We are Leading Women of Tomorrow!

Hi everyone! My name is Eriketi Mytilinaiou, I come from Greece, and I am a senior studying International Affairs and History, with a regional concentration on the Middle East. I have also had the honor to serve as the president of Leading Women of Tomorrow GW Chapter for the past two years. I thought I would use our first blog post to celebrate the launch of our website and to introduce myself and the work of our organization. This might sound a bit like a reflection, but given my affinity for this org and its people I couldn’t help myself, so bear with me!

Along with an amazing group of people, we founded LWT in 2019. It took a while to get through the administrative process of getting our organization registered on campus. In the beginning, we had to confront a series of challenges before getting established. We registered towards the end of the year, which meant that the deadline to request funding from the GW Student Association had long passed. We used the first year to try and fundraise and begin recruiting students interested in our mission (which in case it hasn’t been made abundantly clear… repeatedly… is to empower women to believe in their potential and pursue their dreams to serve our communities and bridge the gender gap in public representation). There were a series of mishaps and events with low turnout. However, I never doubted that we only had to persevere and work harder to differentiate ourselves and engage with our community in a more effective manner. Here, I have to say a big thank you to the amazing executive board of LWT these past two years, because if I didn’t work with such a dedicated team, it would have been much harder to keep the faith!

I am very happy and proud to say that through careful planning over the summer and consistent weekly meetings, we have managed to carry out very successful fundraising efforts and a series of events such as training workshops with Emily’s List and panels covering different topics in partnership with multiple GW organizations and LWT chapters throughout the country. Our organization is committed to adapting to our members’ needs and that is why we have engaged in a series of efforts specifically in response to member feedback. Recognizing an appetite for greater engagement during the election cycle, we created an Advocacy Committee which carried out a series of phone and text banking and letter writing events to contribute to higher voter turnout. We have also created specifically tailored resources which you will find really useful in search for internships, jobs, and research opportunities in DC and beyond. I won’t elaborate on specific events further, given that you can find these in our EVENTS tab.

I am senior graduating this May, and I wanted to also take this opportunity to say a sort of goodbye to this community we have built. Although I will always be around to contribute in any way I can, there is an amazing group of women who will be taking over the board of LWT this upcoming year. I have worked with them tirelessly these past two years, and I am more than confident they will strive to improve this organization for our current members and future women who will come to GW to find an amazing and safe community through which they can be empowered.

Okay, I’m almost done! Thank you to our members for your continued commitment. Thank you to all the organizations which have trusted us with co-sponsorships and organization of events. Thank you to an amazing team who made everything we’ve done possible. And most importantly, if you haven’t joined LWT yet, I hope I have managed to transfer some of my excitement and passion for what it has to offer!

#womeninpolitics #team #electwomen