When Women Lead Change Follows: Pat Mitchell, Torch Lighter Award 2024 Honoree

Pat Mitchell receives one of the five inaugural Torch Lighter Awards from Rutgers Institute for Women’s Leadership on September 25, 2024. Presented by Whitney Pennington Rodgers, Current Affairs Curator, TED Conferences, the Torch Lighter Award recognizes collective work, collaboration, and embodies the leadership that the Institute for Women’s Leadership instills in their students.

Mitchell is a trailblazing force in media and advocacy. As an award-winning journalist, producer, and media executive and currently as co-founder and managing partner of Connected Women Leaders and Project Dandelion, and co-founder and editorial director of TEDWomen, she connects, elevates, and amplifies women’s ideas and leadership for transformative change. Breaking barriers as the first woman to lead PBS and CNN Productions, she advanced opportunities for other women.

Inspired by the powerful example set by Gloria Steinem, who is not passing her torch but using it to “light the torches of others,” the Torch Lighter Awards were established to make visible the values of feminist leadership and to honor those who use their position, influence, expertise, and resources to uplift others. To learn more about the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers New-Brunswick, visit iwl.rutgers.edu.