Fun fact: New Jersey Chief Operating Officer Kellie Doucette is a Green Day fan.
It’s unclear how many people knew that. But her love of the punk rock band surprised at least a few audience members as Doucette accepted a Women of Inspiration award this month from the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
Several other honorees shared their favorite songs and artists, prompted by the deejay stylings of Scott Goldstein, the Chamber’s communications manager.
Goldstein said he originally added music to the annual event simply to fill the gaps between award presentations. He didn’t expect it to become part of the show.
His picks were random: Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours); Bill Withers’ ‘Lovely Day’; Portugal, the Man’s `Feel It Still.”
“Once the awards ceremony began, we were choosing upbeat, feel-good songs,” Goldstein said. “Somewhere along the way, the playlist took on a powerful-woman theme”
Before long, audience members were nodding along and swaying to the music, and honorees were revealing the songs that inspired them.
“My kids say my song is `Girl on Fire’,” remarked Fatema Raza, national real estate practice leader at Withum and winner of the Chamber’s Young Professional Award.
Minutes later, Goldstein cued up Raza’s anthem as she left the podium. When he stopped the music before the chorus, Diane Wasser, treasurer of the Chamber’s board and award presenter, urged him to keep going.
“This girl is on fire,” women across the room sang, including Wasser at the microphone.
“I’m not singing again,” she said.
When it was time for Doucette, New Jersey’s first COO, to accept the Chamber’s Employer Advocate award, she spoke about the importance of lifting up women and valuing the skills they bring to the workforce.
“One of my favorite bands is Green Day,” Doucette then said. “And they have a song called `She’, which is a little bit of a feminist anthem.”
Doucette said the song has one of her favorite lines, She refrained from singing, speaking the words instead.
She’s figured out all her doubts were someone else’s point of view.
“As women, but really for all of us, it is so easy, I think, to dwell on the people who make you question yourself, to doubt that you’re ready for that next step or for that leap of faith,” Doucette said. “My advice is to find the women who have your back and who instead of doubts, share a point of view that inspires and empowers you.”
