Originally published on July 07, 2006

Maria Efantis Brennan

American Women in Radio and Television
Executive Director

Maria Efantis Brennan loves what she does. With over 20 years’ experience as an advocate for workplace-equality issues on Capitol Hill, Brennan has for the last four years led the efforts of American Women in Radio and Television as Exec. Director.

A tireless individual filled with boundless optimism, Brennan claims that the happiest day of her life will be when she says, “I have to go find something else to do because our work here is done.”

Getting into the business:

“Association work is what I’ve always done. When I came out of college I had an altruistic vision of what I wanted to do, and I was never really driven by money. I’ve stayed in the nonprofit arena for over 20 years because I needed to feel compelled by what I was doing. I started out on the events side and moved into executive management as I became more interested in public policy, governance and the business side of nonprofits.

“I kind of tripped into working with womens organizations. It started with a group called the Association of Female Exhibit Managers and Conference Organizers. Then I started doing some work with the American Society of Women Accountants, the National Association of Women Business Owners and the International Alliance of Women.”

Joining AWRT:
“I started working with AWRT on events and resource development in 1998. Terry Dickerson was our Exec. Director. Then along came Jackie Duncan. We worked together for a few years, and when she left to start her own thing the board of directors asked me to apply for the position.

“It was a little bit of a shift for me because I was accustomed to being focused on fundraising and event development, but I said yes. That was four years ago. We’ve had some terrific successes over the last four years, but it takes an incredible group of dedicated leaders and staff.”

Mission of the organization:

“AWRT is a two-pronged organization. We have our member-driven organization, which is our C6, and we also have our foundation, which is our C3, our philanthropic, side. From the members’ side, our mission is focused more on membership benefits and the public-policy side. We work to increase the impact of women in electronic media and allied fields by educating, advocating and acting as a resource. It sounds simple, but there are a lot of facets to that.”

Why someone should join AWRT:
“One of the things we find is that a lot of women in the field are looking for a place where they can have a commonality that they wouldn’t find in a broad-based association. AWRT provides a niche-based benefit. Join us if you want to find some commonality in some of the issues you face as a woman in the field.

“We work hard to raise money outside of the dues model. We want to keep it affordable so people can continue to have broad-based associations but can also afford to join this niche association. For a lot of members, it’s as simple as networking and being educated or educating women in the field. They want to feel that they are part of something bigger when it comes to affecting policy and effecting change, from the grass-roots level to the public-policy arena.”

Long-term plans:

“Part of my mission when I became Exec. Director was to help lead the board through strategic planning to revamp the organization. It’s time for us to get back together and assess where we’ve come from, where we are and where we’re headed. The first 50 years of AWRT were all about reaching the electronic community. In the last five years there has been more outreach focused on our communities and our workplaces, so we’ve had more of an external presence.

“If I were to bet what the next five or 10 years will bring, it would be continuing to do the work we do to try to ensure that women are all playing on a level playing field, but at the same time I see us taking on some big philanthropic endeavors to help build stronger communities.”

Biggest challenge:

“Change is slow. Some of the things we were hoping to see happen from a legislative standpoint when I first took over are still stuck in committee. It can sometimes be frustrating and challenging, but you have to focus on the things you’re able to change in order to stay motivated.

“From a business standpoint, we still have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization, and it’s challenging when budgets are cut. It certainly affects member-based organizations like ours.”

How the foundation works:

“The foundation is a little different from AWRT because the foundation can’t do any of the lobbying or legislative work. The foundation focuses on our philanthropic endeavors, such as when we adopted needy urban middle schools across the country and we when we provided public-service announcements about great women in American history. We also spearheaded a campaign to stop sexual harassment.”

Local chapters of AWRT:

“There are 30 chapters nationwide. The chapters are able to provide hands-on, here-and-now kinds of things. A lot of them do networking events or career fairs at universities and colleges. They’re able to fan out on a local level and do things the national organization doesn’t have the bandwidth and staff to do.

“They operate autonomously, with their own set of bylaws. Many of them have their own nonprofit charters. We know what one another are doing and work within that framework. We work to ensure that we are always enhancing one another’s efforts. It’s a model that is able to give our members added layers of benefit.”

State of radio:

“Radio is ultimately going to be fine. The radio landscape is going to change, but not for the worse. We’re going to see something very similar to what we saw when the cable industry came about. Those were uncertain times, but there have been plenty of positives that have come from it. Everyone’s going to survive. We’re going to see a changing landscape, but not necessarily a landscape that leaves others behind.”

Opportunities for women:
“I hope we see opportunity for women in all the different facets of electronic media as we know them currently and what they ultimately look like. When there are new technologies or burgeoning industries, women have more of an opportunity to seek and attain positions that are higher than they would have a chance of getting in a field that’s more established. The happiest day of my life will be when I get to say, ‘I have to go find something else to do because our work here is done.’”

Something about AWRT that would surprise our readers:

“Twelve percent of our members are men. We have been around for 55 years, and in that time we’ve seen a lot of good things happen. We’ve seen a remarkable change in the number of women and minorities who hold positions. When AWRT started it was a different world, a different landscape. You could count the number of TV stations on one hand, and the number of radio stations was much smaller than what it is now.

“It would also surprise people that when you look at the statistics and the percentages, when it comes to putting women in high positions, we still fare remarkably poorly compared to other industries. This industry claims to be progressive and claims to be on the leading edge, but when it comes to women in upper-echelon positions, we’re sorely lacking.”

Career highlight:
“I have two daughters, and I’m most proud to be able to say that when I get up in the morning I try to make their world better than the world I had when I was their age.”

Career disappointment:
“I always marvel at people who say they would do it all the same. I would do everything differently, from where I’d spend my time to when I’d cut my losses and move on. In terms of major disappointments, there aren’t really that many. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but the only grave mistake you make is not learning from them and not learning how to put them behind you and move on to the next good thing.”

Most influential individual:
“My mom has been a huge influence on my life. She came over from Greece and taught herself to read, write and speak English. She has a terrific work and business ethic.

“I’ve also had many influences in terms of iconic, powerful women who have affected me and shown me the kind of difference that women can make. From Linda Ellerbee to Oprah Winfrey to the less-known but equally important Chickie Bucco.”