Modeling School: Celebrating Women of Character, Courage and Commitment

I’ve had the honor of moderating Step Up’s March panel discussion series in honor of Women’s History Month. The 10 women who graciously shared their insights, wisdom and advice with our women and girls did so candidly with vulnerability that let us into their experience. After hearing from our incredible panelists in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, there are some common themes that emerged.

1) Keep learning. All 10 of our panelists voiced a true love of continuing to challenge themselves. Boredom on the job is not an option for these women. Whether they looked for new challenges within their own companies as Kathy Callahan did, shifted their definition of learning from hard skills to management and leadership skills like Lucy Kaylin, or wanted to make sure they got in on the ground floor of emerging business models so as not to be left behind as Susan Lyne did, every woman voiced a desire to continue to learn and grow.

2) Be yourself. Every woman we spoke with had a moment in her career when she stopped doing what was expected of her, took ownership of her career and made it more reflective of her own interests and desires. Whether it was wearing bold colors in a conservative profession as Ivy Kagan Bierman did once she made parter at Loeb and Loeb, or Dolores Kunda pushing her company to start a division focused on Hispanic marketing or Karen A. Clark having a thriving music career in addition to rising in finance, it is imperative to listen to your own voice even when others tell you no, especially when others tell you no.

3) Take risks. Several women reflected on times when they had to bet on themselves, trust their gut and recognize ‘why not me?’ Stephanie Neely took a pay cut and a leap of faith when taking on the role of City of Chicago treasurer. Melanie Witt shared that ‘sometimes your safety net is at pavement level,’ when referring to her experience as a single mom and newly-minted legal associate. Diane Pearse debated shifting from finance to operations and made the move after her husband looked at her and said ‘of course you can do this.’

4) Mentors and role models are important. Madeline Di Nonno sites Bob Iger as one of her mentors after observing his leadership and adopting his style. Susan Lyne cites a mentor of hers as instrumental in her successfully making the leap from being a ‘#2’ to being a ‘#1.’ Step Up’s teen girls in attendance at all of the panels were mentored by not only the panelists, but by observing all of the women in the room continue to learn, grow and support one another in striving to reach their goals.

Women’s history is being written by all of us every day. Progress is made collectively, but only if we all stand forward as our unique selves and walk the best walk we can. Ultimately, the goal of life is not ‘she with the most toys (or twitter followers) wins.’ It is ‘Who fulfilled the vision they had for themselves? Who acknowledged their vision, the spark of inspiration, no matter when it hit, and followed it?’ Live your vision and you will undoubtedly make history.