Let’s Celebrate Women’s History Month!
March is Women’s History Month and this Friday, March 8th is International Women’s Day! This marks a time when we can celebrate and honor the amazing strides women have made in gaining equal rights and also raise awareness on the continued struggle many women still face in ending poverty, violence, and unfair treatment around the world.
In honor of the Women in AV pioneers who have come before us, PLEASE JOIN US in celebrating by sharing in the comments section the women who have were pioneers, leaders, and who have made impression on you in your life and career! It is a dream of mine we will one day write a book that details the history of women in AV and the women, such as Adele de Berri of Da-Lite and Rose Shure of Shure, Inc., who are truly “The First Ladies of AV.” You can imagine my surprise in my first rAVePubs blog, there would be so little information about not only the history of women in our industry, but, our industry itself.
So, we need your help in learning who are the women pioneers from the early years and today’s leaders!!
The Women in AV Group will be TWO years old at InfoComm13! It is amazing to reflect on how far we have come in such a short time and the achievements we’ve created together for advancing women in our industry — both women AND men. It’s out of this world we have 550 members in our Women in AV LinkedIn Group, have a website and a WAVEcast podcast, gather for tweet-ups, are on every social media platform, recognize WAVE with mentoring awards, hold monthly webinars and participate in trade shows — the list goes on… `
The enthusiasm and support our industry has shown to the women in our industry has been nothing short of awesome!! It moves me to tears to see the generous spirit and commitment of everyone in our industry to help make women feel welcomed, respected, and important to the success and future of the AV industry. It is inspiring to see all the companies, organizations, and individuals who give their time, resources, and incredible energy to help WAVE grow and continue to knock out accomplishment after accomplishment in support of further all of us women in AV.
And, I especially want to thank the people who have been there for us from the very beginning of WAVE and who have been continued to put countless hours, resources, and support into creating the opportunities and industry first’s we have had for the women in AV these past two years. The success of WAVE is a HUGE team effort and there are a few people and companies who work day-in and day-out to support all of the women in AV and everything WAVE does!
rAVe [Publications]’ Gary Kayye, Sara Abrons and the entire team at rAVe truly are our biggest supporters and we can’t thank them enough. Not only have they supported WAVE from the very beginning, but, they do so much for our entire industry and all of our companies by covering and promoting all the industry news, products, trade shows, and you name it to advance our trade and individual companies beyond we were are today. They’ve been to ISE and DSE ALREADY this year and shot over 1,500 videos. Can anyone else say they done that much by the turn of March?! If you’ve ever had a video of your company products, interview, news published by rAVe, be sure to tell them a HUGE Thank You for covering our industry like they do! You can watch the coverage from both shows here and here.
FSR‘s Jan Sandri and her team are also one of WAVE’s biggest and long-time supporters. Jan has contributed so much to WAVE through her sponsorship of our website, leading our charity efforts at InfoComm12, providing counsel and direction to our Planning Board time and again, and always supporting our initiatives! Her team that handles FSR’s Twitter account are spectacular and go out of their way to promote WAVE! You can follow FSR’s Twitter account here.
Listen Technologies Cory Schaeffer and everyone at Listen have supported us so many times. Cory is a member of our Planning Board and brings a level of enthusiasm and expertise to running an organization that has been invaluable as we grew. Through Listen’s sponsorship, we were able to award our 1st Annual Women in AV Mentoring Award at InfoComm12 to a very deserving woman,AVI-SPL’s Alexis LaBroi. Cory and Listen also spearheaded our WAVE efforts for InfoComm’s AV Week last year where women across the globe reached out to and taught high school students about the AV industry. Also active on Twitter, follow ListenTech here.
Lastly, Vaddio‘s Kelly Perkin’s and the Vaddio crew contribute to everything WAVE does. Kelly is a marketing genius and she is what makes us all look good! From our website to our business cards, Kelly is responsible for the design and has put in so much time, effort, and her own resources to the branding of our group. The entire team at Vaddio takes part in all our events and they are usually the first one’s to kick them off!! This is a company that knows how to work hard at being an industry leading manufacturer and an amazingly fun family we all want to hang out with. Key search the word Vaddio on Twitter and you will find a ton of individual accounts! To follow the corporate account, you can find them here.
For me, it’s the little things that matter and these people do little and ENORMOUS things for WAVE — everyday. Please join me in saying Thank You So Much to you all and everyone in our industry for continuing to remind me why AV is the greatest industry to be in.
And, please share your stories and comments about women pioneers and help us getting started on our book!
Happy Women’s History Month to all and especially, to the Women in AV!!
