This week I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Women's Campaign School at Yale as part of a Yale summer fellowship program. Six other Yalies and I joined over 75 motivated political women in New Haven to hone our campaigning, speaking and networking skills. When I checked into my hotel at the beginning of the week, I expected to learn some interesting things and meet some great people, but I had no idea how transformative the entire process actually is.
Early Monday morning, I groaned for a second realizing how early I was going to have to wake up for the rest of the week. I dug around in my suitcase for my brightest colored blouses to make myself more awake. (In case you were wondering, my lost suitcase did finally show up Sunday night, so I happily grabbed one of the infamous pairs of cute shoes from last week.) I walked over to the Yale Law school and prepared for the generic introduction that begins every conference I have ever attended. Immediately I got a sense that this was going to be a completely different experience. And not just because we had nonstop speakers from 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m. for the first two days.
Each of the facilitators already knew this was going to be a life changing week. Their excitement was palpable. All of the students were still only worried about checking their email inbox. As soon as the first speaker stepped up, however, the room suddenly came to attention. The energy coming from the front of the room was contagious. You couldn't help but get fired up for the week that was about to come. It became immediately apparent that this week was going to be about so much more than targeted voter numbers and message advertisements.
Speeches quickly became more than honing specific skills. They were opportunities to expand confidence and expertise in all areas of life. They were time slots to learn from the very best and brightest innovators in each field in a way geared personally for the attendees. There was no partisan or professional competition here. Each expert was truly there to simply help women progress toward both personal and professional success.
Every topic discussed during the long conference days fed into our nightly case study experience. Only the Women's Campaign School has the ability to pack your days and then give you homework that you actually want to go back and work on with your team. I have to admit though, this was mostly because of the amazing women that made up your team. The real secret of the Women's Campaign School at Yale is not really the loads and loads of insider campaign knowledge. It is the relationships built throughout the week that make the experience so transformative.
It is absolutely impossible to work so closely with women for an entire week and not be changed by the experience. Each woman had their own inspirational story for working in politics. Every time you approached a woman, you knew that you were talking to future leaders in both domestic and international politics. Homework wasn't enjoyable because campaign budgeting is a fun job. Instead, each night I found myself looking forward to meeting with our case study group to design our campaign plan in order to learn more about the amazing group of women surrounding me.
At the end of the week, I received a diploma that tells the world I have a valuable set of skills critical to running a successful political campaign. I got bragging rights as one of the winning campaign teams. What that piece of paper and that win doesn't show, however, is the relationships I built with political friends, leaders and inspirations that will stay with me for a lifetime.
