Portsmouth host
Noelle Grattan
Reframing stereotypes while advancing gender equality.
For the past twelve years, I have grown deeply into a movement I never expected I would be a part of. I have grown to understand what gender equality represents – not just intellectually, but in a deeply personal and deeply profound way. At 51 – as a never married single mother and an entrepreneur running two businesses for 25 years – I live in the middle of today’s shifting gender stereotypes, and in the middle of a movement that is reinventing itself with each passing decade.
About the speaker

I am not your feminist.
Reframing stereotypes while advancing gender equality.
For the past twelve years, I have grown deeply into a movement I never expected I would be a part of. I have grown to understand what gender equality represents – not just intellectually, but in a deeply personal and deeply profound way. At 51 – as a never married single mother and an entrepreneur running two businesses for 25 years – I live in the middle of today’s shifting gender stereotypes, and in the middle of a movement that is reinventing itself with each passing decade.
Mary Johanna Brown is Founder and President of Brown & Company Design, a strategic design firm established in 1992, and Big Brown Books, a publishing company established in 1997. As an active volunteer, Mary Jo has served on several New Hampshire nonprofit boards and is engaged in many community activities throughout the Granite State. Currently she chairs the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation, a merger born in October 2014 from the New Hampshire Women’s Initiative & the Women’s Fund of New Hampshire. Mary Jo was named to New Hampshire Magazine’s “Remarkable Women” list in 2009 and to Business New Hampshire Magazine’s “Influencer Index” in 2014. She enjoys traveling, singing, and gardening with her twelve-year-old daughter Haley.
You can find Mary Jo here:
Favorite quotes from this talk See all
“We learn about ourselves by not only what we say 'yes' to, but what we say 'no' to. — Mary Johanna Brown
“I want us to think about paternity leave as well as maternity leave. I was us to make sure that the guy that's pushing the stroller to the playground does not feel alienated or stereotyped, as well as the woman who attends the boardroom meeting. — Mary Johanna Brown
“What I've been struck with in this work, is that for a movement that's about breaking down stereotypes, it seems like there are whole lot of stereotypes, assumptions and labels. — Mary Johanna Brown
“My desire to have economic security and independence probably played a bigger role than I even realized in starting my business. — Mary Johanna Brown
“"I only took this leadership role, this is very classic in the political world and in the business world, because people asked me to and talked me into thinking I could do it not because I assumed I could ... And so they did. Three wise women sat me down and said 'you can do this'." — Mary Johanna Brown
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