Greenlight Women hosted their first champagne brunch for the annual Black History Month celebration, titled African American Women In Times of War & Conflict on February 24, 2018, at the Sportsmen’s Lodge from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The event was hosted by Shari Belafonte (actress/activist) and co-hosted by Wendy Davis (actress, Army Wives), and Kimberly L. Ogletree, Chair of GreenLight Women Diversity & Inclusion Action Group was the moderator. GreenLight Women president and founding member Ivy Kagan Bierman gave the introductions along with board member Zane Buzby. A panel discussion was held with African American women veterans, Lt. Colonel Patricia Jackson, Dr. Gloria Willingham-Touré, Judith Mary Welsh, and Joan T. Arrington Craigwell. Clips from the documentary film Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II, directed by Gregory Cooke was shown depicting African American women who faced racism at home, Nazism abroad, and sexism in the military.
Production stills from the Documentary Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II
“GreenLight Women, a professional organization for women in the entertainment business, is celebrating Black History Month today with a tribute to African American women who have served in World War II. We are paying tribute here to these amazing women who have served their country,” Ivy Bierman told the audience. For the next few hours the floor was turned over to the distinguished panel and we were all enlightened to the trials and tribulations that these military women experienced during their terms in the armed forces. I interviewed some of the key women that were featured at the event. Here are my interviews.
Kimberly Ogletree, Moderator/Chair of GreenLight Women Diversity & Inclusion Action Group
Sheryl Aronson: Talk about the event today for GreenLight Women.
Kimberly Ogletree: We had some incredible women that came in from the National Association of Black Women in the Military. Their stories were amazing. Their presence in the room was powerful. We got to hear stories from those who were on the line, those who cared for the wounded, those who fight for us in the Veteran’s Administration. Their stories were so inspiring . . . thought provoking. It took you back in time . . . we heard about the Vietnam War and what was happening then, which we have wanted to forget, as compared to what is happening now with police brutality and the state of America at the present time. It’s similar to those times.
Sheryl Aronson: Please tell us more about the GreenLight Women organization.
Kimberly Ogletree: GreenLight Women is an organization founded on the precipice of seasoned women in the Industry not being left out, being moved out, shifted out of the market place. We offer tenure. We offer experience. We offer guidance and power. We are slowly but surely trying to be pushed out of the room, but we are not going to stand for it. Like Nicole Kidman said when she stood up at the Golden Globes and commented, “More roles need to be written for women of a certain age.” And that’s true. These women are the Oscar winners like Meryl Streep, Halley Berry, Taraji Henson . . . they need work. We represent women of all [walks of life], actually, like PR, marketing, attorneys. Ivy Kagan is a part of the whole #MeToo and #TimesUp on the legal side. It’s a powerful organization to belong to.
Shari Belafonte, Actress/Model/Host for the GreenLight Women’s Event
Sheryl Aronson: Please talk about the significance of the GreenLight Women’s event today as they honor African American Women in the Military.
Shari Belafonte: Kim Ogletree had asked me to be a part of this a few days ago. I was so happy to come out today and support the GreenLight Women’s event. As for this specific topic, people need to know that there were such powerful women there at the forefront, especially women of color. I have a little bugaboo about Black History Month because history should be embraced everyday of the year. To me, it’s almost like a segregated thing that we are saying to make this month to celebrate or honor. However, it’s one step forward and one step back. You do have to get awareness up and that’s why February is such an important month to get involved with programs such as this.
I am looking forward to the video and talking to the women on the panel.
Sheryl Aronson: Shari you are making very good points that Black History should be respected and should be an everyday subject, not just sectioned off in February. Could you also talk about women in the entertainment industry? This is what the GreenLight Women organization is about.
Shari Belafonte: The one thing that needs to happen in our industry is that women need to come out and support other women. We had a hard way to go and we still have a hard way to go. A lot of women who have made it up into the upper echelons have become very protective of their space, and they were still reluctant to embrace other women in the industry, but hopefully that is going to change right now. I sympathize with them. I was one of those women who didn’t take sh*t from producers who were hitting on me. Subsequently though, I suffered for it. I didn’t get the parts, I got labeled as a lesbian because I wouldn’t do sexual acts with somebody. There were a lot of things that went wrong. So when people say why didn’t these women come to the forefront with their stories before, I will tell you that they needed to have power, they needed to have sisters (other women) so they could be more powerful; and they need to come together and ban together to have all their voices heard. When you came forward with your stories, it just wasn’t going to be heard. You got pushed down, passed over for jobs because you were labeled “difficult to work with.” That’s why when people have asked me, why haven’t we seen you? It’s because I was labeled, “a pain in the ass!”
Sheryl Aronson: Thank you Shari for being so honest and open. It takes a lot of courage and guts to face these challenges in the entertainment industry.
Shari Belafonte: It does take a lot of courage and guts. This is just a little chip of the foundation that has kept us apart, not working, the great women we are. Today is a testament to all of us. Look at all these women in the room.
Interview with retired US Army Lt. Colonel Dr. Gloria Willingham-Touré and Judith Mary Welsh, Specialist (E-4) working with the 88th Military Police Unit
Sheryl Aronson: Please address the subject of women in the military.
Judith Mary Welsh: This subject is extremely important, because in general, the world cannot exist without women. I believe women have the brains. We have the knowledge. We move things forward quicker than men. I truly believe that. There are some ups and downs being a woman in the military, but I think if you continue to do what you need to do, you can always become whoever you want to be.
Dr. Gloria Willingham-Touré: It’s only since 1945 that women were really allowed to be a part of the Army core. As a nurse, I gained experience I would have never gained in the civilian life.
Ivy Kagan Bierman
Interview with Ivy Kagan Bierman, GreenLight Women President & Founding Member
Sheryl Aronson: Please tell everyone what today’s event is about.
Ivy Kagan Bierman: GreenLight Women is an organization for accomplished professional women in the entertainment business and we are celebrating Black History Month today with a tribute to African American women who have served in World War II and in the military since then.
Sheryl Aronson: Please talk more about GreenLight Women. What are your goals and mission?
Ivy Kagan Bierman: I’ve been an attorney for about 35 years, and I am now 59 years old. What I have noticed over the years is that as women get older in the entertainment industry, it’s more difficult no matter what aspect of the industry that you are working in. A group of women were on the phone one day talking about what to do with our lives in addition to our work, and I said, “Why don’t we start an organization that supports women in the business who are getting older—over 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. Our members range from 40 to 81.
Sheryl Aronson: This is such an important issue. Women are still vibrant and want to keep working.
Ivy Kagan Bierman: Our organization is comprised of so many amazing women who are doing all kinds of things. We have agents. We have managers, producers, writers, directors, actors, and attorneys. We have people like directors of photography and music composers. It’s an amazing collection of women who all share the same view about the importance of women supporting each other in the business.
Sheryl Aronson: Let’s talk about the women who are here today and the documentary film that was titled Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II.
Ivy Bierman Kagan: We’re not going to screen the documentary called Invisible Warriors. When you think about it, women are often invisible. You see men get awarded a lot of the time for service and the women who do get awarded, you really don’t hear about them. Today we are showing excerpts from the documentary and we have several women that we will be paying tribute to today.
Sheryl Aronson: Is there anything else you would like to say about today?
Ivy Bierman Kagan: This is GreenLight’s first public launch, so it’s a big day for us. When I was getting ready this morning, I was thinking that there couldn’t be a better event to launch us, because it’s our mission to champion women; and another part of our mission is to promote diverse perspectives. Clearly these women and the women that are here today represent our mission statement.
Wendy Davis, Actress/Co-Host
Sheryl Aronson: How has today’s program affected you?
Wendy Davis: First, talking about the first “Rosie the Riverters” was really inspiring. It was a story I never heard before, and it was empowering as an African American woman. To find out we had predecessors that were supporting America during World War II; I just didn’t know that at all, so it was amazing to find this out . . . it gives me a sense of pride as well. Listening to these real women who were in the military, I was in awe of the reality that they experienced. I play a soldier on television in Army Wives, I didn’t understand on this very deep level what they experienced in the real world. It was touching, moving, and inspiring. It was very emotional to hear what they had experienced. I feel very blessed to have been here today.
Sheryl Aronson: You have played an empowering role as an officer in the military on Army Wives. You also did this as an African American female. Please talk about your experience doing this.
Wendy Davis: I was thrilled to have the opportunity to tell this story. The next time you will see an African American female soldier on television . . . well, I never have seen it before and I don’t know when we’ll see it again. I felt a great deal of responsibility to do my best work and tell her story as honestly as I could. It was incredible work and I loved every minute of it. But again, seeing these real women up here telling their stories is awe inspiring.
The GreenLight Women Black History Month Champagne Brunch was powerful and inspiring—a brunch that was the ideal setting to launch their inaugural event and inspiring mission: “GreenLight Women is an alliance of accomplished, creative, and business professionals who’s mission is to champion women and to promote diverse perspectives in the media.”
To learn more about the GreenLight Women, please visit www.greenlightwomen.org. (View Getty images from the GreenLight Women inaugural event here: https://www.gettyimages.com/event/african-american-women-serving-in-times-of-war-and-conflict-775128914#african-american-producers-candace-bowen-and-kim-ogletree-attend-the-picture-id924013912.)
Agenda Bloggers: Written by Sheryl Aronson for “Arting Around” | Want to comment? Login/Register here.
The Greenlight Women are thrilled with this article. This event inspired everyone so much! We are so glad that Agenda was there to feel the warmth this day generated.
Thank you for such a great article!