Taking Your First Steps Toward Public Leadership

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This content is brought to you by Travelers. A title appears, Citizen Travelers at the Travelers Institute. A series on civic engagement.

Text, Taking your first steps toward public leadership. Logos: Citizen Travelers, Travelers Institute (registered trademark), Travelers.

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JOAN WOODWARD: Good afternoon, and thank you so much for joining us. I'm Joan Woodward, President of the Travelers Institute, and I'm delighted to welcome you to our program this afternoon. And if you've joined us before, you know that here at Travelers, we cover a lot of ground. The institute was established 15 years ago. And in that time, we've taken on major programming pillars, including cybersecurity awareness, distracted driving with our Every Second Matters campaign, and disaster preparedness and many others.

So today we're embracing an additional pillar at the Travelers Institute, partnering with the company's newly established Citizen Travelers initiative. What is Citizen Travelers? It is our nonpartisan initiative to empower Travelers employees to take part in the civic life of their communities. We know through our audience surveys that you all fill out for us that this topic is very interesting to you.

And so you wanted to learn more about it, you've asked for it and we're listening to you. And so today, we're bringing you a Citizen Travelers program. Underpinning all the work that you and I and our colleagues do is a representative democracy with resilient public institutions and an economic system that is governed by the rule of law. These are important factors for any business and ones that we cannot take for granted.

It's with this important recognition that we are pleased to introduce the series of programs examining civic engagement. We hope you'll join us throughout the year and hear how we, as business leaders, can preserve and strengthen our democratic systems.

So, the head of our Citizen Travelers initiative is with us today, Janice Brunner. She's joining me to moderate our session. She's perfectly positioned to lead the discussion around how and why anyone can get more involved with public service.

In addition to serving as head of our civic engagement initiative, Janice is also Group General Counsel here at Travelers. Since joining us, she has led a team responsible for the development and the launch of Citizen Travelers. Janice is also responsible for executing other enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, as well as advising on securities, corporate governance and other legal matters.

Prior to joining Travelers, she was a member of the Public Company Advisory Practice group at Simpson Thacher Bartlett in New York City. Janice, welcome. I'm so pleased you'll be able to moderate today's discussion. The virtual floor is now yours.

JANICE BRUNNER: Thank you, Joan. I'm excited to be here today. And Citizen Travelers is thrilled to partner with the Travelers Institute to present our series of civic conversations. Before we begin, I'd like to share a disclaimer about today's program.

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Text, About today's webinar. This webinar is supported by Citizen Travelers, the civic engagement initiative of The Travelers Companies, Inc., for informational and educational purposes only. The non-partisan views expressed by the speakers and/or She Should Run and its employees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Travelers or any of its employees. Travelers disclaims responsibility for any publication or statement by any of the speakers and/or She Should Run. Please note that this session is being recorded and may be used as Travelers deems appropriate.

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I'd also like to invite you to drop questions in the chat now and throughout using the Q&A feature at the bottom of your screen.

As you may have heard our CEO Alan Schnitzer say, at Travelers, we recognize that our success for more than 160 years is owed in large part to keeping our promise to take care of our customers, communities and each other. That promise rests upon the environment in which we operate-- as Joan mentioned, a representative democracy built on resilient public institutions and an economic system governed by the rule of law.

At Travelers, we take seriously our role in preserving these institutions and our responsibility to pass them on to future generations. One of the ways we are embracing this commitment is by supporting and encouraging Travelers employees to take part in the civic life of their communities.

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Text, Initiative: Citizen Travelers is a non-partisan initiative to empower Travelers employees to take part in the civic life of their communities.

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Text, The Citizen Travelers Model. Learning. Engaging. Leading. Three photos of the Citizen Travelers website, a group of people wearing red Travelers T-shirts, and Alan Schnitzer speaking at a podium.

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Through our employee spotlights, nonprofit partnerships and our series of civic conversations that we are hosting with the Travelers Institute, we hope to provide awareness of the many and varied ways to be an active part of civic life and to inspire Travelers employees and others to participate civically in their communities in ways that are meaningful to them, which is why I'm thrilled to be here today and to be joined today by two amazing guests, Erin Loos Cutraro and Senator Lisa Seminara, who each exemplify the Citizen Travelers model at work.

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Text, Speakers: Janice Brunner, Group General Counsel and Head of Civic Engagement, Travelers. Erin Loos Cutraro, C.E.O. and Founder, She Should Run. Lisa Seminara, State Senator, State of Connecticut.

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Erin is the Founder and CEO of She Should Run, a leading nonpartisan organization working to increase the number of women from all walks of life considering a run for office in the United States. Since its founding in 2011, over 40,000 women have been encouraged to run for office. Erin is a respected voice on gender equality in elected leadership and is known for finding innovative solutions to complex challenges.

From building awareness through partnerships with public and private organizations that share her goals to creating curriculum that meets the needs of women in their early stages of considering elected office, Erin is steadfast in her mission to inspire more women to participate in public life. Before founding She Should Run, Erin held numerous leadership positions, including serving as political director of the Women's Campaign Fund.

Lisa Seminara was elected to serve as state senator for Connecticut's 8th Senate District in 2022. Lisa has served as an elected member of her local Board of Education in Avon, Connecticut. She is a licensed clinical social worker and is a dedicated community servant.

She was the first in her family to earn a college degree, graduating with honors from St. John's University and later earning a master's degree in social work from Columbia University. She is highly active in her community, bringing a passion for fair education and opportunity for all. Erin and Senator Seminara will each join us for opening remarks, and then we will reconvene for a moderated discussion and your questions.

And with that, I am pleased to turn the floor over to Erin. Erin, please take it away.

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Text, The time is now. Your role in building the future we all want to see.

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ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Thank you, Janice. It's such an honor to be here. Thank you to Citizen Travelers and the entire Travelers team for putting this conversation together. I am Erin Loos Cutraro, Founder, CEO of She Should Run. I'll dive right in and tell you all what I know you need to hear, which is that we all play a role in building the democracy we deserve. Hopefully I'll get your mind moving in conversation.

And before we wrap our conversation as a group today, I'm going to have a call to action for everyone. So I can promise you this-- you will not leave this webinar without having contributed to building a better future. So with that, let's talk about the challenge that we face in this space of seeing a more representative democracy.

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Text, The Challenge. Gender equality is essential to the health and potential of societies. It is key to empowering the full potential of younger generations. Yet, in the United States, women represent fewer than one third of elected leaders. This places us at 66th on the global ranking of women in national government.

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We sit in the position of having a population of women that are just over that halfway point, 51% of the population, and the total elected roles in this country are filled by women around the 30% mark across the board. So that's local all the way up to the highest level of office. And those numbers go down, unfortunately, as we talk about women of color. So we have a lot of work to do to ensure that we're tapping the full talent pool this country has to offer when we're thinking about who's in seats of elected leadership.

So, I want to also talk a little bit about the leadership crisis as it exists in the workplace, because there's a really interesting connection here. Kudos to Citizen Travelers for having this conversation and amplifying the experiences and perspectives of women in decision-making. We've learned through our work at She Should Run and through our work that often runs parallel track to what we see in corporate boardrooms and offices all across the country that we have a leadership crisis.

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Text, This leadership crisis also exists in the workplace. Only one in four C-suite leaders is a woman, and only one in 20 is a woman of color. For every 100 men who are promoted from entry-level roles to manager positions, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of color are promoted. As a result, men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, and women can never catch up. For every woman at the director level who gets promoted to the next level, two women directors are choosing to leave their company. Source: Women in the Workplace 2022. McKinsey & Company.

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Women are-- there's some stats here on the slide. And I won't read them to you, but one I want to point to is that women are more than 1 1/2 times as likely as men at their level to have left a job because they don't feel that their company is committed to efforts such as this, which is-- again, I just want to celebrate that this conversation is happening. Our ability to show up in the workplace as our full selves and to have conversations about how we can more actively engage-- not just in the workplace, but in our communities-- is in the best interest of all.

So let's talk about, too, the sort of overall opportunity. I want to talk about what we see at She Should Run. We talk about the market, the market opportunity of women in positions of leadership in elected office. So we did some really fascinating research to identify-- because She Should Run sits in a place of trying to find women who are at that very beginning stage, most likely not thinking about running for office, we have to know who those individuals are.

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Text, Market Opportunity. Our own research calculations reveal that focusing on the 24 million American women who do not ever see themselves in leadership, but who are ignited by social issues, will deliver the greatest return on investment. The good news: These women exist in your circle as team members, consumers, and fans.

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And the good news is that our research has identified 24 million American women in the United States who are primed for elected leadership, because they're already showing up. They're showing up for conversations like this. They're showing up in their communities. They're showing up to problem-solve around the issues that they care about.

And it's fascinating because-- we get the question a lot at She Should Run, like, who are these women that you're trying to find? And you know what I love about this conversation that we're having today is, it's many of you all-- or perhaps somebody that you care deeply about-- that are participating today. You're the ones who need to hear the message about what is in the power of elected leadership, what is possible, what gets changed when you are in those rooms where decisions are being made.

So I want to go a little bit into-- without getting too wonky on our research-- talking about the types of women that we found. So when we did our research and we identified these women, it's not just this huge number that we can't break down. It's actually really interesting. So there were three-- we'll call them personas. And we do-- we talk about them. We've named them, too. So get ready for this.

We have our-- what we talk about as, like, a Naomi Newcomer. So this is someone who's not in politics but who has an issue that matters to them. They're frustrated. They are likely motivated by seeing how that issue can play out in their community.

We also see what we've called the Sierra Service-Oriented woman. So this is the woman who's been volunteering.

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A graphic appears of issues top of mind for women and a funnel with the text top to bottom, I care about an issue in my community. I’m learning how that issue impacts my community. I’m getting involved in my community. I'm running for office.

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She may be-- she may be holding a few volunteer roles outside of what could be, too, a role that she keeps professionally. And she's looking for ways to deepen her impact on her community. So it's that type of individual that hearing a message about what can be accomplished in elected leadership is so powerful.

So just within those two, Naomi Newcomers and Sierra Service-Oriented, we have over 20 million women represented. Then there's this small percentage-- and I just want to give them credit because some of you may be on this line too-- what we call the Carla Childhood Dreamers. These are the women who always knew they wanted to run. They were showing up running for class president at the youngest of ages. They sort of built their-- built their lives around what they would do when they run for office.

Much of the messaging about the need for public service assumes that people start there, when in reality, it is a small percentage of the population. We still love those individuals, of course. But it is a very small percentage of the population.

So the real takeaway here is that we have to know just how big the opportunity is in order to feel that-- what I certainly feel and I know the entire She Should Run team feels in our work-- that power of possibility of what we can change in our democracy for the better if we were just tapping into these millions of women who could bring talent to the table.

So, you're looking at a funnel. I want to just speak to this funnel really quickly, because the majority of what people think of when they think of the making of a candidate is that very bottom of the funnel, the person who just says, I'm running for office-- as if you wake up-- and some do, but most don't-- wake up and say, I'm running for office. The reality is that there's a lot of work.

There's, like, a container-- this is the work of She Should Run-- that happens before that, where you're getting connected with your community, you're getting in tune with the issues that you care most about. And those issues are varied. We'll talk about them a little bit in the discussion, because women certainly aren't a monolith, and they're showing up for all sorts of reasons. But I want to reassure everyone and thank everyone for being part of this conversation. Because you showing up to this conversation indicates that you or someone you know well is likely ready to take these steps.

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Text, Our signature curriculum. Develop new programs. Find your purpose, get civically involved, how to prepare for a future run, connect with a greater ecosystem.

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So with that, I will share just a little bit of what happens with She Should Run curriculum. So for anyone who is interested-- and we'll talk more about this since this will be tied to our call to action-- those first steps-- because, as I mentioned, creating this container for those women who are at the very beginning stages, what we see that they are looking for and what we provide are things like getting really connected with your purpose, what's going to get you out of bed every morning, getting more connected in your community, knowing what those steps are that you need to take now to prepare for a future run.

Because often, when you're having this thought, you may not run for years, and that's OK. And then demystifying what the ecosystem looks like-- there's so many incredible organizations out there-- some nonpartisan, some partisan, some issue-based, some locally based-- that can be helpful once you make the decision to run. And knowing what those are is often key to unlocking those next steps to elected leadership.

So I'll wrap my remarks there and turn it over to the senator, and look forward to the conversation to come.

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Text, Senator Lisa Seminara. Connecticut State Senator 8th District.

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LISA SEMINARA: Oh, thank you so much, Erin. And thank you, everybody, for having me. I'm Lisa Seminara, Senator Seminara. And I'm so happy to be here this afternoon. And I wanted to let you know that my story very much follows the steps that Erin just talked about.

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Photos appear of the senator and her family.

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So who am I? I really-- I'm a licensed clinical social worker by trade. But really, for the last-- prior to being an elected official, I was a stay-at-home mom of three children, married and very happy to have that position. My oldest daughter, Martina, was born with disabilities. And I think that really was the impetus of me getting involved in advocacy, quite frankly.

When my daughter was born, even though I was a social worker and I had training, it was a shock to both my husband and I. And she was-- the one who is disabled was our firstborn. And it kind of rocked our world, for a lack of better words. And we had to learn what it was going to be like to parent somebody with a disability. So I took an advocacy class, and that kind of started my journey.

Moving on, why I ran-- I ran because I got involved in the community. I started the special ed PTA in my town. I volunteered for a number of organizations-- Amy's Angels and Special Olympics-- and just really put myself out there and got involved with the community.

I also started-- and what you're seeing on the screen today was a nonprofit organization that I started that was called Playgrounds for All Kids. I noticed in my town, there was a lack of play areas that were accessible to people who had disabilities. So my husband and I started a nonprofit. We engaged other people into the community. We raised all the funds for it.

We physically helped build it, we designed it and then we gifted it to the town. So, and that playground is still there today, one of my happiest moments of achievement, and really something I'm very proud of, to this day. I little by little got recognized for the achievements that I had done locally, and this kind of started my journey.

I got a reputation, developed a very positive reputation, fortunately. And they were asking me to run for the Board of Education for 12 years. And I declined that but then took a position that was not a elected position but was first appointed to the Youth Advisory Committee of the town. And that was a little less demanding, so I did that for several years.

And then as my kids got a little bit older and my time freed up a little bit more, that's when I finally-- and it was 12 years later-- that I finally decided that I would run for the Board of Education. And I was elected on the Board of Education and served there. And, quite frankly, that was very exciting for me. I really enjoyed it. I loved working with the board.

And running for a municipal race taught me a lot of things, to the point where I decided that-- well, to be honest with you, I really wasn't the one to decide. I saw that I was making change on a micro level, and other people in my community thought I might be very successful at making change on a macro level. So, quite frankly, I was approached by the Republican Party in town and asked to run for the opened position, a position that was opening for our state senator.

So, my predecessor was in the role for 12 years, and he was retiring. And at that point, they asked if I would be willing to run for the seat. So I took several meetings, and honestly, took three months to make up my decision to try to determine whether this was going to be good timing for my family, good timing for me and really just to honestly decide whether I wanted to get into this arena.

So, I ultimately made that decision on Christmas Eve of 2021 and then established my candidacy in January of 2022. And that started the journey on a more macro level of being into the state and running a state campaign, which I will say is tremendously different than running a municipal campaign. Although, you do take some skills that you've learned running the municipal campaign and bring it to running a state campaign. You also get a lot of help.

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Three documents appear with campaign information and a survey.

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So this is sort of why I was successful. This is some of the mailers that I sent out to the 11 towns that I now represent, to the various people in the community. Why do I think I was successful? I think that I had a message. And I stuck to my message and stayed focused to my message, despite what was coming my way.

And what I mean by that was that it was very easy to get distracted. I had an opponent, and my opponent, too, was sending out mailers and on social media, as well as I. And I will say, he worked very, very hard, as did I. But his campaign had a little different focus than mine. He was a little bit more negative, where I tried to stay very positive and stay focused on my message.

I said from the onset that I wanted to run a very clean campaign. And I am so happy to say that I stuck to that, and I really never accepted the negativity that was around.

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The slide progresses by more campaign mailers for Senator Seminara.

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I was tempted. I can't say that I wasn't tempted by my opponent and some of the negative things that weren't always truthful that were being spread about me.

And I will-- I would like to add that that was also very difficult for my family, especially my husband, to hear negative things about me. And that is something that is-- shouldn't be downplayed as a candidate. Because it happens, and you have to learn how to deal with it.

But, as I said, I ran a very clean campaign. I also stayed true to who I am as a human being. And I put in a tremendous amount of work. And I do not want to minimize the work that it takes to run for a Senate race.

A Senate race is a little bit different than a House race. A House race might be a steppingstone to a Senate race. I didn't have the luxury of that steppingstone. So I went from the municipals right up to a Senate race, which, as I said earlier, I have 11 towns that I represent. And it was getting to know everybody in those 11 towns, including people in my own town which-- who didn't know me, perhaps, and hadn't been aware of everything that I had done.

So it was an exciting process, one that I encourage anybody who's considering it to do. If you would have asked me was I going to run for a state Senate seat three years ago, it was not in the purview for me, and it wasn't something that I was thinking about. I am one of those people that are at the top of the funnel that started with doing municipalities and just volunteering and gaining a reputation before-- I'm not the bottom of the funnel who woke up and said, I'm going to be a state senator.

So I encourage you all to consider it. I am living proof that it's doable. I wish I can tell you that I'm someone special or I had some magic that made me electable. I can tell you, I had a team of support, and I worked really hard. And for me, that's the key.

So I want to thank you so much for allowing me to share my story. And I hope that I encourage some people to jump into the arena, because it's well worth it. So I'll turn it now back to Janice. Thank you so much.

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Text, Thank you. Senator Lisa Seminara. Senator Seminara dot com. Lisa dot Seminara at c g a dot ct dot gov. 

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JANICE BRUNNER: Thanks so much, Lisa. That's an amazing story, and we are so grateful that you're here today to share it. So I think next, we'll turn to a discussion with Erin and Senator Seminara. I think we thought it would be good to start with a live poll for the audience, and it's popping up now. Have you ever considered running for public office?

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Text, Yes, I have already run for office! Yes, l've thought about running, but never have. No, l've never considered it before

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And then we will see the results, I believe.

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4% chose the first answer. 46% chose the second. 50% chose the third.

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One. Erin, does this surprise you, or is this consistent with what you usually see?

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: It's consistent. I would be surprised if everyone in this conversation has-- had already run. I love the breakdown, though, that there are a lot of folks who are here who have given it some thought, in addition to those folks who might be thinking about it for the first time.

JANICE BRUNNER: It'd be interesting to see what would happen if we take the poll after-- if we took it before and after. Hopefully the numbers change. So second question, if you have never run for office, do you identify with any of these common barriers?

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Text, I don't feel qualified or confident enough to run for office. I can't afford to be a politician. I don't have a huge network. I don't know where to start. I don't like public speaking/public speaking is a fear of mine. What if I don't have thick skin? I don't have the time. I don’t feel connected to my community. I don't want to run for office. But I want to support in other ways.

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This is a long list, so we'll give a minute to read it all.

Let's see what our results are.

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Text, The results appear, I don't feel qualified or confident enough to run for office. 45%. I can't afford to be a politician. 35%. I don't have a huge network. 41%. I don't know where to start. 44%. I don't like public speaking/public speaking is a fear of mine. 19%. What if I don't have thick skin? 16%. I don't have the time. 25%. I don’t feel connected to my community. 18%. I don't want to run for office. But I want to support in other ways. 18%.

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Interesting. So, Lisa, do any of these barriers resonate with you?

LISA SEMINARA: Well, actually, every single one of them resonate with me, to be honest with you if I had to be honest. But the ones that resonate with me the most, I would say, is the public speaking. I-- although I ran for office and I was on the Board of Education, I really wasn't the best public speaker and certainly didn't have a lot of comfort level doing it.

And I have to say that I did do some things to brush up on my public speaking. I took some courses about it, and I was coached on it. And really, being thrown into the arena is the best way to get over it, because you don't have a choice.

And I have to say, like, I take public speaking-- I speak from my heart, and I really think that that gravitates and works well for people. So I think that has gone-- served me well and something that I will continue to do. But I certainly have gotten better over time speaking in front of people. In fact, doing something like this, again, three years ago would have sent me over the edge. But now, I'm pretty comfortable speaking to anybody, usually.

Another barrier speaks to my confidence.

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Text, Women who ran. 2020 vs. 2022. Senate 2020, 20 of 72 candidates. Senate 2022, 22 of 72 candidates. House 2020, 85 of 302 candidates. House 2022, 93 of 302 candidates.

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Prior to me being elected to this position-- and I'm very proud of this little tidbit of information-- my district, Senate District 8, never had a female senator-- never. I am the first female senator in this district. So I'm very proud of that fact.

But when I was running, I always had in the back of my mind, historically, this position has always been held by a male. So, are people going to see me as somebody who can do it? Obviously, I was successful at it. So it happened, and I'm very happy about it.

And then the other barrier that I would say-- and I can only speak for Connecticut at this point-- is the financial barrier. And I understand that. Connecticut, though-- I just want-- and I would encourage everybody to look at your individual states-- but Connecticut has a program that we have a grant so that if somebody wants to run, you have to-- you can partake in the state grant program.

And for a senator, that means you have to raise-- well, I think it's close to $17,500. And you have to have at least 300 contributors from throughout your district, so that would be 11 towns for me. And then once you get your signatures and you raise your money, you turn your money over to the state. And then they give you back about 115,000 to run with.

And you can't go over it. If you don't use all of it, you can certainly return it, but you cannot spend more than the grant ever. Even if you've gotten individual contributions, you can't do it. And I want you to know that roughly in both the House and the Senate, roughly about-- the numbers that I was given was 80% of people take advantage of that and take advantage of the grant.

But I think it's a lot higher, so I'm going to look into that a little bit more. But I think there's a lot more people that take advantage of the grant than not. And it really just evens the playing field so that anybody who wants to run has the capability of running.

JANICE BRUNNER: That's amazing. And the thing I'm thinking about as we were speaking, too, is, I was wondering-- Erin, your organization, She Should Run, how many of these barriers do you step in to help people get through? Like, something like just knowing about that grant, is that something that you would be-- that your organization is part of, making sure that people who are just at the edge of thinking about a run would have that kind of information?

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Yeah. I think the power of that with a group of people who are thinking about running is-- we have an active community that shares with one another. We get a lot of questions, of course, about the financial barriers. And I love hearing programs that make it-- both, as the senator said, leveling the playing field, but just more accessible, so to people from all walks of life to be able to step up and run. There's an incentive there that I think is really powerful. Not every state has that.

The barrier that stands out to me on this list-- because we see it a lot with being an organization that's focused on getting women into the pipeline-- is this piece of not feeling qualified or confident. And this shows up in the research over and over again, that-- and I think the story that you shared, Senator, about just this knowing in your mind that you weren't what the position had looked like before, we get in our heads about that and think, you have to have all the answers, and you have to be better than, and you have to be superhuman.

When in reality, it is showing up and doing the work and being willing to say, actually, I don't know the answer to that right now. You got to get comfortable with that-- you know, let me do a little bit more research on that, because no one has all the answers.

We see a lot of the women who come into our programs struggling with this piece of, I don't know if it's me. I think it's someone else, because someone else has the answers that I don't-- when in reality, that is just absolutely not the case.

So yeah, it's demystifying that. It's definitely, I think, the power of sharing stories-- that's why these types of conversations are so important-- of the, OK, no, how-- really, did you struggle with this? Yes, everyone struggles with this. By the way, the public speaking one, I just want to address that one. Because we get lots of questions about-- not only if you're not a great public speaker or a well-versed public speaker, but if you're somebody who's maybe more introverted and you just don't get your energy from those types of experiences, is it even possible?

And the short answer is, yes, it is. Is it going to be more work for you for that piece? Yes, but other pieces of leading as a political leader are going to be easier for you because of your skill set. So I think it is a little bit of just knowing yourself and knowing-- and the senator shared exactly the advice we would give, which is all about getting ahead of it.

You know you're going to have to do some public speaking. Don't let that stop you. Do some preparation for it. Take some classes. Force yourself to be the person who is willing to give the quick introduction of somebody. Because the more you do it-- it may never feel comfortable fully, but it will feel much more comfortable once you've done it for a while. And we see that with women coming into the community too.

JANICE BRUNNER: And that leads me to another point that I think you've made and that I think is so important and that we think about at Citizen Travelers. It's this-- I think there's a piece of research that you've cited that says that women often require support and encouragement from a trusted source-- and I think you touched on this in your story, Lisa, as well-- in order to step into the critical leadership roles that we need them to fill.

And I'm sure a lot of us have been there. You need someone to encourage you to say-- and I think that's the whole point-- she should run, right? And can you talk a little bit about that, and how we can all be advocates for someone that we think might be a great candidate, and how important that is to have-- how important that role of saying you should run is?

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Absolutely. So this is one of my favorite parts of the work that we do. Because, truly, in any room that we're in, I love to make the case and will make the case with you all that we all play a role in encouraging those who we love and those who are great problem solvers and solution makers to consider elected office.

And the research is very, very clear about this for women that there is this ambition gap that has persisted over 20 years. It's crazy. There's a researcher who's amazing who's been doing the research every couple of years to look at the gap that is very real that exists between men, who are more likely to see themselves as elected leaders, not need as much of that encouragement, and women, who aren't thinking about that role because they don't see themselves in that role, and how powerful it is when somebody that they trust-- now, this is not somebody random but somebody that they trust.

It could be a person in a position of power. It could be a person who they love and care about-- tells them that they should consider a run for office. It makes all the difference in the world to at least plant that seed. Now, is there more work to do behind that? Of course there is.

But I think too often, we let ourselves off the hook and think there's nothing that we could possibly do to help our democracy, to help think about how to get more people involved. There absolutely is. You can look around the room of people that you know and plant those seeds. And send women, specifically-- because that's the work we do-- to organizations like She Should Run, where they can actually get some idea of what it would look like.

JANICE BRUNNER: That's great. I think we'll take that to heart. And then I want to shift gears a little bit because I feel like a lot of the questions coming in are related to Senator Seminara. Just I want to give you a chance to talk about what it's like to be a senator. And just be practical, explaining the time commitment and what a typical day is like, and just share your day-to-day experience with us because it's--

LISA SEMINARA: Oh, thank you. I will say, it isn't what I envisioned it to be, so I'll start that. And I think that-- so in Connecticut, we are a part-time legislature, so we are-- that's what we're supposed to do. And there are many, many people-- not myself-- this is my full-time gig. So I do the Senate full-time, and I have the luxury of doing that.

But there are many people in my caucus and beyond my caucus who work-- have another job and work full-time. I will say that-- and in my caucus-- my caucus is a caucus of 12. Seventy-five percent of my caucus has another job.

So it is possible. But I will say, you would need an incredible amount of flexibility with your employer. I'm just being honest. I can't imagine-- if it's a self-run business, but if you-- that's one thing, if you're able to make your hours. We have some real-estate agents and things of that sort.

But we have others that are sole practitioners and run a law practice and other people who work for bigger companies, and they have to have flexibility. Because there's just no way, to be quite frank, that you would be able to do it.

So during session-- and sessions vary. So, we just ended our session, and this year was a long session. And what that means for Connecticut is that we started in January, we ended in June. And during that time when you're in session, I would have to say, there's nothing part-time about it-- at least for me.

When you're in session, depending on how many committees you're assigned and if you're a ranking member on that committee, it really is very time consuming. So, again, I have a very small caucus. So as a result of that, there has to be representation from every caucus on every committee.

So as a freshman, I was assigned four committees, and I was ranking on three of those committees out of the four. So I was assigned to Aging, Children's and Human Services, and I was ranking on those three, and I also sat on the Education Committee.

And I would say, during session, my time between going to public hearings, which can last 14 hours in a day-- and that's what I mean. You would have to have some flexibility-- you are working a lot of hours almost every day. Now, do I think, as a freshman legislator, I probably put in more hours than most?

Yes, because there was a huge learning curve. And I felt I always needed to be in the building, and I felt I needed to spend a lot of time trying to learn the nuances. But when session ends, which is now-- so this year was a long year.

Next year, session will be-- will start in February and end in May, so it's a short session. And it’ll be-- I'm sure it'll be very chaotic during session. But when session ends, your time is-- you can be as busy as you want to be.

And what I mean by that is, now is my time to go back out into the community, meet with my constituents, hear what they thought was successful from this session, what they thought wasn't so successful from the session, and what they think or maybe some legislative ideas they would like me to present next year-- or next session, I should say. So during this time, there's a lot more flexibility. And most people who have another job are really spending a lot of time focusing on their other job and catching up from maybe where, when they were in session, they were kind of running behind. I hope that answers your question.

JANICE BRUNNER: Yes, thank you.

LISA SEMINARA: Good. You're welcome.

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Janice, can I add something to that really quickly?

JANICE BRUNNER: For sure.

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Not to the senator's experience, of course. But first of all, I think this is-- it's so powerful, I think, in hearing that demystifying of, what does it actually look like? Because I don't think we often have these conversations, so I'm just so appreciative of that storytelling.

I'll add-- we get this question a lot as women come in to She Should Run, is-- there are over 500,000 elected offices in this country. Most people don't know that. Majority of them are at the local level, and local being local mayors and town councils and those very close-to-home roles.

Those, for anyone-- and I see some of it popping in the Q&A-- for anyone who's interested in serving but doesn't have that full-time capability, there are incredible local roles to look at, where folks are employed full-time and also-- I'm not going to lie but-- or not suggest that it's not still time-consuming-- but isn't something that's going to require you to leave your full-time role. There are many, many options.

Another-- I'll just put a plug in. She Should Run does have a resource for taking a quiz that can help you think through what type of role might be good for you. Because I think that's part of it, too, is just knowing how many opportunities there are where you can plug your talents and interests into a need that is very real in your community.

JANICE BRUNNER: For sure. And I think one of the things that I've found so meaningful about Citizen Travelers has been realizing how many open roles there are within our communities that either don't have someone that's willing to serve, or the person who's serving has been in this spot for maybe 20 years. And there's not a lot of options, choices. So I think the local offices are very critical and so worthwhile.

And I think that's a big part of-- what I think has been inspiring about Travelers has been realizing how many people within Travelers are actually serving in those roles. And I think Lisa's story resonates so well, as far as serving initially on the school board and then-- as a step. And I think some of the questions that we have in the chat go to that as well.

I do want to get to audience questions. And so, Erin, I think before we do that, you had wanted to share a call of action-- call to action.

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Yes, yes. So imagine a big drum roll coming. Here's why. Because when we all get together and have conversations that are so important like this-- and hopefully energizing and hopefully opening up some new possibilities in your mind-- I hate to leave on the table any opportunity to have a collective action that we can all take.

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Text, Take action now! What role will you play in building the future we all want to see? She should run dot org slash travelers. A QR code appears to the right.

(SPEECH)
So we have set up a very, very simple way for you, for everyone who's listening and anybody who may be watching this as a recording, you can snap a picture-- there's a couple ways.

You can snap a picture of this QR code, and it will take you to a very simple page that will allow you to do one of two things-- or both of them. We've made it really easy for you. One of the options is pledging to take an action for yourself. So if you're a woman on the call and you're interested in furthering your journey toward elected office, we have some really simple tools that you could spend an hour just deepening that path that you can get to there.

And if that's not for you or you are a gentleman on the call who has a great woman in your life that you would love to encourage, there is an option for you to enter your phone number. What we'll do-- we make this really easy. This does not come from us. Because back to the-- what matters here is peer to peer, somebody who loves you wants to hear from you.

We'll send you with that action just a little image that says, "I'd vote for you" with some text that you can cut and paste and send to someone. So that's not She Should Run doing that. That's you doing that. And I want you to know, truly, this is the step that I was talking about before that people think doesn't matter.

Getting this message-- you sending this message to somebody is so meaningful, that you're thinking of them, that you're thinking of them in this way. So I highly encourage you to do it. The link is there. And I look forward to reporting back on just the overall number of people who took action. Because I know this is a powerful group, and we have a lot of great listeners.

JANICE BRUNNER: Now, next I'll just-- I do want to get to the audience questions. This is great. Because I think sometimes we worry whether there'll be questions, and there's an amazing amount of engagement here. We did receive some questions before the webinar, so I'll start with those. Carol in Florida asks Senator Seminara about, how do you protect your privacy in a public leadership role?

LISA SEMINARA: Well, I have to be honest that, I think with the technological advances that have been made, you are out there. You are out there. And I think as society as a whole, we're all out there. But as an elected official, you can protect your privacy to a degree, but your life does change. I don't want to minimize that to you.

Like, I go to the grocery store, people know who I am. And not everybody knows who I am but a large number of people. When you run a race, your pictures are out there. Your information is out there. Where you live is out there. Your phone number's out there. So you're on, and you're out there.

But you do have your private moments. And I will say, I have found-- like, when I go out to dinner to restaurants and stuff, some people do come up and ask questions, and I'm always very open to that. But people are usually very respectful of my time and my time with my family or whoever I might be out with, so it's striking a balance.

And I think if somebody ever overstepped, you can nicely talk about that, talk to them about that.

JANICE BRUNNER: That's encouraging. Let's hope, right?

LISA SEMINARA: Yes.

JANICE BRUNNER: Another question I think I'd love to hear-- Senator, I'd love to hear your view-- and Erin as well, yours. The question is from Leah in Michigan. She says, how do you identify skill gaps? And are there ways to hone skills in work situations or through volunteering that help you prepare for an office, whatever that may be?

LISA SEMINARA: If you want me to answer, I mean, I take that as, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? That's how I read that question. And I think we all have them. We all have strengths, and we all have weaknesses.

So I think it's taking the time to look at yourself and determine, well, what are my strengths? And maybe not focus so much time on that, and really spend a lot of time focusing on your weaknesses to better improve yourself.

And I think that goes for running for office, but I think that goes for any position. I don't think it's any different-- would be my answer.

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: Hear, hear, I agree with that. And the only thing that I'll add is, if the question were to venture into, too, understanding more of the issues, more of the policies, in terms of a gap, a great place to start is truly by that getting more deeply involved in the community.

So I'm sure that this is the senator's experience. You are representing in a role of elected leadership-- in any role, you are representing constituents that you agree with, that you don't agree with, that have complex life issues that maybe you don't experience. So being present in community conversations and with organizations that are really active with community members is so important and will help inform not only you as a candidate, but you as an elected official, how to be the best you can possibly be in representing others.

And I just would piggyback on that that I really-- I tell people all the time, I learn a little about a lot of things at this point in my life. And I depend on the community and people who are experts to help me and to support me and to educate me on the issues. And I-- that is why I really love to go out into the community.

Because I learn so much from my constituents, what's important to them and even just everyday knowledge that I didn't have before. So I really think it is very important to stay connected to your community as much as you possibly can. And you will see, when you’re-- when anybody gets elected, you are invited to so many, many things.

And some of them are fun and exciting, and then others are really very informational. And I attend all of those things, as many as I can. But the informational ones are really very, very important.

JANICE BRUNNER: That's great. I feel like we've got to the top of the hour very quickly. And I'd love to-- I think we have so many questions. We'd love to continue speaking all day. But I don't want to-- I so appreciate you taking the time to be with us today, and I don't want to take any more of your time.

I think I'll just close out with one question for both of you, if you don't mind. I'd love as just a-- what kind of literature do you recommend reading around leadership? Or do you have a favorite-- something about leadership that you feel like you'd love to highlight?

Senator Seminara, we'll start with you.

LISA SEMINARA: I will say, for me, what I found very helpful was to read a positive affirmation every day. And I will also say this, and this is just applies to myself. The power of prayer-- I'm fairly religious. And the power of prayer and being connected to my God was very important to me as I ran.

I can tell you, on a daily basis-- I still pray. But on a daily basis then, I prayed all the time-- for many things, but for peace, for solace, for strength to continue to persevere. So that, to me, is what I will say--

JANICE BRUNNER: Fantastic.

ERIN LOOS CUTRARO: I will share that I think if I could-- I'm like, one piece. I don't know what one piece it is. But I would say, any type of reference you can have around purpose, around getting connected and staying connected to what your purpose is and showing up, that fire in the belly, it's necessary for all of us just to get through day by day.

But when you are also engaging in this incredibly rewarding but also hard world of public service, you have to know why you're doing it and stay centered in that and stay centered in the gratitude that you have for what you can put into this world with that. So staying as closely connected to that is so incredibly important.

JANICE BRUNNER: That's fantastic, thank you. Thank you so much for being here today and for participating in this wonderful discussion. We're honored to have both of you here. And I hope that we have encouraged some people to get more involved in civic life and even take it to the next level and consider running for office. So thanks again.

And with that, I'm going to turn over with one final note. Our colleagues at the Travelers Institute have two great webinar programs in July.

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Text, Wednesdays with Woodward (registered trademark) Webinar series. Upcoming Programs: Webinars. July 12, Independent Agents: The Trusted Choice. July 19, Global Hotspots and Geopolitical Risks with Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper. Register, Travelers Institute dot org.

(SPEECH)
On July 12, the CEO of Trusted Choice, Chip Bacciocco, will join Travelers Senior Vice President Sean Ramalho for a discussion on the role of independent insurance today and the changing marketing they operate in.

And on July 9, former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper will join for a discussion of global geopolitical risks and what they mean for your business. And thank you for joining us today for anybody that's still here. James, if you can humor me, I'd love to close out with a video that we have from Citizen Travelers that showcases exactly what we've been talking about today. So thank you, and hope to see you again in our series of civic conversations.

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(DESCRIPTION)
Logo, Citizen Travelers. Text, Supporting our schools.

Middletown, Connecticut. Images appear of a middle school. A black woman in business attire appears. Text, Deborah, Product Manager. Claim Auto Product Development. Travelers.

(SPEECH)
DEBORAH: My name is Deborah, and I'm currently serving as the chair of the Middletown Board of Education. I had two people contact me and said, there's going to be some seats open for the Board of Ed. And I said, I'm not a politician, so I don't think that would be the right thing for me to do.

So one of the callers actually called my mentor. She called me and said, Deb, I think this is a great opportunity for you to expand your horizons. I decided this is really something that I should do.

I really commend Travelers because I've worked with great people who have been understanding of my position on the board. I carry on that same leadership skill that I have received from my managers. They work to build me up. That's what I receive from Travelers-- great management, sowing the seed of success into their workers. And then I myself take that and apply it to the Board of Education.

The process of building Beman Middle School was quite-- I would say challenging. The school was starting to be built when the pandemic happened. So not only are you worried about the safety of the workers, making sure no one contracted COVID, but you also-- there was, like, a halt on steel at one time.

So people are starting to see different things shift in Middletown. If someone at Travelers was seeking to run for office, I would say, go for it. At Travelers, they're reaching out. They're helping schools in the community. They're always adamant about giving back to the community, and it really means a lot to me as a person that also likes to give and serve the community.

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Text, Citizen Travelers. To learn more visit travelers dot com slash Citizen Travelers. Citizen Travelers is a non-partisan initiative to empower Travelers employees to take part in the civic life of their communities. The Travelers Indemnity Company. All rights reserved. Travelers and the Travelers Umbrella logo are registered trademarks of The Travelers Indemnity Company in the U.S. and other countries.

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(DESCRIPTION)
Citizen Travelers at the Travelers Institute. A series on civic engagement.