Photos: 261 Fearless Game-Changing Women Panel Discussion
Check out scenes from the March 8, 2018, event at the Mandarin Oriental.
On Thursday, March 8, 2018, Five 261 Fearless Game-Changing Women gathered at the Mandarin Oriental on March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day by sharing their stories with invited guests and viewers worldwide via a livestream. Opening remarks for the panel were presented by Maura Healy, Attorney General of Massachusetts, and the five panelists included Katherine Switzer, founder of 261 Fearless and the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon; Ayanna Pressley, the first woman of color elected to the Boston City Council; Joann Flaminio, the first female president of the Boston Athletic Association, Elizabeth Perry Tirrell, the first Vice President of Athletics for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association; and Zahra Arabzada, founder of “The Hijabi Runner” blog. The five women, all of whom have overcome gender barriers, prejudice and stereotypes of limitation, shared their stories about the spark that ignited their fearlessness and made them the leaders they are.
Photos by Melissa Ostrow
Kathrine Switzer with the famous bib she wore in 1967 when she became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon
Ayanna Pressley, the first woman of color elected to the Boston City Council, stating, “I don’t think that warrior women are even aware that they’re warriors”
Joann Flaminio, the first woman president of the Boston Athletic Association in its 131-year history, offers a favorite quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
The audience of invited guests at the Mandarin Oriental Boston
Kathrine Switzer explaining that the game-changing decision in her life wasn’t to run the 1967 Boston Marathon, but rather to finish it after the race director tried and failed to throw her off the course
Elizabeth Perry Tirrell, the first Vice President of Athletics for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, describes her next revolution as making Boston the healthiest city in the country
Joann Flaminio says that while luck played a role in her ascending to the BAA’s presidency, so did preparation: She put herself in a position to be ready when an opportunity came along
Raised in Afghanistan, Zahra Arabzada says the most fearless choice she ever made was to leave her homeland to attend school in the U.S
Jeanette Hsu-McSweeney and Mary Folliard
261 Fearless Club Director Deborah Mills, far left, and CEO Edith Zuschmann, far right, along with the evening’s panelists
