Fearless 10.23.23

Good morning, Fearless readers:

This is my favorite time of the year to read outside, preferably at Big Creek State Park. I have reached the age and stage of life where I’m suddenly very into fall foliage.

What is your favorite book to read outside in the autumn? For me, it’s a tie between “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery and “Little Witch” by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. I'm all about nurturing my inner child these days. How about you, Fearless friends?

In this week’s e-newsletter, you will find:

A sneak peek at the annual Fearless celebration, which will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on Nov. 1. Our 2023 special edition of the Business Record featuring six Fearless women publishes on Oct. 27 and will be available at the event. Three of the women will speak at our celebration event: Heidi Ernst of Marshalltown, Abigail Johnson of Blue Grass, and Monique Scarlett of Sioux City.
An in-depth story about Heidi Kuhn, who was in a minefield in Azerbaijan when she learned she had won this year’s World Food Prize.
In the headlines: Dana James of Black Iowa News is publishing a series of three stories this month about the challenges faced by pregnant, birthing and postpartum Black people in Iowa.
A break from the news: ‘Everyone is an artist’ + two more ideas from Liz Lidgett, founder of Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design.
Lots more!

– Nicole Grundmeier, Business Record staff writer

To celebrate Fearless, the Business Record’s initiative to empower Iowa women to succeed in work and life, a lineup of inspiring women will share their stories of fearlessness and courage. Learn a little about the inspiring speakers:

Heidi Ernst is a 74-year-old physical therapist who has long believed in practicing what she preaches to patients and has done powerlifting, swimming and scuba diving. After her 524th dive on June 7 in the Bahamas, a shark attacked her as she was climbing the boat ladder after completing the dive. She had to have her left leg amputated below the knee at a trauma center in Miami. She lives in Marshalltown.

A quote from Ernst: It’s a shame that with all the hype in the media about shark bites, including what happened to me, that people will have these fears about doing something like scuba diving or snorkeling. Sharks are not out to eat people; their diet does not constitute human flesh. Yeah, great whites have eaten people, but primarily their diet consists of fish. Caribbean reef sharks definitely don’t like people. The shark that bit me, who knows what it thought my leg was?

Abigail Johnson is the founder and CEO of Veterans Tech Support, which offers classes in technology basics to military veterans in eastern Iowa. Johnson started the nonprofit in 2021, when she was 14 years old. Two years ago, Johnson saw a need to help older veterans gain computer skills and realized that she could do something about it. A grant helped get Veterans Tech Support off the ground, and now classes are offered regularly in the Scott County area. Johnson lives in Blue Grass, Iowa, just west of the Quad Cities. Now 16, Johnson has plans for Veterans Tech Support to grow, and she’s looking ahead toward the next moves in her own education and professional careers.

A quote from Johnson: My hope for the future of Veterans Tech Support is being able to spread this nationwide. Obviously, veterans struggling with technology is not a centralized problem. It’s everywhere. I have plenty of places interested, whether they’re in Iowa, Illinois, Georgia – Georgia is interested! I went to the American Legion National Convention in North Carolina because I won the American Legion Auxiliary National Junior Member of the Year, and I ended up being able to talk about Veterans Tech Support myself in front of 1,500 people, which is slightly terrifying.

Monique Scarlett founded Unity in the Community in Sioux City after the slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012. Scarlett has a son, Xavier, and she wanted to do whatever she could to keep him – and everyone – in the community safe. Unity in the Community has a close, ongoing relationship with the Sioux City Police Department and other law enforcement. Scarlett’s goal is to make Sioux City a welcoming, safe and empowering community for everyone – and her dreams aren’t small. In September, Scarlett was one of several partners who came together to host Deaf Awareness Night at a football game. The play-by-play of the big Sioux City North versus Sioux City East game was signed by an ASL interpreter. Scarlett, 56, works full time at U.S. Bank in addition to leading Unity in the Community, which is a nonprofit.

A quote from Scarlett: Once we did that peace march, it was community coming together, a diverse community: officers, people from the sheriff’s office, Back the Blue, all of it. We all came together. We marched around the block, around the police station, and then at the end, we all held hands. We prayed together as people.

Event attendees will be seated at a table with female leaders, including some of our past Women of Influence honorees, who will lead powerful discussions to share perspectives and insights on succeeding in work and life. Attendees will build additional connections with leaders and other participants as they rotate to different tables throughout the event. Our annual Fearless publication in the Business Record will also be available. All three of the speakers, plus three other Fearless Iowa women, will be profiled in-depth in the Oct. 27 edition of the Business Record.

As part of our Fearless core values, this event will create an atmosphere where everyone has a seat and voice at the table. This interaction will give you not only a chance to learn from others’ experiences and engage in topics facing women in the workplace, but you’ll also have the opportunity to develop and deepen your relationships with women across the state.

Fearless launched two years ago and it has been our privilege to report on gender issues in our weekly specialty e-newsletter and in the Business Record. Countless folks have told us their stories. In doing so, we’ve sought to raise up women and gender diverse folks in our state. That is worth celebrating! We hope you’ll consider attending and sharing information about this event with your friends and colleagues.

Event details: Wednesday, Nov. 1 | 10 a.m. to noon | Des Moines Marriott | Register

Heidi Kuhn was in a minefield in Azerbaijan when she learned she had won this year’s World Food Prize.

It was a fitting location since this year’s World Food Prize laureate is being recognized for the work she and her foundation, Roots of Peace, are doing to remove land mines in conflict-ravaged areas and restore that land for agricultural production.

The Des Moines-based World Food Prize Foundation announced Kuhn’s selection during a ceremony last spring at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Kuhn will officially accept the prize, which includes $250,000, during a ceremony at the Capitol in Des Moines on Thursday, Oct. 26. The ceremony closes out the weeklong event that brings together scientists, agriculture industry leaders and government officials from around the world to discuss hunger and strategies to combat global food insecurity.

The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work to improve the world’s food supply. Borlaug, a Cresco, Iowa, native who was known as the father of the “Green Revolution,” died in 2009.

Kuhn works from the Roots of Peace headquarters in an office in the basement of her home, where she has deactivated land mines as desk ornaments.

Her first fundraiser was hosted by winemaker Robert Mondavi, and along the way she has received financial support from the likes of Diane Disney Miller, the daughter of Walt Disney. Jeff Skoll, co-founder of eBay, contributed $1 million, which Kuhn said was leveraged over the years to grow to $200 million.

Kuhn also talks about her journey as a cervical cancer survivor and how that has affected her desire to do something bigger.

The Business Record sat down with Kuhn to discuss her selection as the 53rd World Food Prize laureate and the impact her work is having on people who live in areas where land is being restored to grow crops.

Here is some of what we learned about Kuhn’s journey. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity.

How did you begin your work to remove land mines?
It was a vision. It was Sept. 21, 1997, and the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco had a cancellation and they asked me if I would host this group [of about 100 people] that was doing something on land mines. It was just three weeks after Princess Diana died. It wasn’t just a princess. It was her compassion, seeing her walk through the minefields of Bosnia-Herzegovina and no one was really talking about land mines before she died. So it really just came from my heart, a toast that was made, “May the world go from mines to vines,” and you could hear a pin drop. To take that other than a beautiful, prophetic toast out of the living room of my home and into the world, that was really where the challenge started.

Please describe a challenge you have faced in your work.
This past Christmas Eve, the Taliban announced that women [in Afghanistan] could not work for an international [nongovernmental organization], and the women were frightened. I’m a founder of an internal NGO, so I immediately got on the phone through Zoom, and we decided we were going to stay there. We serve no flag. We serve the farmer. And adhering to the very strict rules of the regime, we’re not political in any way, shape or form, but when I spoke to my team [on Oct. 2], they shared with me that since February, Roots of Peace has directly worked and impacted and paid 5,000 Afghan women. Now they’re bringing kitchen gardens into their homes because they can’t leave their homes without a [man accompanying them]. But we’re bringing the fruits into their homes, and the men are supportive because they can feed their children.

Share a story of how your work has directly affected a family or individual.
One mother who was on [the Zoom call] was just in tears. She said she and her husband have six children and her husband came home one day and said they had to sell their 10-year-old daughter because they couldn’t afford to feed the other five children and themselves. So she applied and somehow got to Roots of Peace and we gave her a job. And with tears, she said she didn’t have to sell her daughter because Roots of Peace employed her. Sometimes when I stay up in the middle of the night wondering what I’m doing and this job has just gotten too hard, there’s always an angel around the corner. And the World Food Prize will allow me to have this platform to get the importance of this out there. Afghanistan is a country 80% dependent upon agriculture for jobs, yet it conversely is the most heavily mined country in the world. And today, 90% unemployment. So our business model for peace, demine, replant, rebuild, is a game changer. I believe the world can come together. And we will be pivoting from Afghanistan to another tough neighborhood, and that’s Ukraine.

What does being awarded the World Food Prize do to elevate awareness around the importance of the work done by Roots of Peace?
I have always been deeply inspired by Norman Borlaug, and I would love to have this as a springboard to lead the horticultural revolution because it gives dignity to farmers. It’s not just dropping food off as a Band-Aid and hoping it gets distributed. We are empowering the farmers with a sustainable business, a model for peace and providing food security. I think this will help raise awareness from the heartland of America to the world. When we look at Ukraine and watch with apathy, 30% of the country is being mined. The future of humanity is at risk unless we can take stock of what we have physically done to the Earth. This is a physical manifestation of the ability of humans to restore. The Earth and the soil, it forgives us. And I can say since I walked my first minefield in January 2000 in Croatia when there were 1.2 million land mines, I have seen a war-torn country go to one of the top tourist destinations in the world. If we can do that in Croatia, we can use our collective wisdom and resources to get this very expensive job of demining [done]. But then the land is cleansed and restored back to the farmers.

FIN Capital Investor Association is holding a membership event to welcome women accredited investors to join their efforts to fund startups in Iowa.

FIN Capital is a membership network of individual female angel investors in Iowa who are interested in financing privately held companies, typically in an early stage of development. The membership event is open to women in Central Iowa who are accredited investors and are interested in learning about angel investing and FIN Capital.

The event is from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Nov. 6 at Tero International, 1840 N.W. 118th St. in Clive. To RSVP to the event, email FIN Capital Executive Director Natalie Battles at info@fincapitalangels.com or call 515-471-1967.

Racism in maternity care in Iowa: Black Iowa News is publishing a series of three stories this month about the challenges faced by pregnant, birthing and postpartum Black people in Iowa. Black Iowans are six times as likely as white Iowans to die during pregnancy or within the first year of giving birth. In part one of the series, reporter Dana James explores how an increasing number of Black Iowa doulas are standing in the gap for Black birthing people who face “staggering” maternal health disparities. In part two of the series, James writes about how Black Iowa women say hospital systems failed them during their pregnancies and the births of their children. “They don’t take our pain seriously,” said Lori Young, a Des Moines mother of two and grandmother of four, who experienced preeclampsia during her pregnancy in 1987. “I don’t think white society at large even looks at us as humans.”

Fatherhood premium, motherhood penalty? What Nobel Prize economics winner’s research shows: Claudia Goldin’s recent research found that while mothers make less than non-mothers because of the reduced number of hours they work, fathers make more than non-fathers over the course of their careers. After collecting and analyzing 200 years of U.S. historical data to demonstrate how and why gender differences in earnings and employment rates have changed over time, she found that while historically, the wage gap could be explained through differences in education and occupational choices, recently, the differences among men and women in the same profession widens after the birth of the first child, according to USA Today. Goldin’s recent research has also found that while mothers make less than non-mothers because of the reduced number of hours they work, fathers make more than non-fathers over the course of their careers. Goldin says women with children enable men with children to achieve more.

Strokes are more common and serious in women. And they’re on the rise overall. Here’s how to understand your risk: In the United States, 795,000 people have a stroke every year, and about 55,000 more women than men will experience one. Women are also more likely to die from strokes compared to men. For women, the period of biological change that occurs during perimenopause and menopause is critical, according to the New York Times. Many women start to develop blood pressure issues during this transition. Experts believe this is because the hormone estrogen may help keep blood vessels relaxed and balance cholesterol levels. When the body stops producing estrogen, the incidence of stroke and other heart diseases goes up. Studies confirm this link in women who experience menopause earlier than usual. Compared with women who undergo menopause between the ages of 50 to 51, those who experience premature menopause before they turn 40, or early menopause between the ages of 40 and 44, have a 98% and 49% higher risk of stroke, respectively.

FDA plans to ban hair straighteners with formaldehyde: The Food and Drug Administration has proposed banning hair-straightening products that contain or emit formaldehyde, more than a decade after the cosmetic industry’s own experts declared the products unsafe. The products, often marketed to Black women, have been linked to an increased risk of uterine cancer, according to the New York Times. Women who use the products often face more than twice the risk of those who do not. Other studies have linked hair straighteners and dyes to breast and ovarian cancer. The agency’s scientists deemed formaldehyde to be a human carcinogen seven years ago, and its lawyers started drafting a proposed ban then.

When foster parents don’t want to give back the baby (ProPublica). Abortion bans complicate medical training, risk worsening OB/GYN shortages (Washington Post). With the ThighMaster, Suzanne Somers tapped into a collective anxiety among women (New York Times). Caitlin Clark’s triple-double highlights game at Kinnick. Women’s basketball record crowd of 55,646 shows up. (Associated Press). Mary Lou Retton crowdfunded her medical debt, like many thousands of others (New York Times). These Indigenous Mexican women are reclaiming their power through ancestral practices (NPR).

Fearless Annual Event
Nov. 1, 2023 | Des Moines Marriott Downtown
10 to 10:30 a.m., Networking | 10:30 a.m. to noon, program
Register at fearlessbr.com/events

We invite you to join us and others equally passionate about empowering Iowa women as we celebrate three years of the Business Record’s Fearless initiative. Women, gender-nonconforming individuals and male allies are all encouraged to be fearless with us.

To celebrate Fearless, a lineup of inspiring women will share their stories of fearlessness and courage. Attendees will be seated at a table with female leaders, including some of our past Women of Influence honorees, who will lead powerful discussions to share perspectives and insights on succeeding in work and life. Attendees will build additional connections with leaders and other participants as they rotate to different tables throughout the event.

As part of our Fearless core values, this event will create an atmosphere where everyone has a seat and voice at the table. This dynamic interaction will give you not only a chance to learn from others’ experiences and engage in topics facing women in the workplace, but you’ll also have the opportunity to develop and deepen your relationships with women across the state.

The Business Record hosted our annual 90 Ideas in 90 Minutes event. Here’s a little inspiration from one of the women who offered her insight at the event and in our publication: Liz Lidgett, founder of Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design. Here are a few of the ideas she wrote in this year’s publication.

Reflect your core values through art and design.
An artwork is a way for you to signal your values to a visitor or your employees without using a single word. Building an art collection created by diverse artists or local artists shows that your company values those communities. Art can also visually represent important people and ideas and reinforce core values — all without putting up another cheesy core values graphic. Where you spend your money shows your priorities and values too.

Remember that everyone is an artist. Anyone can be creative.
Creativity is both a skill and a process. It must be practiced and a muscle that needs to be developed. The only way to do this is through making time for creativity each day. Whether it’s journaling for 10 minutes every morning or taking a painting class.

If you’re stressed, head to a museum or art gallery.
Recent studies show that looking at and making art provide many health benefits. These activities can improve mental health and boost your immune system, and they speed patient recovery time and improve the productivity of hospital staff workers. Looking at art releases dopamine and endorphins and has calming effects, so head out on a walk through a museum or art gallery next time you’re feeling stressed.

See all her ideas
Watch her remarks

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