Hi everyone! My name is Kennedy Smith, I am a recent graduate from The Ohio State University. My degree is a B. A in Political Science with a specialization in Inequality and Justice following a minor in African American African Studies. This summer, I am working with The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio!

Before my first day, I had engaged in many email exchanges, calls, and an event with the team at The Women’s Fund which made me even more excited to get started. I attended their annual Keyholder event featuring one or more speakers who share their art, thoughts, and experiences within their respective spaces. The speaker’s contributions in Keyholder further feed into opening up space for new perspectives to be heard. The Women’s Fund core mission is centered around intersectionality. Intersectionality references the interconnectedness between an individual’s various identities that translate into how those intersecting identities influence one’s experiences and perceptions of the world. The Keyholder speaker, Joy Harjo a three-time U.S. poet Laureate featured Maggie Smith, a local author. Both speakers discussed how their identity as women impacted how their work was received and created. The core of the conversation rested in the sentiments that our various identities are assets, feeding into the spaces we interact with. Attending Keyholder furthered my excitement to work with The Women’s Fund through this Fellowship.

On my first day, I was warmly greeted by each member of the team upon arrival. The office is only 7 minutes away from me which is awesome! Drew, the Director of Fundraising, gave me a tour of the office and set me up with a computer and desk. We went over some projects I would be involved in this summer, which includes a research project on accelerating and decelerating factors of wealth and some donor communications. Each project will give me great insight into various aspects of non-profit work. Upon starting this fellowship I wanted a holistic view of roles in non-profit organizations, giving me a greater perspective of what to pursue post-fellowship. Drew offered some great insights on fundraising while discussing his background in non-profit organizations. He discussed some personal experiences he’s had and spoke about how organizations differ depending on the city its based in. Later on that day, Drew organized a lunch where I was able to connect with Maddy, the Research and Advocacy Manager, and Drew even more over some delicious Brassica.

After the first day’s run down I began diving into some more focused research about the Women’s Fund to further understand the mission and ways in which the organization operates. This research will be especially helpful for my second project which is centered around donors. In addition, I began setting up meetings with all the team to connect with them to learn more about their background within the non-profit sectors. Having meetings with everyone gives me a much better scope on everyone’s role and how I might be able to support them with the projects as the summer progresses.

As expected, I was nervous for nothing and was so kindly welcomed by the team at The Women’s Fund. I am looking forward to growing stronger connections with the team and getting into the core of the projects in motion!

See y’all in the next one!

Kennedy Smith