Sharon Rockefeller on the importance of public broadcasting

The question came at the end of Sharon Rockefeller’s luncheon speech at the National Press Club on June 5: What is your response to critics who say that public broadcasting is too liberal? Rockefeller paused, looked out into the audience, and with a hint of a smile said: “No, it isn’t.”

With similar poise and style, the CEO of Washington’s flagship public TV and radio stations WETA spoke for 30 minutes about the role of public media on our democracy.

A champion for public broadcasting Rockefeller told the audience of 150 reporters, business leaders, and politicians gathered in the grand Press Club’s ballroom: “From the founding days of this nation, the U.S. has recognized that along with the right of the people to shape their own government comes the responsibility to have an informed, involved citizenry. In today’s era of global access, we are increasingly more aware of world events. Nonetheless, our society is becoming more polarized. Public broadcasting can and does counteract that trend. The concept of civil discourse is not a quaint ideal, but a very necessary tool for bonding a country together.”

Her personal discovery of public broadcasting came in the 1970s when her husband [Senator John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV of West Virginia] was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College, and she was a young mother raising three children under the age of 5. She listened to All Things Considered while carpooling and Sesame Street while preparing meals. “Then standing in my kitchen one day, I had an epiphany,” she shared. “All this great programming came from a related source: Public radio and TV. It was at that moment I became a true believer in the power of those mediums to inform, educate, and inspire.”

Although being a good political wife was important to her, she knew her life’s work would be to advance public broadcasting. Soon after, Rockefeller began a 12-year term on the board of directors for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including four-years as chairman. She has led WETA since 1989.

Her life has been fortunate, indeed. But not as free-spirited as she might have liked. She mentioned during her speech that then political wannabe Jay Rockefeller proposed with a particular wedding date in mind: April 1, 1967. "When I asked him why he said it was after the election, of course," she explained, adding with a wry tone: "and note, too, that our kids were born in off-election years, as well: 1969, 1971, 1973, and 1979."

In fact, the graduate of Stanford University has truly struggled personally. Her twin sister Valerie Percy was murdered in the family's home in 1966, during the time their father was campaigning for the Senate. The case remains unsolved. And in July 2005 Sharon was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. She is currently in remission.

Still, Rockefeller remains grateful for her life and her experiences. “Relatively few of us have the good fortune to devote our professional lives to the causes we hold most dear,” she believes. “I have been truly fortunate.”

Success in the City's Cynthia de Lorenzi

Nearly 200 women clad in their diva best packed the AMC Theater in Tyson’s Corner VA on Friday, May 30 for the first public showing of Sex in the City, the best chick flick of the summer that is based on the popular HBO series.

“Not a single seat was available,” says Cynthia de Lorenzi (pictured right, being interviewed Jennifer Cortner, by president of EFX Media in Arlington) “and it was only 8 a.m. on a week day.” That’s just what Cynthia hoped for when she planned the event, the biggest yet for her 2-year-old Washington DC-based networking group Success in the City. “It was fabulous,” Cynthia said after the show, referring not only to the romantic comedy on the screen but to the hundreds of executive women who dressed up and headed to the theater instead of the office.

“I wouldn’t have missed this,” says Darcie Davis, Senior VP of Zephyr Strategy, Inc. and member of the Success in the City Board. The big event included a mid-morning spree at nearby Saks Fifth Avenue for a Saks in the City after-party where all sipped complimentary cosmopolitans, chatted with old and new girlfriends, and were treated to 15% coupons off nearly everything in the store. “Fun in big doses with other business women is what Success in the City is meant to be.”

Mixing friendship and business is the goal for Cynthia a fashionable Texas-born dame who is proud to conduct deal in heels. And when her beloved brother Bob unexpectedly died in 2002, she did the only thing she could. “My husband sold his business, packed up our house, and moved to Washington, DC to support my take over as CEO of Bob’s telecommunications company, Patriot Net [www.patriot.net]. “There was no other choice,” Cynthia says, admitting she suffered from tremendous culture shock. “Washington is not Texas. You may think we’re tough, but there is an impenetrable old boy’s network here. I found they were suspicious if you tried to talk to strangers in the elevator. And the women definitely didn’t wear pink. But they do now.”

Cynthia said hooey to the idea that she couldn’t beat ‘em. She founded Success in the City, a networking group for C-level businesswomen. “Quite simply, I needed girlfriends,” Cynthia confides. “In addition to dealing with some management team conflicts due to the fact that I was a Southern woman serving as CEO , and living in this new town, shortly after I arrived here I was diagnosed with a life threatening tumor. I had to find a support system — and fast.” Fortunately, she met a few women who were connected and approachable, and within a few months her pretty-in-pink networking idea created a buzz that led to a groundswell. The women who joined early on got their friends to participate. They liked it so much that the second tier told their friends, and they joined, too.

CEO Chick Chats, Breakfast at Tiffany’s for members, conventions at getaways like Virginia Beach and group trips to New York City followed, and then came the Big Event movie extravaganza in May. This summer, she’s launching a Success in the City TV network, and by the end of the year hopes to franchise the concept in other cities, beginning with Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. And the best part, Cynthia says, I found the mother lode of friends who are smart, successful women to befriend. “Isn’t that what the good life is all about?” she beams.

For more information, visit www.successinthecity.org.

Historically speaking with Rosalyn Schanzer

If American history has never tickled your fancy, you haven't read one of Rosalyn Schanzer's illustrated picture books.Take "John Smith Escapes Again!" which National Geographic Society in 2007 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.

Setting the record straight Author and illustrator Rosalyn realizes her historically accurate version of Smith will raise a few eyebrows among fans of Disney's Pocahontas. "Many people don't know, for instance, that as a young man John Smith was tossed into the briny deep and became a pirate," she explains. "Later he became a wretched slave, and he didn't have that platinum blond hair—as he did in the Disney version—but a mane of dark brown locks and a thick brunette-colored beard."
Of course, a brave and beautiful Indian girl named Pocahontas did rescue Smith from certain death, though she was never his girlfriend.

Diving deep Rosalyn says she loves to discover little-known details about all of the historical figures she writes about — including King George III and George Washington (for her 2004 title, "George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides," published by National Geographic) and Benjamin Franklin (in "How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning," published in 2003 by HarperCollins). In her 1997 bestselling book, "How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark," a work that won a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year—Rosalyn had to track down an exact replica of the keelboat used in the famous journey. To do this, she conferred with experts at Fort Clatsop in Oregon, the final western outpost of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Getting it right "When I create the images, I want to get every shoe, every party dress, every uniform exactly right for the time period," Rosalyn says, noting that she gets frustrated when she glimpses inaccurate details in other historical books. "I think it is the job of a historical illustrator to exactly replicate all the little things. Otherwise, how will kids know what life really looked like all those years ago?" And Rosalyn is never one to pass on taking a great trip. Her thirst for a good adventure has taken her to Belize where she swam with sharks, to Alaska where she kayaked with whales and to the Amazonian jungles of Peru where she fished for piranhas.

Defending Darwin And in February 2007, Rosalyn and her husband Steve checked out volcanoes and gigantic marine iguanas in the Galapagos Islands. She currently turning his life into a new book, "What Darwin Saw: The Journey that Changed the World," due out from National Geographic next year.

History in the making Rosalyn's adventures provide a stark contrast to her early day jobs. In the start of her career she sat in a small cubicle illustrating cards for Hallmark. Then in 1972, shortly before following Steve to Northern Virginia for his job at a think tank, she began illustrating children's books. It proved to be the perfect thing to do while raising her two children (her son Adam is now 33 and daughter Kim is 28). In 1993, Rosalyn decided it was time to write her own stories.

The author / illustrator says "Ultimately, I just want to make the books so much fun and so interesting that my readers will get caught up in the story. I'd like to bring the past to life, and if I can, then I'll consider my work to be a success."

Rosalyn Schanzer is available to speak to students at schools, women's groups, and other gatherings about her books and what life is like as an author / illustrator. For more information visit www.rosalynschanzer.com..

Driven to Succeed: Reston Limousine's Kristina Bouweiri

When Kristina Bouweiri co-founded Virginia-based Reston Limousine 17 years ago with her husband William (pictured here), she didn’t have much leadership experience. She had worked for five years in sales, but had never built or groomed a staff. In the beginning, she concentrated on being a positive, easy-going boss and didn’t worry much about boosting her team’s morale. During the booming 1990s, that approach worked brilliantly. “Sure we had some turnover,” she admits. “But the phone was ringing off the hook, so I didn’t focus on motivating employees.” Then came Sept. 11, and business came to a screeching halt.

Turning lemons into lemonade “Americans were afraid to travel, and that meant they didn’t need limos to take them around Washington,” she explains. “It was very scary.” The business downturn proved to be the perfect time to turn around her leadership approach. Kristina began reading management books, joined several professional business groups and attended luncheons where successful business people described how they led their firms. “I heard them talk about playing games to team build, and a light bulb went off,” she recalls. “It’s not that I didn’t know about the benefits of team building**dozens of companies used our limos and vans to transport their own employees to nights out on the town or other adventures. It just never dawned on me that it was so critical.”

The solution She decided to give it a whirl and organized a scavenger hunt. “We divided the staff into six teams and each group took a limousine into Washington, D.C. They had to fill a small bottle with water from the Reflecting Pool and buy a gift from Ford’s Theater, among other tasks.” Then she treated employees to a company picnic near the Washington Monument. The experience did wonders**and not just for the staff. “The outing made me realize that having fun was truly the key to success,” says the CEO who now plays on the company softball team and sponsors Survivor parties for her staff. “I learned that if you invest in making your employees happy, it comes back 100 times.” This year, in fact, her company is projecting gross revenues of $15 million.

Awards and accolades Kristina has won many awards for her business acumen, including being named one of the Top Women Business Owners in the DC area by the Washington Business Journal. Her clients range from George Mason University to Fannie Mae and the MCI Center, and often her limos carry some of the most rich and famous who come to Washington, DC for business and pleasure.

But it is Kristina's kindness, warm heart and generosity that puts her on the "Truly Amazing" list. "I cannot think of a better friend than Kristina," says Cynthia De Lorenzi, a businesswoman who in 2006 founded the networking group Success in the City. "She is one of those people who is always there when you need her, someone who goes beyond friendship and is truly a sister. I watch her share her money, her time, and her laughter with people and it always makes me smile. Even when things get a little rocky, she always has a smile on her face and a kind word to say. She's a straight shooter, but is also someone who never ceases to see the bright side of things. Kristina is one of those women you are honored to call your friend."

For more information, visit www.restonlimo.com.