Leading Women Entrepreneurs Magazine 2017-Entre_magazine-online | Page 16

EMPOWER
What I’ve experienced in interviewing many of the women in
Leading Women Entrepreneurs’ Top 25 is that they don’t want
to seem boastful or seek authority status. However, when they
see other women come to the forefront to receive an award or
participate as a thought leader, they then have reason to say,
“That can be me, too.” – Ken Krysinski, managing partner,
Socialfix Media
Women often go unnoticed and uncelebrated. I think there has
to forever be increasing visibility for women so that we are respect-
fully identified and acknowledged. Otherwise, we continue to
I
run the risk that men at the top will state, “There were no
qualified women for the job.” – Dee Marshall, certified coach,
f equality is the issue, why single out women?
After all, there are few – if any – organizations that
strive to increase the visibility of men in the media.
The fact is, women face a unique set of challenges in both
their personal and professional lives that men often do
not, including a plethora of stigmas in which to overcome.
The numbers alone are enough to take pause: according to
Catalyst, although women represented nearly 47 percent of the
labor force in 2016, they represented only about six percent
of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies and 20 percent of
board positions at Fortune 500 companies in the U.S.
So
we
turned
to
an
esteemed
panel
of
women
(and one man) to discuss the systemic issues facing
women’s
leadership
and
entrepreneurship
today.
Here’s what they had to say.
leadership trainer and diversity resource, Raise the Bar LLC
Increased visibility for women in business illustrates to all
generations that stereotypes in business are constantly being
shattered. Older generations of women had to fight for
everything in the workplace, and it was a novelty for a woman
to be in management. Today, the more we make our successes
public, the more it is talked about and the more it becomes
commonplace. We are not currently treated or regarded as
equal to men in business, but with visibility comes awareness. –
Lara Gottlieb Nikola, founder and owner, Smart Sips Coffee
There is tremendous value behind understanding how women
businesses and women in corporate America contribute to the
growth of the economy both in New Jersey and nationwide.
By alerting the media to this fact, such public knowledge
may encourage the advancement of women by putting more
What does it mean to specifically increase
visibility for women? attention on what women can do to grow business and become
Women are not always comfortable promoting themselves, manager, CohnReznick
and more so, often focus entirely on what else they need to
accomplish. Women may be great at multitasking, but because
women handle a tremendous amount of work, there isn’t always
a lot of time left in the day to hone in on one’s accomplishments.
– Teresa Marinelli, CEO, president and executive coach, On
Good Terms Coaching
16 LWE MAGAZINE
effective leaders. – Erin Connolly-Kriarakis, senior marketing
No matter how great your work is, if others do not know it,
you will limit your circle of influence and ability to generate
business. Linking with an accredited group such as Leading
Women Entrepreneurs can give you that level of credibility to
bolster your brand further. – Karolina Dehnhard, family law
attorney, Budd Larner, P.C.