At the end of the last week, Bilzin Sumberg’s Women’s Initiative organized a Floral Design event for the women attorneys and summer associates. After work, we all headed down to a conference room and were greeted by tons of gorgeous flowers, Mediterranean food, and some wine to get the creativity flowing. At my table, we chatted about travel, tennis lessons, and how quickly the summer has blown past us, as we got ready to make flower crowns and carnation bouquets.
Because Karyl Argamasilla, the head of the Women’s Initiative, was unable to make it, Mildred Gomez gave a brief introduction to the Initiative and welcomed us all to the event. In short, the group hopes to provide an additional source of support and community to the women at the firm. I had a lunch scheduled with Karyl the following day and we talked a bit more about the group’s origins and structure. She said that the committee running the Initiative makes an effort to ensure that it plays a substantive role in the firm. In addition to social events like floral design, they try to work towards firm policy changes that make Bilzin Sumberg an even better place for women. One way they have tried to do this is by making sure that the committee includes women of varying ages and in different positions within the firm, as the concerns and priorities may be different across the generations and practice groups.
Although our professional concerns may vary, everyone was excited about flower crowns! Under direction from the great team members at Kitanim, we learned to tie ivy, roses, carnations, and blue and white orchids to our crowns–with beautiful results! Then, with everyone still wearing the flower crowns, we learned to construct “posy bouquets,” which are very pretty rounded bouquets. Ours were made of carnations, and many of us traded handfuls of flowers to have a variety of colors. One great thing about carnations is that they last a really long time–four days later, mine still look great on my desk!
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