Happy November to you all!
In a month focused on gratitude, we in NAWBO-CA leadership have much to be grateful for. Our board is engaged, inspired, and creating change for all women business owners (WBOs) across the state. We, as NAWBO-CA are making solid progress in being seen by leaders in Sacramento as representing the interests of
over 1.5 million WBOs.
Thanks to the hard work of our NAWBO-CA Legislative Advisor Lori Kammerer and our VP of Advocacy Moreen (Reenie) Lane, we were asked by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Chief of Staff to support Equal Pay California. To put this into the proper context for you: this is an honor.
You can be in support of Equal Pay California, too, as Chapters and as WBOs. I sent out an email last week to all Chapter leaders about this issue. You all swung into action! To date, NAWBO-CA, Sacramento Valley, Silicon Valley, and San Diego chapters have all pledged their support. I know as well that several other chapters have added this to their upcoming agendas, so we expect more of you will be taking the pledge in the coming days.
As most of you know, California has been the leading state on gender pay and we as NAWBO-CA had the opportunity to be seen as an influential partner willing to support the continuing work on this important issue. By quickly supporting this initiative (which we did — we responded within 3 hours once we got the official call) we will continue to be seen as an organization that is nimble and responsive for public policy issues that are on mission with ours. Our past support of SB 826 and the Earned Income Tax Credit bills have raised our visibility and credibility within the Newsom administration, and we’ve been able to build on that with our efforts this week.
We ask that you have an email discussion with your boards (that’s best — it’s fastest) or add this issue to an upcoming agenda and vote on supporting it. Links to additional information on #EqualPayCalifornia
can be found
here
and all businesses are encouraged to
sign the pledge here
. The Pay Equity task force resources can be found on the websites of the
First Partner’s Office
and the
CA Commission on the Status of Women and Girls
. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Reenie at
moreen@rrstrategies.biz
. We look forward to your support for this worthwhile and topical initiative!
We are also grateful to SoCalGas for being our presenting sponsor for our Bakersfield Advocacy in Action event (please see the story below for more information). This event will be co-hosted by NAWBO-CA and our newest chapter, Bakersfield, who officially chartered their chapter last month. They’ve been a part of our NAWBO-CA family for a long time already, but I would be remiss if I didn’t officially say Welcome Bakersfield to #NAWBOCA!
Saving the best for last, I have two NAWBO-CA announcements to make: Vikita Poindexter (NAWBO-IE President) is our NAWBO-CA President-Elect! And lined up for President after Vikita is Amber Wallace (NAWBO SB Immediate Past President), which makes her NAWBO-CA VP. Our board is incredibly grateful for their upcoming leadership; we are excited for chapters and our members throughout the state that these two dedicated women in our midst are stepping into even higher levels of service. On behalf of all of us — thank you to you both, and we will all be the better for your expert guidance.
Thank you everyone for your membership, leadership, and vision, in all that you do for your women business owner sisters all day, every day. That’s another thing we can all be grateful for. Have a wonderful November!
Hilary Lentini
- President, NAWBO-CA
- Past President, NAWBO-LA
- Founder & Creative Director, Lentini Design & Marketing, Inc.; DBE, WBE, SBE, SB, SLB, EBE, VSBE
- Governor-Appointed Board Member, California Workforce Development Board
