From Cabernets to Chardonnays, Alyssa Rapp loves wine. While serving as copresident of the wine club at Stanford, where she earned her MBA, the young entrepreneur decided to parlay her passion into a career. “I realized something seismic was happening in the wine industry, with people under 40 becoming more interested in it, and with greater access to imports than ever before,” says Rapp, 32.
Years ago, Susan Ballard waited backstage to speak at a McDonald’s Woman Owner Network conference featuring the company’s top executives. The tone of the conference reflected the tone of many of the conferences she had attended: the McDonald’s system is strong, and business is good.
When Meredith Moore started her new job in 2006, “there was a lot of excitement from family and friends,” she says—which was new. After all, her previous jobs had been in finance. “In finance, when you try to explain what you do, people just say ‘whatever’—they don’t understand it.”
But when she became a communications manager at McDonald’s, suddenly the first 30 minutes of any family visit was all about Mickey D’s. “They would ask me stuff like, ‘Why does Filet o’ Fish have a half slice of cheese?’ Or, they’d request Happy Meal toys, or—the best—‘Why don’t you put your cousin in a commercial?’”
Dr. Maya Angelou lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in a sunny yellow house that is as colorful on the inside as it is on the outside, much like the woman herself. Paintings and flowers and more than 5,000 books fill her home—and her mind, too. When presented with flowers upon our arrival, she immediately recognizes and names the variety, an obscure blossom native to South Africa. Her expansive intellect has room for a lot more than botany. When she quotes Shakespeare, she doesn’t just recite a line or two; she recites half the sonnet. Her journey thus far has covered more than eight decades, but the years have obviously taken nothing away from her intellect or her passion.
As the economy globalizes, companies want to make sure that their message is clear—whether their customers are in Beijing or Baden-Baden.
Annette Taddeo, founder of LanguageSpeak, is helping organizations do just that. Staffed by a skilled team of translators and editors, her company translates written content, helps with video projects, and conducts real-time phone and meeting interpretation (with oral translation available in more than 240 languages). Taddeo’s clients range from corporations such as ING Financial Services and United Healthcare to the federal government.
Whether your skin color is red, brown, white, or yellow, it’s your time to stake your claim in American corporations.
Whether you are a woman who was raised with a silver spoon placed lovingly between her lips, or you’re returning to work after having a baby or taking care of an aging parent, it’s your time. Or perhaps you are a first-generation corporate woman with no one in your family or social circle to help you navigate the tricky corporate waters you’re now swimming in. It’s your time. Whether your skin color is red, brown, white, yellow, or a combination of any of these, it’s your time—your time to stake your claim in American corporations.
With the economy in a tailspin, many corporations have slashed jobs and put diversity efforts on the back burner. But history has shown that in order for a business to survive—and thrive—through tough times, innovation is key. Now more than ever, a diverse workforce, with a broad range of ideas and perspectives, is a critical source for innovative thinking.
The 16 women in this article are Diversity Woman’s Diversity Champions. They have been at the forefront of the mission to keep diversity alive and, in turn, maintain the flow of fresh ideas. There are, of course, other reasons that diversity must be championed in the workplace. To put it simply, diversity programs provide the underrepresented the opportunity to succeed and work in an environment that sees beyond employees’ race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. It’s not an easy task.
In this issue of Diversity Woman, dedicated to professional and leadership development, we thought it an appropriate junction to take stock of women’s progress—as well as highlight the areas in which our role in the economic infrastructure can improve. If we are going to drive change, we first need to know where we are coming from.
And change is what it’s all about. Women are the fuel that drives the economy. Women, after all, hold the purchasing power and majority of stock ownership as well. We have collective clout. Let’s use it. As Maya Angelou said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Businessmen know the secret to success: the old boy network has put more than one man in the executive suite. It works because people tend to pass out opportunities, do business, and associate with other professionals based on similarity and comfort level. Breaking into the old boy network, however, hasn’t been—and still isn’t—a viable option for many women.
As the nation’s 75-million strong Baby Boomers are called on to care for their elderly parents they confront tough challenges. There is a host of specialists to vet, legal and estate planning, housing and financial red tape to maneuver, medical issues to decipher, and a raft of legal documents to complete. And it is often overwhelming and emotionally charged.
