What People Say

The Center for New Words created WAM! out of a belief that a genuine progressive social movement will grow not from the top down, but from networks of women who reinforce each others’ ideas, swap information, exchange strategies, and inform and inspire one another.

WAM! emphasizes skill-building for direct results; it closes the gap between activists and the mainstream; it results in measurable forward momentum; it invigorates thoughtful discussion of public policy. After five years of increased energy, momentum, and size, WAM! has successfully created a progressive feminist infrastructure that functions year-round to promote contact, professional friendships, mentorship for students, and a community that shares a deep passion to amplify progressive women’s voices and ideas in the public discussion, in every type of media.

It is a community that cares about transforming our society.

To view a WAM!2007 slideshow taken by WAM! photographer Anh Dao Kolbe, click here.

WAM!2007 was an amazing weekend of conversation & change—and the buzz is growing. Check out the press coverage of the conference here.

Keep up-to-date with Facts and Figures on Women in the Media and WAMmer’s Websites.

And on a more personal note.…here’s the word from our attendees and presenters:

“The WAM conference, in retrospect, was absolutely essential for me to continue to expand my resources and skill sets. It was an amazing weekend, finding myself in the middle of hundreds of a community of women who shared experiences similar to mine, yet whose voices were so distinct and diverse. Especially as a freelance person living the independent-contractor lifestyle, WAM has become a crucial support and resource structure for me, and I’m recommending the conference to numerous colleagues and clients. Thank you, WAM!”
- Deanna Zandt, media technologist and consultant

“Participating in WAM for the first time was a truly invaluable experience. I made great connections, developed collaborations with other groups, and left feeling inspired. As a relative newcomer to media work, WAM served as the perfect forum to garner attention for feministing.com while forging connections for the future development for my site. WAM not only gives young women a chance to work and strategize with each other and seasoned media professionals—the conference also provides a much-needed support network for women in the media. I can’t say enough about it.”
-Jessica Valenti, Feministing.com

“WAM! was one of the best conferences I’ve been to in a long time… It brought together women who are political and progressive, and women who are working journalists. It engaged with the media instead of just sniping at it from the margins, taking the attitude that change can be made. It was especially useful for me as an editor who makes it a priority to cultivate women’s voices; I connected with people there whom I might not have otherwise.”
-Betsy Reed, senior editor, The Nation

“The connections we made at WAM! weren’t limited to that weekend. Conversations that began during keynotes were fleshed out in break-out sessions, continued informally in small groups that talked well past midnight, and, most important, kept going on the listserv and in professional, academic, and personal projects and alliances, weeks and months later.”
- Jennifer Pozner, founder/director, Women In Media & News (WIMN)

“The WAM! conference inspires, invigorates, provokes and reminds us of the power of women, both individually and collectively. It is that rare place in which women can talk, laugh, disagree, commiserate, strategize and, most importantly, build community. I do not intend to miss one!”
- Jill Nelson, journalist and author (Volunteer Slavery, Finding Martha’s Vineyard)

“We recently began carrying Mikhaela’s cartoons! Just one of the many great things to come out of WAM!. Working out here in the fly-over zone it was wonderful and heartening to me so many smart, dedicated women involved in so many aspects of the media.”
- J. Trout Lowe, editor, Minnesota Women’s Press

“I attended the first WAM! because I was working in mainstream media at Teen Vogue and looking to make more connections with feminists. I met feminist editors I have continued to keep in touch with, and one of them introduced me to writer with whom I’m now co-writing a book for Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux. (A book, in part, about the way Sassy Magazine brought feminist to a generation of teen girls). I was thrilled to attend the second WAM. For me, WAM! is a chance for women in the mainstream media and feminist media to cross-pollinate and figure out ways to work together.”
- Kara Jesella

“WAM! participants and presenters are warm, enthusiastic, open, and most impressively, accessible. WAM! did not feel at all cliquey or hierarchical (even to a first-timer who is not employed in the media, like me). I learned concrete skills and made great connections. Thank you, WAM!”
- Emily Douglas, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders