February 2026
Opening Letter
Dear WOC and WWAR Family,
What an incredible energy we shared at Buck’s Restaurant, our first luncheon of 2026! As we step into this new season together, we wanted to personally share the vision for the "rebirth" of our organization.
A Transition in Leadership
We are working closely to ensure our mission remains vibrant and impactful for every woman in our community. We are excited to lead this next chapter hand-in-hand.
January 2026
Opening Letter
Dear friends and colleagues:
As you will have learned in our December newsletter, our group has a new co-leader, Brigitte Owens. Welcome, Brigitte! Together we have been asking ourselves about the direction of WOC & WWAR going forward, and we asked others for input. Below is what we have determined so far:
December 2025
Opening Letter
Dear members and friends,
Happy New Year! We hope 2026 brings new adventures, opportunities for learning, and genuine caring. We’ll do our part!
This month’s newsletter acknowledges a significant change for our group. One of our co-founders, Tawana Bain, is stepping away from her leadership role due to very substantial personal and professional demands. Her heartfelt perspective on the past five years immediately follows this short introductory note. You’ll not want to miss it.
November 2025
Opening Letter
Colleagues and Friends:
Happy Thanksgiving! We are entering that time of year when traditions take hold and we find ourselves in the happy patterns we have set ... or maybe also in the process of creating some new ones. It seems there are some things we ALWAYS do, and then someone or something will cause us to rethink what we are doing ... and we get started on something new. We hope that this season will bring a joyous mix of old traditions and new experiences.
November 2025
Opening Letter
Colleagues and Friends:
Happy Thanksgiving! We are entering that time of year when traditions take hold and we find ourselves in the happy patterns we have set ... or maybe also in the process of creating some new ones. It seems there are some things we ALWAYS do, and then someone or something will cause us to rethink what we are doing ... and we get started on something new. We hope that this season will bring a joyous mix of old traditions and new experiences.
November 2025
Opening Letter
Colleagues and Friends:
Happy Thanksgiving! We are entering that time of year when traditions take hold and we find ourselves in the happy patterns we have set ... or maybe also in the process of creating some new ones. It seems there are some things we ALWAYS do, and then someone or something will cause us to rethink what we are doing ... and we get started on something new. We hope that this season will bring a joyous mix of old traditions and new experiences.
October 2025
Opening Letter
Hello WOC & WWAR colleagues:
The change in the seasons is upon us, and it inevitably has an effect on our physical and mental states of mind. It has been a time of reflection for me, as we move so quickly to the end of a calendar year and prepare to begin another.
So I was open to the message in Shane Parrish’s recent blog (Farnam Street) about being the change. It’s written to encourage us to be an owner, and I interpret that to be the owner of a problem. Here’s the passage:
September 2025
Opening Letter
Dear friends and colleagues,
It has long been understood that time has value, and we should be thoughtful about how we are spending our time (on this Earth, during each day, etc.) We have long heard so many admonitions to not waste time, how to use it wisely, etc. As a parent, I am completely guilty of this as I taught my daughters very deliberately about what was a Waste of Time and what was a Waste of Money. To this day, we talk in acronyms of WOT and WOM.
August 2025
Opening Letter
Dear members and colleagues and friends,
One of the unexpected benefits of writing our monthly newsletter is that is keeps us focused on identifying and writing about issues that affect Black and White women - and a continuing attempt to understand each other and the world in which we live. I returned recently to Michelle Obama’s book The Light We Carry. In it we hear how she learned from others growing up, as they described and responded to her and her differences (most notably as a child it was her height!) In our sharing sessions in WOC & WWAR over the years we have learned how we women, Black and White, continue to be described and defined by others, and we are working to break those old definitions and ensure that others see us as we want to be seen.
July 2025
Opening Letter
Hello members of WOC & WWAR:
We are reflecting on the five years we have been active in Louisville, as it was the unrest following the murder of Breonna Taylor that prompted Neeli Bendapudi, then President of the University of Louisville, to tell us (Tawana and Phoebe) to “do something.” We did not know each other. We did not know what we would do.
There was much fear at that time – fear of COVID (we knew so little about the virus at that time), fear of additional violence (with nightly protests here), fear by Black women about their vulnerable position. We’d like to think we faced that fear and took action. We know we did not retreat, but we know that in the last five years there have been many phases of the Black/White relationship in our community and in our country.
June 2025
Opening Letter
Colleagues and friends:
We hope that each of you enjoyed Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation. Or, if it was another workday, we hope that you had a chance to reflect on the significance of the day. After all, one of the things we are doing at WOC & WWAR is to provide education, perspectives, and the ability to create relationships among those we might not ordinarily meet.
May 2025
Opening Letter
Dear Members and Friends of WOC & WWAR,
We’ve been having a lot of conversations in the month of May. Some arise because of the season — graduations, beginning of summer. Some arise because of the change of leader (think about new non-profit leaders in our city) and the way in which they now see and articulate their mission. Some arise because we are gathering together more, in this post-pandemic realization of the need to be together.
In one recent conversation that Phoebe had with the President of Smith College, Sarah Willie-LeBreton, a Black woman, Phoebe learned that the students at Smith did not have any sense that the alumnae were active in the issues that were important to students these days. As I told her about WOC & WWAR, she noted that our work is what students would want to know about— that there were other older alumnae who were active on key issues of the day. We are working together, and we are talking.
April 2025
Opening Letter
Dear colleagues and friends and acquaintances,
We have reached Derby Week in Louisville, Kentucky, 2025! 🐎🌹 As we prepare our track-appropriate attire for the fastest two minutes in sports on Saturday afternoon, or simply gather in our homes with friends and family to watch the race on a big screen TV, we will have the opportunity to meet new people and have conversations that we didn’t expect.
March 2025
Opening Letter
Hello Members and Colleagues:
If you have opened this newsletter, we have been able to attract at least a little of your ATTENTION! Thank you for continuing to care about this issue!
We are so aware of the skills that marketers have to focus our attention — just think March Madness or any special holiday. We are amazed at the skills of the influencers to attract attention to themselves. We hear the pleas of a startup business or a toddler who just want to be noticed! We recognize that we use the words “paying attention” as if we are subtly acknowledging the cost of our time when we focus on something.