Courtesy Bev McLean
Bev McLean
For more than a decade, local women 50 and over seeking support had a friend in The Transition Network. The longstanding nonprofit founded in New York City has counted a chapter in Santa Fe since 2013. Last year, however, the organization rebranded with a new name—Women’s Connection. Why? Well, that’s among the three questions current chair Bev McLean will answer below.
McLean and her family moved to Santa Fe from the Bay Area in 2022, and she joined TTN the following January. When original chair Jean Palmer launched the local chapter in 2013, the idea was simple: provide a safe space for women to engage with each other to pursue common interests as well as share wisdom and skills with the community while building lasting friendships. That mission continues.
Among Women’s Connection’s monthly activities is a series of speakers and special programs open to the general public. Later this month, the group welcomes former Denver immigration attorney Dan Kowalski, who will share insights from a career spanning more than three decades on a subject currently making headlines daily. (5:45 pm Monday, July 28. $10 non-member donation. Montezuma Lodge, 431 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 982-0971)
McLean tells SFR membership registration is a simple online process for women 50 and over from all walks of life. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.(Dave Cathey)
Why is The Transition Network now Women’s Connection, and did the change spur any evolution of the original mission?
We did a survey in August of 2023, and we asked what’s the one word that you really think of when you think of this organization? And the word that came back most often was ‘connections,’ so it made a lot of sense to think about really refocusing on the connecting aspect of our organization and to provide a variety of opportunities for women to engage with other members. So, yeah, we changed the name to Women’s Connection in late August of 2023. Then in the summer of 2024, one of my colleagues in the organization and I conducted eight focus groups, and we got half of the membership to participate, which is a pretty amazing percentage. And they told us, again, what they really wanted was opportunities to connect and engage with each other. That became a significant focus. I would say we’re still involved in helping women who are in some sort of transition, but I think the focus has changed a bit to really talking about connections.
From my perspective, [it’s about] making sure we include other parts of the community as we provide significant speakers at our monthly programs. So, for instance, last year we had the Director of the Water Division of the City of Santa Fe come and talk about water development. We had Ruth Dobbins talk about her pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. We’ve had a panel discussion with five nonprofits, the League of Women voters came to speak last year. This year, we’ve had an expert on AI talk to us, and that was just a fascinating discussion.
On that subject, you’ve got a topical guest speaking this month, and it’s open to the public, correct?
Yes, this month we’ve got an immigration lawyer coming to our monthly program. We also invite other members of the community to this event. Yes, we’re a women-only network in terms of being a member, but we like to bring in the rest of the community in terms of some of these issues that go beyond just something that a group of women might be concerned with.
As the chair, I spend a lot of time getting to know our members, and one of our members is married to Dan Kowalski, who is going to come speak. My husband and I had lunch a few months ago with Dan and Becky Kowalski. I knew that he was an immigration attorney, but you know, we just got to talking to him about the possibility of having him give a nonpartisan presentation. We’re not a political organization, and we don’t make political statements. I do like to bring very topical subjects to the fore, though. It’s just like the artificial intelligence presentation we had in March. We had well over 50 people because, you know, he did exactly what I wanted him to do—he took us from the practical to the sort of concerns that people have about AI and some of the misinformation that’s been coming out of it. We want to be sure that our membership stays abreast of what’s going on out in the world.
What’s been your primary benefit? Is it the same for other Women’s Connection members?
I’m a lifelong learner, and I always want to educate myself. I go back to the AI presentation, for example, I think that’s what our members want—a variety of subjects to be addressed and discussed. Sure, we do a lot of monthly events that include happy hour, but we also have a tour of the Santa Fe Community College campus coming up. We have an opera tour coming up. We mix things in that are maybe weightier subjects, too. We’re always trying to learn something new about Santa Fe as well as what’s going on in the world. I think that’s really important, and that’s why I’m so insistent that we try to bring community members to our monthly meetings. Yes, it’s a women’s organization, but I don’t want people to think that all we do is sit around and knit.
Since the pandemic, I think people are a little starved for one-on-one interaction. I think people are basically wanting to get out of the house and do some things with other people, re-engage and figure out how to talk to each other again in a one-on-one fashion as opposed to on the screen.
