Our Mission
The Women and Leadership Alliance is a joint endeavor to support and promote student programs at the Claremont Colleges that will highlight issues faced by women in leadership in business, government and the professions.
How We Began
In 2010, students at CMC approached Sarah Smith Orr, then Executive Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute, to address the need for female leadership mentors on campus. This led to the creation of the first Women & Leadership Workshop, designed to support all Claremont College students in preparing for post-graduation opportunities and careers. The workshop also connected students with successful women leaders from fields such as law, non-profits, entrepreneurship, finance, consulting, entertainment, education, government service, marketing, and healthcare. Building on the momentum of the workshop’s success, the Women & Leadership Alliance was born.
In 2016, Susan and Thomas Handley generously made a pledge to establish an annual fund that would expose Claremont College students to the experiences of women professionals in various fields and help forge relationships between students and professionals across industries and generations. Today, this fund provides an annual budget which supports the Women and Leadership Workshop as well as other programs focused on women and leadership.
Who We Are
Currently, our programs are organized and led by representatives from the Kravis Leadership Institute, Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development, and the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at Claremont McKenna College. However we welcome and encourage involvement from all of the educational institutions in Claremont and our annual programs are available to students, faculty and staff across the Claremont College Consortium.
Afghan Dreamers and Storytelling for Social Change and The Power of Social Impact Storytelling
The Women and Leadership Alliance held its annual workshop for 2025, featuring an Athenaeum Dinner and a lunch event the following day. The Athenaeum Dinner featured Beth Murphy, an award-winning filmmaker and changemaker, who has built her career around storytelling as a tool for fostering empathy and inspiring action.
During the dinner, Murphy's documentary Afghan Dreamers was screened, telling the powerful story of a group of teenage girls in Afghanistan who defied societal expectations and competed as a robotics team on the global stage. Following the screening, Murphy shared her experiences documenting Afghan women's struggles for education and discussed how storytelling can raise awareness and inspire change. She also provided updates on the Afghan Dreamers robotics team’s ongoing challenges, including visa issues preventing them from reuniting with their families.
Murphy introduced William Menard, a CMC alum and immigration attorney working to help the Afghan Dreamers obtain U.S. visas, then shared a video message from one of the girls featured in the documentary. Concluding her talk, Murphy reflected on the idea that while post-traumatic stress is widely acknowledged, post-traumatic growth is often overlooked. She emphasized how hardship can connect individuals and how storytelling can be a powerful tool for fostering hope.
Murphy’s dedication to storytelling and advocacy has inspired the next generation of young leaders, including Izzy Murphy, the co-founder of GLAM Girl (The Global Local Athletic Movement), a nonprofit organization supporting female athletes and girls in the U.S. and globally. Her work in the US focuses mainly on access to sports for girls, while her efforts in Afghanistan and globally center on trauma relief for young girls.
