Hello World, 

Rachel and Erica here again with an update about our last Leadership Exchange in April. 

Greetings from our respective homes!  Like many people the past four months, the two of us have experienced a lot of new changes: we were both furloughed, then both got new jobs, Erica moved across town in Brainerd, and Rachel moved to Ohio.  That means that this time when we wrote this, we weren’t in the same room giggling while writing.  It is a bummer to not see each other every day at work, but we have adapted to calling each other weekly to allow for a fix of good friendship.  Many of the other days of the week consist of Snapchat selfies and Instagram DMs to each other.  Most importantly, we’re still finding ways to connect with each other. 

In April, we continued to connect with our awesome 100 Rural Women Leadership Exchange group.  Our dreams were to do and learn something new together, which we sort of did.  For us, it was the first time we learned the real power of getting together as a community in new, creative ways.  Before the meeting, we had folks submit a photo of something that is keeping their spirits up, and we shared those on screen at the meeting.  We had people vote on their favorite photo, and we gave a gift card to the winner to support a local woman-owned restaurant. 

When we started the meeting, we both literally teared up at the sight of some of our Leadership Exchange friends on screen that day.  At the time that we’re writing this in July, a lot of those powerful Zoom meeting feelings we felt have dwindled as we crave in person convenings, but we’re still grateful for the creative ways to stay connected.  We were grateful to have two rural women in politics from different generations and political parties, Quinn Nystrom and Sandy Layman, agree to talk to our group about their journey in running for office.  Sandy was not able to attend at the last minute, but we still had a great conversation with Quinn, a young woman running for office.  Seeing more women in rural leadership, and especially young women, is one of the main reasons we are part of 100 Rural Women, so hearing Quinn talk and getting the chance to talk with Sandy previously have been inspiring for us as young women. 

We are hoping to meet again with our group in July, probably again via Zoom.  This whole first year of the Leadership Exchange has not gone the way we imagined, but rural women are resilient!  We have benefited from the relationships we have made through this, and we know that many of the folks in our group have as well.  Onward and upward with all the questions, changes, and opportunities to come the rest of this pilot year!