KENTUCKY — Everyday women are making history, stamping their mark as inventors, engineers, politicians and much more. Women’s History Month started in 1981 as a week-long celebration, and now each year during the month of March, we continue to highlight a fresh wave of women who are driven to forge new paths to the future.

One woman in the Commonwealth who is breaking barriers for women in leadership roles is Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, D-Ky.

Coleman has been serving as the 58th lieutenant governor of Kentucky since 2019. She, along with Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., were reelected by the voters of Kentucky in Nov. 2024 to serve another four-year term to run Kentucky’s executive branch.

“Of course, we’ve had in Kentucky one female governor, Martha Layne Collins. She was a lieutenant governor before I was born. And so that’s been a very long time since we’ve had another woman in that level of government, but we have also really improved the number of women that we have serving in our legislature, and we have the largest number of women in the Democratic caucus over the last several years. We have finally gotten into a consistency of having women in leadership in the legislature in both parties, as well as having women running for every seat in our constitutional offices in this past election. And so we’re making ground but again, continuing to make sure that we’re actually running and winning, I think is the next step to make sure that we’re continuing to build on the progress that we’ve made,” explained Coleman.

During this In Focus Kentucky segment, Coleman shares advice to the younger generation of women who are interested in taking the leap and looking at the world of politics as a future career.

“When I was a young woman, I had no idea that I would be sitting here as lieutenant governor one day and so the first thing I would say is — don’t ever close any doors because you never know what’s possible. But I typically give three pieces of advice to women who I know might be interested in entering this field and the first is: define your passion. We have women who are, you know, in the legislature who have been attorneys, who have been doctors, who have been teachers. We come from all different walks of life, and that unique perspective is needed when it comes to making and enforcing legislation in Kentucky. The second thing I would say is to get involved. There are organizations all across Kentucky that will help you to be able to meet other people who share your passions, and to go to the next level of whether it’s advocating for policy, or maybe even getting involved in the policy writing process. And then last but not least, don’t be afraid to take the lead. You have the passion, you have the experience and we need you to be willing to step out and take the lead so that we can continue to build on our momentum in Kentucky,” said Coleman.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.