CWC speakers urge CGA students to lift each other, empower one another

Three women speaking at the annual Culver Women’s Celebration urged students at the girls boarding school to support and empower each other to become the strongest versions of themselves.

Haley Swindal ’04, a Broadway actress and Tony-nominated producer, Dr. Cory Martinson, an Indianapolis pediatrician and chair of the Riley Children’s Foundation board of governors, and Sara Friedberg, the lodging and operations manager at Telluride Science and Innovation Center, spoke to CGA students on Wednesday about the need for women to support one another.

Swindal told the girls that reflecting on this year’s CWC theme, “Shoulder to Shoulder, Rise Together, Stronger Forever,” she couldn’t help but think of the relationships she built at Culver that have carried her throughout her career and life.

“Surround yourself with people who lift you up,” she said. “These are the people who will make you feel the most you. These are your anchors in life. They’re also fun to work with, if you get the chance.”

She told the students how she had the opportunity last year to be one of the producers of the Alicia Keys’ semi-autobiographical musical “Hell’s Kitchen” on Broadway.

Swindal said she almost turned the opportunity down because she had just two weeks to raise $1 million. She said her best friend, Dominique Sharpton, told her: “Are you insane? You’re Haley Swindal. You can do this!”

“In that moment, I had two choices. I could be crippled by fear or adopt the mindset that failure was not possible. Dominique and I ended up doing the show together. We raised the money in one week. And we earned our first Tony nomination,” Swindal said. “My point is, sometimes all you need is a kick in the butt from your best friend.”

Swindal said another key thing is to lean on others who know more than you. She said she does that in her job as ambassador of community relations for the New Yankees, where she’s co-chair of the “Welcome Home Dinner,” the team’s annual fundraiser. Her grandfather, George Steinbrenner ’48, was the longtime owner of the Yankees. Swindal said she’s fortunate to have a mentor who is the senior vice president of marketing who has been with the team for 40 years.

 

 

“Embracing my vulnerability and admitting what I don’t know has helped me grow as a team member. Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” she said. “People want to share their knowledge.”

She also told the CGA students that when they empower others, they empower themselves.

“Your legacy is told by those who come behind you,” she said.

Martinson talked about how the all-female executive staff of the Riley Children’s Foundation have helped build her confidence to speak in front of large groups, giving her affirmation that she is not just capable, but that she also has important messages to convey.

“We can do hard things, and we can push each other to do hard things,” Martinson said. “My message to you is this: don’t just push yourself to try new and hard things – push and support each other to do them. How many of you feel better or braver when someone else acknowledges your fear, shares your fear or encourages you?”

Martinson also suggested . Instead, they should view working with another woman as an opportunity for growth and connection.

“We need to admire one another and vocally support one another, rather than quietly measuring ourselves against others. I think we also shut down opportunities when we try to measure ourselves against others not engaging and thus losing out on friendships and learning opportunities,” she said.

Martinson recalled wondering after taking part in a Zoom call with the other two CWC speakers how she would measure up to themthat women shouldn’t waste their time comparing themselves to other women.

“I then realized how excited I was to meet these incredible women, to hear their stories and to learn from them,” she said. “When we compare ourselves and self-doubt we have so much to lose. Instead, open yourself up more to learning about and supporting one another and be vocal about it.”

Martinson told the students that when they leave CGA they should seek out women they admire.

“Let them know you admire them and why and support younger women in their academics and careers. A true leader builds up the people around them and you can’t do that without out loud vocal acknowledgement and support,” she said.

 

 

Friedberg, the older sister of Ti Sante ’25, told the girls of her unconventional upbringing, being raised by a single mother, Mary Friedberg. Friedberg said she was born in an inflatable hot tub in a yurt deep in the woods during a snowstorm surrounded by a midwife and five of her mother’s closest friends.

“So from the very start, I entered this world being supported by women supporting women,” she said.

Friedberg said she didn’t live in a house with running water until she was 14 years old. But she grew up with a treehouse with a zipline and often slept on a trampoline looking up at the stars during summer nights.

“It turns out that when you’re happy and healthy, life doesn’t have to look the same way it does to other people,” Friedberg said. “My mom had a way of making everyone feel seen and heard and she made everyone feel special.”

Friedberg said her mother, who had previously survived breast cancer, had a relapse eight years later and died when Friedberg was 17 and a senior in high school.

Friedberg said she suddenly had to figure out where she and her little brother were going to live. She said the Santes, whom she had baby sat for, volunteered to take them in.

“To this day, they have been the most amazing family I could have ever asked for,” she said.

Friedberg said that’s why she always looks at the positives in life, and encourages others to understand the hard times in life but to train themselves to appreciate the positive aspects of life.

“When you consciously look for that joy, it starts to outshine everything else,” she said. “The more joy and gratitude you put into the world, the more it will come back at you.”

She said she frequently finds herself at a paradox where she feels overwhelming gratitude for the family that took her in while also feeling an aching sadness of not being able to share that joy with her mother.

“The only way I can make sense of these feelings is to stand by the belief that everything happens for a reason,” she said.

Six months after her mother died, she started studying geology and earth science at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where she found an incredible group of friends.

“One of the biggest things I learned is that I am such a girls’ girl. I love being a cheerleader to my friends,” she said. “I love lifting them up, celebrating their wins and encouraging them to be the best versions of themselves.”

Friedberg said when women do that it creates a ripple effect and causes other women to do the same thing.

“What can be more beautiful than women building each other up?” she said.

She said she was honored recently when a friend told her she was her “safe space.”

“More than anything, I want to be a woman who makes other women feel safe -- safe to be silly, safe to be confident, safe to be completely themselves. Because that’s exactly what I try to do every day.”