Highlight Reel: “Into Them” Year in Review

Ghosts of Newsletters Past: what we learned from a year of talking to others, part 1

One of the true joys of writing our newsletter has been the dizzying number of rock stars we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing for our “Into Them” feature. Consider this our highlight reel: Please enjoy a redux of resonating wisdom they gave us this year.

Marjorie Rodgers Cheshire on caring for a parent with dementia.

“The obvious change is the swapping of the caretaker role. The difficult part is taking that on, with all of the added responsibility. The beautiful part is the opportunity to give back the wonderful parenting and caretaking my mother gave me as I grew up. I also get to honor and remember my mother by having a relationship with my 10-year-old daughter that, in many ways, mirrors my mother’s relationship with me. Doing many of the little, loving things that my mother did for me helps me remember her at her most vibrant.”

Ginny Brzezinski on making your age your asset.

“Know what you bring to the table. Your value today includes being a grown-up—you are mature, experienced, reliable, professional and capable of real conversations. Let that be a source of confidence, and build up your professional confidence further by making sure your skills are up-to-date and your subject matter expertise is always growing.”   

Alessandra Henderson on changing the narrative and treatment of menopause.

“We want to promote radical understanding around menopause so no woman ever has to wonder if what she’s feeling is ‘normal,’ because when it comes to menopause, there is no ‘normal.’”

Karla Witukiewicz on her subversive jewelry brand.

“kWIT jewelry is a canvas to individuality. The letters are a personal lexicon, a medium to express what you love, where you’ve been, your passions and dreams, how you feel, what you wish for. Because by now, you’ve got a lot of all of the above.”

Bruce Mentzer on a meaningful second verse.

“I’d decided to seek a degree in Sustainable Agriculture, and the program required us to write a business plan for a market garden operation. With no interest in starting another business, I wrote mine instead for a nonprofit garden that grows specifically what food pantries need most. Once done with school, I had an ‘aha’ moment to just do it. It already had a name: Farm to Fight Hunger.”

Juliette Kayyem on being a homeland security expert during a pandemic.

“Despite the heaviness of much of my work, organizing chaos is my yoga. I mean that. I sit and make lists, charts and plans—because to see it means you can master it.”

Evan Ryan on becoming a parent later in life through surrogacy.

“I feel like I am coming into this with some accumulated wisdom, not only because I am an older parent, but also because of the wisdom I accrued during this long fertility journey. Wisdom along the lines of: having more patience, knowing what is important and what is not, understanding that some things are completely out of my control, and understanding that there can be true beauty in things not going according to plan—and learning to trust the process.”

Leslie Jordan on dealing with rejection.

“People always wonder how actors deal with rejection. The best advice I ever heard is to show up and be of service. My industry has lots of different measures of success, but I always come back to this.”

Ursula Burns on shaking up the status quo in technology.

“People often ask me about being a woman (and a woman of color) in technology and what I brought to the table. I always return to the same theme: The most important thing was that I was at the table and I was as good—if not better—than everyone else there. There was, of course, a sense of surprise that I would be there (and I am sure plenty of assumptions made), but I didn’t just stop with being in the room. After all, I walked in just like they did.”

Stephanie Ybarra on staging a more just world.

“One of the major barriers to getting more stories by and about people of color on stage is the idea that ‘nobody’ will come to see them. So, the answer to how an individual theater-goer can ensure more diversity in the stories on our stages is to simply show up. Buy a ticket. Every ticket you buy for a play written by an artist of color is a demonstration of support; an affirmation.”

Bina Venkataraman on harnessing optimism to make change.

“Optimism is an action—it's engaging with the future and taking steps to make it better. To act for the sake of the future, people need tools—say, a telescope—to scan the horizon and see what's possible. I'm an optimist, not because I know the world will get better, but because I'm committed to making it that way. Engaged optimists don't just sit back and watch the world go by; they pick up the tools to shape the future.”