And so, people want to present themselves. So you're back home. Yes, I'm back home. And how does that feel? I'm feeling good. I'm still to.... You're good. We're excited. Yep. Hi, everyone. Is that a compliment? You're awkward. You're awkward. You're awkward. I'm like, that's awkward. You're awkward. You're awkward. You're awkward. Yeah. You're awkward. You're awkward. I'm a little bit awkward. I'm a little bit awkward. I don't know what to ask for, how do you know her guys? Thank you. All right. This is a story by Melissa. She is talking, so she is one of those people on my list. I've seen you probably always look through your eyes, and I'm a special person. I'm not really a star, but I'm just curious. I'm just curious. Right here on the screen. It's just there. I'm curious. I'm curious. I'm curious to know your place. I'm still trying to find out. I don't know every day about. I don't know what that is. So are you ready to start? I'm just curious. That's cool. Okay, I think we're about ready to start. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Central Library. I'm Ramiro Salazar, Director of the San Antonio Public Library. This evening, we are celebrating the third annual Texas Women of Influence Panel Discussion. This event has become our signature event to celebrate Women's Month, which is the month of March. It's an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the many accomplishments of women, the history of women's contribution to America. And throughout the month of March, we have programs throughout the library system. We have 28 library locations. And almost in every location, we have some kind of a program to, again, recognize the contributions of women. We're very fortunate this evening to have a distinguished panel of women that have accomplished so much. And indeed, they serve as role models to other women and indeed men as well. They have, again, contributed so much. And we're very fortunate to have them be part of the panel this evening. And I would like to introduce them briefly at this point. They will be more formally introduced later by the moderator. So I'm going to start first with Mayor Ivy Taylor. We also have City Manager Shirley Scali. We have Via Board of Trustee Chair Copandrade and former Secretary of State for the State of Texas, Texas A&M San Antonio President Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson, and UTSA Institute of Economic Development Director Terry Williams, their members of the panel. Thank you all so much for making time to be part of this panel. Our moderator tonight is an inspiration in her own ride. Eileen Pace is the morning edition host and news anchor for Texas Public Radio, San Antonio's NPR member station. She's a veteran journalist who has worked in Texas throughout her career. She has earned more than 50 national, state, and local awards for her broadcast news coverage. And her stories have been heard on NPR, the BBC, the CBS, and ABC. Eileen became OAI's radio first female news anchor working alongside Bob Guthrie during morning drive for more than a decade. We're very fortunate to have Eileen here tonight as our moderator, and she will now introduce the panel. Eileen, thank you so much. All right, Remito, thank you. Now, it's my strategic workplace, because I know the guests are, but I'm not sure about mine. I may just want to pull it closer. That's habit. Welcome, everyone. I'm so glad to see everyone tonight. Thank you for coming. This is my third year doing this, and it's always fun. But last year, it was the same size print, and I didn't need the glasses. The women who are here with us this evening are pillars of the community and truly exemplify the national theme of Women's History Month, working to form a more perfect union, honoring women in public service and in government. Our first panelist is Mayor Ivy Taylor in the center. Mayor Taylor was elected mayor on June 13, 2015. Prior to that, Mayor Taylor was appointed to the office of San Antonio Mayor in July of 2014 to fulfill the unexpired term of Julian Castro, who went to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Previously, she had served as the district two city council representative for a total of five years. She's worked with lots and lots of neighborhood associations, developers, nonprofit organizations in order to facilitate inner city redevelopment. And I have seen then Councilman Taylor out in the community talking with people at their homes and in neighborhood groups, and she truly is hands-on. So welcome, Mayor Taylor. Our second panelist city manager, Cheryl Scully, to the mayor's left. Cheryl began serving as city manager of San Antonio in November of 2005. During her tenure, she's appointed executive leadership, reorganized city departments, streamlined city business systems, improved customer service, and elevated the professionalism of city management. Mrs. Scully has served on the San Antonio United Way Board of Directors since 2007 and was the 2013 United Way Campaign Chair, where she raised a record setting $52.5 million for the community. Thank you very much for being here, Cheryl. Our next panelist is Hope Andrade. Hope serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees for VIA Metro Transit. She also served as Texas 107th Secretary of State from July 2008 to November 2012. She was Texas 1st Latina Texas Secretary of State and the 4th longest serving secretary in our state's history, and she said she loved it. Welcome, Ms. Andrade. Our fourth panelist, and welcome to your relatively new position, Dr. Madsen. Dr. Cynthia Timienthe Madsen was officially confirmed as president of A&M University San Antonio February 12, 2015. She has served on a number of boards, including the Higher Education Resource Services Board, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, and the Western Association of College and University Business Officers. So welcome. We're excited to have you here and eager to hear from you. Our next panelist is Ms. Terry Williams. Terry is the director of the UTSA Institute for Economic Development Small Business Development Center and in the Professional Technical Assistance Center. That's, I learned tonight, the PTAC. So there are lots of things that she can tell you about what she's able to do for local entrepreneurs and new business people, and it's a very exciting program. Ms. Williams is the recipient of the 2015 Women in Leadership Award from the San Antonio Business Journal. She is also a 2015 graduate of the NEISD Leadership Northeast program. And I think you've also been an LSA graduate as well, the Leadership San Antonio program. So welcome to everyone. I'd like to take just a moment now to start and allow our panelists just to share a little bit more if they'd like to about their backgrounds. Mayor Taylor, could I start with you, please? OK, well, good evening, everyone. Thanks so much for being here. Just a little bit, I guess, about me. I started my life's journey back on the East Coast in Brooklyn, New York. Parents who were Southerners who had to leave home in order to seek better opportunities. And though they didn't attend college or have professional jobs, they created a great stable home environment and encouraged my sister and I to do well in school, which we did. And I went off to college and came back home and really kind of floundered as far as I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. No one had ever sat down and talked with me about what I could do with my life that would have meaning. All I knew was that you'd go to college and then you'd get a good job. And I wasn't quite sure how exactly that happened. So after a few years of getting jobs that I hated, I decided I need to go back to school but I didn't know what I wanted to study. I was just going to go to night school in New York and keep working. But I looked through the catalog for the local school there and I started at A because I didn't know what I wanted to study. When I got to U, I discovered urban planning. Decided that that was very interesting and that set me on the path that ultimately led me to San Antonio. First I made a stopover at UNC Chapel Hill Goatar Hills. I'm going to win the final four this year. But anyways, I came here for a summer job and started my career in public service. I'm a wife and mom and it's been a joy and a pleasure to have the privilege to serve my doctor hometown as mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Miss Cully, would you like to talk about that same thing? Well, first of all, I want to recognize we have several women from the city organization who are here tonight. And I'd like to ask them to stand so that you can see who they are. Kathy and Maria and Alt Felicia, okay, Wanda. We have several, thank you for being here tonight. These are women within our city organization and I'm happy to say we have 40% of our city executives are women. That would be department heads, assistant department heads, deputy and assistant city managers. And so we work as women to develop and support and promote other women within the organization and a few men along the way too. I've been in city management all of my career. I began working right out of college with the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan. I have an undergraduate degree in political science and journalism. I grew up in the Chicago area. I'm the oldest of seven children. Working class family and went to college because I was able to earn a scholarship. I marvel at my parents. I have no idea how all seven of us, they helped us and we all have college degrees. And I can't even imagine that, you know, that many years ago, 50 years ago. So I started in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was worked there for 10 years and competed for the city manager's position and was selected at age 32. And at the time, 30 years ago, there were only five female city managers in the country in cities greater than 50,000 in population. And nonetheless, I worked there as city manager for five years and then was recruited to Phoenix, Arizona, had never been there. At that point in time, I had two children that were born while I was city manager, which is an interesting story in and of itself. Worked till I was in labor with both children. And so we moved across the country when I was offered the position in Phoenix as the number two person and worked there for 16 years. I was recruited to San Antonio in 2005 and it's just been a fabulous experience. This is, I love this city. We talked about loving our city today at noon and this city has so much opportunity. It's been a great experience. I work with a great team and I've had tremendous opportunities here in San Antonio. So it's a long city management, professional, public service career and I'm dedicated to adding value and improving the quality of life for our community. Happy to be here. Thank you, Cheryl. I appreciate it. Dr. Madsen, I wonder if you might tell us your journey. Well, certainly I was born in San Antonio here. My family like Ivy's family, my parents moved away for better opportunities in their lives. Neither one of my parents went to college but I was certainly in a home of love and we moved to California as a young girl and then moved to Alaska where I grew up. I started, I moved there when I was 12 until I moved back to California about 11 years ago, 12 years ago now and then back to San Antonio. I'm delighted and loving every minute of being back here. I went to like most traditional Mexican American homes. When I graduated from high school, my parents did not want me to move far from home. So I went to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks which was 1200 miles away and you could only get there by plane and received my undergraduate degree there and earned my graduate degree at the University of Alaska at Anchorage and my doctorate later in life at the California State University System. I was very fortunate in my career transition, much like Cheryl, I was a very young administrator. I became a vice chancellor for administration at 34. I was the youngest vice chancellor they'd ever had and when I went to the California State University System I was also a young vice president there in CFO. Not so young anymore but I am certainly enjoying my opportunity at Texas A&M San Antonio. I am married and I have two children in their 20s, one in college and one working in Los Angeles. Dr. Mattson, thank you so much. Everybody comes back to San Antonio, don't they? It's a wonderful place. Hope Andrade, I wonder if you might give us a little of your background and what attracted you to leadership. Well, I was born and raised in San Antonio. My parents were non-English speaking. They didn't have any education and I did what I was supposed to do as soon as I graduated high school I was supposed to get married and I was a good daughter, so I did. I married at 18. I won't tell you how long I've been married because then I will age myself. But I will tell you I'm still married to the same man and he's been my biggest champion and my biggest supporter. One of the things that we learned soon after we were married was that if we didn't want to move up and what we were working is that we needed to go back to school. And so we got our education after we were married. I started a small business and again, I won't tell you how many years ago that was but I started a small business in the 70s and I sold it in 2007 to a publicly traded company after I built it to 400 employees. And I will tell you I'm the biggest supporter of small business because I changed my family tree forever. After I had so many years of being in business I was so grateful to what I had been able to accomplish in this community that I saw the importance of giving back. And fortunately I had enough people in my office that I could step out of the office and do volunteer work. And you know, once you prove yourself in the community of not for profit there's always a place for you. And so I would always say, you know, I feed my heart through my work and I feed my pocket through my poor business work. But I've also had a very successful public sector career. I served on the Texas Transportation Commission for four and a half years. I was the first, I was only the second woman in the 90 year history and I was the first Latina. After I completed that I was asked to serve as Secretary of State, biggest honor to serve this great state of Texas. You can't imagine how many people envious of being in Texas. How many people wanna be Texan? When we went out and promoted the state it wasn't that we were out there recruiting. They were out there trying to impress us why they should move to Texas. And they also didn't understand the pride and the love that we have for our state. And so we're blessed to, I always say, to live in the greatest state in the country. After I finished in my term as Secretary of State I asked if I would ever be an opportunity to serve on the Texas Workforce Commission because I also saw that if we wanted to remain competitive, Workforce was one of the biggest needs that most companies looked at to see if they could come to Texas and grow their business. I completed my government service in June of last year. I came back to San Antonio. I had, the way I say it is I slept and I worked in Austin but I never lived in Austin. I lived here in San Antonio. So I came back home and my biggest gift in coming back home is that now I get to take my three grandsons to school every morning. And that is the best time of the day for me. I have one son and his biggest gift to me was that he married a beautiful woman that gave me three grandsons. And they are absolutely the love of my life and we have the best time. So came back, wasn't sure what I was gonna do with the rest of my life and so I started another business. And once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. And I'll tell you for me with the wisdom and the experience that I had, I felt like I needed to continue helping and serving. And so I've done that and many of you may have heard that we formed a consulting company, former center of Littice-Vandiput and I. And so we're out helping the private sector understand the public sector. Thank you, Ms. Andarotti. Thank you so much. Let's move to some questions now regarding your leadership and the reason that we're here tonight. If you would, Mayor, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't get to Terry. Thank you, Cheryl. Cheryl's going like this. She's so sweet. Terry, please, Terry Williams, please tell us about your path to leadership. That's okay, I was gonna let you just move right along. I'm so sorry. Well, first of all, thank you for the opportunity. I'm honored to be on such a distinguished panel and when I saw it, I'm like, are you sure you have the right Terry Williams? But I'd like to just take a minute to recognize two of my biggest supporters, my husband and my mother-in-law that's here with me. Thank you. Thank you. But I was BOI. Those of you who know what BOI is, I was born on the island of Galveston, Texas. Okay, I've been here in San Antonio since I was five. Never left, stayed here. Of course, this is my home. Grew up on the east side of San Antonio. Just left for a little while. I'd go to college, UT Austin, and UTSA, go Roadrunners, Hook'em Horns. Started my, I've always had a desire to be in public service, probably because of my influences in my life, being my mother, my grandmother. My father was a chemistry professor at Texas Southern University. My mom worked in several political campaigns early on for G.J. Sutton. Those of you who might remember the first black representative here, G.J. Sutton. He was also friends with Charles Evers, Medgar Evers' brother as well. So I've always had that public service enemy. Started my career in 1989 with the city of San Antonio in the economic development department. Starting the small business program there, was there for 11 years, had the opportunity to, excuse me, had the opportunity to diversify some of my economic development experience by also working for two black bases. Kelly, USA, Port St. Antonio now, formerly Kelly Air Force Base, and also Brook City Base. I also had an opportunity to be a business owner for a little while, having my own consulting business, Williams Economic Development Consulting. So now I am back in the small business arena at UTSA. So as you can see, my passion is for economic development, is small business, is the city of San Antonio being that I've had the opportunity to see the city transform into the city that it is now. I'm just fortunate to have that opportunity and I'm glad to be able to share some of those experiences. It's easy to see you have a passion and that's in your heart is helping other business people. Thank you so much, everyone, for coming tonight. So I wanted to ask you, what are some of the skills and things that you developed along the way that you have found useful to help you advance in your career and perhaps some people that influenced you along the way? Mayor? Okay, well, I think certainly as a planner, some of the skill sets that I've gained along the way go back to collecting data and setting priorities and then determining what's the best course of action after listening to various perspectives. So I think as a trained planner, I kind of tend to think in that way. Also, I think to see the connections between different areas. A lot of times we are passionate about a certain policy issue, whether it's education, transportation or housing, but we don't see the connections and the links between all of them and I think as planners, we're kind of trained to look at the big picture. I think that's valuable and also being a good listener, I think comes in handy in this line of work. Anybody that you can think of who influenced you in some of those areas? You know, there really isn't someone that I've encountered in my personal day-to-day life or in my family that I think has influenced me in those areas. Sometimes I read biographies of folks that have done bigger and better things and I find those to be inspirational. So I kind of pick up nuggets along the way but there probably isn't one person that I can point to or that I've tried to model myself after. That's good advice. Picking up nuggets along the way. I'll skip around a little bit. Dr. Metz, and I wonder if you can tell us some of the things that have helped you to develop your career and maybe who's your big influencer? Well certainly, I think one of the, whatever your area of expertise is in my case, my professional area of expertise has always been in administration and finance and so some of those skills are technical and whatever your points of pride are as an individual and as a professional you have to develop technically. So you have those things that are just a given and in this day and age those are just considered threshold skills. So you need to be very competent at whatever it is you do as a profession. I think on top of that in my area of scholarship and publication is around leadership and I think one of the areas where I have spent a lot of focused time over my entire career has been on focusing on leadership acumen, the leadership expertise and really understanding what the academic literature says about leadership and practicing leadership but then living it out in what you do in your workplace. The other element that I find to have been very important is really an area that I picked up that I would say was actually one of the most intimidating roles I've had and that is that of learning more academically, practically and in a professional workplace issues around inclusive excellence, social and cultural competence and what that means and certainly within the academy at the university, what it means for students who come to us, what it means to the communities that we serve and what it means to be a leader and what it means to be a leader in an inclusive way in a public sector role when you work in a community like higher education or the university where I'm responsible for a wide range of welcoming cultures but as well as administrative practices and policies and role modeling those behaviors. So I think those two are very important. For myself personally, I think one of the innate characteristics that I possess that have helped me everywhere I've been is drive. I have an overwhelming drive and I'm very enthusiastic and energetic about everything that I do and when I'm not I need to change directions and do something else. I think those are some of the things that set me apart from others but I also think that some of the things that bring women together is the professional enthusiasm and the energy to help ourselves and I've always said that there is no group more accomplished or they can accomplish more than a group of women when they put their minds to achieving a goal. Dr. Manson, thank you so much. How about you Terry? Well, I grew up a only child so I had myself to rely on a lot. Characteristics and I say this humbly but confidence, I really like a challenge and think that I can achieve whatever the end result is going to be confidence in the ability to do that. Finding solutions, being results orient is really what drives me. I like to look at a project or look at a challenge and say, okay, what is the end result and how do I get to that end result? Something that's meaningful as well, not just doing something to do it but something that's going to be beneficial to that target audience or the group that we're trying to serve, something that's going to positively contribute to the community and as I mentioned before, that's my passion, that's my drive. Something that I can say, hey, I contributed not for recognition or for credit but just to have a piece of that being a part of that solution. Thank you, Terry. Cheryl, tell us what you think. What are your big influencers and what skills do you think have helped you to get this far? Well, I would say my parents were my greatest influencers and I say that with deep respect. My brothers and sisters would say that I've been managing for a long time, not always when they wanted me to be managing them but my parents were only 20 years old when I was born and I know they've relied on me for decades to help them through issues. They were not college educated and but all seven of us are college educated and they believed strongly in the need to be educated to do the best that you can. There isn't anything that beats hard work and my dad always worked two jobs. My mother managed the household and told me that I needed to be on my very best behavior because there were six others following me through school and so I needed to do the very best so that they could follow in positive footsteps. I'm a very focused individual and like Cynthia thrive on something that's very challenging. When I left Kalamazoo, Michigan to go, when I was recruited to Phoenix, the mayor of Kalamazoo told the mayor of Phoenix that they needed to give me the hardest projects to work on because otherwise I'd get bored and might not stay with the organization and I think as we work at improving our communities, making sure that we're doing the best to add value to make the community a better place and inclusive place for everyone to have an advantage is very important and my parents, even though they worked hard and raised seven children, were always involved in the community. I remember my parents being in charge of the PTA, my dad being a precinct committeeman, working for candidates that supported their values and were always engaged in the community and as a product of the 60s, I subscribed and believed in that too and I think there isn't anything that beats hard work and I would say that my focus in personal discipline, I'm a marathon runner and that takes, it's about 90% psychological and about 10% physical ability and so that type of discipline, focus and tenacity really have helped me be successful and also surrounding myself with the very best talent, some of the women or the women who stood up that I introduced when I began are some of the highest and best talent in the organization so having and surrounding yourself with the very best is important as well. Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Ms. Andrade, could you give us your views on what your skills are that have mattered in your position? Well, I think the fact that I'm not afraid to take a risk and I step out of my comfort zone often and I have faith and I'm grateful each and every day for this incredible life that I've been given for the family and friends and people that surround me to, you know, none of us get here by ourselves. It's people that we have that believed in you and I will tell you, I probably had more people that believed in me than I believed in myself and so for all those that are on my list that I thank every day, my biggest influencer was my dad. I saw him how hard he worked. He was a gardener and he would always tell me that it didn't matter that he was just the gardener but he exceeded everybody's expectations of his gardening and so I live and work by exceeding everyone's expectations and I always try to find solutions and I get involved in things that I can, that I believe I can make better and that's, you know, when I drive home and reflect on the day, I wanna make sure that I use God's gifts to the fullest and that makes me feel good other than the traffic as I'm reflecting, lately I'm having more time to reflect because the traffic is on the way. Ms. Andrade, thank you so much. Dr. Madsen, you said something a minute ago that I'd like to go back to for our next question. You mentioned that when it comes to being, what it means to become a leader, you reflected on that a lot. I was curious if that has a different meaning for a woman or if you had any challenges through your career because of your gender. You know, that's an interesting question and, you know, I think about, I guess I'm not the kind of person that has seen a challenge in a way that's been a barrier because of my gender. I would say if I've had barriers and I would use that word very loosely, it's mostly being younger. Like Cheryl, that when you're, a place in a high position of authority or responsibility at a younger age, that in and of itself is something that can cause your mindset to shift. So you do have to act with confidence, as Terry suggested, in carrying out that role and the responsibility and understanding that. But I don't see myself having experienced significant challenges because of gender. Now I am, was in a predominantly male-dominated field when I was a CFO, but again, I think like others have commented, working hard, being technically competent, being perceived as someone who's a value add. I found myself in a number of leadership roles where if there were challenges, I was oblivious to them because of gender. Maybe that's a blessing. Maybe it's a blessing. So I may be an anomaly in that regard, but I haven't really experienced that. Mayor, does anything that Dr. Madsen said about what it means to be a leader mean something different to you because of being a woman or have you faced challenges because of your gender? Which is by the way the same as Dr. Madsen. Well I would say for me, as far as leadership, and I haven't done extensive leadership studies or written academic reports on it, but as a student of life, I subscribe to just the concept of servant leadership. A leader serves their community. A leader should be themselves as bringing the team along and bringing the team together. I very much see myself in that role as mayor and formerly as council member and in the jobs that I've had where I supervise employees. So that's kind of my style. But I guess I would say since being in this particular position as mayor of our city, I think maybe I'm a little bit more conscious of that gender aspect than I have been in the past. I haven't viewed being a woman as being a bearer to me, achieving any of the goals that I've set for myself, but I believe that in this role as mayor, that I think a lot of people are excited to see a woman in the position because of course San Antonio, we were trailblazers. I mean, we had a woman mayor back before many other cities did, a person of mayor line of comperell. So people are excited to see a woman back in the seat, but I think people are conflicted sometimes about expectations. I had a student political observer say to me, you're small in stature, but people want to know if you're tough, are you gonna on the big issues or are you gonna be tough? And then sometimes when I am tough, that gets characterized in ways that I think if a man were tough, it wouldn't be referred to as vindictive, you know, or whatever. That's a pretty popular meme, actually. So, you know, but I don't spend too much time thinking about it, so I don't see it as a significant challenge and I hope that, you know, just by virtue of me being in the position of doing a good job that a lot of younger people, young ladies, especially would view, you know, the sky is the limit for themselves as far as there are opportunities to be leaders in non-traditional fields. Cheryl, I noticed you had a little reaction to that, too, about being tough and have you ever perceived? Well, first let me say, I think my reputation is greatly exaggerated, so. Both the good and maybe the not as good. But, you know, and maybe because I mentioned to my husband I was participating on this panel in celebration of Women's History Month and he said, are they trying to tell you you're historic? Because anything over 50 years qualifies. I would just, I have experienced it. I mean, there have been barriers, no question, as the first woman in every position that I've earned. There, people are always watching to see if the woman stumbles, can't do the job. And so, and maybe it's because of my age and I've been in city management for so long, so there have clearly been challenges. Sometimes things don't change. I was, I'm chairing the International City Management Association Strategic Plan Update and was in a meeting with the top 25 city managers of cities in the country in January over a weekend. Of the 25, there were two women in the room and, you know, I reflected on so much has changed and yet so much has not changed and there is still so much work to do and I think we as leaders of our respective organizations and can help by developing women. We have a women's mentoring program in the city. We're in our third year and I'm just thrilled with the quality and the women I'm getting to know in the organization that I might not have the chance to deal with on a regular basis because we have 12,000 employees. And identifying and helping people further develop and that's our responsibility to help do that. I mentioned that 40% of our executives are women and so we have in our leadership capacity, the opportunity really to help train and promote women and help them develop to be the best that they can be. So it's still tough out there. I'll say that. I mean, what we're dealing with right now, the mayor and I with regard to our public safety unions, a lot of B words are being used. I mean, I'll be really candid with you and I don't think that I don't feel that I would be treated the same if I were a man in this position. Please note that men in this position previously didn't take on this challenge either. So there are definitely barriers. I'd say I've been able to cross those but it's still tough out there. Thank you Ms. Scully. Ms. Andrade, would you like to weigh in on the challenges of leadership as a woman and whether you've faced any challenges because of your gender? I think back then when I was starting a business and I'd walk into a bank that asked me where my husband was, was he going to come in and sign the note and I'd say, well, he's working but not with me. So once again, I try to stay very focused on the goal and I don't let that influence me. I've always lived by, you don't have to like me, you just have to respect me and that's how I've worked and I think in all fairness, I think it's difficult. Sometimes, like Cheryl said, being the first woman in positions that we've earned, people don't know how to work with us. They haven't had to and so it's really not their fault. We just have to help them be comfortable. They don't know what we're going to do. They don't know whether we're going to cry or what. And once they see that, hey, it's great to have us, they appreciate us. And so in all positions, I've gained the respect but I've worked at and I've worked at making and also feel comfortable and I think it's the way but I'm of the belief that respect me and if you learned to like me, it's better but that's it and I think I've had more challenges being short. I was like, the mayor even kidded me about how short I was. I said mayor. Thank you, Ms. Andrade, thank you so much. That's not so much the gender but the height. And how about you, Teri? Have you experienced some challenges, gender related or what kind of leadership development do you think, what does it mean to be a leader in being a woman? Well, growing up, my mom used to tell me that I was named Teri because my dad wanted a boy. Okay. And as you know, Teri is a unisex name in a sense.   So I'm in the field and I've over the years throughout been in economic development for 27 years. So specifically with my time at Port San Antonio and Brooke City Base, I did a lot of traveling doing business recruitment, trying to bring new businesses to Port San Antonio and Brooke City Base. Found out in that field, there's more men than women.  So those experiences, I think were a little challenging, but once you get that comfort and it's like, okay, she knows what she's doing, you know, in certain industries, economic development is that industry. I actually took up golf. I'm not very good at it, but took up golf because that was the game that the men were playing. At IEDC, which is the International Economic Development Council, Texas Economic Development Council, there was always a golf tournament.  So some of those experiences, you know, were a little different. So you're saying that other than golf, when you get to talking to people, gender kind of goes away after a while. Yeah, yeah, that's a good thing. I have just a couple of quick more questions. We're getting a little short on time, but I wanted to know if you've, A, had any challenges balancing work and family? And if so, did that influence your career path? And what advice would you give to women who are seeking public service? Mayor? Well, yes, I'm always struggling to strike that right balance on with work and family, but I think it's important for each woman to decide what balance means for her. I think trying to live up to some ideal that someone else has created on bringing home the bacon, frying it up in the pan, and all of that together, taking care of your kids, you can't live up to what someone else's image of balance is. So I just tried to work with my husband who of course is extremely supportive. I wouldn't be able to be doing all that I am if he weren't as supportive to determine what balance looks like for us and carve out quality time with my daughter. I know that I don't spend as much time with her as I could if I weren't doing this job, but I also know that she's had some extraordinary experiences as a result of me doing this job and that she has an example to see of how you can get involved and engage in making your community a better place. And I think that there's tremendous value in that. Thank you, Mayor. Hope, how about you? It's hard. I mean, it's not easy. And I talked to women today that are going through the same thing guilt, but I will tell you what my son once said, mom, get over it. You were my best role model. And once he said that, it was like, oh, it's okay. It's not, you know, of course it's not the quality. It's the quality. I've learned to practice something and I'll share it with you is that I heard saying once that said be where your feet are. And so if I'm home, I'm home. If I'm with my grandsons, I'm with them. When I'm at work, I'm at work. And so, and that seems to be working for me. I'm able to relax a little bit when I say, I can't be everywhere. So I'm, so today, right this minute, I'm where my feet are with these incredible women. And what about your advice for women that are seeking public service?  What's worked for me has been communication. I always make sure that I communicate with my husband about my schedule, my week. If we're having dinner and I'm supposed to take a call when the phone rings and he looks at me like, are you sure about that? I've already told him before we start dinner, I'm expecting a call. I've been waiting all day long. And if the phone rings, I'm gonna take that call. And he appreciates that. My children, the same thing. They know when I'm not available for holidays or spending time with them. So communication has been what's worked the best for me. All right, Dr. Madsen, could you speak to that issue of balancing family life and work and what would your advice be? Not just in that regard, but in any regard for women seeking public service? Well, I tend to agree with Mayor Taylor's assessment that no one should define what that means to you. I think that is a difficult burden that women place on themselves, working parents, working mothers place on themselves. For me, I don't think I ever lived by anything that I would even remotely call balanced, but I did try to prioritize what was important to me. And what I found worked for me was to set time constraints. So for this six month window of time, these are the most important things to me. And that would allow me to give myself permission to be okay with the house being dirty or to be okay with the fact that I wasn't going to cook a meal or to be okay with whatever. The laundry was gonna stack up or my kids are gonna do their own laundry. Whatever the case may be. So being realistic about those elements helped a lot. I will tell you like many women, I think I self-selected out of certain opportunities or certain roles just because I didn't feel like I wanted to do that at that particular moment in time. But I took on a lot of roles that were very high pressure, very demanding, my children, my younger son for a good two years called me work freak. Because the type of things that were on my plate were 24 seven and you have to learn how to live with that if those are the decisions you make and you figure out how to make yourself okay with that and not to be judged by someone else's definition of what you should or shouldn't be doing. I think in terms of entering public service, I absolutely advocate for service of oneself in areas that make sense to whatever your personal value system is or whatever issues are of importance to you and then finding a way to contribute whether it's your time or financial support. But time means a lot to a lot of individuals so you have to be able to balance how that fits with the rest of your goals and be very focused about that and encourage others to get involved if they can and be okay to tell them if you can't do everything. It's okay to say no. It's nothing negative or punitive. It's okay to say no. But I like your phrase about being where your feet are. I'm gonna use that. It's a good, it's a good. I wrote that down. Terri, tell us, tell our guests too about the feelings you had about balancing home, family, your work and what you would tell women wanting to be in public service. Some clues, some tips. Well, during the intro, I failed to mention that we have two sons, 23 and 25 years old. And during, we've been, and during our marriage, we had an interruption because of the closure of Kelly Air Force Base. Yes, I'm gonna tell that story. But my husband's job got transferred to Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah. So we actually made a conscious decision for him to go to Hill. And I stay here with our sons because of family support, because of the support of friends that were here. So he was eight years at Hill in Ogden, Utah, while we were here and he literally got back home because he's at Randolph now, but got back home the day before our youngest son graduated high school. So there was a lot of balancing going on between working with the, at the city of San Antonio, at Port San Antonio. However, I managed to make every basketball game, every AAU game, every football game and be the sideline coach as well. But with that, we're about to have two college graduates. We're about to have a daughter-in-law next year. So I think we probably did okay. Congratulations, that's a hard job. It is. How about hints for women who want to be in public service? Again, I would tell them to have a passion for what they do, have a passion for public service. A lot of times, a lot of us, it's not an area where you're going to be a millionaire, you know, or make a whole lot of money, but you get a lot of satisfaction by serving the public. So you have to have that, putting the public first type of attitude, making sure that the public that you serve are gonna be the beneficiaries of what you do. So going into public service, you have to have that desire, that passion and make sure that you put those that you are serving first. It's more of a 24-hour job, I bet. Yes. Cheryl, how about you? What balances have you had to achieve in your life with your family? And what do you think about women wanting to go into public service? Same thing? I think what was said about, it's different for each person and you have to decide for yourself. I think I have some balance. My husband might not entirely agree, but it has to be an individual decision and I think Terri just said, you know, she was able to go to those games and you work in what's most important and you have that in your schedule and you don't allow things to disrupt that to the extent that you can. In our jobs, we're 24-7 and so my whole life has been that way and my children understood that. They're now 30 and 28 and I think they've had great experience because of the kind of work that I've done. I also have a very supportive husband and we've been married for 40 years. He moved across the country twice with me for my job, quit his job and went back to graduate school when our daughter was born and if you think about that 30 years ago, that was pretty unusual for a man to do that so he's a little bit of a Renaissance guy and very comfortable with himself that he would do that and he keeps me grounded so when I come home and I'm upset about an issue, he brings me back to okay, here's what's important about it and I calm down and sometimes have a glass of wine and okay, it's okay then. But my kids really respect the work that I do. They don't necessarily want to do what I do but they're also involved in their community and I think have learned from both Mike and I and my daughter was interviewed recently where she works and said that I was her role model and I think as a mother there isn't anything greater than having one of your children say that and our son is getting married next year to a Texas woman who is also a very strong, accomplished woman so I think I did okay. I think it's a good situation and that's really what it's about. You wanna be a great role model to the people who are most important in your life, your family but also to the community and I don't wanna emphasize that when women achieve positions, it's up to those women to bring other women along and that's what we do. I just wanna mention when my kids were born, I literally worked until I was in labor with both of them. When my son was born, my second, I only took off two weeks of work and went back to work. I was city manager and when both kids were born, I remember asking my doctor at the time, will my son be okay? And he said, your son will be fine, it's you I'm worried about. And I don't recommend that for women. I mean I did that because at the time there weren't women in city manager positions and there was a different expectation and so I go out of my way to make sure that women who may even want to job share or wanna work in a part time way to keep them engaged with the organization, try to think of other ways that we can accommodate those schedules because women sometimes come in and out of the workforce and that's okay if that's a personal decision. So we as women leaders need to help those family decisions because it's not just the woman's responsibility, it's also the men's responsibility. Thank you, ladies. We have just a couple of quick minutes and I have one more question I wanted you to offer some of yourself to our audience and let them really get to know you. So real quick, what is your one bucket list item that you are so eager to do? That you haven't done yet. What's on your bucket list, mayor? Well, I saw that question on the list and I thought, oh my goodness, how would I answer that, there's so many things, but you know, I'd love to do a lot more travel than I have right now, I guess I would say that. I've also kicked around the idea, I can't say for sure if it's on my bucket list, but I have kicked around the idea for about 10 years going back to school for a PhD, so. See now for you, I thought it would be zip lining. I'm not that adventurous. Cheryl, how about you? Well, I want to whitewater raft the Colorado River and I've talked with friends, my husband really isn't interested, but I have talked with a few friends who would like to do it so we will do that eventually and put a group together to do that. That sounds amazing and fun, Terry. Well, talk about untraditional. For those who know me know one thing I like to do to relax and you might say, this is relaxing, I play poker at every casino that I can. I love it. So I would like to play in the World Series of poker. That's on my bucket list. I've actually played in the tournament at the Rio Rio. It was about 92 people. I came in seventh place and I also played in the tournament at the MGM Grand. I came in third place. So I'm getting there.  Because those with money play golf. Those who want to give me their money play poker. Thank you, Terry. How about Dr. Madsen?  Well, I'd really like to take three or four weeks off and go touring in Italy and Mediterranean. Oh, fun. That's my bucket list, but I will say I've never taken more than two weeks off of work ever, including when I had my children. Oh my goodness, your whole career. That's amazing. And Hope, what about you? What's on your bucket list? We know you take your grandchildren to school so that was probably on there, but now that's realized. Some of my best memories are with my mother at her sister's farm. And that's why I grew up, or that's why I'm a morning person because we got up at 4.30 in the morning to get ready to go out to work in the fields and, you know. So I've always wanted to get to buy a little farm and go back and just sit outside in a rocking chair and just relive those great memories. And that means that I may have slowed down by then. I don't know when that will happen, but maybe that for me would be proof that I'm slowing down because those are the best memories with my mom. Thank you, ladies. Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight. This has been very fun and enlightening. And I really appreciate everyone being here. Can you all... Castro, stop in and visit us. We didn't acknowledge him, but he was here. Yes he was.  Yes, and I was planning to acknowledge him at that time. Yeah, I saw him when I thought... Snuck in and snuck out. So once again, I would like to thank the members of the panel for sharing with us your inspirational stories and for serving as role models for other women and men. Thank you so much for being here. Eileen, thank you once again for being a wonderful moderator. It's always a pleasure. Thank you for having me. We do have a token of our appreciation for members of the panel and our moderators that they will be distributed at this time. In closing, I want to thank all of you for being here to be part of the program. We do have a reception, so please join us outside the auditorium for refreshments. Thank you all for coming.


First, I just wanted to say a few thank yous to Jasper Hill Farms for donating their artisan cheeses and for Orca who is going to be filming the artist tonight. So tonight we have Elliott Berg and Athena Petra Thesenopoulos and Elliott is going to go first and then I will introduce Athena later. Elliott is a freelance photographer from Middlesex, Vermont. In 2018 he traveled to Havana, Cuba and he took these beautiful portraits of musicians and people on the street and dancers and we are so fortunate to have them here and he's going to tell you a little bit about them tonight. Thank you. So I would like to sort of take a running start on this show by looking back, I'm going to take three minutes or so, to look back on work that I've done earlier because what runs through all of my work is, I mean my favorite subjects you can tell are people and I feel sort of an affinity or an attraction to potential subjects that I see whether they're in a concert or on the street or at a baseball game.  So I wanted to go back and say a little bit about the work that I've done over the last number of years. In the mid-1980s I did my first photographic portrait project. My wife August and I lived in a small Bolivian village for a year and I did a series of portraits of people in the village, our neighbors. And that series was actually exhibited at Ginny's Restaurant Horn of the Moon and also at the original Wood Art Gallery up on the hill. And what that, putting that exhibit together helped me do was focus my attention on what I wanted to communicate when I photographed somebody. That I was interested in finding something important or essential or indicative or unique about my subject. And our neighbor, the knitter, this pose was, you know, it was her in the same way that when I did my series on senior track and field athletes, the energy and the dedication, the sort of impressive accomplishment of those athletes, that's what I wanted to communicate to people who saw the exhibits. In the same way, the romance of dancers in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a series I did subsequently. The brutality and beauty of a young female boxer defending her golden gloves title. The life experience reflected in the face of a farmer in Myanmar from a series of portraits of women that I did in that country. The sort of backbreaking history, if you will, of Ukraine where I went to do a roots project that became a show called Ellie's Town. And the joy of resistance in a series of photographs that I took at the National Women's Marches in Washington. Okay, so that brings me to Cuba where I was last year at this time. And David Garten is in the audience here and he's an important figure in this show because before I went to Cuba, I had this idea that I needed some structure for what I was going to do. I expected to be on the street every day for hours taking photographs and that was fine but I needed a little bit more direction. And David helped me find a drum teacher, a conga teacher, which is why this show is called conga. And every other day I would walk the 20 or 25 minutes through the streets of central Havana to the home of Adele Casuso, a wonderful percussionist who was my teacher and my entree to the music world in Havana. Those were his hands and this is his group, Bakuleye, which was a great salsa band. They put on their satin robes for me at the time so I could photograph them. One of the first things I did when I got to Havana, David, you will remember, we went out, we overlapped our time in Cuba by half a day and we went out on the street and we did some shooting and we went over to a place called Teatro Campo Amor, the Field of Love Theater, where I took this photograph of Reynaldo who was a man who had been living in this ruined classical theater just across the way from the National Capitol building and he had been told recently that he had to move out because the government was going to renovate the building and he was so filled with sadness at the time. There was something profound about his melancholy and that's what I wanted to convey here. Reynaldo, next to this kind of skeleton of a chair, David, you will remember the whole scene there. Each of the photographs has some element I would suggest that is important in conveying what is special about the subject. So here at the other end of the mood spectrum is Miguel the barber who lived just down the street from the room that I rented from David and Miguel welcomed the world into his barbershop as you can see and he welcomed everything he could possibly fit into his barbershop, into his barbershop. And so you could spend a fair amount of time trying to identify all of the individual objects that are in this photograph including not really an object but in the mirror on the left is part of the face of the mother of the boy who's getting a haircut. I spent half a day photographing a rehearsal of the Ban Rara dance troupe. It's a ballet and folkloric group with 20 of the most gorgeous men and women you've ever seen in your life and extremely talented. And so the beauty and the emotion of their dancing is what I tried to capture there. It was a bit of a technical challenge because the theater was very dimly lit but there was one door that opened onto a side street that had this shaft of tropical light that came in. So as the dancers passed through the light I would photograph them. Some of the photographs were completely serendipitous. I stepped off the ferry that you take across Havana Bay and in the ferry building was a painter in a frame. Not a painting in a frame but a painter in a frame and I had a long opportunity to take a number of poses. It took me two days to find this skateboard. I'm not going to call it a park venue. Like so many places that I photograph like the theater where Ronaldo was. The physical infrastructure is really in ruins but the life and the talent and the energy that you see in those settings is just extraordinary. And the explosive nature of this skateboarder into the graffiti is what I was trying to capture. Some of the special elements in these photographs really have to do with things like color. And so this photograph that I call the initiate, I love the palette. It's the grays, sort of a mauve color, the greens, obviously his white umbrella and clothes. Really just, it was a different look from most of what you see in Havana. This is closer to sort of the core, what I feel is the core of Havana which is bright color. Primary colors set against a gray wall and another sort of color element. There was a street that had been roped off for an elementary school group of kids to play and they drew circles in the street. It was a kind of tag game that they were playing and if you got to the circle you were safe. And these two girls ran together and obviously close friends held each other and the juxtaposition of the two arms and the skin tones was really impactful for me. And I felt that this was somehow at least metaphorically reflective of the diversity of race in Cuba and what seems to be a pretty harmonious relationship that people of all backgrounds have. This photograph is quirky. The quirkiness is what makes it for me. I was walking in a suburb of Havana and I came across Alejandro and incongruously he was up on a wall.  How did that happen? This is one of my favorite photographs.  Again another sort of burned out building. I don't want to overemphasize that but the economy is really challenged in Cuba in no small part because of U.S. government action. But I came across this boy who was playing and again another kind of juxtaposition of red shirt, blue shorts and a soccer ball in the air against this gray wall. It just made it. It was an instant in time in his life that I felt I was preserving for him.  So it's salsa dancers and this was taken in an outdoor venue, the iconic Salón Rosado Benimore. Benimore was a famous band leader, Cuban band leader in the 40s and 50s and the music and the dancing on this outdoor floor so it would look like a gigantic skating rink. It's concrete and then there's a balcony around the top where you can watch the dancers. It was just incredible. You could not refrain from dancing. And so I found myself a partner and I danced. I wanted to finish with a couple of thoughts, a couple of slides. David, you recognize Bayardo? David Garten introduced me to Bayardo. His photograph is not here but he sort of took me under his wing on a few days. We went to his little farm outside of Havana. He introduced me to his wife and kids. I took them out to dinner. He got me into the baseball game which is the last photo there where there's a visiting player who's hitting a home run against the Havana industriales like the nail in the coffin of a really bad season on the part of the home team. For me, photography is essentially a communicative process. It's magical in the sense that you can see what I saw here. I can select the photographs, the subjects, I can frame them, crop them as I want but these are the people that I saw and you can see them and the communication in my view should go both ways in the sense that I'm interested in what you have to say about these photographs. So I'm going to be here for a while to answer questions. Please, there's a guest book in the back if you have any comments. Fill that out. I've got business cards there and these photographs are for sale in this format or framed under glass so you have that option and thank you very much for coming tonight. It's been a kick. So Athena is a mixed media collage artist and a fine art photographer. She collects cabinet card portraits from the 19th and 20th century and hopefully she'll tell us what cabinet cards are exactly. By reinventing these antiquated portraits which she covers them in wax and inscribes the surfaces to create different textures and she gives the portraits a new life and a new identity and a new time. So we're honored to have Athena tonight. Thank you. Looks like it's working. Thanks for coming out everyone. I'm Athena. So I am a mixed media artist. I work in a variety of media from paper to encaustic and also textiles. The heart of everything that I do is based on cabinet card and card to visite portraiture. So I gave you a little bit of a mini history lesson here. Card to visite photography was first introduced in 1854. They're the really tiny old vintage photos you might find in antique stores or maybe even you have a collection from old relatives. They were often traded among friends and visitors during the Victorian era and collections were publicly displayed usually. By the early 1870s, the larger cabinet card measuring about four and a half by six and a half replaced the cart to visite. So I give you a couple of samples here. I collect these old photographs and scan them and repurpose them for my work. So I thought I would talk a little bit about my process because that tends to be the major question that I get is how do you turn that into this? So I thought I'd talk about my works on paper which you can see a few of the framed pieces here behind you. They all begin with the original photograph. I then scan them and alter them digitally. I like to think of it almost like I'm creating an underpainting but digitally. So the image that's here in the middle is a photographic print. You can see I've masked out certain areas that I know I want to color by hand and areas where I'm going to be illustrating on them. So then the final image here is the final print that you'll see on the wall behind you. So I flesh out these digital composites by adding hand embellishments in graphite, wax, pastel, acrylic, sometimes watercolor, directly to my print. I print on a heavy matte paper. It's kind of similar to a watercolor paper so it takes the paint really well. And I thought I'd give you guys a little glimpse into my studio. I'm working on a few pieces here, painting them by hand. And again, you can sort of see the various stages of the process here. The upper left image is the straight print, the straight digital composite. You can see I've got a couple little wax pastels in the foreground here. The image right below it, I've applied a layer of black paint. And then the larger image is the finished piece hanging on my wall. So again, this is a piece called Trinity. It's hanging up behind you here. I thought I'd give you a start to finish look at the process. This image really compelled me. All of my subjects are anonymous. I don't really know exactly who they are or what their story is, so I like to kind of give them a story. These three women looked like sisters to me. They felt like they had an important bond. I could sort of see some facial similarities. So I really wanted to sort of honor that connection and keep them together for my final composition. I'm also kind of inspired by religious iconography. My father is Greek, so I grew up visiting lots of small little Greek Orthodox churches and all of the little villages that we would visit. And I like to think of these sort of a secular iconography, more just a celebration of the human spirit. So again, a few process shots. So keep in mind the original photographs that I scan are fairly small, usually about like this, if not really, really teeny tiny. One thing that I found when I scan them, I can alter their size. So I blew this one up to about 16 by 20, so her face became very, very enlarged. And I liked what happened over here. You can see some of the textures of the old paper. I just thought that was incredibly lovely, and it felt very aged and vintage. Here's another example. This was a piece that I actually created. It was a commission for Elle Japan magazine. I was asked to create a series of nine images for an astrology spread that they were doing. Unfortunately, this one didn't make the cut. They said she looked too old. But I really loved her facial expression. I thought she carried a particular strength and a stoicism about her. One of the wonderful things about working from scanned photography is that I can reuse a subject over and over and sort of alter my composition. All of my works on paper are also in small editions, but they vary by all of the handwork that I create. So this is the same image. It's called radial. The one on the left is a very small print. It's about four by five inches, and the one on the right is large. It's about 16 by 20. So even though they're part of the same edition, they vary quite a bit. I love the different emotions that can come out just by changing colors or texture or pattern. So I've been working on paper quite a bit, and I decided that I wanted to experiment with some different materials. A lot of the very faint graphite line work that I was doing reminded me a lot of hand stitching, so I thought why don't I actually try to work with fabric and do some stitching. So you can see the evolution of the original photograph and the paper piece that I did, and then I decided I would try to recreate her using textiles. She's over here. So to begin my process working with fabric, first I print the image directly onto fabric, and then I use a heat fusing material to bond them to other layers of fabric. It's basically like creating collage, but instead of using paper, I'm using textiles. The composition is then stitched directly onto stretched canvas. So here's a few process shots, and here's another piece that I did. The upper left image is me just sort of laying out my bits and pieces of materials to try to figure out my composition, and then it's stitched to the canvas on the right-hand side here. The other work that you'll see on the walls is my encaustic work. So it's a similar process to the textile pieces that I do. It's an analog collage, but instead of using fabric on canvas, I use paper mounted directly to wood panel, and then a layer of wax is applied over top. So for those of you who aren't familiar with encaustic medium, it's a combination of beeswax and damar resin. The beeswax comes in little pellets, and the damar resin are these lovely little crystals that smell kind of like a pine tree. So you combine them all and heat them up to a liquid state, and then it can be brushed directly onto your wooden panel. And what I love so much about the wax is its translucency, but it's also very malleable, and you can carve directly into the surface. Since the wax is translucent, you can't really see any of the drawings until you apply some paint to create contrast. So that's the next stage of the process for me. Here I am putting some black paint onto my piece. This is the part that's a little nerve-wracking because it gets really, really messy, and then you have to just clean it up and stay calm. I also use a razor blade to sort of scrape the surfaces down to get them nice and smooth. And the best part about the wax is if you're unhappy with what you've done, you can use your heat gun, heat it up, and scrape it all off and start over again. So here are a couple of shots from the initial collage to the finished and caustic piece, and another before and after shot, and that's it. So I'm happy to take any questions. Bring it on. I have a question for Elliot. I was really interested in the care that you spend or kind of put toward the individuals in your work, and I was wondering how you handle kind of the sensitivity of being an outsider and coming from the outside into different places and how you find that entry point and do you find it through making those personal connections or how do you kind of bridge that gap? My kids who are now adult sons, this drives them a little bit crazy, but I just put myself out there in what I think is a non-threatening and respectful way. And I don't assume that anybody that I see is, you know, owes me anything. I'm there and this is their place. This is their home. And so I would go out on the street for, as I said, for hours kind of with my photographic eyes on looking for images that I thought would be appropriate and artistic and I looked for signals. I mean, some of the photographs you can tell, for example, Slash of Color, I had three seconds to take the photograph of that woman looking the other way. I didn't go up and engage her in conversation. On the other hand, with Alejandro or the people at the dance recital or obviously Adele Casuso, my dance instructor, I interacted with them. Again, you have to be really modest about it. You have to understand that you are their guest and then you take the photographs. There are some parts of the world where people are very open to being photographed and there are other parts of the world where culturally it's not acceptable and so you need to know where the line is. I don't know. Did I answer your question? Were some of these photographs, people never knew that they had been photographed? Correct. So there's really a continuum, sort of portraiture on one end and street photography on the other and I see the work that I do is intersecting those two but obviously you're in different places at different times with different subjects. I just want to comment too, since the first time I saw your work over at West Branch, I'm totally captivated by the ability with these tiny faces that are really disembodied completely and you have so much humanity. Kind of a little choked up actually. I think that's definitely my goal is to honor these people. It's a little sad when you find stacks and stacks of beautiful, beautiful imagery of people that for whatever reason they've been abandoned, you know, families move, clean out their closets, their attics. Their identities are completely forgotten and so even though I don't necessarily know their story, I think we can still honor them. We're sort of just honoring the human spirit because this is, we're all going through this together. It's really giving them a new life. Your artistry around your design is just gorgeous. The question is sort of for both of you. So whenever I go into shows like this I always try to find connections whether intentional or otherwise and I'm immediately drawn to the faces and the two bodies of the work and how yours are from the past and even though it's not as long, Elliot's is also from the past in a way and that linear track will continue over time and it's sort of a similar way and have either of you talked about the thought about that connection since you've been paired up with this? I guess I think about the perseverance of the human spirit. With my work it's sort of about choosing to continue to remember the legacy of these people who've gone on before us and with Elliot's work, you know, I see people living rich, beautiful, colorful lives, you know, despite adversity. Yeah. Yeah, I mean we've had a little bit of time to interact, we hung our shows, actually you were not there, I thought it was your husband but at the opening and today we had a long talk and there is a lot that connects the two exhibits even though the media are very different and particular subjects are very different so I'm really, you know, honored to share the gallery space with you. What do you think it shows with the difference between people in the more contemporary setting maybe being aware of how being photographed makes them feel or act or whether they notice it or not and maybe you think most of these maybe the people might not have had that experience so it seems like maybe they all kind of have that similar like I'm not really sure what's happening here. You talked about honoring people, honoring these people from the past and I think that's really what I wanted to do when I went to Cuba is to honor people in Cuba. I had been there one time before and I decided this time I wanted to go on my own and be on the street and sort of just be out there and honor them, it's a hard life in Cuba and people have really made the most of it. I think to sort of the way Eliot's subjects are so comfortable in front of the camera versus the way mine seemed a bit more rigid it kind of speaks to the development of technology and the fact that photography is such a new medium when you think of painting and carving sculpture really it just became a thing in the 1800s so there was I think often a bit of fear or people tended to be a bit more timid when they had their portrait taken. Exactly, not to mention that the technology was not quite as advanced so people would be sitting for a long period of time for an exposure. I've even found as I've been collecting these vintage photos you could find portraits where there's a bit of like a brace exposed so people would have to sit very still and often times there'd be these metal fixtures that would keep them in place and now we're photographed all the time that we kind of don't even think about it we're being photographed right now and so we're becoming quite a bit more I guess desensitized too and comfortable. People have thrown away their braces. Right. We're taking selfies. I think they were all similar important.  It's like selfies, right? Look at me, look at me. Hey, I want you. Put them all on the wall. It was a privilege to go and sit for a photographer and actually cover portraits. Every day. Did you find a lot of other American photographers wandering around with their cameras taking pictures of people so that people were just I mean if I were sitting in my front yard and somebody came along with the camera and started training it on me I'd notice them. I mean honestly in my meanderings I didn't see many American photographers but there was one at the Rafael Trejo Jim who told me about the skateboard venue that I had trouble finding. There was David and the two of us went out shooting on the street but I didn't seem like there were swarms of people on the other hand where David lives in Havana and where I stayed and spent most of my time it's not really the tourist section of town at all but it's intensely rich and that's where I wanted to be. Thank you so much.


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Welcome once again to the breakfast here on Plus TV Africa. Our next major conversation takes us to Kaduna State, where we're speaking this morning with Reverend Tunde Adishinal, who is a victim of a demolition by the Kaduna State government that they have said is unlawful, seeing that hundreds have now become displaced, even if a lot of these persons have CFOs that were given to them by the same Kaduna State government on land and property that were purchased from the government. Good morning Reverend Adishinal, thanks for joining us. Reverend Tunde Adishinal, can you hear me this morning? Yes, I'm with you. Thanks for joining us. Alright, so welcome and let's start with you giving us a breakdown of what exactly has happened to yourself and others in Kaduna State that have been affected by these demolition. Yes, our properties there in Greece land was demolished on the 4th of October 2021. Okay, what is the background before the demolition? Was there a warning? Is there something that made the government go ahead with the demolition? Well, the background information that must be known is that if a host of us came into that environment as far back 1996, 1997, and we met with the original owners of the land, they collected our money, allotted the land to us, they gave us receipts and we followed the normal procedure. We went to the city key of the environment, he signed our papers and the district head also signed the papers and when it was time for us to build, we took our drawings to Kasuda and Kasuda gave us the right to build our properties. Now in the process of time, there was a need for us to also get the see-of-all. Our papers were first taken to the local government, the local government gave us the local government see-of-all which we invariably took to the state and the state gave to some of us the certificate of occupancy. They thought I might fix about four years ago, 2nd of October 2017, assigned by the state government. So we had had some challenges with Kasuda for some time, one year they came and said we had trespassed into aviation land during the days of the late Emma. We went through and the aviation authorities were brought in, the long and short of people there, they were able to see their own victims and they understood that they were the ones that were even trying to shove into our land.  So after building the fence, they still made some troubles and eventually the Emma pacified with a very strong power delegation brought in to mediate. So after the long and short of it, we in the community now decided let's go to court so that the court cannot be tried finally. So by the time we went to the court, we had the court judges that took Kasuda never to enter into our environment to terrorize or trouble us anymore because we are bona fide bonus of the land and whatever we needed to have been correctly done. Now we also had two rulings or two judgments against aviation telling them that they do not have any land that extends into our land. So but unfortunately this year we just woke up. I think during the 1st October break into the 2nd of October, we just told us that they are in 24-hour ultimatum given to those of all that in Greece land to vacate or release the munition. We thought it was a joke until we saw bulldozers you know coming to our boundary and by Sunday evening we saw some armed men, some of these I think that these or so the vigilante came in at about 8.15 in the night when after NEPA had taken their lives the bloody whole environment under siege and the camp to this man came in and we were all given into our homes and before we knew what was happening there it was the demolition exercise started. The demolition started at 8 p.m. Even if we are operating in a place illegally and we expected that Kasuda should have at least given to us maybe a month or six months or probably a year and that's when you pay to somewhere better but for to give 24 hours on a local radio I mean and subsequently that was all we got. I think it was into a proper show. I mean people like us who had followed the due process and were giving all the legal papers and so that's the background and that's where we found ourselves and we had to become homeless. I think about 160 houses according to the report we had that were demolished. So what is the I'd like to find out what the state government's response is to all of this now. What is the state government's response to this situation? What I'm trying to find out Revan additional does the state the Kaduna state government claim that any of those court rulings were in its favor or does the Kaduna state government is government not aware of the court rulings that grant that gave you know judge a ruling in your favor and the favor of the other people who purchased land in Greece land. I'm asking is the Kaduna state government not aware of the court rulings in your favor? And so on the 3rd of October at 8 p.m. A demolition started. Yes at about 8.83 in the night. So how have you know yourself and the rest of those who had property there what have you been doing since then? Well we've been coming together to brainstorm and see whatever we could do probably to seek how the state could come to probably replace what has happened if they would give us a decision. Okay so however is there any hope that you know government would make some kind of provision for the persons who have been displaced because I'm still trying to understand if you say you have the certificate of occupancy I'm wondering why you know that demolition actually took place? Is there any talk about compensating you for your land or for your property that was demolished? Is there any talk about compensating you for your land or your property that was demolished? So where are all these people currently living? Did some of these people live in Graceland before the demolition and where have they all moved to? I'm asking about where the people whose homes were demolished. Where have they now moved to? Where do they currently live? A few of us had had to just look for how we can fix ourselves. Some are still in the hotel rooms some have gone to stay with their loved ones and so that's the piece of their fate. So it's a really really shocking story. Can you speak a little bit more about the the aviation angle? It's that you were speaking about aviation thanking the Kaduna State government for the land I was giving to them. Is there something you know is there some politics being played here? Pardon me? I'm asking if you can speak a little bit more on the aviation angle. You said that the the Ministry of Aviation is thanking the state government for the land. Is there some some behind the scenes politics being played here? Well honestly we wouldn't really know where this the whole thing stemmed from because it took us on our way and if it's a team one has prepared for probably one would have been able to find out what actually led to all of this. Okay all right. Raventunde Adishinal we are really sorry about what has happened to you and to the you're many in a hundred plus families. We hope that we can keep the conversation going until there's better you know clarity and the Kaduna State government does step in and does what is right but for now we of course are sorry and we hope to speak with you again as soon as possible. Thank you very much. All right. You'll have a great day. Well this is what we we're probably it's a very sad situation and makes no sense you know that demolition will take place at 8 p.m. You know another you know usually before you know you have demolition happening and all of that because I have actually seen where state governors and back on all of this the question will be because everyone has a right to own properties and all of that so you know the fundamental human right at this point in time is also been questioned did they get a caught injunction to and back on that demolition but however from the conversation with him it shows that there's a lot of you know clarity there's lack of clarity as to what is really going on the state government has not responded and the feet that seem to be a little bit you know helpless at this point in time but let's see how all of that actually developed. There was a caught injunction you know it shouldn't take 24 hours you know 24 hours notice before demolition. That's exactly what I'm saying. You should be months at least and then of course I'm sure that there's also the the opportunities for them to appeal you know that injunction or maybe have a stay of execution that's so much you know that could have played out but you don't wake up you know someone in give up you know 24 hours notice in some local radio like he mentioned and then the next night not even in the morning. Who works at night? Who demolishes people's property at night if not if not criminals and that includes everybody who's in that government who was a part of that demolition. It's a criminal move and that's the only way you can describe it. There's no whether the government is aware or it's not aware it's a criminal move to wake up at 8 p.m. and go ahead with the demolition. So whether the government chooses to be a part of that criminal move that's their you know problem but it's just really really heartbreaking. My concern is you know how this persons who have been displaced are coping right now. It's a state that has a lot of IDPs scattered around anyway we need to wrap up. Well that's so much we can actually you know take at this point in time thank you so much for being part of the show. We'll definitely come through tomorrow with you know fresh conversation and stories and do not forget to catch up if you feel to be part of the conversation this morning when Facebook and Instagram at Plastiv Africa and YouTube is at Plastiv Africa. I am Messi Bofor to have a great morning.


Tons of military there. You've got the Marines. You've got Navy. You've got all sorts of military. It's one of the worst, well that's kind of LA, San Diego in one, but it's one of the worst marketplaces for men. So this graph illustrates cities where there's way more females. So like New York City, best place in America. If you want to live and have just easy pickings, girls will approach you in New York City. The first time I ever went there, I watched a girl walk up to a group of three guys, and be like, hey, my friends are over here at the bar. Is it cool if you come talk to us? We'll buy you drinks. My mind was blown. I grew up in Orange County. I went to school in San Diego, then I moved to LA. That never happened. I literally walked up to her because I'm used to approaching girls and the opposite. I was like, did you just offer those guys drinks to talk to you? And she's like, yeah, so. I'm like, I'm not making fun of you. I'm just completely shocked. That would never happen in Southern California because of this single determining factor, which is the ratio. The ratio is everything. So every year I take clients to Eastern Europe, and we cruise around Budapest, Belgrade, Serbia. We go to Kiev and Odessa, Ukraine. And why do we go there? Because the ratio is insane. It's like 120 women to 100 guys in the big cities. And yeah, the girls are beautiful and hot and everything, but you can find beautiful women anywhere. But the ratio makes such a big difference. So if you guys are living in some of these menvr, for example, the rough place to live, Man Diego, San Francisco, don't even get me started, it's brutal.  But if you move to some of these other places, like I think the Raleigh Durham, a lot of the schools like right in North Carolina, Charleston, it's just all girls. You go to those universities and it's just insane. You go to a party and it's like three to one girls to guys. You're going to do well. It doesn't matter what else is going on because you're a hot commodity.  So let's talk about Europe. This graph shows the man drought in Europe. So this line here, the 50% line means there's more men than women in that city. So if you look at Oslo, that's slightly more men than women. Amsterdam is very close. But then if you go down Warsaw, Poland, great ratio for guys. Vilnius, Vilnius, I've never been there. I forget where that is. Somewhere in Eastern Europe, I think. And then Riga Latvia, look at that. It's 45. something percent men and 55% women. That doesn't seem like a lot, but that's insane. That's a huge difference. In Eastern Europe, they have what they call face control.  And if they're not gorgeous, they say, we have face control.  You do not come in because you do not spend money. If you're a dude, you're actually supporting the bar or the club. You're spending money. They'll let you walk right in. You've got to buy a bottle. You don't have to show up with girls like you have to do in LA. If you walk up to a nightclub in LA, you don't have girls and you're not buying a bottle, you're not getting in. Forget it. Unless you know the promoter or the door guy. But you go to Eastern Europe, please come bring all of your bros. We have 20,000 girls inside and no one to buy them drinks. So really think about where you live. If you live somewhere that sucks, it's going to be really difficult not because of even anything you can do.  Very important. Conversation skills.