Webinar Replay — It’s up to us: Pursuit of a just and inclusive economy
Rachael Sampson (00:00):
... is officially the top of the hour. Hello, everyone. I am Rachael Sampson, National Director of Key4Women and the newly appointed Head of Community Banking at KeyBank. In my new expanded role, I am responsible for leading the strategy and execution of various consumer strategies, tactics and programs, like Key4Women, to ensure we meet the diverse banking needs of the communities we serve.
(00:29):
I'm so [00:00:30] excited to be with all of you today as we celebrate Women's History Month, which is a time for all of us to spotlight and celebrate women leaders and changemakers throughout history. I don't know about you, but I've seen a ton of social media posts celebrating women in history in your lives. And I encourage you throughout the month to continue sharing and spreading the love and celebrating Women's History Month with us.
(00:58):
So, I'm excited to [00:01:00] talk about Women's History Month and the National Women's History Alliance that designates a yearly theme for Women's History Month. And the 2024 theme celebrates "Women who Advance Advocacy..." excuse me, "Women who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion." This recognizes women who understand the need to eliminate bias and discrimination from individual lives and institutions.
(01:30):
[00:01:30] Key4Women is on a mission to advocate, connect, and empower women on their journey to financial wellness. We're passionate about helping this community gain access to experts, solutions, and advice they need to achieve their financial goals and feel confident about their path forward. While celebrating the success in progress made by women in business, we can still acknowledge that there is work that still needs to be done and to achieve true [00:02:00] equity and inclusion.
(02:01):
Together, I believe that we can absolutely get there. So, today, I am joined by one such changemaker in the DE&I space, Leslie Smith. Leslie is the Founder and Principal of Themis Strategic Partners, a consulting firm focused on developing actionable strategies at the intersection of equity and growth. Drawing from her extensive experience in strategic [00:02:30] consulting, leadership development, and advocacy for women in business, Leslie will explore the profound impact of vulnerability in fostering equity, inclusion, and justice in the workplace.
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She's an active board member of the Center for American Entrepreneurship and National Women's Business Council at the US Small Business Administration. Leslie has been featured as a TEDx speaker as well as in Forbes [00:03:00] Fortune and StyleBlueprint. Thank you so much for being here, Leslie. Take it away.
Leslie Smith (03:07):
Rachael, thank you so much for that introduction. And congratulations on your recent promotion. I've only known you a short while, but I've no doubt you will absolutely rock that role. And you're an example of exactly what we're going to talk about today, which is increasing the power and influence of women across the US economy [00:03:30] and in society.
(03:31):
So, thank you for giving me a real boost as we dive into the conversation today. I have to admit, when I saw Watch Parties, I got a little bit of a flutter in my heart about the excitement for today and the pressure of this conversation, but I'm honored to be here. As Rachael said, my name is Leslie Smith. I am the Founder and Principal of a strategic consulting firm called Themis [00:04:00] Strategic Partners.
(04:01):
The name of my firm is really important to me because Themis is the goddess of justice, and everything I do in my work is focused on bringing justice and inclusion to the ecosystems and organizations with which I work, which include private sector, public sector, philanthropic partners, and non-profit organizations across the US. As Rachael said, I'm also [00:04:30] an active board member on a variety of organizations, boards including the Center for American Entrepreneurship.
(04:38):
And we'll talk a little bit about the importance of entrepreneurship today because I know we have many small business owners on the call. The National Women's Business Council at the SBA, where we work to compile policy recommendations that are provided to not only the Small Business Administration, but Congress and the President of the United States.
(04:59):
And I'm also [00:05:00] a proud member of a national commission focused on advancing childcare and entrepreneurship as critical elements of our economy. I think we all collectively learned throughout the spirit of our experience in COVID the critical importance of the social infrastructure that supports our daily lives and pursuit of economy, childcare being one element of that. Elder care, access to transportation, education [00:05:30] and other things being obviously additional parts of that.
(05:33):
So, really proud to sit in service to those organizations as an extension of my work and constant learning and pursuit of being uncomfortable to the point of action. So, thank you for, again, having me today. I'm going to share a few statistics now to really lay the groundwork for the conversation we're going to have and why I'm so passionate [00:06:00] about this topic, why I believe that women's leadership is such a critical element of our future prosperity and resilience.
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And from there, we'll dive into our conversation. So, as we all know, millions of women left the workforce almost entirely in '20 and '21, meaning they were neither working nor looking for work. And in February of 2021, women's labor force participation rate hit the lowest [00:06:30] we've seen since 1988. Just let that sit in a minute. That is a huge impact on our economy. And it is supposed and/or searched that we have lost nearly an entire generation of gains in women's participation, pay parity, access to contract and capitals.
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So, this loss is something that we'll be recovering from for years to come. The toll we estimate, that [00:07:00] loss of women from the US economy took on the GDP, or gross domestic product, was twice the size of the Great Recession between 2007 and 2009, 20 times greater than the economic costs of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and 40, 4-0, times greater than any other disaster to befall the US in the 21st century to date.
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So, [00:07:30] we can't underestimate or underappreciate the impact that COVID had on the US economy. Breaks in the infrastructure around child and elder care, the impact of unpaid labor, and the weight of demands disproportionately laid on women and children were highlighted during COVID. And that's not a surprise to any of you, but it is a surprise to some policymakers.
(07:54):
And so, I think that's a part of why I want us all to become more actively engaged in policy at [00:08:00] the national, state, and local level. Today, we're going to talk about, just as Rachael said, the role that leadership and actualization plays and how it requires, vulnerability and a willingness for ourselves to continue to be changed if we want to make progress relative to equity, justice, and inclusion. Too often, we as women are meant to believe that we don't belong in corporate cultures, leadership roles or entrepreneurship.
(08:30):
[00:08:30] And the data confirms that for us. So, we're not making this up or imagining this. For instance, private sector boards in 2020 were occupied only by 20% women. We've seen an increase over the last several years to 36%, which prove that advocacy, intentionality, and effort toward inclusion work. But we still have a long way to go, particularly when you think [00:09:00] about the fact that we make up over 50% of the US population.
(09:05):
And the numbers get even worse when we look at leadership in for-profit, privately or publicly-held businesses. In the Fortune 500, only 47 women are CEOs, which is 10.4% representation, which, as we know, means that the full spirit, ingenuity, [00:09:30] innovation, creativity, and curiosity of women is not being brought to bear on innovation and/or economic opportunities across the country, which leaves us well short of full potential.
(09:44):
If we truly want the future we claim to seek, we have to transform ourselves, transform our teams, and become engaged in the conversations across the US to ensure that we achieve our goals and have [00:10:00] access to the opportunities that we are fully worthy of. A comment before I dive into the key points, intersectional economic inclusion is a really critical foundational element of this conversation and everyone I ever have relative to this topic.
(10:19):
It is not singularly relevant that we focus on women which can sometimes, in the US, default to mean white women. I acknowledge that I am, in fact, [00:10:30] a white woman. But it's important that we do the work to ensure that Black, Brown, Indigenous, otherly abled, immigrants, women of all race and ethnicity are included in our action toward equity and justice in the economy.
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It's also really critical that we come to better understand the fluidity and complexity of gender in 2024 [00:11:00] in the US. So, in my recent work at GET Cities, where we're focused on women in tech, we very quickly came to understand that the experience that our trans and non-binary humans and society were having were also elementally showing oppression and lack of access to opportunity.
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And so, one point of discomfort and growth for me over the last five years [00:11:30] has been to really fully dive into the complexity of gendered identities in the US. And I encourage all of you to launch into that learning journey at your own time and pace. The key points of our talk today are going to really be about redefining leadership. What does it mean for women to lead?
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And are we able and willing to get engaged beyond those issues that we lead in [00:12:00] our own companies and families and take those out to the community and country at large? I really believe that by sharing our lived experiences and advocating on behalf of those that are coming after us, we can create a very different future for all Americans, not just women, trans and non-binary people.
(12:23):
Creating inclusive spaces. I really firmly believe that it's up to all of us to cultivate [00:12:30] environments where every member, including women and other populations, feel valued, seen, heard, and empowered to contribute authentically. Many of us will have experiences where we were the only women in the room, and that makes it hard to sometimes feel like we were in a space of intentional belonging.
(12:52):
And I think we have a role to play in creating those spaces on behalf of our communities. And then, third, obviously, I'm going to lift [00:13:00] up what I think is the criticality of policy. Over the course of my career, I've increasingly come to understand the importance of policy and how all of the work we're doing on the ground can at times be limited to a... by, excuse me, a policy framework that doesn't necessarily support our goals, and in fact, sometimes stands at odds with our goals.
(13:22):
And so, understanding the way those policies work and are administered from the national, [00:13:30] state, and local level I think is really important for us as leaders. And so, I will invite you into that conversation and hope after this call, if you're not already actively involved in understanding and interacting with policy that you will be. I'd also like to launch sharing a quote from Brene Brown out of Dare to Lead.
[NEW_PARAGRAPH]"The courage to be vulnerable is not about winning or losing, it's about the courage to show up when you can't predict or control the outcome." I walk into [00:14:00] every one of these sessions fully willing to be transparent and vulnerable, tell you when I'm scared, tell you when I've messed up, share the things I've learned through both of those. And I do believe that that's a really critical element of authentic leadership and a part of how we can create communities that feel more welcoming and belonging.
(14:23):
And so, with that, we're going to jump right in. I don't know if we talked about the Q&A part of this. [00:14:30] Many of you were so gracious as to sending questions before the session, and we have those at the end of what will be about a 40-minute conversation here where I run through some observations and experiences I'd like to share.
(14:46):
We will dive into Q&A because I would very much love to not only be looking at myself on the screen, but to be hearing from all of you. Julia Parker, Dare to Lead is a novel [00:15:00] that Brene... a book that Brene Brown wrote about leadership and authenticity, and it's a really great, I think, guiding light if you're looking for advice and insight about leadership. So, let's jump in. We're going to talk about redefining leadership, modeling vulnerability, setting some boundaries.
(15:24):
And there you go. It's only one E at the end, Kara, but that is her. [00:15:30] I'd like to talk a little bit about some experiences from my early career and how those have set the tone for the leader I've become, how I've shared those stories with members of my team and boards over the years, and how they've guided us through the development of a culture that will hopefully be more steeped in empathy and understanding, which I think are really critical to really building a culture [00:16:00] of welcoming and belonging.
(16:02):
And talk about how you yourselves can do that in your own work. One of the stories that I love to share from early in my career, and hopefully most of the stories I share will be good stories and not bad ones because I like to really lead from a point of asset, orientation and abundance rather than one of deficiency, [00:16:30] was about a very significant failure I had early in my career. This is back in the dark ages for those of you who may not remember a time before laptops and BlackBerrys and cell phones and all of those things.
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But I was managing a real estate portfolio on behalf of a very significant international client. And they had signaled to us in the fourth quarter of the year that they wanted to renew the lease for the office space and adjacent warehouse that [00:17:00] they had in California and had asked us on behalf of their effort to work to get that renewed. I was working in real estate acquisitions, dispositions, and lease management at the time.
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And it was pretty clear and obvious assignment. We had renewal rights in our lease documents. So, literally, this was about writing a letter and signaling that concern to them. [00:17:30] Unfortunately, the reminder for that renewal came during the holidays when we were shut down and not getting buzzes every couple of minutes with calendar reminders and emails and Slacks and everything else that we get today.
(17:49):
And return from the holidays to find that I had not, in fact, sent that letter and did what I always did in my early career, [00:18:00] which was try to solve the problem by myself before I brought it to leadership. Reached out to the landlord, told them of our intent, explained to them that we had been out of the office and that the time for letting them know had elapsed, thinking fully that they were going to say, "That's great. We'd love to continue to have you. Just send in the documents."
(18:20):
And in fact, they said, "Well, that's too bad and we can actually lease this to a different tenant at a much higher rate, and you have 30 days to move." [00:18:30] And I remember just feeling a level of devastation that I probably hadn't felt in my career. We all make mistakes, but I try not to make them very often. And this felt like, and I think remains to this day, one of the larger mistakes I've made in my career.
(18:48):
And I, in pursuit of ripping off the band-aid, went immediately to my leader and said, "Hey, this is what happened. This is how it happened. I apologize. [00:19:00] This is what I did to fix it. And I'd like your support in moving forward." And without missing a beat, and this leader was a man, an older executive in our company who served me in the development of my leadership in countless ways, this being just one of them, said, "Okay, thank you for letting me know. Grab your folder and let's go take care of this."
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And we literally left where we were [00:19:30] and walked into the office of the client, and he said these words, "We missed the opportunity to extend the lease in California, which means we have to move. I know that's not an outcome you're excited about, but Leslie here will take care of it and guide you through the identification and selection of a new space. We will not charge you, obviously, for any of this work because this was an error that we committed. And [00:20:00] let's get started on replacing that space."
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And a couple of things that just struck me in that moment. There was no shame or blame. He didn't say, "Leslie screwed this up. We can't believe she did this." "We messed this up." And the second thing he did was put me right back in the mix, which meant that in spite of my mistake, he trusted me. And if you want to talk about a space of [00:20:30] psychological safety and transparency and vulnerability, he definitely created that for me.
(20:38):
It was, indeed, a beautiful ally moment and I remark on it regularly. I get a little emotional even just talking about it. The first time I became a CEO in my career, he is one of the people I sent a note to thanking him not only for standing by me in that moment and many others, but for modeling to me what beautiful, [00:21:00] transparent, and vulnerable leadership looks like.
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And I will acknowledge that I do my level best every single day to model that behavior with the teams I lead and fight what is a very real urge to solve those problems myself. There have been times in my career when my gut reaction was to think, "Ugh, this is so [00:21:30] big that maybe I have to fix it," and try and insert myself into the solution set.
(21:36):
And I'm grateful for having built relationships with my team over the years that have allowed them to come in and say, "We appreciate that you accept and understand our mistake, and we would like the opportunity to fully fix this on our own." Reminding me in several instances of the very thing [00:22:00] that Mike, his name is Mike Carroll, did for me all of those years ago. So, I share that as an example of ways that we can show up for folks and the criticality of allies.
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So often, we enter spaces like this and we're talking about some of the challenges that women and particularly [00:22:30] Black, Brown and Indigenous women face relative to access to a whole variety of opportunities in our economy. And we think that it's singularly to us to solve or activate against. And in fact, we need everyone to understand that by growing economic opportunity, we help everyone and no one is harmed.
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And in fact, the people that have sat for many, many, many decades [00:23:00] and centuries and positions of power and influence have the opportunity and, in my opinion, the obligation to help us achieve those outcomes collectively. So, it is not only about our own advocacy, it is about championing and acting as allies or identifying allies for other marginalized populations in the community.
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So, I think that is [00:23:30] an element of where this activation and pursuit of equity and justice comes. I also think it's critical for us in teams, boardrooms, and networking events to move with empathy and have a willingness to sit quietly while we listen to the elements of other human's lived experiences. And Rachael mentioned at the top that I'm a TEDx speaker.
(24:00):
[00:24:00] The scariest thing I think I've ever done in my entire career was to act in that environment or deliver a speech in that environment. I do a lot of speaking and have for a number of years, but the TED stage is a very different place. You are blocked, you are costumed, you are not allowed any notes or access to [00:24:30] a teleprompter.
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And my entire conversation was about a topic that's deeply emotional to me, which is sitting in the discomfort of other people's lived experiences without talking over them, explaining them away, and leaving with a willingness to understand what you can do with your own power and influence to activate against that challenge. And I think we have the opportunity [00:25:00] on a daily basis to do that.
(25:03):
The story I share in my TED talk is one of being at a conference dedicated to justice, equity, and inclusion in our communities and the story told by a Black woman about the constant and unending fear that she lives with when her Black son leaves their house. And we were living in a world where just this week, [00:25:30] another Black boy was shot by the police, which is evidence of her fear and concern, which I openly acknowledge and shared with my white son upon my return from that conference. I don't have.
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And that is a deep privilege and injustice because all mothers should feel comfort in the safety of their children. [00:26:00] And so, I've carried that lesson in that moment through so many elements of my career and lived experience, including acknowledging on days like today, there's a bunch of very, very sad and scared Black people in our community, and taking the time and having the courage to reach out to them [00:26:30] on a day like today and say, "I am sorry. I am sad. I am with you. I see you, I feel you."
[NEW_PARAGRAPH]"And I don't accept a world where this continues to happen." So, I hope, while these are very personal examples of my lived experience, that they're evidence of ways that you can yourself sit in a space that holds with sincerity and care of [00:27:00] others' lived experiences. And I believe that doing that in work, not only in community and in our personal lives, can transform leadership.
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The next thing I want to talk about is a little bit of taking care of self. I think as women, we are so often focused on caring for the people in community. It starts with our families. It leads to our community. And ultimately, as leaders, we are taking care of [00:27:30] many families and many people across our community. And in a society that deems productivity in many ways, the single most important measure of our value, which is not true, we shouldn't believe that, it's a lie.
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It is a lie that capitalism tells us on a regular basis. We have to invest in ourselves. We have to invest in our rest and our reflection [00:28:00] and connecting to our creative selves. And it has been my experience that when I, as forced to do so, candidly, through a variety of personal tragedies that occurred over a number of years, to be forced to rest and focus on self and healing.
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It is absolutely magical the way our teams are invited into their own self-care. [00:28:30] And over the course of time, I've used that as a framework to model self-care, health and wellness, physical and mental fitness as elements of the culture of all organizations I lead and to do so unapologetically. And you all, it starts with us. It starts with us. I invite you today to find time for rest, reflection, self-care, investments [00:29:00] in yourself.
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This is an element of that. I don't want to say that I am worthy of being deemed an element of self-care, but taking time to learn new things or hear from new people is certainly a small fraction of that. So, find more ways to do that. And I promise you, the people you lead will also find more ways to do that. I as a mother of three beautiful humans, one of whom's birthday is today, [00:29:30] so I dedicate this entire talk to her.
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She turns 31 today. She made me a mother. They also learned from our modeling. So, I went from running myself ragged to not asking for help, to feeling like I had to solve all problems, thank you, Alexis, to asking for help, acknowledging when I'm tired and burned out, sitting still for a while to gather myself. And it's been really helpful for them, too. [00:30:00] So, do that.
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Do that, do that, do that. Write down a way that you are going to commit to take care of yourself this way and talk to your friends about it. Talk to your sisters, your mother, your daughters, your friends, and collectively, I think we can build a movement around taking care of ourselves such that we can take care of all the people around us that we feel so called to do.
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And I understand that as a [00:30:30] truly universal calling. So, please promise me at the end of this, you're going to do that. The next thing I want to talk about is how, by behaving these ways and building companies and communities and families and networks of vulnerable, transparent, healed, and healthy humans, we can build an inclusive economy. The numbers [00:31:00] on this, you all, are brutal.
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I spent the last five years working in women in tech. Twenty-six percent of all roles across the tech economy are filled by women, trans and non-binary people. The percentages of Black, Brown and Indigenous women is much smaller than that, and almost none of that 26% find their way into positions of leadership.
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We've already talked about the number of board members [00:31:30] that are women in Fortune 500 companies who, by the way, are making the biggest decisions about what technologies move into the hands of our kids, of our neighbors, of our future generation, making decisions about what goods and services are provided and at what cost. And we control the bulk of the spending in society. So, there's a significant mismatch there.
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And it means that a lot of the decisions that are being [00:32:00] made in the boards lack the empathy and insight of the entire community. And so, I believe that the more women we put in rooms where decisions are made, the more empathetic, creative and courageous our decisions will be. And that is why I am committed to not only having more companies started by women, but growing [00:32:30] in their hands because they have access to capital and contracts.
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More women on boards of publicly traded companies were often asked to be on boards of a million, trillion non-profits. And the reason is because we're relegated to do the care and keeping of the brokenness that is often created in the capitalist construct. And if we were just to shift all of that effort and energy into the economy, [00:33:00] we would have less of those societal problems, and that bears out in evidence on a daily basis.
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We also have to become more willing to be investors in each other. And I don't just mean intellectual, spiritual and emotional investors. I mean money. We get a lot of mentorship, we get a lot of advice, we get a lot of training, we get a lot of stuff that's [00:33:30] going to make us smarter, better. We're convinced that we're imposters in an environment we actually belong.
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And one of the ways that we are going to change that feeling isn't to be convinced that we are, in fact, imposters because we are not. We are worthy, we are ready and we belong. But we haven't been invited, we haven't been included, and we haven't figured out how to break all of those walls down. And one of the ways is by investing in each other.
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So, I encourage [00:34:00] women, young, middle-aged and old to invest in each other. You can do that through crowdfunding, you can do that through angel investing. You can be a limited partner in a venture fund. You can do any of these things, but do them. Do them because if we do, we can change what I'm about to tell you, which is women founders in the United States of America get less than 5% [00:34:30] of all venture capital awarded on a daily basis.
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That number eroded through COVID. And for our Black and Brown sisters, that number is less than 1%. That is patently unacceptable in any measure. And so, the way we change that is by becoming the investors ourselves. I'm not suggesting all of you drop what you're doing and go become venture capitalists, [00:35:00] but you can if you want to. I would be all about that.
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But the more active we get involved in investing, the more likely we are to see the shift of investments flow to women and people of color. And the data on this is real clear, with diverse leadership, portfolios increase in diversity 10 times. So, it's really, really important that [00:35:30] we get in the game. And you can do this in small and large ways so you don't have to have billions of dollars to be able to become involved in this.
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And if you're interested in it, I encourage you to look into local angel networks and/or communities that are created through banks, like the Key4Women initiative that you are all a part of, to find ways to become actively involved in investing. So, with that, [00:36:00] I want to move into policy, which you can already tell I'm super committed to and excited about. For a long time, I wanted to be able to just move through my career in a single lane.
(36:15):
I had a private sector career. I actually started in banking. I spent the first 13 years of my career in banking. It was there that I received my degrees. It was there that I received my early education. It was there that I learned how to lead and be led. [00:36:30] It was there where I had a handful of jobs that really moved me into a space of confidence and self-actualization.
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And throughout my entire private sector career, my entrepreneurial experiences, and now in my economic development career, I've always wanted things to be simple enough for me to just be able to be extraordinary at the thing I was doing. And that meant there [00:37:00] were other people thinking about policy or there were other people thinking about the workforce or the educational concerns.
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And over the last 15 years, I've just come to realize that's not true. We got to do all of it and we got to do all of it well. And we don't have to be expert, but we do have to understand and identify the levers we have access to pull the influence that we have in the spaces we have it and the ways that we can champion to advance the outcomes we want.
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[00:37:30] And my lived experience suggests that policy is one really critical way to do that. A few examples where women organizing and advocating on behalf of women and their right to show up in the world are the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, where every woman, married or single, could have a bank or credit account. 1974. [00:38:00] 1-9-7-4.
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Before that, we could not have bank accounts or credit accounts. So, I see that "huh" face. Every time I share that, folks kind of freak out. Those things happen because we're unhappy that we don't have access to those things. We organize, we activate and we change policy. We don't actually write the laws, but we vote for the people who do, you all.
(38:29):
The 19th Amendment, [00:38:30] that's what gave us the right to vote. Passed in 1919 and was ratified in 1920. So, even that is only 100-year-old right, which we had prior held and was taken away. And then, we had to earn back. And back to the point about intersectionality, has not always been distributed equally to all women, where often white women [00:39:00] are held out as those allowed to have a particular right and our sisters of color are not.
(39:08):
So, remember, policy change must be intersectional for it to be relevant. Title IX, Higher Education Act, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and any educational program receiving Federal funds. I'm sure you all are tracking Caitlin Clark. I hope you are. It's history in the making. [00:39:30] My son is involved in women's basketball.
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And Title IX made access to education and academic sporting opportunities, I love her too, available to women. Really, really important piece of legislation. Title VII, 1964, getting closer to the time when I was born. Thankfully, [00:40:00] this happened right in time for me to arrive on the scene. Insured women would not be discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions.
(40:11):
Oh, no. Sorry, that doesn't come till 1978. I got messed up in my note, you all. Eliminates discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, or religion. Was expanded in 2020 to protect lesbian, gay and transgender humans. 2020. So, still policy [00:40:30] happening that expands this just and inclusive world that we want to live in. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, sorry.
(40:39):
Until 1978, you could actively not be hired or be fired or not promoted because you were pregnant, planning to be pregnant, or had medical conditions related to either. I openly acknowledge that there's still a bias. [00:41:00] There's what's known as a maternity tax. There's what's viewed as serious limits to career growth and pay parity as a result of parenting, particularly by women. But at least, in 1978, it became illegal to do that.
(41:22):
So, we have some form of action. And then, last but not least, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 [00:41:30] amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to give women the right to advance claims for fair pay. That doesn't mean we're guaranteed fair pay. In fact, we know that white women make 82 cents on the dollar, Black women make 61 cents on the dollar, and Latinas make 54 cents on the dollar compared to our male counterparts for the same exact job.
(41:59):
And it is estimated [00:42:00] by a variety of global organizations that true pay equity in the US will not occur until 2277. So, we're ways away from that. One way to get there faster is folks like you on this call acting in pursuit of pay parity, doing pay parity studies at work. For all of you entrepreneurs and small business [00:42:30] owners on the phone, making sure that you're tracking that and bringing that commitment.
(42:35):
For all of you allies and champions on the phone, doing the same in your workplace. All these were moved against the will of the majority power structure with active, engaged, organized, strategic, and patient advocacy by women for women, with the support of critical allies empowered by our collective voices. So, it starts with us. [00:43:00] I've had a lot of teams I lead over the years say, "Why is it up to us to fix our oppression?"
(43:09):
And I don't have a good answer, but it is. So, those are historical pieces of legislation. There are many others, but they're really important to build the context for where we are today. We mentioned earlier that I'm on the National Women's Business Council for the SBA. [00:43:30] We are fully focused on expanding economic access for women, small business owners across the US.
(43:40):
That's it. That's everything. We have three committees. We're focused on educational pathways to take more women into STEM careers through early education and post-graduate education. We are focused on building inclusive ecosystems [00:44:00] across the country such that anywhere you live, when you are stepping into a resource provider, helping you launch or build your business, you'll be met with equitable access to the resources that are provided there.
(44:14):
And we spend a lot of time talking about access to money, which doesn't just mean venture capital or loans or grants, it also means contracts. The Small Business Administration alone sets [00:44:30] aside a commitment of 5% on women-owned businesses every year. Five. Remember, we're 50% of the population. We barely hit 3%.
(44:45):
So, a part of our policy recommendations are to do much better, expand the goal, expand pursuit of the goal. We also are [00:45:00] advancing a variety of initiatives that address the broken infrastructure around child and elder care, access to education and transportation. Similarly, at the Center for American Entrepreneurship where I'm the vice chair of the board, we are focused on all of those things.
(45:20):
Thank you, Rachael. I'm going to wrap up now. I'm coming right into my conclusion. So, it's perfect. Including access to capital, portable [00:45:30] child care, retirement, universal healthcare, student loan debt management, and increasing the investor pool.
(45:37):
So, I share all of this with you to illuminate the importance of empathy and vulnerability in the workplace, the role we each play individually as leaders in our companies and communities to build a just and inclusive world starting with us, and to invite you to become [00:46:00] more involved in policy to build the world we want to see because our voices are a critical element of that. Thank you.
Rachael Sampson (46:10):
Well, that was fantastic, Leslie. I was feverishly taking notes during your presentation as there was so much, whether you talked about child care, elder care, support, the staggering statistics at the beginning of your program that you shared, as well as the policy updates [00:46:30] at the end in the years that sometimes feel like it happened a long time ago, but it was a lot closer to the time that we're in now than we anticipated.
(46:39):
Intentional belonging, trying to stop fixing things yourself, and the need to rest and recharge. I can go on and on, but I'm excited to get our audience in this part of our program as well. Continue to send your questions in through the Q&A as well as the chat. And we'll continue to have this conversation to the top of the hour [00:47:00] because we want to soak up as much of Leslie's knowledge, expertise, and insights as possible.
(47:05):
If you are not a Key4Women member in our audience, I encourage you to join today. Please use the QR code on your screen or go to key.com/JoinK, the number 4, W in order to connect so that you get the latest invites, insights, and updates from our program like experts that we're sharing here [00:47:30] with Leslie today. So, with that, we're going to go into our Q&A session.
(47:34):
And one thing that I have to say about Key4Women, and I'm so glad that you brought this up, is the inclusive nature of promoting women, whether it's in the workplace or in entrepreneurship, those that identify as such or maybe non-binary and the male allies that play such an important role into that work. So, one of our first questions from Jason out there. Thanks so much.
(47:57):
How can he or men or allies [00:48:00] in general support in a way that doesn't sound condescending or insincere? I believe I'm a strong male ally leader. I participate in support, but is there more that I should be or could be doing? And what does that look like in practice?
Leslie Smith (48:18):
Wow, that is an amazing question, Jason. Thank you for having the courage to ask it. That's where you start is by asking how you can be a better ally. And that is a question [00:48:30] that you can ask any of the women or non-binary humans on your team, in your community or in the organizations you serve. A couple of things that I always ask male allies to do is to first ask how they can be better allies.
(48:49):
Second, look around in every room and notice who's missing. If it's only people that look like you, dare to ask why. So, there are often times [00:49:00] we as women see all male panels, we see all male boardrooms, we see all male meetings. And there are very few topics that could be being discussed that wouldn't benefit from a diverse set of voices, including women.
(49:18):
So, who's missing from the conversations you are in? And then, sponsorship. We talk a lot about mentoring and coaching, and those are very important. Do not stop doing them. [00:49:30] Sponsorship takes that to another level, which means the active support to forward the goals of a woman in your community, on your team or in your company. So, we're going to use Rachael as an example here.
(49:48):
That could be, Jason, you're in room after room after room with senior leadership and have noticed Rachael's extraordinary commitment to [00:50:00] the community and say, "Have you thought about a senior leadership role that Rachael could play?" Being a person that says those things out loud with your influence is so important and that is what we call sponsorship.
(50:18):
So, getting more deeply driven by the career, professional and personal goals of the women in your organization and actively using your influence to advance [00:50:30] those are a couple of really great ways.
Rachael Sampson (50:32):
I love that. And I think as we talked about, as you mentioned, there's a subset of additional women that might identify whether it's non-binary, whether they're of color. But one thing that I'd love to delve a little bit deeper on is the ageism. Whether you're towards the end of your career and more seasoned and maybe not looked at for additional opportunities, although you might still have a lot to give, or some of our younger [00:51:00] professionals that are still looking to find their voice in a lot of places and spaces.
(51:06):
How do we deal with that in the workplace from an individual level as well as from a leadership level of how to support those folks in the workplace?
Leslie Smith (51:16):
Yeah, that's a great question. And I'm on one end of that, so I appreciate it later in my career, but not anywhere near willing to stop engaging or participating. [00:51:30] The numbers on post-50 entrepreneurial starts are staggering. It is literally a time when women are coming into their strength and their confidence, and there's often a lack of opportunities for women at that end of the spectrum.
(51:50):
The point about young folks is also really critical. Ways we can prevent that from happening is [00:52:00] checking our own bias for one. They don't have any good ideas. They can't know this. They haven't lived those experiences. So, inviting our older team members and younger team members into rooms where decisions are being made, I think, is one way to do that.
(52:19):
The advice I gave about checking who's in the room? Do we have representation across a wide spectrum of ages is a really important thing. And I tend [00:52:30] to want both ends of that spectrum on boards and teams, and I think that's a good way to solve for that.
Rachael Sampson (52:38):
I love that. And then, great, great advice of checking yourself and always remembering however the best way to do that is too. I love your experience working with the Small Business Administration. One question that we had, you mentioned a statistic around 5%, and we currently were only 3% as women today. It's 5% of what? Can you [00:53:00] please verify what that statistic was for our audience?
Leslie Smith (53:03):
Oh, sure. That's 5% of the annual spend that SBA as an agency puts at play in market. So, say the SBA spends $100 a year. At least 5% of that should be spent with women-owned businesses. So, 5% of those dollars should be spent with women-owned business.
Rachael Sampson (53:24):
That's perfect. Thank you so much for clarifying. And staying on the topic of women-owned businesses, one thing that we noticed in [00:53:30] this hyper-environment through, as you mentioned with COVID of how things have shifted for small business owners and this online presence and so many barriers that we can face to grow our businesses.
(53:43):
What advice do you give to women-owned businesses to get their business out there, to get more noticed and get more connected in their communities?
Leslie Smith (53:52):
Yeah. There are so many ways. I think it's first important to really build your community. I'm seeing [00:54:00] the chat flash before my eyes, but someone talked about being a champion for women in business, women in leadership and up and coming women. One way to do that as a small business owner is to build your community of champions.
(54:14):
So, building a network among other small businesses in and around the community. The second is check the resources. They are hidden in plain sight and many of them are free. The SBA alone has women's business centers across the entire country where you have free access to a variety of [00:54:30] resources. The SBDCs, which are also sponsored by the SBA, have a variety of resources and those will include ways to get your businesses notice.
(54:40):
The other thing is really seek to engage folks that are consumers of your goods and services at scale. So, we find that women-owned businesses have a lot of opportunities when they come together to pitch bigger contracts with a city government or a big anchor. And then, obviously, there's [00:55:00] really strategic marketing and communication strategies that help do that for a small business.
(55:07):
And many of those resources are also available and free in communities across the country.
Rachael Sampson (55:13):
I love that. And of course, I have a shameless plug for Key4Women where we advocate, connect, and empower. And as you see, we have a ton of advocates and business owners, folks that are passionate about supporting women in business [00:55:30] in our chat as a part of our community. My suggestion, please reach out to them, make connections, reach out.
(55:37):
You never know what those things that you have in common or who you know and how you can help connect. I know my LinkedIn is already going off. So, I encourage you to follow #Key4Women on the social media platforms as well as connect with our Key4Women team, Vanity Bryant, Colleen Dugarte, and myself. So, we've got some more questions.
(55:58):
We've got to keep this going. So, [00:56:00] one question as you talked about your diverse experience, question we have is what was the greatest obstacle that you faced in your career and your entrepreneurial pursuit?
Leslie Smith (56:17):
There are a lot of obstacles that we all face that are collective obstacles. Sometimes I think the biggest obstacles we face is ourselves and believing that we can or should do another thing. So, I've [00:56:30] really tried to embrace comfort with being uncomfortable critically. If something makes me uncomfortable, it almost means that I should do it because it's so scary that I know I will grow. So, my own fear for a very long time was my own obstacle.
(56:48):
And I had to really work through every transition and the fear associated with that transition. I think other obstacles [00:57:00] that I've had, there's this significant concern in corporate culture today about women against women crime. I have many times found myself at odds or battle with women in positions of leadership who are so afraid of losing their own position that they've blocked or prevented other people in our organization from that same growth.
(57:30):
[00:57:30] And learning how to lean into really edgy conversations about that, I think, is another obstacle. I had to learn how to find my courage to challenge.
Rachael Sampson (57:44):
Yes. Well, I love how Taylor Swift put it. I'm not officially a part of the Swifties, but I think she said there's a special place for those women that don't support other women. So, I love that we've got this community where we are supporting, [00:58:00] engaging, and connecting and being able to talk about so much of this important work. I know we are getting at the top of the hour and we have so many great questions.
(58:09):
One thing that I do want to just let our audience know is that Leslie has been kind enough to put together a resource document for us to leverage post our webinar today. We will be sharing that out as well as the recording with everyone that registered for you to share. And with that, I'm going to thank everyone for being here.
(58:30):
[00:58:30] But before we go, I would love, Leslie, for you to share any parting advice that you have for our audience today and just tell you thank you for imparting so much wisdom on us and just thanks everyone for being here and being a part of this such important conversation. So, Leslie, it's all yours.
Leslie Smith (58:48):
Thank you. I want to start by thanking you and Vanity for inviting me to share this space with you. It has been my great honor to share this time with you. So, thank you very much. I'm humbled by the invitation. [00:59:00] Thank you all for coming. It has been great to spend time with you. Parting word of advice? I will share my favorite quote from Henry Ford. I'm a native Detroiter, so this should surprise no one. Whether you think you can or cannot, you are right.
Rachael Sampson (59:18):
I love it. And we will leave it there. Thanks, everyone. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Take care.
Leslie Smith (59:25):
Bye.
Join Key4Women National Director Rachael Sampson for a conversation with Founder, Executive Director, and equality and equity champion Leslie Smith to celebrate the progress made by women in business while also addressing the ongoing challenges they face, and the work needed to achieve true equity and inclusion.
In this webinar participants will learn:
- How to challenge historical notions of leadership, emphasizing the importance of vulnerability
- How to lead by example by advocating for each other and using personal growth and self-awareness in affecting organizational change
- How to foster innovation and sustainable growth within business
Leslie is the Founder and Principal of Themis Strategic Partners, a consulting firm focused on developing actionable strategies at the intersection of equity and growth. Drawing from her extensive experience in strategic consulting, leadership development, and advocacy for women in business, Leslie will explore the profound impact of vulnerability on fostering equity, inclusion, and justice in the workplace.
She is also an active board member of the Center for American Entrepreneurship and National Women’s Business Council at the U.S. Small Business Administration. Leslie has been featured as a TEDx speaker as well as in Forbes, Fortune, and StyleBlueprint.
Let’s Work Together to Achieve Your Goals.
For more Key4Women resources to help you reach your goals, visit key.com/women, or email us to learn more.