TWM's 10th Anniversary!

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of The Women's Mosaic's founding! This week at CHICKS ROCK! we'll be celebrating this organization that has meant so much to all of us.

I discovered The Women's Mosaic (TWM) in the spring of 2002, at a career/activities fair for young women. I was staffing a booth that happened to be located directly across the room from TWM's booth. Being relatively new to New York, and eager to meet new people, I was attracted to the large photo display board of diverse-looking women. All afternoon, I gazed at it, wondering what it was about. But, being a conscientious employee, I was concerned about leaving my own booth unattended in order to explore things at my leisure.

But the call was too great. Eventually, I talked myself into wandering over. I'll be really quick, I thought. And I was. It took but a few brief moments to scurry over, grab a brochure, and jot my name on the mailing list. Little did I know, it was but the first of many times TWM would draw me beyond my comfort zone.

I lingered on the mailing list for months before I was able to come to an event, but getting involved was one of the best choices I made in my first years in the city. I made new friends and got monthly doses of the diverse interactions and focused conversation that I craved. Soon I was writing grants for the organization, staffing events, and participating in a Visioning Workshop that sounded to me at first "neat but weird," and which I now wouldn't want to live without.

Sometimes being with TWM does feel like wandering into the unknown, leaving behind the things I know and am familiar with. I've never written a grant before--why are they trusting me to try this? Six months later, I got a job as a grantwriter. I've never blogged regularly before--do I have enough to say? Here I am two years into it, happily typing away.

The list goes on, of course, but what I want to say most of all is simple:

Happy Birthday, TWM! Thanks for everything. I wouldn't be who I am today without you.