A Tour of Her Own’s Latest Salon Shines Light on D.C. Women in Leadership

This month’s A Tour of Her Own (TOHO) salon is bringing District Fray’s article “30 D.C. Women Changing The Game” to life. 

For the event, the 30 women featured in the article are invited to the virtual salon to share their stories with the D.C. community. TOHO is a female-owned, women’s history tour company that gives history tours and hosts monthly women-focused conversations inspired by historical salons.

“For us, it’s giving these women a platform to share the mantras that they have already put out there into the world through the District Fray article, but then also talk to us more about how they live in and around D.C., and how they relate with women in history,” says TOHO founder Kaitlin Calogera.

The salon will be led by Calogera and District Fray Magazine Editor-in-Chief Monica Alford. The salon hopes to learn these “trailblazing” women and what makes D.C. a place where women can thrive. 

For Calogera, women thriving in D.C. is personal, as it’s where she received opportunities that allowed her to advance in her career. More broadly, she says there are many examples of women in D.C. who have reputations nationally and across the world. 

“When you look across the different categories, women in D.C. have opportunity and they often take advantage of that and really have an opportunity to thrive,” says Calogera. 

One of the 30 featured women attending is Jojo Ruf, managing director of Theater J. She says she is participating in the virtual salon because she is excited to have conversations with other D.C. female leaders.

“I think D.C. is a really amazing community,” says Ruf. “I’ve been here my whole career and I’m excited to truthfully learn from the other people and share a little bit of my story.” 

Ruf says women thrive in D.C. due to its recent growth, food scene and its many opportunities for women to become leaders. This is particularly the case in D.C.’s 90 professional theater companies which have many female theater leaders, Ruf says. 

At the salon, Ruf envisions people sharing their journeys and she hopes to share her own.

“One of the really exciting things about the idea of a salon like this is that it can be intimate, and that [there] can be real conversations between both the panelists, the speakers but also the people who are watching,” says Ruf.

Transformer co-founder, executive and artistic director Victoria Reis notes how connecting with other women in the District allowed her to expand her creative vision for the ever-evolving, artist driven gallery in Logan Circle.

“The relationships I’ve developed in and through D.C. — especially with other women in the arts, and women who support me, my vision and work — have all helped propel me forward and inspire my creative energy and professional life in the arts,” says Reis.

Calogera notes that salon is an opportunity for attendees to engage with change-makers and contribute to conversations. She says it will benefit both the observers and speakers to show that D.C. supports women. 

“People should attend this event because it is the room where it happens,” says Calogera.

The salon takes place virtually on June 2 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 and can be found here. 

A Tour of Her Own: www.atourofherown.com // @atourofherown
Theater J: www.theaterj.org // @theaterjdc
Transformer: www.transformerdc.org // @transformerdc

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