Now you're in New York...

Moved into my new apartment yesterday (thanks, JJ!). It’s in a great location, in the heart of Park Slope, Brooklyn. I wanted to be here mainly so I could be close to my sister, who’s a few short blocks away, and for the relatively easy commute (not to mention, more affordable rent!). I share the space with two other girls, both NYU Law students, who both seem very nice. One thing I was not prepared for: the size of the apartment. My room is lovely and thankfully, fits all of my belongings (read: clothes, books and shoes), but the living space/kitchen is quite small (and I love to cook). It will take some getting used to—I have definitely been spoiled by my wonderfully spacious Porter Square apartment.

My first day at Catalyst was today and I was pleasantly surprised to find some familiar names—mainly, professors, researchers and writers with whom I’ve become familiar over the past year. Catalyst runs a daily service called “Daily News,” which compiles all of the gender-relevant media of the day. It was great to see my former professor Barbara Kellerman’s piece on the list. What was not so pleasant was reading the comments afterwards. It is disheartening to read comments about how the real problem is women getting to too many management positions or how there’s really no problem at all, women and men are just different. Frustrating—and one of the things Catalyst is working to change.

For now, no big projects to report, as today was spent mostly in orientations and getting to meet people around the office. There’s a big project due this week that is allowing for a “all-hands-on-deck” that will afford some visibility into some of the larger project goals for the summer. I’m hoping to really dig into some substantive work this summer and to get a better understanding of how not only the private sector works, but how we can mainstream gender and gender-aware practices into organizational culture.