The youngster is often told stories about her great-grandmother, a suffragette. The stories come from her grandmother. But those aren’t the only stories Heather Arnet hears. It’s the 1970s, and she is being raised by a single mom who comes home from work full of frustration from the difficulties for a woman in the workplace.
It’s not a coincidence there is always a copy of Ms. magazine on the coffee table. It’s also not a coincidence that Arnet’s favorite book is a collection of Wonder Woman comics, its introduction written by Gloria Steinem, the decade’s most prominent women’s rights activist.
During her teenage years, Arnet develops a passion for theater, making Carnegie Mellon a natural choice. After graduating in 1997 with a degree in English and drama, she heads to New York and works by day in advertising, by night directing plays off-off-Broadway, often drawn to those with a feminist slant. She eventually returns to Pittsburgh as director of development for a local theater company, marries Carnegie Mellon English professor David Shumway, and has a baby boy. But as the years pass, she continues to be an advocate for women’s rights, volunteering for events and rallies whenever she can.
In 2004, her activism leads to her becoming CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania. Its founder is Catherine Raphael, who sits on the board of New York based Ms. Foundation, the nation’s oldest women’s fund, cofounded by Steinem and actress Marlo Thomas.
Recently, the Ms. Foundation’s board had an opening; it’s once again no coincidence that Arnet filled the vacancy. And it’s no coincidence she still keeps her Wonder Woman book in her Pittsburgh office.
—Elizabeth Shestak (DC’03)
