What are the systems and societal norms getting in the way of women achieving economic mobility? How do we call out and dismantle those systems? In this episode we talk to Ruchika Tulshyan, author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (MIT Press). She’s also the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy practice. A former international business journalist, Ruchika is now a regular contributor to The New York Times and Harvard Business Review on workplace equity and inclusion. Ruchika co-wrote a paradigm-shifting article, “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome,” for Harvard Business Review with Jodi-Ann Burey. The article was among the top-read articles in HBR history, as well as the top three articles for the publication in 2021. Best of all, people all over the world have said it helped them stop blaming themselves for supposed imposter syndrome. Ruchika is on the Thinkers50 Radar list, and LinkedIn’s 2022 Top Voices on Gender Equality, and was recently awarded the Jeanette Williams Award by Seattle Women’s Commission for her significant contribution and leadership in advancing women in the region. She’s raising a feminist son, who is 5. Ruchika is a Singaporean foodie who has lived in four countries.For more on Ruchika's bio and show notes go to www.VESTHer.co/podcast

With many women still not returning to work after Covid-19 lockdowns and many of them still reporting high numbers of burnout, it can be difficult to find reasons to be optimistic about the state of women in business. But here’s one highlight: A recent report from the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) and 50-50 Women on Boards found that 2021 was a “watershed year” for women on corporate boards, with the largest ever year-over-year increase in board seats held by women among companies in the Russell 3000, an index of the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in America. According to the report, which was released earlier this month, women held 27 percent of board seats at companies on the Russell 3,000 in 2021, up from 24 percent in 2020. Another sign of progress, according to the report: Black board membership increased 32 percent.In this session we talk to Esther Aguilera, President and CEO of the Latino Corporate Directors Association and VEST Member Beverly Carmichael, Former C-Suite Executive and Board Director at multiple companies including Blue Apron and Viad Corp, about the gaps we still have to overcome, and how we can position ourselves to serve on Corporate Boards so that together we can further advance Diversity in the Board Room.

Most people confuse personal brand with reputation but they are two different things. Everyone has a reputation. The first impressions we make, the relationships we form with managers and peers, and how we communicate — all of these things impact how others see us. Our personal brand, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It's how we want other people to see us. We can curate our personal brand or let it develop organically.  Intentionally creating our brand is much more powerful than letting the world create one for us. Because having a clear brand helps us position ourselves as an authority in our industry, elevates our credibility, and helps us differentiate ourselves from the competition, so we can advance our careers and have a larger impact. In this session we talk to Jill Hughes, Assistant Vice President of Advancement at the University of Oklahoma and former Disney Executive about how we can be intentional in developing our personal brand and the challenges we might experience along the way. For Jill's full bio and show notes; go to www.vesther.co/podcast 

Companies don't scale unless we take the time to delegate. We also know that teams don't grow unless give them the opportunity to take on challenging projects. But even when we know delegating leads to productivity and developing employees, it's often hard to do because it requires us to trust others. Trust doesn't come naturally to everyone. It's also hard to build trust when you are already overloaded and overwhelmed. To help us understand why delegating is so hard, we invited Valerie Riley, CEO of LifeSquire, an assistant resource company, offering job placements, outsourced personal & virtual assistants as well as assistant training. Join us as we talk to Valerie about how we can get better at trusting others and ourselves as we grow our companies and learn to let go of control.Special thanks to VEST Member Jennifer Loren, Executive Director of the Cherokee Film Office for moderating this session. For Valerie and Jennifer's full bio and show notes go to www.VESTHer/podcast 

At many organizations there is a gap between the existing culture and the “desired” culture — the culture needed to support and advance the company’s goals and strategies. In the past, organizational culture was for the most part, an initiative led by the CEO and Human Resources. HR would design a campaign to tout a mission statement and the core values the CEO and senior management developed. This top down approach no longer works for several reasons. For one, Covid-19 has upended how leaders interact with employees and how coworkers connect with each other. The need to adapt quickly and remain flexible during the pandemic has also revealed the ineffectiveness of top-down leadership. The intensified demand for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, and the continuing battle for talent, have led to culture becoming a strategic priority with impact on the bottom line. But how do we build a shared-value culture?To talk about this topic we invited Christina Cassotis CEO of the Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and one of the highest paid chief executives in her field. Under her leadership, Pittsburgh International Airport has been transformed into a world-leading origin-and-destination airport where she has not only reshaped the culture and long-term strategy for the region’s airports, she is redefining what it means to be an airport.Join us as we talk to her about how organizations can remain competitive by creating a culture based on shared-responsibility where everyone in the organization has a clear, consistent, common understanding of it — and everyone works together in a deliberate and coordinated effort to cultivate it.For the transcript and full notes on the show, visit: https://www.vesther.co/podcast

More than 50 million people now consider themselves creators, fostering a “creator economy” which is now valued at more than $100 billion. — The surge has been especially pronounced over the last year, with a growing cohort of women pursuing opportunities in the creator economy. But What are the opportunities for women? What are the challenges? Particularly as it relates to mental health.Join us as we talk to Suany Garcia, author of "The New Latina: 100 Millennials Shaping Our World.” and editor in chief at mitú. For Suanny’s full bio and show notes, go to www.vesther.co/podcastAbout Suanny GarciaSuanny Garcia is the author of "The New Latina: 100 Millennials Shaping Our World.” She is also the editor in chief at mitú. She was born in Cuba, and bred in Miami, where she is currently based. Suanny is known for her ability to connect with women through her writing.  Her work has been featured across media platforms like Popsugar, Byrdie and Refinery29. Suanny was previously a public relations manager. She studied at Hampshire College, in Massachusetts, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In this episode we talk to Stephanie LeBlanc-Godfrey, Global Head of Inclusion Programs for Women of Color at Google about different ways we can support, promote, and invest in women of color not just in the workplace but at home and in our communities. For Stephanie’s full bio, show notes and resources mentioned on this episode go to www.VESTHer.co/podcast Special thanks to VEST Member Dr. Mautra Jones, President of Oklahoma City Community College for moderating this session. This recording was part of a more intimate coaching session with VEST Members and has been repurposed to accommodate this episode. About VESTVEST is a private network of women working together to expedite the pipeline of more women in positions of power and influence. 

It's that time again. When we welcome the new year, enthusiastic about setting new goals and developing new habits. The problem is, we don’t always follow through. So to gain perspective, we invited Ahniwake Rose, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, to talk about her approach to goal settings and to keeping herself accountable. We also talk about the barriers affecting women in the workplace today and how she has maneuvered some of these same challenges in order to get to where she is today.Ahniwake Rose is a VEST Founding Member and the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute where she works to advance equitable and fiscally responsible policies in her home state. Prior to this role, Ahniwake served as the Deputy Director of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), a national organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities, where she worked with a diverse coalition of civil and human rights organizations to address economic inequality and systemic injustice. Ahniwake is a Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow and currently she serves on multiple education and youth related boards. Ahniwake is a mother of two daughters, Waleah and Tahna, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and is of Muscogee (Creek) descent.

Seventy percent of Healthcare workers are women, including ninety percent of nurses, and ninety three percent of midwives, yet only twenty five percent of healthcare leadership roles are held by women. Why is that?In this episode we talk to Robyn Sunday-Allen, Chief Executive Officer of the Oklahoma City Indian Health Clinic about how the lack of women in leadership positions affect women's health and overall policy. We also discuss Native American relations in Oklahoma and why it’s important for women to continue to speak up despite the risk of being penalized for doing so. VEST is a private network of women building power collectively. 

Sevetri Wilson is the Founder and CEO of Resilia, a technology company enabling nonprofits to increase capacity. She is also the Author of Resilient: How to overcome anything and build a million dollar business with or without capital. Prior to founding Resilia, at age 22, Sevetri bootstrapped her first company, Solid Ground Innovations, to seven figures without raising any outside funding. Since launching Resilia, Sevetri has raised more than $11M, making her one of only 50 Black women in the U.S. to have raised more than $10M in venture funding. Sevetri has been named a Rising Star on the Forbes Cloud 100 List and her company Resilia was named as one of Venture Beat’s top startups to watch out for in 2019. Sevetri is also a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Public Service, the Jefferson Award. Join us as we talk to Sevetri about how we can build resiliency and overcome bias to build a profitable and meaningful companies. This recording was part of a more intimate coaching session with VEST Members and has been repurposed to accommodate this episode. Follow Sevetri onLinkedinTwitterVEST is a private network of women building power collectively.