The Women’s Media Group (WMG), a New York–based nonprofit association of women who have achieved prominence in the many fields of media, has finalized its new board and is pleased to welcome five new members as well as chart a path for continued connection and development.

The new board for 2020–21 will be helmed by Kathy Sandler, who begins her second term as Co-President, and Julie Blattberg, former Chair of the Programming Committee, and now Co-President. Former Co-President Dee Dee DeBartlo will serve as President Emerita, and will continue to play a key role in shaping WMG programming and fundraising efforts.

"For the coming Women’s Media Group board term, we’re building on the foundation that former Co-President Dee Dee DeBartlo set in motion,” said Sandler. “Namely, we’ll continue creating opportunities for women to help each other, and we’ll focus on growing and diversifying our membership along a number of key areas, as the definition of ‘media’ has evolved over the past decade."

New members joining the board include Heather Alexander as Secretary; Stephanie Bowen, who has been an active member of the Programming Committee, now as official Programming Committee Co-Chair; Chandra Turner as head of Membership; Kelly Hoey as General Board Member; and Brianna Yamashita as Communications Lead. Former General Board Member Candi Sue Cross has the new role of Co-Chair of the Programming Committee.

For the immediate future, Sandler and Blattberg say they will focus on creating programs and opportunities that will help WMG members connect virtually. “Though in-person educational, networking, and fundraising events are at the core of WMG membership benefits, we are—as every other organization and business is—taking our programming online, and keeping strong ties among the community with our newsletter and on public and private digital channels,” said Blattberg.

The Women’s Media Group started in the early 1970s when a group of 5 women—friends and publishing colleagues Joni Evans, Judith Daniels, Elizabeth Crow, Eden Lipson, and Carol Rinzler—began meeting for lunch every now and then to talk about their jobs, their lives, their plans and hopes for the future. They eventually formed a club, and the Women’s Media Group was born.

Almost five decades later, the group Evans helped found has grown and evolved; it continues to be a thriving network whose mission is to empower women and help them rise. Much has changed in the business of content and culture during the past 46 years, and those changes are reflected in the group’s membership, which now brings together professionals from a range of fields, including book, magazine, and newspaper publishing; film; television; and digital media—to meet, collaborate, inform, and support one another, and mentor young women interested in publishing-related careers.

To learn more about Women’s Media Group, visit www.womensmediagroup.org