July 07, 2009 
I was really excited to meet Madeleine Albright at the Prague Conference. I don’t usually get star struck, especially since I live in London and see famous people all the time. Heck, even our DOG walks with dogs of famous actors and fashion designers. As a puppy, he met Margaret Thatcher who told me that he was full of beans.
But there was something about seeing Madeleine Albright in the flesh. As a young woman starting out my career when she became the first female Secretary of State, I was dazzled by her accomplishment. She was the most powerful woman in the world and helped to shatter the notion of the glass ceiling.
Madeleine has had a varied and interesting career. She was born in Prague, moved to the USA at a young age and earned her BA at Wellesley. (Not my alma matter Smith, but a seven sisters college nonetheless, and she did give a fantastic speech as the 2003 commencement speaker at Smith). She worked as a journalist, a lecturer at Georgetown and held several public policy advisory roles before being appointed as US Ambassador to the UN. In these days, no one stays in the same job for more than a few years, but during Madeleine’s time, women rarely worked much less had a succession of careers. She was a trailblazer from her early days.
During her tenure as Secretary of State, she found out that she was Jewish. There was a lot of controversy over this. Many people didn’t believe that she did not know her family was Jewish. When I first heard the news, I was surprised because I always assumed she was Jewish. I’m not sure if I buy that she didn’t know she was Jewish, especially given her family’s history.
Anyway, I welcome her to the tribe. She gave a very eloquent speech at the Prague Conference where she mentioned her Jewish relatives that were killed in the Holocaust, and I’d like to believe that she embraced her Judaism. She is also a strong advocate of WWII restitution issues. She can be controversial as well, but she always stands her ground.
This is why I got so excited to hear her speak at one of the social events in Prague. During her brief talk, she commended everyone for their hard work and talked about how important the subject was. I felt like I was given an official seal of approval.
I debated whether or not to try to get a picture with her, but a couple of people from the US State Department (and several glasses of champagne) cheered me on, so I pushed my way into the crowd, shook her hand and told her what an inspiration she was to me. I asked her if I could get a picture of us and she said yes. My friend John snapped the picture, and I moved out of the way to let others take their photo opportunity.
I came very close to telling how much I loved her on the Gilmore Girls, but my better senses prevailed. I’m sure if I had a couple more glasses of champagne, it would have come out. My friends who are big Gilmore Girls fans kept saying I should have mentioned it and she probably would’ve appreciated it. What I liked most about her appearance on one of my favourite TV shows is that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.
Anyway, thank you Madeleine, for teaching me to be diplomatic when required, tenacious when needed, and to always keep my sense of humour.
