Diane Penkova Fink Helps Maryland Women Emerge ⋆ RoCo in HoCo

I was sitting at a table for two at The Turn House in Hobbit’s Glen when I saw a woman in a blue dress approaching my table out of the corner of my eye. I knew from her dress–Democratic blue–that it was Diane Penkova Fink, the Executive Director (ED) of Emerge Maryland.

“Hi, Colleen!” she said. I got up and we hugged.

Emerge is, as its website states, an organization with a threefold mission: 1. Finding Democratic women who should run for office and get them into a training program. 2. Training Democratic women in the cutting-edge campaign tools they need to run and win. 3. Connecting alumnae to a powerful network of fellow alums, elected officials, and gatekeepers who can open doors.

Trainings and Timings

The full Emerge training meets nine times over six months on Saturdays, Diane told me.

I’ve toyed with the idea of taking it, but always backed out because of uncertainty about which office I want to run for, if any. At one time I was certain I wanted to run for Howard County Democratic State Central Committee, filled out my application, and submitted it. I got cold feet and withdrew my application, though. Diane and I have stayed in touch ever since. Also, I’ve taken Taste of Emerge, a day-long intensive, taster’s menu of the full Emerge program and the group’s two-day/six-hour Campaign Volunteer Training. I’ve come away from both of those with genuine awe at what a great instructor Diane is–and lots of know-how about how to run a campaign!

More Talk of Trainings

That day at The Turn House, I immediately noticed a difference in Diane’s body language from the class settings I’d been used to seeing her in. She had a loose, easy posture and easy body language. She leaned in toward me as we spoke. I was used to seeing her with perfect posture looking straight ahead at the Emerge Maryland trainings I’d done, not to mention my bestie Becca Niburg’s graduation from Emerge Maryland. I should say here that though Diane does some of the instruction at Emerge Maryland trainings, there are always guest speakers and instructors, some alumnae, some not.

Diane had a little gift bag with her, and I got that nervously excited feeling at being brought a gift and wondering what it was. She made me wait three-and-a-half hours to show me the socks she’d gotten me with an image of and quote by Ruth Bader Ginsburg on them! I loved them.

Spicy and Sweet

Diane settled in across from me at our table. I ordered a Spicy Black Bean Burger and she got a strawberry salad.

Right off the bat, I was taken aback by something she said when I asked her about her background.

“I grew up in East Los Angeles in a very poor and dangerous neighborhood,” she said. I had made certain assumptions about Diane, as we humans generally do about people when we first meet them. I guessed from her professional look and skill at instruction that she’d had an upper-middle-class upbringing and gone to grad school for, maybe, public policy or to law school. So many people involved in politics have done one or both.

After high school, she spent a year-and-a-half at a local junior college and worked three jobs to pay her rent at the same time

One of those was selling high-end stereo equipment for a company called Nakamichi. The man who recruited her to do so had also recruited her husband to do it. When she moved to Maryland to work for Nakamichi, it was also to get away from her difficult years in Southern California. As fate would have it–and Diane does believe in fate–when she moved here, she met her husband, Jeff. He’d also been recruited by the same man to work for Nakamichi.

Super Diane!

Before becoming a member of the Board of Directors of Emerge Maryland, Diane had been a stay-at-home mom, she told me. But that’s not all. She was a political super-volunteer! It’s no coincidence that she’s a big fan of the Marvel Comic movies.

“I started out working on local campaigns, I was a campaign manager, deputy campaign manager on both local campaigns and Congressional campaigns.” She didn’t realize that this was all setting the stage for what she’d be getting into with Emerge Maryland, she said.

In 2011 Diane was on her second go-round as a member of Frederick County’s Democratic Central Committee. Women were complaining about how there weren’t enough women in office, so Diane decided to do something about it. She got in touch with Emerge America about establishing a training program here. She flew out to San Francisco only to discover that they already had a committee to explore establishing Emerge Maryland. The Board was impressed with Diane and asked her if she’d like to join the effort.

And: All About HoCo Pride 2021!

“I think I did a pretty good job fundraising then, and what I didn’t realize was that they were talking about putting me on the Board.” Soon the President of Emerge called her and asked her if she’d like to be the ED of Emerge Maryland.

“I said, ‘Are you sure you have the right number,” smiling and squinting her eyes. She hadn’t been gainfully employed for many years, she said, which is why she was so surprised. But after all that’s happened since, she feels like it’s a path that she was meant to take.

Mission Possible

“Our mission is really straightforward,” Diane told me. “It getting as many women and as many women of diverse backgrounds and demographics elected. And we’re looking at it from every level, from Central Committee to Governor.” And they’re seeing results. “When Emerge Maryland first started, we had 46 women on the ballots. In the upcoming election cycle, there will be 65 to 70 women across the state. So the bench is being built. We’re breaking barriers.”

Diane was in for a surprise when she first became ED of Emerge Maryland: “I was surprised by how many different hats I had to wear.” There were tech issues, bookkeeping, how to run a non-profit. I had to learn how to develop adult learning modules and how to put together a curriculum.” There were days, Diane said, when she wondered if she could do it all.

And maybe that’s why she made sure to mention three people whom she couldn’t say enough about: her executive board; the board chair, Martha McKenna, and her sister, Donna, who does administrative tasks for Diane. She also has an intern whom she says is an indispensable part of running the day-to-day operations. And she an assistant who helps her immensely, she said.

Point A to Point A

“From day one,” Diane said, “we’ve been about getting women elected to office. But also from day one, diversity has been first and foremost on our minds.”

I asked Diane where she saw Emerge in five years.

“I think we’ll keep soldiering on as we are. I think some of our offerings may change up–like the campaign volunteer training you just took. But our mission will be the same.” She said that she had always wanted to make sure people knew Emerge wasn’t a fly-by-night thing, especially because there have been other organizations that tried to do similar things but didn’t succeed. That Emerge Maryland was in it to win it was a big selling point for Diane when she was fundraising to get it started.

Bring on the Donations

“We’d never turn down $10,000,” Diane said with a chuckle when I asked her what she’d do for Emerge Maryland with an influx of that much money. “I’d expand our outreach and recruitment,” she said. “And I’d lower our tuition, so more women could run. I know what it’s like to be hungry. I know what it’s like to have to make choices with a dollar.” So it’s always been at the fore of her mind, she said, that there are women who can’t be part of the program because even $500 is too much for them.

She took it a step further. She said with $10,000,o00 she’d have a full-time staff, she’d find ways to reach out to “far-flung” areas of the state because there are some that are just hard to get to, like Western Maryland, which is covered in snow by November, making it difficult for residents to get down off the mountains; and, again, she’d make Emerge Maryland more affordable–maybe even free!

“How great would that be?” she said and we both nodded and laughed in agreement.

Teach Your Children Well

So goes the eponymous Crosby, Stills, and Nash tune. And it’s what Diane is doing.

She’s married and has three children. Her husband, Jeff, is in the Audio-Visual business. Her son is a pilot! One of her daughters is a DJ, while the other is a teacher.

She didn’t say it explicitly, but I sensed that part of what Diane loves about heading up Emerge Maryland is setting a good example for her daughters.

Diane taught her children a version of the old adage, “Think globally, act locally.”

“You can’t fix the world on your own. Nobody can,” she told them. “But you can do what you can in your corner of it. And if we all did that, what a difference it would make, right?” I widened my eyes and nodded slowly in agreement.

Let’s Keep It Up

One of RoCo’s HoCo besties, Deeba Jafri said she thought Emerge Maryland was vital to the state’s politics. “It gives women the tools to be successful in campaigning in a women-centered space that builds a strong sisterhood and alumni network. And Diane’s success can be seen clearly across our state,” she said to me in a phone conversation. Deeba’s taken several Emerge Maryland offerings, such as Taste of Emerge and the Campaign Volunteer Training. We took those at the same time, in fact.

Another of my besties and a fellow HoCo politico like Deeba, Becca Niburg expressed a similar sentiment.

“Emerge Maryland is important because women, in general, need support and a plan to run. Men will just jump in, women are more cautious. They also generally don’t get the same support from current party members/electeds (though that does seem to be slowly changing) so we’ve had to make our own way,” Becca texted me when I asked her why she thought Emerge Maryland was important. Becca, of course, as I said earlier, took the full Emerge Maryland program. And her graduation from the program is where I first met Diane. After the graduation ceremony, during which Jessica Fitzwater’s (D-4) speech made both Robert and I cry, a bunch of us stood around and mingled. I mused that maybe I’d apply for Emerge Maryland. Diane was standing next to me. Without missing a beat, her head whipping over to look at me, she said, “Oh, you’d be perfect for it.”

Come Together Right Now Over Me

So go the lyrics to the Beatles song, “Come Together.” The song reminds me of Diane. Because what she’s trying to do as ED of Emerge Maryland is nothing less than uniting women in pursuit of seeing them in more and more elected positions. That’s no small feat. And, she’s uniting the state in this endeavor too, as Emerge Maryland participants come from all over the Maryland.

A Pathway to Destiny

Also: See what Robert found when he visited HoCo’s Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant!

“My pathway I had to go through, as I think some of us do, was to go through fire to find a paradise and to find where we’re supposed to be. And that fire forges a stronger person on the other end.” When she became ED of Emerge Maryland, Diane had been a stay-at-home mom for many years. As her kids flew the coop to find their own destinies, she wondered what she’d do with her life next.

“I’d given up the idea that I’d make any appreciable difference,” she said. But anyone who meets Diane can quickly see she’s capable, organized, creative, and downright fierce–a born activist. And that must be what the Emerge America board saw when they hired her to be ED of Emerge Maryland.

Diane has emerged. She emerged from an at times painful youth, to life as a stay-at-home mom, to become a leading force in local Democratic politics.

Thanks for reading! Check back with us here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.