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There’s an important conversation happening right now around the role of women in leadership and what it looks like when organizations fully embrace equality. When She Leads is our women in business podcast that aims to further that conversation by highlighting how when she leads, individuals grow and organizations flourish.
In this special, 5-part women in leadership podcast series, we’re talking to executives around the globe who are making a difference by supporting women’s leadership initiatives in their industries. These interviews explore the unique, yet universal, challenges that women in business face — and are overcoming.
Featured guest: Divya Ghatak
Chief People Officer, SentinelOne
Board of Directors, Watermark
Topics discussed: Women’s ambitions and career progression; work-life balance; diversity in the technology & venture capital industries; mentoring
In this episode, we interview Divya Ghatak, who talks about how she’s overcome a variety of challenges that women in business often face, what it looks like when an organization is doing gender equality well, and what helps get more women a seat at the table. She also issues an inspiring call-to-action for more mentorship of women:
“I think if each one of us who is in a leadership role or a position of influence spends 10 to 15% of their time setting this intention and fulfilling that intention, we can make real change in our society, in our communities.”
Listen now [36:20] or read the full transcript:
Featured guest: Marta del Rio Villanueva
Co-Founder & CEO, Wasi Organics
2018 Winner, United Nations Challenge for Women Entrepreneurs
Topics discussed: Retention of women in the workplace, especially millennial women; societal expectations of women & girls in more traditional cultures
In this episode of our women in business podcast, we talk with Marta del Rio Villanueva, president of a Peru-based organic snack company. Marta shares how she’s been a trailblazer throughout her career, including an early experience where she pioneered job-sharing to keep talented women in the workforce:
“In Spain, I remember 20 years ago, nobody was thinking about two women doing the same job. What I did was to look for two women to do one job, part-time. They were highly complementary, and so I thought why not hire 2 of them for one job? It was something that was never done before in the industry.”
Listen now [25:16] or read the full transcript:
Featured guest: Karen McNeil-Miller
President & CEO, Colorado Health Foundation
Topics discussed: Community organizing; healthcare disparities among minority and migrant communities; challenges faced by women of color in the nonprofit, educational, and philanthropic sectors
In this episode, we hear from Karen McNeil-Miller, who shares her unexpected career trajectory, how she’s changed as a leader over time, and her insights about the importance of mentorship and development for women in business, especially women of color:
“I do think until women of all races and ethnicities get equal opportunities and access to leadership and mentors, until it becomes just institutional DNA, it has to be intentional. These kind of programs and efforts will continue to exist until — and unless — it just becomes part of the air.”
Listen now [39:59] or read the full transcript:
Featured guest: Hugo Martinho
HR Director, Asia-Pacific, Schindler Group
Topics discussed: Building/retaining diverse talent; inclusive organizational cultures; gender inequity in the engineering, manufacturing, and construction industries; mentoring and sponsoring for career progression
In this women in leadership podcast episode, we interview Hugo Martinho, the human resources director for the Asia-Pacific region of a global engineering and manufacturing company. Hugo describes the challenges women face in the industry and region, and also explains several steps his company has taken to address gender inequity, including how removing names from résumés helped cut unconscious bias among hiring managers:
“In many cases, to their surprise at the time, they would end up short-listing 3 CVs, and all of them females…It was not about discriminating against men, but it was about not letting people make decisions based on gender.”
Listen now [26:48] or read the full transcript:
Featured guest: Tsegga Medhin
Founder & President, Pearl Leadership Institute
President, UN Women USA, North Carolina Chapter
Topics discussed: Attracting women & girls into STEM careers; partnering for youth leadership development; building confidence among teens
In this episode, we talk with Tsegga Medhin, who describes herself as an “equity accelerator” and champion for women. She explains her work to build confidence and courage in women and girls, including a partnership with Apple to teach teenage girls how to code:
“We have 25 girls that are from marginalized communities coming in and do an hour of coding…And then another one that is boys and girls of the same age to make sure that we’re going to be breaking the unconscious biases that are formed early…If a girl sees another girl doing it, definitely she will be confident. If she also comes in at a platform where the boys and girls are doing the same kind of work, that’s going to be powerful.”
Listen now [24:14] or read the full transcript:
Learn more about our faculty interviewing these women in business.
Kelly Simmons, MS
Kelly oversees the design and delivery of custom leadership solutions for our global corporate clients, and she was lead faculty on the design of our Advancing Technical Women program, designed to help hone women’s leadership skills so they stay and rise to more senior roles. She’s the co-author of Beating the Odds: Winning Strategies of Women in STEM.
Emma Flack, EdD
Emma Flack designed and delivered custom leadership programs for managers and senior leaders across various industries during her time with us. Her focus areas included change leadership, and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) programs for women and leaders of color. Over her career, Emma has led leadership development and talent management programs for Fortune 500 companies as a consultant and through internal industry roles.
Jennifer Martineau, PhD
Jennifer is our former Senior Vice President of Research, Evaluation, and Societal Advancement and co-author of Kick Some Glass, a guide for women in business who want to take charge of their own success. She is now president of Leap & Inspire Global, an organization focused on helping individuals and organizations achieve their full potential through coaching, consulting, and development.
Laura Santana, PhD
Laura led cross-regional / functional teams in the design and delivery of customized learning and development solutions for global clients. She leveraged deep experience and insights from psychology, neuroscience, contemplative practice, and physical fitness in her work with clients to increase personal and organizational learning agility for sustainable growth and results that matter.
