When global health funding contracted in early 2025, many leaders who had spent years expanding access to care found themselves suddenly sidelined. For Brittany Hume-Charm, who had spent two decades building partnerships across global health, innovation, and technology, the moment raised a deeper question: how could she continue to serve communities when the systems she worked in were shrinking?
Brittany credits the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey with teaching her that leadership is something you carry between chapters — not something you lose when one ends. The program deepened her understanding of leadership as something intrinsic, tied to her own voice, values, and conviction, rather than a title or institution. It gave her the confidence to act during moments of uncertainty, and to trust that her experience and perspective belonged in decision-making spaces even when those spaces were shifting.
That conviction led her to look closer to home. She joined the City of Boston as an Executive Fellow focused on economic opportunity in Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration, and ran for public office in her hometown of Newton, Massachusetts, winning a seat on the City Council where she was sworn in on January 1, 2026. When she announced her campaign to her WomenLift Health cohort, she was immediately met with encouragement, practical support, and a network that mobilized behind her from the start.
Following her one-year fellowship, Brittany found a way to blend her prior experience supporting health innovations with her newer focus closer to home. She joined MassChallenge, a Boston-based startup accelerator, to lead a new initiative called Yes/Boston, focused on bringing together cross-sector leaders to advance innovation at the intersection of food and health.
“Since my global health days, I’ve been pivoting toward local impact, and my City of Boston fellowship has really helped me feel rooted in what local impact can look like,” Brittany shared. “One thing I’ve taken away from my years in different roles, including through WomenLift Health, is that we can have an impact wherever we are.”