I’m incredibly excited and proud to share that I was featured on the official website of International Women’s Day!
This global celebration recognizes the accomplishments of women; specifically, their roles in social, economic, cultural, and political achievements around the world. However, in addition to celebrating the progress we’ve made to achieve gender parity over the years, IWD is also an opportunity to spotlight how far we still have to go to achieve this goal.
It’s been more than a century since the first International Women’s Day gatherings happened back in 1911. The world has seen incredible change since that time, but there are areas in which women still lag behind their male counterparts, making IWD an important day on which we can vocalize a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.
In response, the organizers of IWD took up the #ChoosetoChallenge initiative in the run up to this year’s event. They featured several female leaders in a variety of industries and verticals on the site this year, and I was graciously invited to be among them.
My Personal Commitment to Progress
I’ve made a personal commitment to challenging barriers and fostering a diverse environment at Chargebacks911®. I believe that this is the right thing to do from a moral standpoint. Even beyond that, though, I’m confident that it’s also smart business.
Studies have demonstrated convincingly that diverse organizations are more dynamic and resilient than homogenous ones. They also tend to be much more creative, and able to innovate at a faster pace. These are essential traits to find success in any industry, but especially a space as competitive and fast-moving as fintech.
Of course, ensuring that we can build more diverse and inclusive organizations calls for special attention to be paid to education and mentorship. I believe that we need to start at an early age, encouraging women, people of color, and individuals from other diverse backgrounds to pursue STEM (science, tech, engineering, and mathematics) education. We then need to have a pipeline in place that can help guide young people as they move from school into the workplace.
Finally, we need to ensure that we’re operating in accordance with the values we claim to hold. I’m talking about encouraging and mentoring young women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them be ready to take on leadership positions tomorrow. This calls for inclusive policies designed at attracting and retaining these people.
We’ve come a long way…but there’s still a ways to go. Let’s take this International Women’s Day as an opportunity to double-down on our commitments to building a better tomorrow!
Click here to view the full feature, and to explore the full list of leaders participating in this initiative.
