Your ideas welcome
Have a topic for a column? Tell us what issues you would like to see covered in “My Point … Exactly.” Send your ideas to Public Editor Chris Vass at cvass@timesfreepress.com
Welcome to the inaugural article for “My Point Exactly …,” a new column by area women. This will be a forum to discuss issues that affect our city, our professional and personal well-being, and our lives here in Chattanooga.
As chairwoman of the Mayor’s Council for Women Leadership Committee, I have the privilege of interacting with a diverse, multigenerational group of women with a broad spectrum of personal experience and professional focus. A common factor among them is that they are a passionate and engaged bunch. They are up on issues both local and global. They have opinions, and they have a lot to say. So we wondered how could these and other unique voices be brought to a larger audience?
A couple of months ago, Holly Ashley, executive director of the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute, and I went to the Times Free Press to pitch an idea for a column written by women. We were seeking a place for women to speak on subjects they care about. There are many among us with fire in the belly about what we see going on in our world.
Editor Alison Gerber and Public Editor Chris Vass understood how women’s voices in the paper would serve readers. We invited the women of the Mayor’s Council for Women, CWLI members, friends and neighbors to participate. There was more interest than we anticipated; we hoped for four or five contributors but around 20 women committed to this effort.