Women’s History Month Q&A: Susan Enfield on the Collective Effort of Women Leaders

Susan Enfield is the superintendent of Washoe County school district in Nevada. A graduate of Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard universities, she has served as an educator and administrator in some of the largest school districts in the country, including posts in Seattle and Portland, where she was awarded Washington State Superintendent of the Year.

What does Women’s History Month mean to you, and how do you plan to celebrate it?

For me, Women's History Month is an opportunity to reflect on all those women who had the courage to fight and to sacrifice and to give us the opportunities that I think so many of us take for granted today. I was able to go to school wherever I wanted to pursue the career that I wanted, even run marathons. Just decades ago, women weren't allowed to do those things.

So, during Women's History Month, I’m practicing gratitude. I am grateful for those who came before. And I'm also grateful for the opportunity that I have—and frankly, the responsibility I have—to support and mentor women who are just beginning their leadership journey.

Do you have one tip you would like to share with other women?

When I get the opportunity to meet with a woman who wants advice or support in her career path, I often offer two things. First, I say there is power in networks. Find a team of women who will surround you with support, who will be there for you to lean on and who will inspire you on the days that you need it. And second, I share what I believe is the best bit of advice I have ever received: never turn down a job you haven't been offered yet.

If you could talk to a younger version of yourself—or even young women today—what advice would you share?

I think too often, as women, we sell ourselves short, and we don't go for that job that we think we really want or that we would be good at because we're not sure we're qualified. I always say go for it. The worst thing that can happen is you don't get it. Or better yet, you do get it, and you get the opportunity to choose to say yes or no.

This year #EmbraceEquity is the theme for International Women's Day. How do you embrace equity in your work?

Embracing equity, for me, means embracing gratitude for those who came before us, and embracing the opportunity to work with and inspire those who will follow us.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited for space.

Penny Reinart is the former deputy executive director of ASCD and a lifetime educator of 39 years. A two-time Teacher of the Year award winner, she has 18 years of classroom experience working with K–8 students. After moving into the private sector, Penny Reinart led research, design, and development of digital products and professional learning focused on student achievement, educator impact, and organizational growth. She has held several leadership positions with education companies, most recently Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Achieve 3000, Kaplan K12, and Renaissance Learning.

Her contributions include developing literacy implementation and professional development services, leading gold-standard research initiatives, instructional design of a reading intervention program for striving adolescent readers, and an intensive reading intervention program for phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency development. She has been instrumental in the design of software using artificial intelligence for data-driven decisions in all content areas and the suite of services to facilitate the implementation of those products. Reinart's comprehensive school reform model has been widely recognized. An accomplished public speaker and consultant, she provided numerous keynote addresses for school districts across the United States and consulted Internationally.

She holds a bachelor's degree in child development from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Tx. and an education certification from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Tx.