Harpur panel discusses empowering women

Following a hit-and-run accident during her childhood years, Binghamton alumna, entrepreneurial attorney and motivational speaker Natalie Elisha ’09, decided that she wouldn’t let anything keep her from following her dreams.

“The surgeon told me that maybe I’d walk in a year,” she said. “Within a month-and-a-half I was dancing and choreographing on stage. That is how I lived my life. You tell me it can’t be done? Watch.”

Elisha uses her experience to empower others to find their passions and work to the best of their abilities. She led a panel conversation with Harpur College Dean Elizabeth Chilton—aimed to inspire women – in the Harpur Edge office on March 1.

Empowering women is interesting to Elisha because she believes that they are often not encouraged to succeed.

“My passion is to go around and stand on any soapbox I can to try to inspire especially women because so often we’re not told that we can do it all,” Elisha said. “That to me is unacceptable.”

Chilton described a personal experience of being singled out as the only woman in her college mathematics class.

“One day the professor said: ‘Let’s see the female perspective of the homework,’” Chilton said. “I was 20 and confused. Was he saying it was brilliant or horrible? All I knew was that I wanted to get out of that room.”

Chilton said she still receives comments that reflect discriminatory attitudes about her being a woman in a position of authority, but that she is better equipped to deal with them.

“I am now armed with my tool belt,” Chilton said. “I can handle criticism better and I have things that I can say back.”

Chilton understands the value of persistence and confidence in personal abilities in the work field.

“In 1994-95, I applied for 60 academic jobs across the nation,” Chilton said. “I was rejected by 59 out of 60 institutions. The only place that hired me for a tenure track position was Harvard University. That taught me to let them decide that I was not good enough. I wasn’t going to decide that.”

Wendy Neuberger, director of Harpur Edge, also gave advice for women in the work field.

“Don’t wait for someone to tell you what you can do,” Neuberger said. “Ask for what you want. It’s hard for women to do that. When you learn to ask and work toward it, that’s when things start to happen.”

Elisha ended by encouraging the audience members to use their talents and gifts to bring change in the world.

“Giving back is so important,” Elisha said. “I write books and speak around the country, and hope that it leaves an impression. Use your gifts to figure out what you want to do in life. I’m here to make a difference. I think we all are.”