“She Says” with Kate Attea
For the past four years, Kate Attea has served on Women Employed’s (WE) Board of Directors. There, she shares her time and talents, working with both staff and the Board on strategy and leadership. She has joined fellow Board Directors to help “friendraise,” lent her expertise to the development of WE Consulting, and continues to find ways to introduce people to WE and educate them on the importance of our work. And Kate’s nonprofit work goes far beyond her role as one of WE’s Board Directors.
For close to 30 years, Kate has dedicated her professional career to social impact. Starting with launching a nonprofit out of college, to running a social sector leadership master’s degree program at the University of Chicago today, every professional choice Kate has made has focused on filling gaps and adding social value — it’s at the core of everything she does. Kate has even made time to earn a coaching certification to help women build their power as leaders, and throughout their entire journey.
In this month’s “She Says,” we talk with Kate Attea about her passion for social justice, what makes Women Employed (WE) stand out from other advocacy organizations, and how she centers women’s voices.
Tell me about yourself.
I just turned 50 this year, and the things I care most about have been at the forefront of my mind. I have four children, three of whom are girls. I care a lot about women and women’s rights, especially equity, and I want all of my kids to understand to understand how important it is.
Also, I care a lot about social impact. It’s been at the core of my professional career. Early in my career, I was the founder of a nonprofit. I didn’t think of it in terms of my interest in social impact, it was more entrepreneurial. But I got hooked.
I later went to business school to better prepare myself to be a leader in the nonprofit sector and have played a part in every role. I’ve been in philanthropy. I’ve worked in operations. I’ve been in consulting, served as an executive director, and am currently at the University of Chicago, where I run a master’s degree program in social sector leadership. Now I’m in a phase where I’m preparing the future leaders of the social sector. Seeing the passion in young people, especially in today’s politics, is really wonderful. It’s a harsh world out there, so creating leaders is important.
Where did your passion for social impact come from?
After college, I began working for an electronics company and the owner tasked me with getting rid of our old computers to make room for the new ones that were coming in. While calling around to find somewhere to donate them, I learned that President Clinton created a mandate that required schools to have one computer for every four students. All these private schools were getting computers, but the inner-city schools that weren’t as well funded did not. When I called to ask if they wanted the computers, they didn’t know what to do with them because they didn’t have any training, they didn’t know how to use them, and they didn’t have access to any software.
It’s unfair that your race and socioeconomic background can either provide or withhold resources to things that everyone should have access to. So, I started a nonprofit. It wasn’t just about providing computers for children, it was more than that. It was about seeing those gaps and looking for ways to fill them and add value.
How were you introduced to Women Employed (WE)?
This is actually my favorite story. I was working with a large nonprofit consulting firm called the Bridgespan Group. One of their programs was called Leading for Impact, and it was all about capacity building. The program worked with smaller organizations to build capacity for leadership. It was a two-part program that had a classroom component which focused on strategy and leadership, and then there was a project where we would coach organization leaders.
We probably had 65 Chicago organizations go through this program and Women Employed was one of them. WE was hands down my favorite, and not just because of their issues. What stood out the most about WE was their team. It wasn’t just their passion or their capabilities or learning mindset or engagement. Women Employed’s team is a smart group. But also very humble and ready to learn and practice new things. They’re full of grit and resilience and stamina. The staff at WE are committed to working well as a team and understand the importance of developing their own leaders because they know that is what investment looks like.
I felt that was really unique because so many teams focus on putting out fires and trying to get quick wins. But when I saw Women Employed, I saw a team of really thoughtful, really incredible people. At the end of the program, I inquired about the Board of Directors, and am now in my fourth year as a member.
What have been some key highlights in your four years of being a WE Board Director?
Introducing new people. Each year, for The Working Lunch (TWL), my goal is not to fill it with the same people, but I take it as an opportunity to teach more people about Women Employed. It can be hard to understand what an advocacy organization does, so I like being able to show just how important the work is because it’s not something they see every day.
A couple of years ago, I invited someone to TWL. She worked in interior design and wasn’t in the world of social impact. At one point, she began sobbing and ended up donating $500, and it was beautiful. I felt like I was gifting her the same “aha” moment that I had going on 30 years ago when I set out to do this work and it felt important. I’ve also introduced my stepmom and mother-in-law to WE who have become donors.
What are some things that Women Employed has done that you’ve been particularly proud of?
There are just so many I don’t even know where to start. Advocacy work can be really messy and it takes so much patience and resilience because the work is never really done. When you think of interventions in the world, it’s like the iceberg effect. You’ve got this symptom level at the top, then there’s a pattern of things happening underneath that you can’t see.
For example, there are women struggling because they can’t take paid sick days. I could say, let’s start a nonprofit and raise money so that they can take time off. But that’s only dealing with the symptom, we’re not dealing with anything else. Then, there’s a pattern of things that happen from that. We begin to see it happen more broadly and how it impacts Black and Brown women.
What I’m proud of the most is that Women Employed is dealing with the system and the mindset. They’re not just using band-aids. WE is getting to systematic root issues, and even though it takes a long time to get something passed, they are doing the hard work. If you want to actually solve problems and not just ameliorate symptoms, Women Employed is the organization you need to invest in.
How have you centered women’s voices or centered the needs of women throughout your professional career?
Being able to coach women to feel empowered as leaders not just in whatever work they do, but in their journey overall, led me to getting my coaching credential in 2015 or 2016. I was coaching a lot of female leaders in the nonprofit sector and wanted to make sure that I could support them as whole humans. I didn’t want to just answer their questions, I wanted to really listen and ask the right questions and build on the capacity of women specifically. That has been one of the most important parts of my career journey.
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We are so thankful for supporters like Kate, who have invested their time and their resources to make Women Employed’s work possible. Do you want to make a difference for working women and their families? You can! Sign up to get involved with Women Employed, and make a donation to fuel our work. Your investment can build a brighter, more equitable future.