Who we interviewed:
Rep. Jeanne Adkins
Rep. Vickie Agler
Sen. Irene Aguilar
Sen. Norma Anderson
Sen. Polly Baca
Lynn Bartels, former Denver Post Reporter
Gail Beaton, Historian
Rep. Alice Borodkin
Sec. of State Mary Estill Buchanan
Patty Calhoun, Editor, Westword
Senate President Morgan Carroll
Rep. Lois Court
Congressmember Diana DeGette
Rep. Crisanta Duran
Sen. Martha Ezzard
Rep. Jeanne Faatz
Rep. Rhonda Fields
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald
Sen. Joyce Foster
Rep. Cheri Gerou
Sen. Angela Giron
Dr. Marcia Goldstein
Sen. Lucia Guzman
Commissioner Josie Heath
Sen. Mary Hodge
Rep. Diane Hoppe
Sen. Sally Hopper
Rep. Evie Hudak
Mary Hughes, Political Strategist
Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst
Denver Deputy Mayor Cary Kennedy
Rep. Peggy Kerns
Dottie Lamm
Prof. Patricia Limerick
Prof. Bob Loevy
Rep. Alice Madden
Congressmember Betsy Markey
Rep. Rosemary Marshall
Denver Council Pres. Ramona Martinez
Rep. Anne McGihon
Rep. Karen Middleton
Rep. Laura Miller
Rep. Carole Murray
Sen. Linda Newell
Dani Newsum, Historian
Sen. Jeanne Nicholson
Rep. BJ Nikkel
Prof. Tom Noel
Sec. Gale Norton
Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien
Rep. Angie Paccione
Sen. Pat Pascoe
Rep. Ruth Prendergast
Rep. Diane Primavera
Sen. Ellen Roberts
Sen. Dorothy Rupert
Rep.Su Ryden
Sen. Paula Sandoval
Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler
Congressmember Pat Schroeder
Sen. Gail Schwartz
Sen. Nancy Spence
Speaker Lola Spradley
Rep. Amy Stephens
Jody Strogoff, Colorado Statesman
Sen. Gloria Travis Tanner
Sen. Nancy Todd
Sen. Kiki Traylor
Sen. Jennifer Veiga
Rep. Wilma Webb
Denver Councilmember Elbra Wedgeworth
Sen. Dottie Wham
Rep. Angela Williams
Sen. Suzanne Williams
Rep. Ruth Wright
Katie Ziegler, National Conference of State Legislators
We are often asked how we decided who to interview. With hundreds of Strong Sisters across the state, we had to prioritize our interviews, and, of course, our options were constrained by resources and time.
We were focused on state legislative, statewide, and Congressional offices. We started with women who served in leadership positions in the state legislature. We also reached out to as many women who had served in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s as we could find. We were also committed to making sure we had geographic, racial, ethnic, and partisan diversity. And then it was sometimes simply a matter of scheduling and convenience (when someone was in the Denver area or we happened to be doing a bunch of interviews in a location convenient to several women).
We wish we could have interviewed every elected women in Colorado, but that isn’t practical. Because we were committed to making the film, after almost 3 years of research and interviews, and with a waning budget, we had to wrap up the interviews and focus on editing the film.