SHELeads educates, mentors, inspires and empowers women

Regardless of what side of the aisle you sit on, it’s always great to see folks broadening the tent when it comes to political diversity and inclusion. It’s even better when those folks are involved in educating and mentoring the next generation of political and business leaders.

While the Republican Party has had a reputation as a bastion of male-oriented politics, it has over the past 10 years done more to revive political interest among women, especially at the local level. Indeed, we are starting to see more female conservative candidates than ever before.

It’s not by accident. And we have organizations like SHELeads Cincinnati to thank. Founded in 2016 by a group of 10 or so women, SHELeads is dedicated to developing Republican and conservative leaders.

Just to be sure, Cincy Magazine does not officially support any one political party over another. We try to go straight up the middle when it comes to politics. But when we see an organization like SHELeads and what they are doing to develop leaders in politics and business, we just can’t sit idly by.

“It all started when a group of Republican Women from Hamilton County were discussing the pipeline for candidates,” says Diane Cunningham Redden, who is the current president of SHELeads. “It seemed like the pipeline for men in our party had been established for decades.

“So we felt like we needed to establish something for women because we wouldn’t always hear about something coming up. And afterward we would say, ‘She would have been great for that position. Why wasn’t she asked or considered?’ Well, the reason she wasn’t asked or considered was because party insiders, the political hierarchy, weren’t even aware that she was interested.”

“A group of us saw a number of elected and leadership positions that were open and there weren’t any women applying,” adds Nan Kohnen Cahall, a founding member of the organization, who serves as Southwest District director for United States Senator Rob Portman. “At the same time, we knew that there were very good strong leaders in the community—women who happened to be Republican and conservative.

“So we decided to join together as a group and engage women—taking the stigma out of politics and at the same time raising awareness among members of our party, both men and women, that there were very good women who were available to run for office.”

“We don’t want to say anything bad about our male counterparts,” says another founding member Kristie Dukes Davis, who currently serves as chief of Mediation Services at Hamilton County Juvenile Court and vice president of the Springfield Township Board of Trustees. “We just felt that women needed to support women. So we banded together to create an organization with the goal of educating, mentoring and encouraging women to seek higher political office.”

In addition to politics, SHELeads also advocates on behalf of women who might be seeking political appointments or being named to local boards of directors. Right now, the group has about 150 members, says Redden, but those members all have good connections as well as leadership experience. Members range in age from 18 to 85, and can be any gender or sexual preference. In fact, SHELeads has male members who regularly attend its meetings and programs.

“We also receive a lot of support from men both financially and as instructors,” says Redden.

However, you do have to be Republican.

“Like most Republicans, we are not anti-anything,” Redden adds. “We have a very large tent that includes any race, ethnicity or preference.”

Dues are only $20 annually, but the group will also require some sort of nominal fee to attend one of its mentoring or educational workshops, which happen anywhere between four and six times a year.

“But that fee is only so we break even on the event,” Redden says. “We also want our attendees to have some sort of skin in the game so they attend, and we usually offer some sort of light bite with the event.”

Make no bones about it, this is not a typical business club where women are spoken to by speakers, says Redden, who is a graduate of the renowned Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute.

“Our events are very interactive,” she says. “It’s very much a workshop setting. There is a lot of work before and after our events, as well as plenty of follow up.”

While topics at SHELeads meetings include political advice, such as how to raise money, how to run an effective campaign, how to get endorsed by the local chapter of the Republican Party and how to avoid pitfalls when initiating a campaign, “like starting to spend money before you file a designation for a treasurer, which is a big pitfall,” says Redden, “we also offer speakers on topics such as public speaking and we recently held an event where a stylist spoke about how to look professional and professional looking clothing.”

But don’t topics like the latter two actually help women in business as well as politics?

“Absolutely they do,” adds Redden, who serves on the Library Board of Trustees for Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library. “While we’re all about getting women into open positions, it’s not just about politics, but also appointments to boards and commissions. There are a lot of opportunities when board positions open up and we have had a lot of success getting SHELeads members appointed to boards.”

However, a lot of the mentoring and education session offered to women also empowers them to move up more quickly in terms of business leadership, Redden admits.

“We’re not focused just on politics, but leadership in general,” she adds.

Civic and political leadership also can greatly advance a professional career.

“For many women, political involvement is a mystery and a little scary because it has been dominated by men,” says Davis. “If we can provide women with a network of support and mentorship, they have a better opportunity to engage in public policy and civic leadership. Public policy and being engaged in civic leadership are very rewarding.

“But it is also very necessary for good strong people to engage because we are only as good as the people who are leading our communities. That’s why it is really important to get a wide range of representation in elected office.”