-life culture, the art and science of living a full and healthy life, and incorporating more than just productivity tips to help manage it all.

In this episode of "Organize Your Butterflies," YWCA USA CEO Alejandra Y. Castillo chats with Celinda Lake, CEO, Lake Research Partners, and Catherine Beane, Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy, YWCA USA about the YWomenVote survey findings and implications for the 2020 election. They discuss the importance of data driven knowledge leading into the 2020 election cycle, trends on the macro landscape such as prioritizing issues for women such as: climate change, gun violence and mass shootings, and gender-based discrimination. YWomenVote is a national survey of women in the United States that explores their economic, health, gender-based violence, workplace equity, and racial justice concerns and priorities. YWomenVote frames a clear women's agenda for the next Congress and presidential administration and will guide YWCA's largest-ever civic engagement initiative to deliver on women's enthusiasm for change. For more information, be sure to follow Celinda Lake on Twitter @celindalake and Catherine Beane @CathVBeane! YWCA Greater Miami-Dade is spotlighted on this episode of Organize Your Butterflies. Alejandra chats with YWCA Greater Miami-Dade CEO Kerry Ann Royes. They discuss how YWCA Greater Miami-Dade is investing in the lives of the women and girls that they serve and how she works to ensure that their business model is positioned for long-term sustainability and accessibility. For those looking to get involved, there is always an opportunity to donate your time, talent, or treasure! To stay in the loop on all things YWCA Greater Miami-Dade be sure to follow them on Twitter @YWCAMIAMI. For more updates on all YWCA happenings, follow @YWCAUSA on all social media platforms!

In the latest episode of "Organize Your Butterflies," YWCA USA CEO Alejandra Y. Castillo chats with Cecile Richards, a co-founder of Supermajority, a New York Times bestselling author for her book Make Trouble, and the former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Cecile began her career as a labor organizer prior to starting her own grassroots organization and later served as Deputy Chief of Staff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. In 2011 and 2012, she was named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on politics and progressive issues. She and her husband, Kirk Adams, have three children and live in New York City and Maine.

Richards discusses how her parents inspired her to pursue a life of service to and on behalf of others and how Supermajority came to fruition to be a movement where women can mobilize on the moment and take-action on important issues. Additional topics include how there is a commonality among women across the United States, how women are supporting women, and what taking action in communities actually looks like in practice.

For more information, please visit supermajority.com and follow them on Twitter @supermajority and Instagram @supermajority, and follow Cecile on Twitter @CecileRichards and on Instagram @cecilerichards.

YWCA Hartford Region is spotlighted on this episode of Organize Your Butterflies. Alejandra chats with YWCA Hartford Region CEO Adrienne Cochrane on the great work that they're doing to provide resources for their community, and all the ways that you can help support! To stay up to date on what's happening at YWCA Hartford Region, be sure to follow them on Instagram @ywcahartford.

For more updates on all YWCA happenings, follow us on Twitter @YWCAUSA and on Instagram @ywcausa!

When the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a census every ten years, it determines not only the number of people living in the United States. It also determines political representation and annual allocations of more than $675 billion in state and federal funding to communities throughout the United States. YWCA USA's CEO Alejandra Castillo and expert guest Natalie Cone, Manager for State Advocacy and Civil Engagement at YWCA USA, discuss the significance of undercounting and hard-to-count communities in the upcoming 2020 census, the Census Bureau's commitment to participant safety, and why YWCAs across the country are arbiters for communities that have historically been left out.

For more information on how to insure you are counted in the 2020 census, check out Census Counts: https://censuscounts.org/ and the official site for the 2020 Census: https://2020census.gov/en.

Racial justice education on a macro-level requires grappling with questions such as "what is racism" and "why is racism so difficult to eradicate?" In this candid and reflective conversation, Organize Your Butterflies host, Alejandra Y. Castillo, and Donte Hilliard, Director of Mission Impact at YWCA USA and President of the newly launched YWCA University, discuss Hilliard's calling to the nonprofit sector, YWCA's work to eliminate racism, and their focus on intersectionality long before it was trendy, as well as how YWCA invests in people who do the work required to bring justice and equality to all women, girls, and people of color.

How can women be empowered within STEM? This episode of Organize Your Butterflies is the sixth in the "Y Women Startup" curriculum. This is the third chapter under "The Core of Business Operations," and focuses on the challenges that women face when entering the (relatively) new STEM sector. This conversation features Leslie Cruz, the founder and CEO of Million Women Mentors, discussing what is driving the "tsunami" of women coming into the workforce, and the disparity of women in STEM roles. Their discussion also includes the belief gap between girls and boys, the importance of solving problems from a technological lens, and why mentorship is so important to attracting and retaining women within STEM.

This episode of Organize Your Butterflies features a conversation with YWCA National Capital Area CEO Monica Gray. The discussion includes suggestions on how to best engage in difficult conversations about race and racism, the significance of lending helpful tools and language to make the conversation productive and civil, and learning to hear people's fear rather than acting on your own. This OYB episode is in advance of YWCA National Capital Area's next Courageous Conversation series focused on, "Difficult Holiday Conversations: Talking About Race and Fear at the Dinner Table," taking place on November 7th. For more details on this event, please click here.

This episode of Organize Your Butterflies features a conversation between YWCA USA CEO Alejandra Y. Castillo and Lizette Williams, Head of Cultural Engagement and Experiences, McDonald's USA. The discussion centers on the launch of the YWCA Women's Empowerment Program powered by McDonald's Black and Positively Golden movement. This exciting venture is designed to help women of color overcome barriers to starting, growing, and sustaining businesses while providing them with educational tools to increase their knowledge and confidence as entrepreneurs. These programs will be held at select YWCA Associations throughout the country. YWCA South Hampton Roads is this episode's featured spotlight, and Alejandra talks with CEO Dr. Mary Kate Andris about the excellent work that they do to assist survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Of particular note is a shout out to the Norfolk Family Justice Center and how YWCA South Hampton Roads is providing free emergency counseling to survivors as a resource within this exceptional facility.