Bloomberg and MAKERS showcase the power and influence of female leaders at mini-conference
November 21, 2018
The goal of the seminar was to shine a light on current women in leadership roles and present content pushing for a future with more diversity in high-level, corporate positions.
Jordyn Holman of Bloomberg News opens MAKERS at Bloomberg with a recap of diversity issues in 2018
Bloomberg and MAKERS Conference presented a special Mini MAKERS event to more than 300 employees on Nov. 1 at Bloomberg’s Global Headquarters in New York. The seminar – a subset of the annual MAKERS Conference – featured five presenters who were “news-makers, history-makers, and trouble-makers” acting as influencers for future change-makers in attendance.
The goal of the seminar was to shine a light on current women in leadership roles and present content pushing for a future with more diversity in high-level, corporate positions.
Jordyn Holman of Bloomberg News opened the event, putting the day’s topics and speakers in the context of a tumultuous year. “I’ve spent the past year and a half reporting on diversity issues, which has led me to write and talk about the impact the #MeToo Era has had in the workplace, the emotional toll of the gender pay gap and the falling representation of female CEOs in Fortune 500 boardrooms,” Jordyn said.
Deirdre Bigley, Bloomberg LP’s Chief Marketing Officer and MAKERS board member, reminded attendees of her pledge earlier this year for Bloomberg to create the “definitive data visualization on the female candidates for governorships and Congress across the country.” Deirdre proudly proclaimed, “We did it, and it looks great.”
Scarlet Fu of Bloomberg Television interviewed Margaret Talev, a Bloomberg White House correspondent and recent president of the White House Correspondents Association, who presented data visualizations on women candidates in the U.S. midterms. Margaret noted that the chances for women looked strong, and in the midterms a few days later a record number of 96 women were elected to the House of Representatives.
Scarlet Fu (left) and Margaret Talev (right) from Bloomberg News discuss the electoral chances of female candidates in the midterm elections at MAKERS at Bloomberg.
Verna Eggleston, who runs women’s economic development initiatives at Bloomberg Philanthropies boldly encouraged attendees to not just talk about taking action, but to actually do it. “That is the Bloomberg way,” she said. “Start with the assumption that we can do something…actually affect change and not just create a process or talk about it.” Since Verna has been with Bloomberg Philanthropies, 195,500 women have been enrolled in training and education programs, with a 98% graduation rate.
Joanna Barsh, director emeritus at McKinsey & Co., pointed out that while women have made significant inroads there is still more ground to cover. “Last year, only 38 percent of new board members were women, and 22 percent of total board members were women,” she said. The Bloomberg Gender Equality Index also affirms this disparity.
Pamela Hutchinson, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Bloomberg, thanks attendees and speakers as she closes MAKERS at Bloomberg.
Bloomberg’s ultimate goal for partnering with MAKERS is to encourage attendees to take action after providing them with dynamic speakers who themselves continue to empower and affect change.
“MAKERS at Bloomberg came at a critical time in this conversation for gender equality,” Jordyn Holman said of the conference. “We needed the space to step back and reflect on all that has taken place in 2018.”
“MAKERS is what you make of it,” Dyllan McGee, founder of MAKERS said when she greeted the audience. “And boy has Bloomberg made something of it.”
Pamela Hutchinson, Bloomberg’s Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, delivered the event’s closing remarks.
Bloomberg has participated in the MAKERS conference since 2015, underscoring the company’s commitment to inclusion and celebrating and empowering the game-changing women at the company. In February 2018 Bloomberg sent a delegation of 10 women to the MAKERS conference in Los Angeles, with plans to send another delegation in 2019.
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