A female executive became the youngest person at an all-male executive table. The company's general counsel warned her colleagues might call her a bitch, but told her to stay the course. She says women still have to bulldoze through bias to keep their seats, and she won't pretend to be someone she's not.
I had made it to the executive table, all men, all men who were older than me. Not only was I a female, I was the youngest female and youngest person at the table. And she pulled me aside in the hallway one day, general counsel. She didn't come to the exec meetings. And she said, I need to give you some advice. And I said, sure, petrified, right? Legal, I don't want to ever have to talk to legal. And she goes, people are going to call you a bitch. Do not change anything that you're doing. She's like, Just keep pushing through. And I took that advice, and that's led me to where I'm at. At a certain point in the industry years ago, you had to, as a woman, you kind of had to bulldoze through in order to keep your seat at the table. You should not have to do that anymore. And the fact that that still sometimes happens is crazy to me. I have been my authentic self. I share who I am. I share that I have a family and that I work really hard, that I, I can hang with the guys, the girls. It doesn't matter who they are, but I'm going to call out things when I see them.
