Women in Entrepreneurship and Leadership Event Celebrates Women
色情视频s Women in Entrepreneurship and Leadership event gives students and young professionals the opportunity to learn from successful women business leaders.
鈥淓mbrace the moment. You don鈥檛 know how quickly life can change, so enjoy the journey.鈥�
More than 1,800 students, young professionals and community members were on hand for 色情视频鈥檚 fourth annual Women in Entrepreneurship and Leadership event for an opportunity to learn from business leaders, entrepreneurs and industry experts about starting and succeeding in their careers.
Nine-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix was keynote speaker for the Feb. 27 event, sponsored by the Osinski family and hosted by 色情视频鈥檚 Fowler College of Business.
Sharing views
色情视频 President Adela de la Torre introduced the opening Emerging Leaders panel. Victoria Ashton (VP People, GoSite), Eriko Bailey (VP Supply Chain, Pura Vida Bracelets), Heather Doyle (Zone Business Manager, Frito-Lay), and Angelia Trinidad (founder and CEO, Passion Planner) spoke to their experiences adjusting to their business world.
Said Ashton: 鈥淵ou will fail and guess what? So will everyone else around you. Others can learn from your mistakes and you can learn from others鈥� mistakes, and we can all be better.鈥�
The panelists agreed that some of the best advice for students who are about to embark on a business career is to exude and seek out positivity. 鈥淪urround yourself with people who help you to love yourself,鈥� said Trinidad.
The audience for the afternoon Executive Leaders panel session heard from Lisa Graham (Sr. Director, Global Leadership, Adobe Systems), Susan McLain (SVP for Global Product Management, Disney), Ronda Sedillo (SVP, Chief Financial Officer, San Diego Padres), and Erin Taylor (Strategy Director, Foodservice, PepsiCo). Each discussed their first jobs and how those jobs created a significant imprint on their later careers.
鈥淵our first job is so important,鈥� said Graham. 鈥淵ou develop your network, you meet people who will sponsor you, you learn what you like and what you don鈥檛 like. And when you鈥檙e good at something, they ask you things you might not like, but those things often turn into great opportunities.鈥�
The panelists also discussed workplace gender bias. 鈥淭here are inherent biases in the workplace and they are real,鈥� noted McClain. 鈥淏ut the beauty is that people are now talking about it and are willing to change that.鈥� And several panelists said they wish they had spent less time working and more time with their families. 鈥淭he guilt about being a working mom is real,鈥� Taylor noted.
Fighting for maternal rights
Felix caused a major stir in the athletic industry when she joined two other elite track athletes in exposing Nike as financially penalizing the female athletes they sponsored once those athletes became pregnant.
Felix, one of Nike鈥檚 most widely marketed athletes, spoke out after she asked the company to contractually guarantee she would not be docked during the months surrounding the birth of her daughter, Camryn, in November 2018. At the end of 2017, Felix鈥檚 contract with Nike expired while she and the sportswear giant were in discussions for a new agreement.
鈥淭he way that these types of contracts are structured, is that they are performance-based,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey require that once you have a child, you have no time to get back to top form and if you鈥檙e unable to compete, there鈥檚 no grace period to get back. I, along with colleagues were pushing for change.鈥�
Almost immediately after giving birth, Felix said some colleagues were still required to race and make public appearances. 鈥淲e just saw that something that wasn鈥檛 right was happening and because I had a daughter, I didn鈥檛 want her to experience the same thing. I wanted to fight for this so she didn鈥檛 have to.鈥�
Having to speak up against a company the size of Nike, said Felix, was 鈥渢errifying鈥� and extremely uncomfortable, but she vowed to press forward. Felix鈥檚 concerns got a major publicity boost in the weeks following the publication of a May 2019 op-ed piece in The New York Times when the FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup championships began drawing attention to the inequities of compensation between male and female athletes.
Nike changes their tune
By July 2019, Felix abandoned negotiations with Nike and signed a sponsorship contract with sportswear company, Athleta. A month later, Nike announced that they would re-structure their contracts so that they would support and protect women athletes during pregnancy 鈥� a move Felix applauded.
鈥淚 felt like that was a real win,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of times, you do something where you hope that somewhere down the line, you鈥檒l see some change and here was something that was tangible. We saw the language in the contract, so it was a win. But this is (an issue) across the industry and there is still more work to be done. There are other companies that still need to step up and adopt this so that it can be the norm.鈥�
As Felix gears up for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in June, she鈥檚 also exploring a new issue of concern.
鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of my heritage and I really focus on causes that are close to my heart,鈥� she explained. 鈥淲ith my experience of giving birth to my daughter, I have focused on the black maternity mortality crisis. I鈥檝e had the opportunity to go before Congress to share my story and there鈥檚 a lot to tackle there as well.鈥�
Felix closed her session by giving the audience a piece of advice: 鈥淓mbrace the moment. You don鈥檛 know how quickly life can change, so enjoy the journey.鈥�
Women in Entrepreneurship and Leadership Event Celebrates Women The event gives students and young professionals the opportunity to learn from successful women business leaders.
