Ann Curry Inspires at Texas Women’s Foundation Luncheon

The Texas Women’s Foundation (TXWF) 39th annual Luncheon on Nov. 1 at the Omni Hotel featured a conversation with Ann Curry, an Emmy-Award-winning journalist known for her national and international reporting.

Curry was interviewed by Krys Boyd, host and managing editor of Think, a national talk radio program produced by KERA. TXWF board alumna Effie Dennison served as co-chair of the luncheon. As executive vice president for Texas Capital Bank, Dennison leads community development and corporate responsibility.

The luncheon theme was “Catalysts for Change,” recognizing the role the foundation has in creating more equitable communities for Texas women and girls.

About breaking down barriers, Curry reflected that, even at a young age in a competitive, male-dominated industry, she felt sorry for the people who didn’t recognize her worth.

“But they all came around,” she said. “Sometimes people don’t see what you can do.

“I had, honestly, twice as many stories assigned to me; there were all kinds of ways I was supposed to stumble,” she said.

After a time, she said to herself. “‘I will do as much as the men, but I will not do more, unless I want,’” Curry recalled. “And often I did want.”

Addressing the audience, which included groups of young women from surrounding schools, the journalist said, “It’s difficult to advance without taking risks. If I had not taken risks, you know, I might’ve only been confined to work others thought I could do.”

“At some point when I felt very alone in it, I stopped myself and I thought ‘they’re coming, women are coming’ … and I needed to make space,” reflected Curry.