Missourian Carolyn Szczepanski honored as top mover and shaker on national bicycle advocacy scene

This month New York's Recycle-A-Bicycle is recognizing two honorees who are movers and shakers in the bicycle world. One of their two honorees is Carolyn Szcepanski, formerly a reporter with Kansas City's Pitch Weekly, who left Kansas City to join the Alliance for Biking and Walking and recently took a position with the League of American Bicyclists. Carolyn has become a powerhouse and very influential voice on the national bicycle advocacy scene.

Recycle-A-Bicycle summarized Carolyn's work: 

Carolyn Szczepanski

CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI - Director of Communications at the League of American Bicyclists

Carolyn Szczepanski is a serious visionary.  She is a veteran journalist who took a right turn a few short years ago into national bike advocacy. During this time, Carolyn has transformed traditional advocacy as we know it by taking the necessary, energetic steps to getting equal footing for women in bike lanes, bike business, and bike policies.  In the last year alone, Carolyn organized the first-ever Women's Bike Forum at the National Bike Summit in Washington DC and the first-ever Women's Bike Summit in Long Beach, CA.  She has no plans on stopping and went ahead to create the first ever nationwide Women Bike initiative.  Before joining the team at the League, Carolyn served as Communications Coordinator at the Alliance for Biking and Walking. She still writes regularly for Bicycle Times and is a contributing writer to Momentum Magazine.  We asked Carolyn a few questions:

How did you first get involved in the biking world?

I lived in Switzerland for part of my youth, so I walked, biked and used public transportation to get pretty much everywhere. For me, *cars* were alternative transportation!

 

How has being involved in bike advocacy changed your life?

Rediscovering biking changed my career path. From a very young age, I always loved writing and knew I’d be a reporter. But, when I started riding again, I was drawn to use my voice for a purpose — I wanted to put my skills to work toward a higher goal that had the capacity to change lives and transform communities. From my very first day at the Alliance for Biking & Walking, I started to meet such incredible advocates doing such inspiring work.

 

If you had one wish that could be granted for biking what would it be?

That we could wave a magic wand and all the stereotypes about biking would vanish. The notion that you need expensive gear or special clothing or special athletic ability. The misconception that you need to spend $1,000 on a fancy bike or that you need to ride every day to be a bicyclist — or bicycle advocate.

 

What is your proudest biking accomplishment?

The National Women’s Bicycling Summit was probably one of my proudest moments. I had barely gotten the words “Welcome to the National Women’s Bicycling Summit” out of my mouth when a woman in the crowd yelled “It’s about time!” — and a massive cheer erupted from the packed room.

 

If Robert Moses were alive today, what do you think he would say about the Women Bike movement?

Well, Moses’ mother, Bella, was very active in the settlement movement, working on health and housing equity in the early 1900s. So I think he’d be inspired by our efforts to get more women leaders engaged in our fight for transportation equity in the 21^st Century.