The YWCA Bellingham held its annual leadership breakfast Friday at the Hotel Bellwether ballroom, featuring keynote speaker and owner of WinkWink Boutique Jenn Mason.
Focusing on unapologetic leadership and courage in the face of controversy, this year’s leadership breakfast marked a return to in-person gatherings, complete with a continental breakfast, silent auctions and a moving speech by Mason.
Elected as a Bellingham school board director in 2017, shortly after opening up the all-ages sex shop WinkWink Boutique, Mason has recently come under fire for offering youth sex-ed classes.
The audience watches far-right media stories about Jenn Mason and her sex shop. The video also featured Newsmax host Greg Kelly’s 911 call to the Bellingham Police Department to report Mason for her store’s youth sex-ed classes, which he called “probably illegal.” (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News)
In her speech, Mason discussed and showed the harassment and threats she received, culminating in a video of five men smashing rocks through the windows of WinkWink, which led to the store temporarily closing down.
Although the attack damaged the store, Mason said she was able to move the sex-ed classes to a safe location and continue the education.
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to cancel the classes because of these people,” recalled Mason, as she pivoted her speech on how she dealt mentally with the backlash and damage.
A guest at the YWCA’s Leadership Breakfast watches the security footage of five people throwing rocks through WinkWink’s windows in early August. (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News)
Mason highlighted a few key points when being thrust into controversy. She focused on the idea of energy being finite, adding, “For everyone who hates me, I don’t have time to hate them back.”
Additionally, Mason reminded the audience that it’s important to be “hard on issues, and soft on people.” She expanded on this point by explaining that while the actions of the men who attacked her shop were unacceptable, it’s important to understand that they were likely impacted by a lifetime of toxic masculinity and misinformation.
Mason concluded her speech by asserting that people deserve effort and compassion, even if that effort leads to failure.
Mason shared screenshots of threatening messages she has received since being featured in far-right media stories. The messages included a gun emoji, antisemitic comments and even her home address. (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News)
Emceeing the event was Kristina Martens, Bellingham City Council member and community activist.
Martens made sure to highlight the generous sponsors and those who helped bring the event together, including Pacific Security, who donated its security services to the event given Mason’s recent controversy.
Audience members clap during Jenn Mason’s speech. (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News)
YWCA Bellingham’s president Cathy Lehman explained the 115-year-old organization’s mission and history, then played videos of those who have utilized the services and housing on Forest Street. Women in the video described the YWCA housing services as not just a place to live, but also an opportunity, and a home. One woman even described the organization as “proof there are good people out there.”
Mason shares her journey of becoming a school board member and sex shop owner, and also her recent experience handling the backlash she has received since her story went national. (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News)
