Women are making strides in the marketing profession, but remain underrepresented in the top ranks of most organizations. The reasons for this imbalance and the solutions are part of a discussion the industry shouldn’t be having anymore, said speakers at the annual Brand Innovators Marketing Leadership Summit.
“We shouldn’t be having this particular panel,” said Emily Freed, global account lead at TikTok. “It should be a given.”
Indeed, many panelists in the conference’s women in leadership track acknowledged exasperation with the need to keep pushing to increase female representation in the top ranks of the industry. Marketing organizations are seeing more women in the C-suite, but challenges remain, said Marc Sternberg, co-founder and co-CEO of Brand Innovators.
In spite of the progress women have made in the workplace, there still remains some residue of “this scarcity mindset” where women still expect to be the only female in the conference room, said Erin Malone, senior director of marketing, analytics and insights at apparel brand Free People. Fortunately, the industry is also seeing more women working together “to bring ourselves up,” she said.
Despite recent pushback against diversity and inclusion drives at many corporations nationwide, the drive is “a mega continuing trend” that won’t fall to pressure, said Amanda DeVito, CMO of Butler/Till. She noted that she worked with the agency’s two female founders when they wanted to turn over management to continue its efforts to remain an inclusive workplace.
“The age is shifting,” she said. “I don’t even know why we would have the discussion about walking it back.”
The pandemic pivot, paradoxically, helped many executive women, as remote work and videoconferencing highlighted the “second shift” that many still face, and their efforts to balance both. Being an executive and a mother is like being a superhero, with the struggle of managing work and home going unnoticed, “but during COVID we got a glance,” said Jessica Ricaurte, chief revenue officer at Adsmovil.
“COVID happened, and now there are no more secrets,” said Ashley Schapiro, VP, marketing, media, performance and engagement at American Eagle. She remembered being on a video call with her boss, who was consistently distracted because Schapiro’s young daughter was—quite literally—on her head.
The remote work pivot gave the industry a glance of what executive women—and mothers in particular—have to juggle, said JulieAnne Evanina, senior VP, brand marketing and creative at SiriusXM. “Balance is sort of a myth,” she said.
Women need to keep pushing forward, finding allies and avoiding the trap of self-imposed perfection, said speakers. “Successful men didn’t do it by themselves,” said Jen Vianello, CMO of Cars Commerce. Find allies and champions in the organization—whether they are male or female—document and celebrate the successes to build your personal brand, and learn from failures, they advised.
Executive women in marketing have to learn to let go of overhyped expectations, accept will fail sometimes and learn from those failures, said speakers. “Trust yourself. You know so much more than you think you know,” said Kathy Maurella, CMO of sparkling water brand Waterloo.
Allies are important, as is finding a supportive partner who will hold down the domestic front sometimes, and having both mentors to advise and champions to empower a woman’s work. “Find someone else to bring you into that session, into that conversation, into that room,” said Amy Lanzi, CEO North America at Digitas. She credited her predecessor, Sharon Love, with helping her ascend and building a network for women at the holding company, Omnicom.
Jennifer Halloran, CMO, head of marketing and brand at MassMutual noted that she often has to teach young women in her team to step up and take the spotlight. In meetings, women often gravitate to the outer ring of chairs in the conference room, rather than sit at the table. “If you were invited to the meeting, your name on the invite was the same as anybody else,” she said.
“I don’t care who’s in the room. If you did the work, it’s your turn,” said Maurella. Women have to take credit and document their successes, including keeping tabs on all praise and recognition for a job well done, said Sukhmani Mohta, chief marketing and partnerships officer, display division, Samsung Electronics America. “It really helps in end-of-year conversations.”
Indeed, asking for pay equity and recognition remains a barrier for women in many organizations, said speakers. “If you won’t do it for yourself, Do it for a hundred women that are in the industry, so you’re establishing a baseline,” said Lanzi. Women still face obstacles, but they can be overcome with effort and using skills that come more naturally to them, such as emotional intelligence and persistence. Alison Herzog, head of global corporate marketing at Visa, likened EQ to a “superpower” that allows women to “read a room” and adjust. “To some degree we all hustled to get to where we were, but also used our superpowers to overcome the obstacle of being the only female in the room.”
