Colleen O’Gorman is from San Antonio, Texas. At Princeton, she majored in Politics with certificates in Values & Public Life and Gender & Sexuality Studies. She is passionate about gender equality and ending sexual violence. Colleen has worked extensively to address interpersonal violence, both at Princeton and at the national policy level. She is excited to work towards addressing the gender gap in politics and civic engagement as the Community Manager at All In Together. After completing her Project 55 Fellowship, Colleen hopes to attend law school.
On October 5, 2017, The New York Times was the first media outlet to publish details of the sexual harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein. And just under a month later, All In Together launched the Gretchen Carlson Leadership Initiative (GCLI): a yearlong program that brings civic leadership and advocacy training to thousands of underserved women across the country, with a special focus on empowering women who have experienced gender-based violence, discrimination, or harassment. As my team travels across the country for this program, I’m constantly reminded by participants and supporters of the timeliness of our initiative. Women are feeling inspired to speak up within the #MeToo movement, and All In Together is providing them with the tools to raise their voices.
While I am energized by the current reckoning around issues of gender-based violence, working to develop and execute GCLI at this particular moment has been especially humbling. GCLI was not a response to the #MeToo movement—the timeline stretches back well into the summer. When I started my Fellowship as the Community Manager at All In Together in June, we had just received a generous grant from Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor whose 2016 sexual harassment case brought down Roger Ailes, one of the most powerful men in media. My job was pretty straightforward: to help transform a PowerPoint pitch into a real program. I was particularly excited about this opportunity to shape a program affecting an issue I already cared so deeply about. (I was very involved in activism against interpersonal violence throughout my time at Princeton, and I wrote my thesis about the Brock Turner sexual assault case.) As I worked to develop content and connect with domestic violence organizations across the country, I was grateful to leverage my expertise and passion every day at work.
That the launch of GCLI lined up so well with #MeToo was incredibly lucky—but not entirely coincidental. That is the team at All In Together firmly believes that it is imperative to listen and lift up the voices of women in the civic space in order for our democracy to function. And, as we’ve all learned in recent months, it is by listening to the stories of victims and survivors of sexual harassment and assault that we can begin to understand the depth of the problem. All In Together was only ready for this historic moment because, as an organization, we have made it a priority to listen to those we hope to serve. It is by treating women as experts on their own experience that we can transform the #MeToo movement into lasting change, and I am so excited to have been included in creating that change at All In Together.
The Leading Edge 