Wednesday Wisdom: Creating a Pink World

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners

A long mahogany table lined with formal nameplates, printed agendas, branded coffee mugs, with a pitcher of water in the table’s center, and a side buffet of scones, muffins, and fruit, filled the familiar room. Twice a year I ventured to this spot on SUNY Oswego’s campus to attend the Business School’s Board of Officers Meeting. I moved up to that position from another board where I proved my loyalty and knowledge along with being a female.

With an outspoken feminist voice, the leaders looking to fill the new business school board member positions, only filled with one woman, asked me to join them. The rest of the board members were men, mostly men in the accounting or finance field, no one in marketing like me, so whether I was a woman or man, it made sense to ask me to join the board. Later, I found out that my gender-equity statements landed me there. I’m glad I was heard, noticed, and participated for ten years.

Next week the Women’s Business Collaborative hosts their 4th Annual Action for Impact Summit. Their mission states,“We will not rest until there is equal position, pay, and power for all business women.” I have been connected to them through Women TIES member Andrea Simon of Simon Associates. They are a powerful, national and global organization of women interested in making the necessary changes for women to advance.

One of their 9 action initiatives is to make boardrooms more inclusive. Their website states, “While the number of women on boards continues to increase, representation still falls short on the S&P 500 (26 percent women) , Fortune 500 (22.5 percent women), and the Russel 3000 (20.4 percent women).” WBC believes having boardrooms represent consumers is paramount to their gender parity initiatives.

So while more women entrepreneurs are running their companies brilliantly and honing business skills, they should also be branching out ad shared. Keep in mind, board membership opens up natural business connections for future business opportunities, and is a way to give back to an industry or community of interest, all while helping to put diverse faces around the table.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to consider joining one or two boards of interest to you personally or professionally. You can find organizations through mutual connections or business ties. You can even use LinkedIn’s new Advisory Cloud, giving professionals the chance to join an advisory board remotely through their digital platform. Make sure you consider your levels of expertise or interest and then start searching for board positions. Through Linkedin, some advisory positions pay board members, so check them out.

I also suggest you register for the Women’s Business Collaborative free event on  9/21-9/22 to join in the conversation on how you can help with gender parity as well as connect with women globally. It will be a win-win event and free thanks to Andi Simon. Go to this website link to see how to register for free. I’ll see you there. I wouldn’t miss it for the “pink world”.