Inspirational Mainers #250

Don Gooding:

The overall economy has produced lots of these early stage companies and now part of the challenge is how do we get a whole bunch of these companies that maybe haven't broken through a million dollars a year to really start scaling up?

Eliza Townsend:

What we like to say is that when women thrive, society thrives. Women are integral to the family. They are integral to our community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine radio show number 250 inspirational Mainers, airing for the first time on Sunday, July 3, 2016. For the past several years, Maine Magazine has identified 50 Mainers who are making important contributions to the well being of our Today we speak with two people from the 2016 list, Dawn Gooding and Eliza Townsend. Dawn Gooding is the former Executive Director of the Maine center for Entrepreneurial Development and Eliza Townsend is the Executive Director of the Maine Women's Lobby. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Today I have with me Don Gooding. Don Gooding has been the Executive Director of the Main center for entrepreneurial development since October 2010 and is host of the Saturday evening television show Greenlight Maine. He served as Vice Chair of the Maine Angels for four years and has taught or spoken about innovation and entrepreneurship at seven Maine colleges. Previously, he was a telecommunications market analyst and venture capitalist for 16 years, then founded and ran a global acapella music business for 16 years. Based out of Southwest harbor, the Gooding Cups are now given out at the big college and high school acapella competitions, the real world events on which the movie Pitch Perfect is based. Thanks for coming in today.

Don Gooding:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I Enjoy talking to fellow singers. Although I think you took your music to a slightly bigger level than mine because I, you know, a cappella is something that you really have to have a love for to keep investing in.

Don Gooding:

Yes, I started singing at a very young age, had some extraordina experiences going to Hungary of all places, and then followed my older sister to Yale because of all the a cappella singing there, and managed to get in my senior year into the original college a cappella group, the Yale Wiffen Poofs. Toured around and in my adult life, I've sung with or directed a bunch of a cappella group. So, yeah, it's been with me for most of my life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you also have this sort of dual thing that this. You were a telecommunications market analyst and you are very much involved in entrepreneurship. So it seems as if kind of communications, expression, self expression, helping other people express themselves. It seems like that's been kind of an important theme for you.

Don Gooding:

That's interesting. I've never really thought about it that way. A lot of my telecom career was really in the technology. So for example, when the Internet was just being commercialized, I was the techie that went in and tried to understand that this was going to be a very big opportunity. But of course, as it's turned out, the Internet has become a huge form of expression. So I guess when I handcrafted the first venture capital website in the very early days, but that, yes, that was a form of expression. And of course now I've moved from a cappella to singing Sinatra. And of course expressing the lyrics is important. So. Yeah, and then I spend a fair amount of my time now working with entrepreneurs on their pitches and on their communication style. So, yeah, I guess I have worked a fair amount of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you also have this television program that you are involved in, Greenlight Maine?

Don Gooding:

Yes. So Greenlight Maine just started a year ago. It was the idea of a guy, Con Fulham, trying to bring a show that would demonstrate to Maine that there are all sorts of really exciting companies here that are achieving some success and trying to show that entrepreneurship is really important to Maine going forward. So we are getting close now to wrapping up the first season. Anybody who wants to see the exciting finals where $100,000 is on the line? June 24, we're actually going to be at Merrill Auditorium and it's pretty exciting to see these companies and the progress that they've been able to make a year.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've done a lot of work with what is now called Top Gun Main.

Don Gooding:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is something that some people may not Be familiar with. Tell us about that.

Don Gooding:

Sure. In the world of entrepreneurship, there are these things called accelerators. And Top Gun, which was started by my predecessor, excuse me, at the Maine center for Entrepreneurial Development is Maine's version of that. So we bring together classes of entrepreneurs over a short period of time, typically three to five months. And that peer group does a lot of self coaching, but then we also surround them with mentors. These are people who have had real world experience with all the challenges from doing marketing and sales and hiring people and manufacturing and financing to help these mostly first time entrepreneurs to really accelerate their progress. Now, a bunch of these are high risk businesses. They're all trying to grow on the main scale to be way above average. And of course, with that kind of risk, not all of them succeed, but many of them are achieving those successes and it's very exciting to see. So it started in 2009 with just a dozen entrepreneurs in this yearly program in Portland. And now we have about 25 companies in in Portland, Orono and Rockland. And it's a wide variety of businesses. A bunch of them have not yet started selling products or services to customers, but some of them have already. And the industries range from software, which is something you think about for these kind of businesses, but also new categories of wine. Like we've got a rhubarb wine company and we have a concierge yachting service and cosmetics with seaweed. So all sorts of interesting ideas that Maine entrepreneurs have that if they're successful, can really have a big impact on the Maine economy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Why is it important to have entrepreneurs in Maine?

Don Gooding:

Well, we've always had them. Maine is actually historically a very entrepreneurial state. And it's really important in any economy because especially today when the world is changing so much, entrepreneurs are the people who look at the changing world and figure out what the future might look like and then go try to make that happen. So here in Maine, especially now, where we're looking at a lot of historic industries that are not doing well, we have to reinvent our economy. And entrepreneurs, rather than government or other kinds of folks, are the people who are best attuned to figuring out what needs to be done. So I think for the Maine economy to succeed in the future, we need lots more people to say, I'm going to take that risk. I'm going to try to do something that can be sold not only locally, but regionally, nationally and internationally, because that's really how the state as a whole is going to prosper going forward. Kind of sound Like a politician, which is not a good thing, but it's part of what drives me. I actually got into this originally because I've got two daughters myself. And there's a lot of concern about the US having been the leading economy for so many decades, might go into a state of decline. And to me, the essential thing is that we always have to reinvent ourselves as an economy, as a country, personally. And entrepreneurship and innovation is really the path to that reinvention.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We often think about as entrepreneurs, we often think about people as taking enormous risks and leaving their homes and their jobs and just jumping into the next thing. But what seems to work well is actually kind of keeping a foot in something that gives you some economic stability. Say, I don't know, working as a doctor, let's just say. But then also adding on that next thing. And we've seen this a lot, people coming onto the radio show who they keep their quote day job while they're becoming entrepreneurs. So why do you think it is that we have this idea that it's also easy, that we just jump from one thing to the next?

Don Gooding:

So I think a lot of these new ideas need some gestation period. And so it's okay to have the moonlight business or in some cases inside a company. It's a skunk works project or some side project that people are doing just because they're passionate about it. And it takes a while for all of those pieces to come from this kind of vague idea to some coherent whole. So sometimes you can make that big jump. But most people aren't in the situation, personally and financially, to be able to make that big leap without jeopardizing a whole bunch of things that they've started. So in Top Gun in particular, we see a number of moonlight entrepreneurs because as they look out, they say, well, there's a bunch of things we have to figure out. It sounds like it'll be good in the future, but let's just take a little while, test some things on the side before they take the big leap. And then there are people like me who just, I'm taking a big leap now. Although I have to say that when I started my acapella business, it was in the spare bedroom while I was still doing venture capital. And I had about a four year period where the two were overlapping. So it's pretty common to be doing it that way.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You are going to be taking another big leap because you will be stepping down as the executive director of the Maine center for Entrepreneurial Development as of June.

Don Gooding:

Yes, yes, I'VE been there for five and a half years. Maine has come an awfully long way. And mced, the organization has also come a long way.

[Unidentified voice]:

And.

Don Gooding:

And I've learned about myself that I'm very much a startup guy. My license plate even says startup. And the top gun program in particular. We're now in our seventh year and we actually have somebody on our staff, Susan Rulin, who's the program manager. And it's running like a more mature business. And in addition, the overall economy has produced lots of these early stage companies. And now part of the challenge is how do we get a whole bunch of these companies that maybe haven't broken through a million dollars a year to really start scaling up. And I've never done that myself. And so I think it's a time for some new people to come in and take the organization to the next level. It's having been through this process a bunch of times and seeing other people do it. I can say intellectually, yes, there's often a time where the founder says it's time to step aside. And I kind of looked in the mirror and said, you know what, I think it's that time for me right now. So, yes, I've taken the big leap and still haven't quite figured out all of the different pieces, but I'm aspiring not to run anything, but to try to spend some more time with a few companies. I really enjoy helping entrepreneurs and being able to focus on a small number rather than the 200 companies a year that we see coming through MCED. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to potentially working with some college students and that very startup phase. There's an awful lot of college entrepreneurship going on in Maine right now, which is very exciting. And who knows, maybe even write a book and of course sing some more.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I hope you're gonna sing some more because that's kind of the important thing. This is how you started your long life and we have to keep doing it.

Don Gooding:

Absolutely. It's essential and it's part of the work life balance that lots of people struggle with. So I haven't been singing regularly in eight or nine years since I was up on Mount Desert island and my a cappella group that I had started there broke up. So I've been working on the Sinatra repertoire for a while. So there will be no more excuses that I have to go do some entrepreneur thing to help grow the Maine economy. Gotta find a venue. So if any of you know a venue that needs a Sinatra singer, let me know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Okay, so the word is out now. You're gonna be booked solid. As soon as you are done doing your MCD work, you'll be singing.

Don Gooding:

That's my hope. Actually. I have a fun gig coming up. Cellar Door Winery is gonna be opening up in Portland. And my wife, who writes cookbooks, she's done a number of tastings and up in their Lincolnville facility, where, you know, I've sung Sinatra while she does a tasting of, like, you know, Beaver Bourguignon with their Pinot Noirs. So we'll be doing some of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm interested in this idea that some people are startup people, and then some people have a different sort of energy and maybe they're more like mature phase people. And I'm also interested in the idea that, like, a person, an organization kind of has a. Has a developmental curve because I think sometimes we get in our minds, well, I should be good at everything. As a person, I should be good at everything. My organization should be good at everything. But that's just. That doesn't make sense.

Don Gooding:

No, it doesn't. We've all developed our own specialties over time. And, you know, our brains, especially at my age, you know, there's a certain way it works and prefers to work. And certainly as you look at companies, there's a lot of literature talking about the different functions. So I happen to be on the visionary side. But then there's a need for process people. There's a need for people who are more the sales marketing people. There's a need for people who more are on the numbers and financing side. So all of those functions are necessary. And frankly, in a growing business, there's not enough time for anybody to be actually doing all of them. Fletcher Kittredge, a great entrepreneur in Maine who's on my board of directors, likes to say that Liberal Arts is great training for being an entrepreneur because you have to know a little bit about a lot of different things. And as a company grows, it's just unrealistic to think you're going to be able to be an expert on all of those things. So. And yes, there are also stages of development in the early stage of a company, especially those who are trying to be innovative, you are searching for what the right fit is between this product idea you have in your head and what the market might actually want and how you actually make money and how they receive the product. So you're doing a lot of discovery. But then once you've figured it out, then the challenge is, well, how do we do More of it, and how do we do it just a little bit better and a little bit better? And those kind of functions, which are extremely important, are qualitatively different from the discovery process. So I've certainly learned about myself that I come up with lots and lots of ideas. And I love turning at least some of those into a real new thing. And some of them will be things that other people take and make into a much bigger thing. And I've learned that that's okay. I'm very happy, for example, that the International Championship of College A Cappella, which actually I didn't start, I took from a very young age and worked on it for a decade. And now Amanda Newman, who we sold it to, has turned it into this huge thing. And I'm okay with that because she's now done it for 12 years, and I've never done anything for 12 years in a row. I just get bored.

Eliza Townsend:

So

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

what if you are, say, a visionary, but you somehow find yourself in a process role as an individual? Like, how might that manifest?

Don Gooding:

Well, it's interesting. I've sometimes described myself as being process challenged. So what I like to do is come up with new processes, but I have a hard time following them myself for hundreds of iterations. And so what I then need to do is find. Find other people for whom that process really is something that they enjoy, and then they take it and they execute on it, and then they manage it, and then they make it even better. So I can invent new processes, but it really is other people that need to take it from there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But if you're an individual who's working within a company that, you know, say you really love what you're doing, but it's just something that doesn't feel quite right. Like, how do you know that it's time to find other people to help you? Or maybe even how do you know that it's time to move on?

Don Gooding:

Well, I have 100% history of burning out in jobs, so I recognized it sooner this time where there's a degree of frustration because I want to be able to accomplish something. And in some cases it's been having responsibility, but not authority to make things happen at a junior level or I look at a situation and the environment has such barriers. And even though I'm pretty good at going around or through walls, there's some times that that's. You just don't know and you're a little overwhelmed. I mean, in my case in the acapella business, I was selling CDs, and as we know CDs are not a thing anymore. And it's like, you know, I don't think I can stop this big digital music wave coming at me. And I didn't know how to overcome it. So I knew it was time in that case for me to be moving on.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's also interesting because then there is something called the founder effect. So what if you are. You've started this new business, it's a great new business, but everybody identifies this business with you, and you're trying to move out of the business, and there's a fear like, okay, so once Don Gooding is gone from his acapella business, is it going to still be able to be in existence?

Don Gooding:

Yes, and it's certainly a challenge. But in the case of the acapella business, having really good people working for you is critical because you know that everything's going to be just fine because the people who are good at process and who are good at taking it to the next level are already in place. And I think that's true. Also at mced, you know, we have a board of directors. We've got great staff who are running the programs that we have now. And we also have a different situation now than we had five and a half years ago of entrepreneurship in Maine. So I'm doing my best to make sure everybody knows that things are going to be just fine. And there are lots, you know, everybody is replaceable. This is a hard thing for, you know, a lot of folks to accept about themselves or about some, you know, particular company. But as long as the vision and a lot of the execution is solid, you know, yeah, there'll be a transition time, but then people will go, who. Who was that person that was behind the company? So I think these transitions aren't as hard in reality as they might be perceived at the beginning of the process.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Don, how can people find out about the main center for Entrepreneurial Development?

Don Gooding:

Well, we have a website, of course, www.mced.biz. that's the best place to learn about Top Gun and all the other programs that are going on there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how can people find out once you leave, how can people find out about what you're doing?

Don Gooding:

Well, I'm on Facebook a lot, so feel free to search me out. I do have a baby singing page, Don Gooding, 1, I think it is. So if you're interested in that. And again, I don't expect that I will be disappearing, and I hope also that I will be able to still be meeting with entrepreneurs in coffee houses across Maine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Don Gooding, who is the Executive Director of the Maine center for Entrepreneurial Development and who is going to be leaving that post to become, I guess a Sinatra singer book writer consultant to small businesses and entrepreneurs. It's really been a pleasure to speak with you and I wish you all the best and anybody who's listening. If you like a singer, call Don.

Don Gooding:

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

number of people we have working within our state doing really great things and passionately doing so. Today I have with me Eliza Townsend, who is the Executive Director of the Maine Women's Lobby. She represented part of Portland and the Maine House of Representatives for eight years, then moved into the non profit sector when she became the first Executive Director of the Maine League of Conservation Voters and Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund. During Eliza's tenure, the Conservation Voters convened the Environmental Priorities Coalition, comprising two two dozen diverse groups that agree to and advocate for a common legislative agenda. Eliza left the Conservation Voters when she joined the Maine Department of Conservation, where she served first as Deputy Commissioner and later as Commissioner. She joined the Maine Women's Lobby in 2011. Thanks for coming in.

Eliza Townsend:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I love hearing that you are a Maine Mainer born and bred. You were born in, well, you were born in Waterville, but officially Skowhegan is your hometown, right?

Eliza Townsend:

Canaan actually, which is a small town outside of Skowhegan.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it gets even more and more specific. I love that.

Eliza Townsend:

So why?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me a little bit about your path. I'm kind of interested in this. You've Done a lot of really high level things for the state. So if you're from this little town of Canaan, how did this all happen?

Eliza Townsend:

A lot of it was sheer luck, I guess. I started out in working in the theater and came to Portland to be in the largest city and around the arts. Loved that. Burned out after a while and had settled in a neighborhood, began to get involved in neighborhood activist issues. One thing led to another and then along came the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings which really brought home to me the importance of getting involved in issues that are important to you. So I ran for the legislature and that has set me off on a path, I guess.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's interesting because I mean I vividly remember the Clarence Thomas hearings, but I'm guessing there's a whole, I don't know, maybe a generation after that that really has no idea why this was important at all. Why was it important to you?

Eliza Townsend:

I think that it was the first time issues that women identified or at least for me it was the first time. I guess I can't speak for others. We've all. Any woman has had a multitude of experiences that are that fit on a spectrum, not all of which are harassment or any kind of assault, but which leave you with a bad taste and, and the coming forward of Anita Hill, the fact that she was so profoundly dismissed and ridiculed and so abusively treated by members of the US Senate. It was a visceral and visible situation in which these men who were in really elitist issue situation of great power were so obnoxiously rude, dismissive. It was just an appalling experience to watch. And I think I had individual conversations with friends and family for whom it was visceral. It just kind of brought up every negative experience you've ever had. So if you weren't there to witness it, it is hard to know about. But for anyone who was paying attention during the time, it was I think just a really polarizing. And for me it was sort of lightning struck at that moment. It was an aha moment for me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, you know, that's really true. I think if I were to talk to my 20 year old daughter who is interested in women's studies and sort of the history of all of this and the cultural and community related impact of gender relations, I think she would be surprised that something like that could have happened not that very long ago. Man, we really have. We still experience a lot of things that are frankly appalling. But there has been an evolution over time and maybe as a result of

Eliza Townsend:

Some of that happening, I think it had a ripple effect that is still being felt. Thank goodness there are some women in the U.S. senate. Not nearly enough. But what happened during those hearings would not be acceptable today. I don't think the same thing could or would happen today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you have an interest in obviously women's issues, but you also went in the direction of conservation. So you're being hopefully protective of a variety of different groups, I would say. Why conservation?

Eliza Townsend:

So, as we mentioned, I grew up in the Skowhegan area in rural central Maine. I was lucky enough to be dragged all over the north woods of Maine as a child to camp and hike, canoe. Being connected to Maine's outdoors is part of who I am. And it's very important to me that we take care of that aspect of Maine and take care that we don't become anywhere usa that we conserve the characteristics that make Maine different from other places. So, again, having left the legislature, moved along a path, I found myself so fortunate to be at the Department of Conservation, which was just a wonderful experience. And the opportunity to work for the things that give me passion and pleasure and that benefit others in the state was a wonderful way to work.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me about your family then. It's interesting that you have this. This acting past as well. And then you're telling me that you spend a lot of time being brought around the Northwoods. And then you also were highly aware of the Clarence Thomas hearings. So what sort of fertile ground did you spring from? I guess

Eliza Townsend:

my folks were always engaged in their community, whether it was being involved in 4H, well before I was born to whatever issues. My father was very active in the early days of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. So it was common conversation at the dinner table to talk about politics, about issues, about the legislature. My mother served on the board of the Skowhegan Public Library and used to take me along when I was 4 or 5 years old. So being active and taking action was an example set for me. Obviously, I didn't have a clear plan that that was where I would end up. The arts were something that we enjoyed and I was exposed to, and so that drew me strongly. When I was young, I actually, I did some acting, but I also, my degree was in technical theater. And so I did. I did scene design and lighting and props, so forth.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how has that contributed to what you do today? Is it something having to do with the organizational aspects or the constructive aspects or.

Eliza Townsend:

I do think I. What I probably do more than anything in my. As a young Person working in the theater was props. And that's a problem solving challenge. So you're given very little time, maybe three weeks to put a show together. You've got X amount of money to spend, limited resources. You have to be creative. You have to be really organized. Okay, what do we already have? What do I need to buy? What can I borrow? What can I rent? What are the solutions? And that those are skills that I use every single day in a very different way, whether it's in my personal life or in my professional life. But it taught me to be organized and creative and resourceful.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I was doing some background research on the Maine Women's Lobby, I was noticing a lot of things that have been supported by that organization over the years that are really quite mainstream. It's not as if it's all specific. It's a lot of women and children issues, but it's really family issues is what I was seeing.

Eliza Townsend:

Exactly. So what we like to say is that when women thrive, society thrives. Women are integral to the family. They are integral to our community. The lobby is a really interesting story. It evolved from the 1977 International Year of the Woman, when a delegation of Maine women traveled to Houston, Texas, for the international or the national Women's Conference, came back excited, wanting to do something for women in Maine, and decided to secure funds for what were then called battered women's shelters. They lined up a sponsor for the legislation, testified, wrote letters, followed all the steps, and when the 1978 legislative session ended, there were zero dollars appropriated for battered women's shelters. So they went back to their allies and said, what happened here? And they were told you weren't here. In the late last minute hours of the session, there was nobody in the halls speaking for women. They said, never again, and formed the main women's lobby with $2 memberships, raised enough money to hire a lobbyist for the 1979 session. And when it had ended, they had secured the funds. So we've been in the Halls for 37 years on the front lines of a wide variety of issues affecting women. For example, Maine had a Family Medical Leave Act a full five years before the federal legislation passed. It was the law in Maine long, long before the passage of the Affordable Care act that your insurer had to cover your mammogram and your pap smear. But you're right, these issues go far beyond women to families. And what we find ourselves really working on today is helping our elected leaders understand that economic security is the overarching issue for women. That whether you have money and how you get money determine your health, they determine your ability to escape a violent relationship, your ability to chart your own life and your children's prospects. So I feel very lucky to be working for this organization, especially at this time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What has your observations been of women who grew up during the era of, let's just say, bra burning, because that's sort of what we all think of as women's rights. And the younger women now who are very aware and even calling themselves feminists, but don't have that same historical perspective. Have you noticed any differences in the way that they approach women's issues?

Eliza Townsend:

I'm really excited to work with the younger women I know today who are just strike me as being incredibly smart and open minded, wise, and yet are having to fight some of the most basic of issues. We're still having to debate the minimum wage, for example. As you know, Maine failed to adopt the federal or accept the federal funds which would allow us to ensure 70,000 Mainers and create thousands of jobs in the process. So we've come a long way in the sense that I think there's greater awareness and at the same time, we're fighting some of the most foundational fights.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I guess I ask this because I think of my own, you know, of our generation growing up and women were being admitted to educational institutions and we were being, we were to be found in the workplace and women could be doctors and lawyers and such. And now I think it's almost as if it's been forgotten that that was even ever an issue. So I just, I don't know. I don't know if I have a good question here or not, but my daughter and I have many conversations about the perspective on that and what it really felt like to be someone who, you know, in my mother's era, you became a teacher or a nurse or you stayed at home with your kids, essentially.

Eliza Townsend:

It's absolutely true that there are more opportunities today. Women are the majority of college students, women are the majority of voters. And yet we have a pretty presumed nominee for president who has said outrageously offensive things about women and whose clear attitude toward women is disdainful. And we're seeing more and more erosion of women's ability to make their own decisions, reproductive decisions, across the country, including now these challenges that are going to the Supreme Court, such as as the case that was sent down to the lower courts yesterday, Zubik versus Burwell, which would allow your private employer to refuse to allow you to have access to certain kinds of birth Control because they don't approve of it. That's just an absurd idea that your boss should determine what types of birth control are available to you. So while we make progress, we're also seeing very serious threats against women's autonomy and their ability to act as full adults in society.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that's a really good point. What you're describing is very real. And some of the things that I think that. We think that as a society, we believed that we had, quote, unquote, solved. You're right. Now, there's a strange erosion as you've described it. Why? What's happening?

Eliza Townsend:

Many of the issues, especially as we're seeing, that have to do with abortion. Reproductive issues are really less about the stated issue than about power. They're about who gets to decide, who gets to make decisions. And I think. I think that as women take a stronger role in society, there are some people who are threatened by that and find it frightening and are looking for ways to return to the social arrangement that was familiar to them and from which they benefited.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I'm sure that you're. I'm sure there's some truth to that, and yet I find it vaguely horrifying.

Eliza Townsend:

I guess it should be vaguely horrifying or maybe just horrifying, because if reproductive health care is health care, it's an outrageous thought that there would be women in the United States who would need to drive hundreds of miles to receive basic health care. It's not acceptable.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Talk to me about sex trafficking. We had an individual on our show not too long ago who is describing sex trafficking and the prostitution of young women. And I think it also happens with young men, but she happened to be female within the state of Maine, which I think I was really. I was really saddened by that. This sort of thing continues to exist, and we haven't really figured out how to deal with that. Does the Maine Women's Lobby have any sort of a stance? I'm assuming you don't like it, but do you have any sort of something that you're working on with this?

Eliza Townsend:

We work with the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, who tends to take the lead. They are the experts in the field, and we have supported them in a variety of legislative efforts to solve this issue. You're right. I mean, it's horrifying. We would not like to believe that it's happening in Maine, and yet it is.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What are some of the things that the Maine Women's Lobby is currently working on that you feel very excited about?

Eliza Townsend:

We are just beginning to think about what we might work on. As you know, the legislative session just ended for the year. So I would say that we have a few things on our mind. One that is really current is the issue of the Supreme Court, and that is only the tip of the iceberg of the overall issue around the courts. So what I mean is that, as you know, Justice Scalia died earlier this year, and that has left us with a Supreme Court that is not fully staffed with the result that they are unable to reach decisions on issues. As we saw yesterday, they remanded a case down to the lower courts because they appeared to be split 4. 4. That's just the tiniest example of issues that are taking place across the federal court system. President Obama has nominated, I believe the current number is 57 judges to the federal courts, including Judge Garland, who he nominated to the Supreme Court. And there has been no action on them in the US Senate. The old saying is justice delayed is justice denied. The result is that Americans are unable to get their day in court, including across the country, there are a number of jurisdictions where the caseload is so high as to be declared a judicial emergency. As you know, the federal courts touch every aspect of our lives. And obviously, we think of Roe v. Wade, we think of reproductive issues, but the decision that upheld the Affordable Care act would be another example. So they're profoundly important to every aspect of our lives, including environmental and conservation issues. We're watching that closely and trying to teach everyone, let everyone know that this is what's happening, because it's. Why would you know? It's a little bit arcane, but incredibly important. And furthermore, the average age of retirement for justices on the supreme court has been 79. There are three justices who are either 78 and a half or older. And so if Justice Garland is not confirmed prior to the election, our next president could nominate as many as four Supreme Court justices. That's a big deal. That's. That's a very, very big deal. So that's top of mind. We're also looking ahead to the next legislative session, and we're beginning to talk with our partners about creating a system of paid family leave. People of all stripes, but particularly women, find themselves trying to balance their responsibilities both at work and at home. And we see this when we're younger, when we have kids. And as you know, our country is the only developed country that does not have any sort of paid maternity leave. At the other end of our. Of the spectrum, many of us are dealing with aging parents, and it is often false to daughters to play that role. And so creating a system where people can afford to take some time off to care for the people they love makes a lot of sense to us. It doesn't have to be. This isn't a radical thought. It has passed in California, New Jersey, Rhode island, and now New York. So we see this as a very reasonable step that would allow people to continue to take care of their family members, especially in a state where we are the oldest state in the nation. So that. That's one of the things we're looking ahead on in something like that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How would that get funded? Who would pay for employees to take that time? Would that be government? Would that be in New York?

Eliza Townsend:

It was a. It's divided, just as unemployment is, with a small contribution by both the employee and the employer, a paycheck deduction. We've already created this system with unemployment. It works well. So that's the model.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you've been doing this work with the Maine Women's Lobby since 2011, and you've done a variety of work in conservation and working with the Maine House of Representation representatives. What continues to get you up out of bed every day? What is it that you feel most passionate about in your own personal and professional life?

Eliza Townsend:

You can't be in this field unless you're an optimist. And I have had enough success to know that the work that we do matters and that you can achieve success, so that that in itself is a driver. I guess knowing that we're making a difference in people's lives, even if they don't know who we are, is satisfying.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I've enjoyed hearing about the work that you've done, really, from I guess, the very earliest of your years especially, and the work that your parents, it sounds like, did within your own community. How can people find out about what's going on with the Maine Women's Lobby?

Eliza Townsend:

Our website is a great source of information. It is MaineWomen.org we're also known for our social media. So while you're there, you can sign up for our E newsletters as well as our Facebook page. Those would be three great strategies.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I'm assuming that you do not need to be a female in order to.

Eliza Townsend:

No. We have many friends, allies, supporters who are not female.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, very good. I appreciate your taking the time to come in and talk with me today. We've been speaking with Eliza Townsend, who is the executive director of the Maine Women's Lobby. Thanks so much for the work that you're doing. I appreciate it.

Eliza Townsend:

Thank you. Thank you. For having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've been listening to Love Maine radio show number 250 inspirational Mainers. Our guests have included don't and Eliza Townsend. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E. Follow me on Twitter as Dr. Lisa and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Bellio. I hope that you have enjoyed our Inspirational Mainer show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But why ballet? You know, you're 9 and 10 years old and there's something about that particular form of dance. It's so specific.

[Unidentified voice]:

It is very specific and I think it attracts a specific type of person. I think it's it demands a lot of physi. It surprises you sometimes to see how much physical strength it demands. So I think it does attract a person who tends to be athletic and like to push their bodies in different ways. But I think it also really attracts a person who likes details and is excited by little progressions. The students who, for instance, Erin's daughter Elizabeth, she's now at that age where she comes a couple of times a week and her class this year just, really just came together in terms of loving those little details. So we can spend, you know, all this time in class focusing on the intense classicism of ballet. And that's not for everybody. But when you get a group that loves that, there's just no stopping them, I feel. So. I think there's also a tremendous love of music if you love ballet, because it's such a pivotal part. But I'm surprised also how many students really do find something to love in it, because you're right, it is a very specific kind of training.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems as though many parents are interested in having their children do ballet, but that at some point, it has to really be about the child. Him or herself. Yes. What is that pivot point? What do you see in kids who make the decision to move forward themselves?

[Unidentified voice]:

That's a good question. I think that they start to feel how much success they have in the studio. And by success, I mean that for them, finding achievement in those small changes. Because it's a small progression. It's not like you walk in one day, and then the next day you're doing triple pirouette and you've got your split, and it's such a small, slow progression. But they start to. That aha. Moment that I think I see in my students is when they've been working at something for a period of time, and it might be something small, like, you know, holding their arm at a certain level, and then they just. They get it. They get it that day. And you see there this light go on behind their eyes. Smile. Even the shy students who, you know, their smile is sort of repressed a little bit, but they can't keep it contained because they've worked at something and they've seen the achievement in it. And that's so rewarding. And so that's what I try to find for my students. And that's why I think that ballet is something that everybody can be successful in. If you look at the standards of success being broad, being about little details as well as big details,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you described a point in your own career where you went from performance to studio and to teaching. Explain to me the differences between someone who might go in one direction versus. Versus another direction.

[Unidentified voice]:

I think you have to. One thing that I saw in my fellow performers that I didn't see in myself is that we'd be backstage getting ready for a performance, and they were brimming with excitement. They were like, I can't wait to get. I can't wait to get on stage tonight. Yeah, I have to go to class tomorrow, the next day, and the rehearsals, but. But it's just to get on stage. That. That was the reward for them, and that was really enjoyable for them. For me, that was a little bit more of the. That was the hardest part in the day for me. Whereas that time in the studio where there's so much discovery, so many opportunities to try something new in the studio and see how it worked. And I think that you can get that way on stage for sure. I think that there are factors that stood in my way a little bit, and some of it was being healthy, being physically and mentally healthy to have the confidence to take those sort of risks on stage that I felt I could in the classroom. I think the dancers that are so successful performing really find a balance in their life that they can handle the stress of performing, but that the love of being on stage really pushes them through, helps them. And so I see that in both in my students. I have some students who they get through their classwork during the year so that they can be rewarded at the end of the year with a spring production. And then there's others who I think would be happy being in class every day and not ever having to step on stage. And, you know, I think that's one of the things that in a smaller school like mine, we're trying to find. Trying to find that balance for all students because it is different for each of them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems to me as a parent that we've evolved into a very performance centric world and that it's not even just the spring performance of, say, a ballet. It's also the sort of daily on stage of Instagram or social media. And so there's always this sense that you have to have your game face on.

[Unidentified voice]:

You're absolutely right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how do you step back from that and encourage this joy that you're describing in just your own small accomplishments?

[Unidentified voice]:

I think I'm very lucky in that the older students in the school sort of, it trickles down. Their beliefs and their philosophy and their work ethics trickle down to the younger students, students. And I think the older students really understand that everything really happens in the classroom. And it also happens outside the classroom. The work they do at home, the time that they put into thinking about class. So when you see that modeled for you every day, I think that. And then for the parents to also see that these older dancers are doing really well. They can see the product on stage every year, but they also see that these older dancers are gaining recognition elsewhere. They audition for summer programs throughout the country and are accepted. So they see that the course of ballet in particular, more so in ballet than some other forms of dance, really is a classroom based activity. And so I think that helps. I don't know if that answered your question, but I think it's sort of building that culture within the school, that the value happens every single day. And then we also get to see that and celebrate that.