Titled “Leading with Integrity Leads Upcoming Womentum Summit This Weekend” Jackson Hole News & Guide Contributor Tibby Plasse features Womentum’s Keynote Speaker for their 2021 Womentum Leadership Summit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
October 27, 2021
Judge M. Margaret McKeown, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, once led an armchair discussion with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
This weekend the Casper native will switch seats and be the armchair guest and keynote speaker for the fifth annual Women in Leadership Summit. The biggest event of the year for the Jackson nonprofit Womentum, the 2021 theme is “Leading with Integrity.”
McKeown is a University of Wyoming graduate and is the immediate past chair of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and a current special advisor. She has lectured throughout the world on international law, human rights law, intellectual property, litigation, ethics, judicial administration and constitutional law, and has participated in many rule of law initiatives with judges and lawyers. She was a great friend to Ginsberg, who served as her mentor for many years, and has been a frequent visitor to Jackson Hole, now serving on the board of the Teton Science Schools.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to hear from Judge McKeown, and I am honored to participate,” said Natalia D. Macker, chairwoman of the Teton County Board of County Commissioners, who will lead the conversation with the judge. “As a leader in advancing women’s participation in her field and beyond, her record of achievements combined with her Wyoming roots ensure this will be an engaging conversation that will teach and inspire each of us.”
Friday marks the summit’s return as an in-person event after going online last year, and it offers a robust day of programming for those who show up at the Center for the Arts or virtually for live-streamed proceedings.
“Judge McKeon was originally billed for the 2020 summit, but when we saw that we would be moving to an online format because of the pandemic we decided to hold off,” said Samantha Eddy, executive director for Womentum. “Ever since we have been on a story of planning this format for when we could return in person.”
Despite the online turn of events, last year’s summit surpassed expectations, with 300 registered participants for three workshops and a retention rate of 175 for five hours of programs. Eddy said the event now reaches throughout Wyoming.
After Macker and McKeown’s talk, attendees will break into workshops, the first being “Having Difficult Conversations/Internal Activism: Authentic Power” with the bilingual therapist and founder of Vista Counseling, Daniela Peterson, and Emotional Intelligence Coach Jamil Higley, of Jackson.
The second workshop, “Work/Life Balance: Cultivating Awareness, Energy and Principles,” will be led by strategic consultant Erin Taylor, of Cheyenne.
“We’re working on pragmatic integral skills that can be utilized in every area of a person’s life, every dimension, from family to teams to offices,” Eddy said. “Our skills are in a constant state of crossover as we try to balance work and personal life.”
Summit workshops are focused not just on exercising skills but also on creating a lexicon to identify the skill.
“There is a deficit in the foundation of confidence for women and where they are supported,” Higley said. “Women are regularly victims of the yes-mentality.
“This isn’t therapy,” she said. “I am not calling you to sit with your feelings. This is action-oriented, helping people to lean into their challenges and their changes. I give homework in my personal practice, and often I am trying to contain my sessions to five appointments. We’re going to break the imposter syndrome and have people learn how to occupy their roles.”
The “imposter syndrome” Higley refers to is the deferment of confidence that many face when they raise their hand or are in a group setting — feeling not prepared or educated enough to answer.
“I want to stop these issues at the root of the problem,” Higley said, “identify the disconnection and help neuro-plasticity to increase.
“Emotional IQ tends to plateau around age 19, but emotional intelligence only increases with age and experience,” she said.
Higley currently works with the Doerr Institute at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and has coached at the West Point U.S. Military Academy in New York. Her approach begins with self-perception, identifying strengths and weaknesses to find balance and to create a voice of leadership for the self.
Taylor’s workshop is based on the three methods for bringing balance to one’s life: learning to locate where your energy resides, building a model for self-care, and digging into and define your values.
“Scrap the personality tests, birth-order theories and leadership assessments,” the summit program states of the workshop. “Learn how to locate your energy, build a sustainable model for self-care, and live in your values to find balance and bring out the intuitive leader within.”
The Women in Leadership Summit is for all ages and professions. Tuition costs $100 to attend in person, $30 to join virtually. Corporate sponsors make it possible for Womentum to offer free tickets to all Teton County, Wyoming, high school students.
Past programs are still accessible on the nonprofit’s new website, WomentumWY.org. The summit is Womentum’s biggest fundraiser for the year.
“I am so excited to be meeting [attendees] in person,” Eddy said. “There’s nothing more exciting to me than when the Center’s auditorium is filled with dynamic and engaged women committed to this area and to doing good.”