On November 2nd, Women's Inter-Cultural Exchange presented the Your World track 2011 North Carolina Govenor's Women's Conference in Charlotte, NC entitled Leveraging Your Power: Work - Wealth - Politics.
This session began with Dr. Katherine Giscombe, Vice President, Catalyst, Inc. presenting research on challenges facing women in the workplace. Catalyst's latest work on women's career advancement shows that sponsorship is critical to accelerating a woman’s career—from getting her noticed by senior-level executives to being considered for her company’s top jobs. Sponsorship also benefits organizations and sponsors. She included issues facing racially/ethnically diverse women, such as forming trusting relationships with managers.
The conversation then moved beyond gender equality in the workplace to the context of business ownership by women, a powerful means of growing wealth. Chia-Li Chien, Award-Winning Author of Show Me The Money - Run Your Business like a Prosperous Investor, who presented Navigating Through Today’s Turbulent Business Waters. Just like being on a whitewater rafting trip, your business needs the right guide to get your over the rocks and through the rapids. Ms. Chien explored how to navigate your business through to healthy profit margins and success.
The participation of women in politics is essential to gender equality. The session concluded with an insightful presentation on the roles and history of women in the North Carolina political arena including elected office and appointments to major boards and commissions by Betty Chafin-Rash, Charlotte Community Leader and Former Mayor Protem. Ms. Rash discussed successes as well as setbacks and identified reasons why more women are not running for and being elected to public office. Finally, she presented and analyzed statistics on the current status of women in public office in North Carolina.
To see a videos and slides from this session, click HERE.