Marianne Schnall

This past weekend, I attended Arianna Huffington, Donna Karan and Sarah Brown’s second-annual WIE Symposium (Women: Inspiration & Enterprise), an event which set out to explore the central theme of “What it means to be a woman now” through a variety of thought-provoking and informative panels and lectures. The two day event, which benefited the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, featured a keynote from Dr. Jill Biden and a wide diversity of esteemed and inspiring speakers. Several women leaders and activists were also honored with WIE awards. I was there for the presentation of the WIE Leadership award to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Leader of the United States House of Representatives, who made history when she became the first female Speaker of the House, a position she served from 2007-2010. She currently serves as House Minority Leader.

Pelosi was presented with the award by Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia, who praised her as “someone who has stood for the right things very, very boldly and with incredible consistency … with a long track record of decency, leadership and wise judgment.” Sachs called her “one of our country’s greatest leaders for women’s rights, for sexual reproductive rights, for the defense of all groups in our society” as well as an important champion for ...