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A year ago today I sat in a now infamous conference session, trying to reconcile my presence at the event with the degrading words coming from the stage. I spent so much of my early career not rocking the boat and was able to advance my career partly b/c of my silence.
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What I heard from the stage made me nauseous. That feeling was compounded by being 1 of only 17 women at a conference of 200+ financial execs. So many years in this business and still I was in a room where I felt like I didn’t belong.
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I was terrified to speak out about it, but decided to say something. Really though, I was only able to do so because:
-a male ally, @AlexChalekian broke the silence first
-another attendee, @rrobasciotti was willing to speak out as well
I am forever grateful to both of them
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-a male ally, @AlexChalekian broke the silence first
-another attendee, @rrobasciotti was willing to speak out as well
I am forever grateful to both of them
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Looking back, it seems obvious what I should have done. But in that moment, speaking out felt very risky, and I am lucky the chips fell as they did.
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So much has happened since then. Through that incident I learned (trial by fire) how to navigate media and journalist requests. That knowledge has become invaluable.
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The irony does not escape me that I that point, I had already written the Do Better series about harassment and assault in financial services, but hadn’t shared it since the media outlets I had asked didn’t want to publish it.
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Self-publishing the Do Better series, in the aftermath of the conference debacle, was life changing for me. And I know how meaningful it was for women to see their stories given the voice and validation they deserve.
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When you've worked in finance for a while, the culture of secrecy seems normal. But, financial services' culture of secrecy is incredibly toxic and part of the reason that women don't tend to thrive in the industry.
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Please y’all, let’s work together to make an industry where everyone belongs, and anyone can be a CEO.
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