Bay Area authors create handbook for feminist changemakers

In 2015, the future seemed to be looking brighter for women. The #MeToo movement had broken the silence on sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. Women executives like Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Meta Platforms (Facebook) and author of the bestselling “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” were spearheading a national conversation on women in leadership positions.

And for the first time in history, it appeared the U.S. might be headed for a woman president, decades after other nations had broken the gender barrier to the highest office in the land.

Berkeley resident Lauren Schiller wanted to capture what she called an “inflection point” in our culture and our history. She launched a radio show and podcast on KALW Public Radio in San Francisco with that title. Over the next few years, she interviewed some 200 women activists, entrepreneurs, artists and leaders from a variety of fields, offering them a forum to talk about their achievements, their processes and the impediments they faced.

“2015 was a really exciting time for women,” said Schiller, whose background is in electronic and digital media. “There was a lot of momentum around women in leadership, and there were a lot of great statistics coming out about how when women were in charge, companies were more profitable and better decisions were getting made about things that were considered women’s issues, like paid family leave and pay equality.”

Schiller was open to new challenges after coming off “The Lady Brain Show,” one of the first female-led podcasts, which she co-created and co-hosted. Previously, she was executive producer of audio for Salon Media, where she’s still a regular contributor. She also has been a guest host for “The Conversation” on BBC World Service.

“I was trying to decide what I wanted to do next. And this was a topic that was really interesting to me, not only because women were trending but because I myself wanted to understand how women come to power and how they used power to make change,” she said. “And I wanted to share those insights with anyone who would listen.”

Feminist icons

Although a lot of people were talking about women, Schiller said, “Inflection Point” was one of the first radio shows and podcasts in the nation to engage in deep conversations with women, about how they build power and lead change, and about the changing roles of women in politics, education, the arts, business and activism.

But with the election of President Donald Trump and a new conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court, it appeared to many that women, people of color and people of different gender and sexual identities, after a long climb, were facing a deep slide in their efforts toward equality and social justice. Feminists found themselves fighting to defend rights, like the right to an abortion, they thought they had secured generations ago.

Schiller expanded her conversations and built a bigger tent.

“The show was all about how, yes, we are in this upward trajectory. But also in the back of my mind, I felt we were at this inflection point where things would continue to get better for women or we also could slide backward,” she said.

“Then 2016 happened, and all these factions were starting to bubble up and people were taking a hard right or a hard left. I shifted my focus from just women in business ... to things like gun-sense laws, reproductive justice, the environment, caregiving. And what does it mean when women are in charge and what does it look like when they are, versus the status quo.”

Among her nearly 200 guests were Oakland artist and Latina activist Favianna Rodriguez, co-founder of The Center for Cultural Power, and Teresa Younger, a Black woman and CEO of the The Ms. Foundation, which supports grassroots organizations dedicated to social, economic and cultural change.

Ms. Foundation founder and feminist icon Gloria Steinem also was a guest, as was comedian and producer Sarah Silverman and actor and comedian Lily Tomlin, another feminist warrior.

Those many hours of deep interviews became the content of a new book, “It’s a Good Day to Change the World: Inspiration and Advice for a Feminist Future” (Countryman Press; $22.95).

Schiller and co-author Hadley Dynak sifted through hours of interviews to come up with short profiles of 30 of those women, all successful female changemakers, representing different ages, races, genders and professions. The authors culled from each interview the best “tools to change the world” and “advice to keep going” despite dispiriting setbacks.

They’ll share from their book at an appearance at Copperfield’s Books in Sebastopol on Friday.

Dyak had joined “Inflection Point” in 2019 to help build opportunities and partnerships for listeners to take action themselves. The book became an extension of the idea that women who had become leaders and accomplished great things — often in spite of long odds — had valuable insights to share with others working to change some part of their world, whether in their communities, workplaces or on a larger national or global stage.

Passion for action

The two Berkeley women share a passion for action, and both are optimists at heart. Both are 53 and mothers of two young daughters close to the same age, about whose future they harbor deep concerns and great hope.

When the two were introduced through a mutual friend, Dynak had just returned to the Bay Area after five years as the executive director of the Arts Council in Park City, Utah. She now is a consultant helping nonprofits and creatives build partnerships, design programs and secure funding.

Two years ago, Dynak and her attorney husband Kent Strader, with little experience in gardening, took a wild leap of faith and purchased the historic Western Hills Garden in Occidental, which they are turning into a venue for programs, projects and partnerships that bring together the worlds of culture, the arts and social and community action.

“What made me excited to work for her was her style of questioning, which really led to some heartfelt answers,” Dynak said of Schiller. “They were really authentic, which I liked. And I was also committed to this idea of understanding how women build power and rise up.”

Take attorney Carrie Goldberg, who represented one of the accusers of Hollywood mogul and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein. Her life goal is justice, safety and privacy for victims of sexual assault, anti-abortion harassment and stalking. Among her action tools? Demand corporate transparency, support sex and consent education in schools and keep encouraging people to speak out. How does she keep the faith? She stays focused on her desired outcomes.

“All of the people Lauren interviewed,” Dynak said, “were working to make change within the context of their professions, whether they were working in academia, art, business or policy. And they all have incredible wisdom. We really felt like not only are there incredible stories to relate about various issues, but there is a framework, a recipe if you will, a tapestry or whatever metaphor makes sense, that weaves it all together for anybody who tries to effect any kind of change.”

The handbook outlines five steps, illustrated by women’s stories that best speak to each one: imagine, prepare, create, transform and share.

“It was very difficult to choose. There were so many good things,” Dynak said of her treasure trove of feminist wisdom collected over five years. “But we wanted to make sure we were covering a broad range of issues that we felt were important for the future ... and we wanted a diverse range of voices.”

Women’s History Month

The book release was timed to March in line with Women’s History Month.

The national month of recognition has its roots in Sonoma County; in 1980, Molly MacGregor and her Santa Rosa-based National Women’s History Project spearheaded the first Women’s History Month.

“It’s a Good Day to Change the World” is illustrated with a portrait of each woman, sketched by Milwaukee artist Rosy Petri, who has just begun an artist residency at Western Hills.

Schiller and Dynak believe anyone, of any gender identification, could flip through their 200-page handbook and find something meaningful.

The book offers hope and a way forward, from multiple perspectives at a time when many people are struggling to keep the faith.

There is young Isha Clarke, an environmental activist from Oakland who, as a high school student several years ago, pressed California Sen. Dianne Feinstein to back the Green New Deal, to address climate change and economic inequality. They believes in the power of imagining new systems and pushing back against delays, and she keeps going by taking time for reflection and journaling.

Schiller said one of her favorite “go-to” women for inspiration is Betty Reid Soskin, a Black businesswoman and activist who retired two years ago at age 100 from a position as park ranger at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Vallejo.

Soskin’s great-grandmother was enslaved in Louisiana, and Soskin still remembers her stories. Her life stretched through a century of Civil Rights struggles, but she is unwavering in her commitment to telling the stories of Black people and, at the end of her life, looking to the future with hope.

Soskin talks about feeling as if all the women who preceded her are a part of her now, Schiller said.

“Change is slow and change is hard. But we have moved forward. (Soskin) uses the image of an upward spiral. You keep going around and around and around, but you keep going up. That is inspiring, coming from someone who has seen so much. It gives me hope.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com. OnTwitter @megmcconahey.