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Honor Women’s History By Championing The Heroes In Your Organization March is Women’s History Month, a time to acknowledge all the contributions women have made to American history. If you visit www.womenshistorymonth. gov, you’ll see photos of female heroes as we traditionally envision them: Billie Holiday, whose voice shaped popular music; suffragettes picketing for equal voting rights in 1917. You’ll also see photos of women living everyday life: assembling the engine cowling of a WWII bomber; working at a cotton mill in Georgia while pregnant; doing their best to thrive after being placed in an internment camp merely for being JapaneseAmerican. These are the heroes I celebrate when I think about women’s history. They are people I know, like my mom or my gram, who supported her family after her husband died; women who have faced a challenge and overcame it. As the first female director at the newly formed PSEG Long Island, I have done my best over the past eight years to honor the example set by these heroes by helping more women reach leadership positions and achieve their true potential. In so doing, I hope to emulate one of my earliest heroes: my sixth-grade teacher in North Babylon. She was an extremely strong, confident, independent
Suzanne Brienza (Photo courtesy of PSEG Long Island)
woman who believed in her students. She made sure you knew that you could accomplish anything. My professional path brought me together with more heroes, women who overcame sometimes life-threatening challenges. After getting my undergraduate degree at Hofstra, I obtained a law degree from Touro and spent several years representing women who were victims of domestic violence. One individual had been beaten by her husband in front of her preschool-aged child. After that traumatic experience, she had the courage to stand up to him in court, move out of state and get the career she wanted, all the while knowing the violence she risked. To me, she’s a hero
because she had the courage and strength to do better for herself and her child. After practicing law for 12 years, I took a chance and accepted a position as a collections supervisor at PSEG Long Island’s predecessor company. As a working mother, I appreciated the more favorable work-life balance of a career away from the courtroom. Time passed, and I was promoted to manager. When PSEG Long Island was formed, I was chosen as director of Revenue Operations—and became the very first woman to hold a director-level role in the new company. I never felt the weight of being the first, because it was never about me—it was about pulling other women up with me and I made it my mission to champion high-potential women for leadership positions. Fortunately, PSEG Long Island has been fantastic with their support of women. They offer a number of development programs for women. I have had opportunities to be able to transition into three different director roles and that’s been invaluable. Today, I am proud to be one of five women directors working to make things better for our 1.1 million customers. Women’s history is defined by strength, courage and mutual support. The nation we have
PARENTING PLUS
Dr. Nellie Taylor-Walthrust their child and throughout the first year of the child’s life with support, counseling and advocacy. Through our Diane Goldberg Maternal Depression Program,
we provide a rapid response and diagnosis for mothers suffering from postpartum depression and other perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, which are estimated to impact one in seven women. As part of our educational and advocacy work, the Guidance Center partnered with Hofstra University’s Public Health Program, School of Health Science and Human Services to create Birth Justice Warriors, an initiative born out of the crippling bias and injustice faced by Black mothers in the United States in general and in Nassau County in particular. According to the New York State Department of Health, a Black woman is up to four times more likely to die in childbirth than a white mother. In Nassau County,
Publishers of Glen Cove/Oyster Bay Record Pilot Great Neck Record Manhasset Press Nassau Illustrated News Port Washington News Syosset-Jericho Tribune The Nassau Observer The Roslyn News Editor and Publisher Angela Susan Anton President Frank A. Virga Vice President of Operations Iris Picone
today is the product of heroes like the women I have known, who found that strength to overcome. And to the women who will help build the nation of tomorrow: I encourage you to take chances, to never think you don’t have enough skills or abilities to try something new. (If you’re interested in joining us at PSEG Long Island, you can browse our latest job openings at https://jobs. pseg.com/LI.) Blaze a trail for yourself—and then don’t forget to bring other women up behind you. Do that, and our nation will never run short of heroes. Suzanne Brienza is PSEG Long Island’s director of Customer Experience and Utility Marketing. She lives in Farmingdale.
Supporting The Well-Being Of All Mothers And Babies At the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, our mission is to bring hope and healing to children and families experiencing depression, anxiety and other challenges. Although we are a children’s mental health organization, we know that emotional well-being and physical health are inexorably tied, each deeply impacting the other. The Guidance Center has several programs that promote the health of mothers and children. One is our Good Beginnings for Babies program, which aims to promote healthier pregnancies that will result in healthier babies and to nurture relationships between parent and child. Good Beginnings for Babies supports teen and young adult mothers prior to the birth of
Karl V. Anton, Jr., Publisher, Anton Community Newspapers, 1984-2000
the infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births is 9.4 for Black babies versus the 2.2 reported for white non-Hispanic babies. Birth Justice Warriors are volunteer advocates from many professions and backgrounds, working with community members, pediatricians, nurses, health care professionals, elected officials, members of faith-based institutions and others to bring education and awareness to this inequality. Ultimately, one of Birth Justice Warriors’ goals is to have legislation written that guarantees that this crucial information is delivered to all women of child-bearing age. In late January, I joined with Dr.
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