Interview is edited for length and clarity.
Why did you choose to study at Simmons?
My undergrad was at a co-ed Catholic university. The academics were very good, but overall the place was too patriarchal, too conservative, too competitive, and too religious. I wasn’t fond of that experience.
When I went to Simmons as a graduate student and got my master’s in gender and cultural studies, I found that it wasn’t conservative or competitive at all. At Simmons, the classes were rigorous and I had to work hard, but I didn't sense that people were competing against each other. I was also intrigued by getting a formal education in a highly theoretical world, and Simmons did that for me,
What impact did attending a women’s-centered college have on you?
The graduate program is co-ed, however, I found that my master’s program was very much about women and feminism. I also was a teacher's assistant for some undergraduate classes, which was a cool experience being in women’s-centered classes.
Another reason why I chose Simmons was to participate in the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality (GCWS). About eight or nine universities in the area, including Harvard, MIT, and Simmons, come together to teach interdisciplinary graduate seminar classes. I got to take a few courses with students and professors from different universities, which I thought was neat.
What skills did you learn at Simmons that you still use today?
Simmons taught me how to apply feminist theories to my everyday life, especially in the workplace. I do this by leading by example. I am big on collaboration, group decision-making, cooperative effort, and being a listener. Each of these strategies can be considered leading from a feminist point of view.
I use nature as my example. When I run my company, and when I do my day job, it’s about going with the flow. Not pushing, not fighting. There’s no force. There are millions of types of feminism, zillions really. But I try to incorporate feminism into all my ways of doing things. I take a very gentle, quiet approach. Things are too fast and too much, and we tend to make everything too complicated, so I consciously try to go in the other direction.
What advice would you give Ifill students?
I'm very much for a liberal arts education — so my advice is to take as many different classes as possible, in as many different fields as possible. It helps to open your mind, to get all sorts of points of view. If you’ve never taken an anthropology class, or sociology, psychology, literature, or even math, science, anything, just try it. Stay open to everything and take risks.