INTERVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY HEIDI SUH
Senator Comitta photographed in Everhart Park, West Chester, PA.
CAROLYN COMITTA, PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATOR – DISTRICT 19
On her place of special meaning: Everhart Park is right across from our house where we have lived for over 30 years, our children grew up here, and I would bring them to the park – to this gazebo – of course this is a really fun place to run around. And playing on the swings, and the playground and so on. Then they came here for summer park program, concerts, and festivals. A lot of our family time revolved around this park. And as I mentioned I also have presided at several weddings in this park, in this gazebo. So this is– this is sort of the heart of Everhart Park, this gazebo.
On Post-Trumpism: Well when President Trump was elected in my family there were a lot of tears, everybody was really down. My kids were really down. End of the world as we know it. And I said, well, we shall see how this plays out. But I said I predict that President Trump will be great for civic engagement. And this is true, right? Now, because you know, he did and still is inspiring people to become more engaged, you know, depending on our opinion, for better or for worse, right. But what we saw was record numbers of women running, and winning. So not running and hiding. Not saying, “End of the world, I’m gonna go crawl under the covers and hide.” No. Saying “Okay, something needs to be done here,” and then looking around and saying, “Who’s going to do it?” Well, maybe it’s gonna be me. So we now have in the Pennsylvania legislature, a record number of women in the House and in the Senate. When I was elected in 2016, the percentage of women was 18%. And we are now at 26%. Now that’s only four years ago. So, that’s significant. And the research –maybe you’ve done research on this. Research has been done to show how many women you need in a leadership organization, a decision making organization in order for there to be a shift. To actually make a real significant difference. 50% would be– that’s where we want to be. Or, as this young group of– this group of young girls from Pittsburgh came into the Capitol, we were talking about this and I said, you know, [it’d] be good to have 50% and they were like, “How about 100%?” And I said well, actually, I like the way you think! The men had 100% for about 200 years. See how they did– let’s give us 200 years and see how we do. But let’s say parity, 50%. The research shows that when you reach about 30% women on a board of directors, elected, legislature, leadership group. You reach about 30%, the culture begins to shift to one of a collaborative, solution finding culture, which is what we need.
“So from a very young age, a very significant role model for me was Henry Kissinger. And I pictured being a Secretary of State. A diplomat. And a Girl Scout asked me once, did I always want to be mayor? And I said no, I never thought about being a mayor. I said I really I guess I imagined myself being a Secretary of State. And then I said, wait a minute, I think I got what I wanted! Because the mayor is like this Secretary of State of the borough. So I said you know what, I got what I wanted.”
Words of Advice: If you have an opportunity presented that terrifies you, or you present the opportunity to yourself and it terrifies you, two things: one, you need more information. Talk with people who are doing what you are thinking about doing. Before I ran for borough council I talked with everybody on borough council, I talked with people in other towns on town councils. I talked with my family, do you think I’d be good, do you think I would like it… you know, all of that. Do you think I could make a difference?
And then secondly, I would say look around, realistically, at people in the field, you know – let’s say in politics. And at the time, I looked at– George Bush was the president when I was being recruited for borough council – and I said, well you know what, this president has made a lot of mistakes and a lot of choices that have hurt a lot of people. I think even if I make some mistakes I can do at least as well as that. Okay? So get kind of a perspective, and it’s often surprising and you go like, well, I don’t know I could at least do as well as that. And I will learn, and I will grow, and I will make mistakes. But I think that by doing that you help face your fear.
And I would say a third thing, when I was running and I thought oh my gosh what if I lose, you know, and so on – I would remind myself of who I am, what my intention is, and who cares about me in my closest orbit. And that if I lose, if I make a mistake, who’s there for me, regardless. And even if you have one person, and sometimes it’s just yourself, “Oh, yea, I’ll be okay.” Then it’s easier to face your fear. And to say– and also to frame it, you know, can I lead with my gift? Am I choosing something I love? And can I use this position to leave the world a little bit better? I’m not gonna save the world, what does that mean anyway, it’s always evolving and changing. But can I make things a little bit better here or here? And sometimes the answer is no. And then you say well, I gave that a good thought and I’m gonna go do something different. But doing a little homework and getting grounded and having a realistic look at things because everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, everybody makes positive impacts and mistakes, messes things up. Try and fix it the best you can and move on and keep doing the best work you can.