And Welcome to the 8th South Florida Women's Forum event.
Aligning your life with your purpose.
Women leaders making a difference.
We are so delighted to see so many of you here this evening
for what we know is going to be a fabulous program.
My name is Nancy Rizzuto.
I'm one of the founding partners
and a Principal at Capital Strategies Investment Group.
I am also co-founder of the Capital Strategies Women's Forum.
And I am so proud to call South Florida my home.
Those of you who have been to our events in the past
know that I basically grew up at
the Jupiter lighthouse,
played in the dunes at Juno Beach as a child
and now I call Hobe Sound my home.
I have some of my colleagues joining me
this evening that I'd like to introduce
my partner in crime couldn't live without Barbara Best.
Barbara is a also a founding partner
and a Principal at Capital Strategies Investment Group
and she is the other half of co-founder of the Women's Forum.
Nicole Myers is here,
Nicole is a private wealth advisor
and my colleague Katie Hayes
or our colleague Katie Hayes is a private wealth associate.
So it again is amazing to see so many new faces
and familiar faces here this evening.
Friends and familiar faces many of you have been attending our Women's Forum events
since we launched last March.
So we are so grateful that you continue to feel passionate about
our mission and our vision, but also so grateful that you have shared the invitations
with women your own circles whether those are friends or families or colleagues
so it's no surprise that the Women's Forum in South Florida has grown to over a thousand women, So thank you so much.
And we are also so excited
that so many of you this evening
have come to checkout
what the Women's Forum is all about.
You know we had to about two hours ago
shut down the registration because we still had people RSVP'ing which tells us
One, we've got a rockstar panel
But also that the idea of considering
what your purpose is
and pausing in your life is really meaningful.
but we have over 70 women
who are attending a Women's Forum event
for the first time this evening
70.
So, with that said if you would if this is your first event
I invite you to stand up so we can acknowledge you
and I know that may seem awkward but we want to be able to put faces together
and to take the opportunity during the reception
to introduce ourselves.
We really look forward to getting to know all of you.
And to put things in context especially because there are so many of you
that for whom this is your first event
Capital Strategies Investment group is an
independent fiduciary investment advisory firm
that offers asset management
and comprehensive consulting for institutions and individuals.
And what inspired us to start this Women's Initiative
is that three of our six partners are women,
which is very unusual in our industry.
And so we wanted to create an environment
within women could actively support each other professionally
and develop valuable meaningful relationships.
You know sadly too often we couldn't find those spaces
and we wanted to lead by example
and make this reality happen in our circles
to have this community among our contacts
and then also break the cycle of women not supporting each other
among young professionals and our daughters
So the mission of the Women's Forum
is to support the personal and professional success and fulfillment of
women and to offer events where we bring in experts to speak on different topics
that help inspire us to make the change that we desire in our life
and to propel us to live more empowered lives.
Right?
#fempowerment
so now this evening's program and this idea
this concept of bringing women leaders in
is something that Nancy and I feel really
strongly about and perhaps influenced a bit by our age
but also really by the
conversation that we've been having with women over the past year and
have come to see how so many women we talk to are really seeking to
make sure that they're living a meaningful life and really asking
Is what I'm doing consistent with my values?
Am I making a difference?
Am I living my life with purpose?
And I know that I speak for all of my colleagues when I say that
the Women's Forum, since we launched in May of 2015
has really reawakened and renewed our own sense of purpose
especially in elevating
the work that we do and our goal of supporting,
of helping all women live
empowered lives.
And this is especially the case in financial empowerment and
helping women become financially empowered
and it really is where our work
the intersection, where our work occurs and where we help women truly own
and act on their power
to educate women
and to transform the way that they think
about their finances.
And we do this in a host of ways we do this by facilitating
authentic and transparent conversations.
We do this by acting as accountability partners.
We do this by our programming and certainly by our work arrangements.
And we are so passionate, so passionate about women being financially empowered
and its importance.
Because what it represents, is freedom.
It represents the
it represents the opportunity for the
women to become more confident and to make the choices in their lives
that they want to
and that they need to and it means the opportunity to care for
themselves, their families, their communities
and the causes that they care most about.
So when we work with individuals couples and families
we work on helping them manage every aspect of their financial life.
We work on not only
managing what they have but creating wealth and sustaining that wealth into
the future,
because we know that when women are financially empowered,
they have more confidence.
They have the ability to confidently fulfill their own purpose
and they have the ability to have freedom and financial peace of mind.
That is power.
And I will tell you that you know one of the things that we will
do is extend an invitation to every woman here tonight that if you want to
know what financial empowerment means or feels like
if you want to learn more about becoming financially empowered
or you just want to validate the path that you're on,
we encourage you to talk with us just say I'd like to have a conversation.
We are happy to invest in that conversation
with any of you.
And we always say that financial empowerment
starts with a conversation.
But tonight we're here to have a different conversation.
We are here to have a conversation about living our life with
purpose and to learn from some amazing leaders, here in our community,
who do this every day.
So before we introduce them and show you a short video
by a show of hands
How many of you here are looking to live your life with more purpose?
And by a show of hands
How many of you here know your purpose?
That's awesome.
That's great. So we did a similar event
actually two events in Chicago.
We had eight over two events.
Eight women leaders and over 200 women
where the leaders came and
talked about their path to leadership
about what purpose meant to them
and how that translates in how they act as leaders and run their business and how
they interact in their communities. So we wanted to share a brief video with you.
The future for women is bright.
Because anybody can be anything!
we have been the experts for girls for over a hundred years we have design
programs and environments where girls thrive and they've been specifically
designed for girls versus were not just accommodating girls.
I believe if we let women and girls rise to their full potential
Women are the glue holding communities together as
breadwinners and caregivers.
So we work with both universities and other
nonprofits that work to get students into college
We've spent a lot of time funding, doing research, advocacy
So last week they were in DC telling the story so that people understand how important it is to fund.
They truly are much farther forward than we realize sometimes.
And they definitely need what we're sending them.
They would say well good
you live in corporate America so now you can go do good.
What's that about?
What I saw though is that there is this narrative that we have that if you're
working at a not-for-profit that you're automatically doing good.
And not-for-profits are the only ones doing good
then what the hell is everybody else doing?
Ranking member Peters and members of the committee, as President
and CEO of the National Safety Council I strive every day to realize our mission
of eliminating preventable deaths and we can do more we can do better we can
address this issue and we can save lives.
The fact is is that we all have an
opportunity to have a social enterprise mindset
and really simply think about
doing good as creating a better human experience from no matter where we are
in the economy.
It is our time to act.
We must act for ourselves and for all women.
for this and future generations
we must act for equity and for equality.
Together we will get there.
So I also know I speak for my colleagues when I
say that there's never a dry eye in the house when we watch that.
But like the women in the video
This evening our panelists really need no introduction.
They are dynamic, influential, brilliant, socially have the
social mindset and are leaders within the community who are making a
difference every single day.
We are so honored and privileged to have them
please join me in welcoming Diana Stanley.
Diana has led the Lord's place as CEO for 11 years now. She's the past president
Executive of the Executive Directors Council of the United Way of Palm Beach County
and of the nonprofit chamber of Palm Beach County.
Sophia Eccleston.
Sophia is a veteran of the United States Army.
Thank you for your service.
And is currently the External Affairs Manager at FPL. She is a board
member of the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County and was recently honored as
South Florida's most powerful and influential black business leader of 2018.
And then lastly please join me in welcoming Kimberly McCartin.
Kimberly has been President and CEO of the Arc of Palm Beach County since 2014
After a successful career in public relations and fundraising,
Kimberly stepped into her leadership position at the Arc to align
her purpose with her passion to initiate change for positive change for people
with developmental disabilities.
Ladies, welcome to all of you.
So we have
prepared a few questions that we're going to go ahead and start the panel
off with and then we'll have open it up for all of you to ask questions as well.
So the first question I have really goes to each one of you is, How do you
Good evening everyone and thank you so much for
having us two, Nancy and Barbara, Tamra, for asking and for all of you in the
audience I cannot be more honored to be here especially with Diana and with
Sophia and this was such an incredible thing for me because I feel like I've
been leading a life of purpose.
I felt like I was doing that,
but I never really identified it exactly, if that makes sense
and so in asking to be part of this panel I really started thinking about
what does that absolutely mean?
What have I been doing with my life?
What do I love?
and I started just thinking about my passions and I will say that once I
started going through that process and putting it on paper,
only a couple weeks ago
knowing I've been doing it I know I'm gonna, I'll tell you that
It's incredible the last couple weeks the clarity that has come around that purpose.
I will absolutely tell you that I didn't realize that.
So I don't know if
if I ever really you know took it to that step. But I will tell you that I
feel like my purpose is absolutely to have fun, first and foremost.
And I love working
I absolutely love working.
I find passion and every single thing I've done
I started looking at my entire career and going
It's not only that I get to serve the Arc
and I get to help people,
be people and that's
really important to me because I think that we all have
so many things that we can share
so many things we can do
and some people just need a little extra help
and so it's really just looking at people being people
but I don't really
think about life work/life balance because every single thing I do
every day, I have such a passion for
that I don't think about it as working.
I never have
no matter what I've done
so I think I feel very blessed for that and so I
appreciate you asking me this question.
Because I really feel like that has
helped me a great deal so thank you.
Thank you. Good Evening everyone
Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.
My purpose in life, just like Kim, is to live a life of fun
and everyone who knows me know that I do that.
I also believe in the work/life balance.
Sorry. It's very important for us to have that
but most importantly for me it's
also a life of service.
I do I live a life you know trying to help those who
need my help. I think that is really important.
I think that sometimes we take
things for granted.
I feel very blessed in my life and whatever I can do to help
those who need my help that's really important to me.
And I also live my life to be an inspiration to others.
I mentor a lot of
people and if it's just being able to change one person's life
I feel like I'm
really living a life of purpose so that's my purpose.
Thank You, I got this one.
Hi Everybody, so I have to giggle and say I have two
purposes. First I haven't I have an immediate purpose, so if you're over here
looking at me I have a brand new eyeglass so my eyeglass is broke, so let
me just warn you all the real purpose is being able to conduct this panel
interview with one set of glasses there you go so if
you see them falling off be patient with me.
I'll put them back on
so that is my first purpose.
I think she loves to have fun too.
I do. I love to have fun. love to giggle,
but really I think mypurpose has always been to care for others.
There's no question from a small child and and seeing a baby doll that
was crying and my needing to go and love that baby doll and give that baby doll
hope and and make them feel wanted and I think that's followed be my whole life.
That is the premise though of my faith, So my major purpose in life is to lead
a faithful life and in that faithful life it's really making sure that we
give all people no matter what they look like, no matter who they are an
opportunity to believe that tomorrow is gonna be a better day.
So this is for Kimberly and Sofia,
What was the catalyst for you to pursue your current career path?
And was there an event or person who inspired you?
Yes, yes there was.
So I started out my career in marketing I got the most amazing
opportunity of a lifetime, Heather Hinsdale was the Director of
Marketing for the Gardens Mall and I got to work with her very very early on in
my career and I had no idea that marketing was a career at first.
I didn't really know that could be my path
and she was extraordinary she was brilliant
and beautiful and charismatic and just cared to a fault and was kind to a fault
and I was actually her assistant and got to work on her projects.
We didn't have a
PC on every single desk at the time so I actually typed everything for her
which I loved she wrote everything out longhand which
I thought was extraordinary to begin with and I got to start inserting some
of my ideas into her ideas and she actually allowed that
which is extraordinary to begin with.
And I started learning and she loved my ideas.
Which was even better and that kind of started me on a path of I figured out
that I loved to create and I loved to figure out systems and programs and
things that just made people's lives easier and better.
And so that's kind of how I got started
And from that moment I've always wanted to do that then in
return is to find things in people they didn't know they had or things they
didn't know they could do and that was really important to me so that's also it
kind of gave me a little more clarity around my purpose is just thinking about
that and I feel insanely blessed to have known her to have a mentor that early on.
So thank you to Heather Hinsdale.
For me most of my career I did contract
negotiations. I work overseas for Halliburton KBR when I came to FPL ,
I did the same thing worked in your supply chain. Manage team that did you know
contracts for parts and supplies.
Few years later when my son went off to college,
I'm like I want to do something different so I decided to become a
developer in this building that you guys are sitting in I was one of the
developer on this building.
But a funny thing happened, I was I developed the first three large-scale
solar projects in the state of Florida for FPL. They were in Manatees, the
Southern Charlotte counties. I would go out to those counties as a developer and
work with the elected officials out there and I'm giving you the long
version of it because it just goes to show that sometimes you don't recognize
you know, things that others see and as I was doing that my vice president
apparently was noticing what was happening, I would go out and if anyone's
been to Arcadia, it's a very small town with Cowboys and I would walk out there and
they're like Sofia, you know and they loved me out there and she's like how do
you do that. And so, Pam Rauch she was my Vice President of External Affairs we
had someone else who was in this role, Ethel Williams and she was leaving and
Pam came to me and she's like Sofia, Echols leaving I have a long list of
people who wants to be an external affairs but I think you know you'd be a
good fit and I was like, Oh no I love what I'm doing I love, you know
development, and she said no there's something in you that I think this is a
great fit for you, and I have to tell you I decided I couldn't say no the Pam
'cause she's been a mentor and a sponsor to me at FPL .Two months later after I took the
job I went back to her and I said, "thank you".
Because I realized that she saw something in me that I didn't realize
that I mean I knew I had, but didn't realize how impactful it was, and I have
an ability to connect with people and being authentic I think is really
important in this role and I went to her two months later and I said, "thank you".
Because I- when I wake up every morning I don't feel like I'm going to
work. I love what I do. Like I love- how I mean- I there's several
nonprofits in here that I deal with on a regular basis I love just giving back
and helping people and I'm just so blessed to be able to work for a company
that allows me to give my time, talent and write a check you know.
But, I think- but I do, I have to say I feel it's a great fit for my
personality and I just don't know if I can see myself doing anything else.
So, this one is for Diana and Sophia, 'Do you think that our society has different
expectations of women in leadership? And does it make your job easier, harder or both?'
Yes, yes, and yes.
You know I think...so I've been doing this work for about 35 years
and I can tell you that starting out years ago, you know we didn't-
women were not viewed really as powerful leaders. Oftentimes say that we were
viewed his quiet leaders right you could be a leader in the house, you could be a
leader in a department but to suddenly be viewed as the CEO has a whole
different flavor. And I think it's difficult, I think it's really difficult
to be a leader of any organization, any entity, any department, and to be true to
who you are. So I can tell you I'm very emotional, and so for years right I you
know "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not going to cry, I'm not gonna cry," but as you get
older and you get wiser and you get smarter you say, "I'm gonna cry" and that's
gonna be just do that you're just gonna have to deal with it you know I'm gonna
cry and that it's okay for us to be true to who we are and I think that's the
difference between what I love being with like-minded women because I do
think we are learning, how to be leaders, while still remaining true to the
genuine part of who we are. So that's my hope for all of you.
So I think a little different, of course. I am not sure and I'm sure a lot of you
may not agree with me if it's society that have a different expectations of us,
or if it's us as women who set these very high expectations for ourselves.
You know I I think that we as women sometimes seems like we have to prove
ourselves and men lead differently, you know. If there's a job posted, for
example, for a leadership position, most women will take that job description and
rip it apart "I don't qualify, oh I don't meet that, I don't meet that,"
oh that you know "I won't know, I won't" You know what men do?
"Oh my God, I can do that, I can do that," but whether they have the qualifications,
whether they have the skills or not that's how they look at it, and I do feel
that we put pressures on ourselves about what we can't you know why the men are
better but we're- women are really better leaders than men. It's just that we're- we
always have to you know prove ourselves and we shouldn't have to do that. We need
to like do our jobs that the best jobs that we can, but also don't be afraid to
stand up when you're not being promoted to that role. I can give you an example I
worked for Halliburton in Dubai I work for a leader who were promoting all the
guys around me I'm not saying he was doing it because they were men and I was
a woman but when I went to him and says, "can you tell me like why am I not
getting promoted like, what do I need to do different" and he said,
"They all have their MBAs."
So guess what I did?
I went and got my MBA
I didn't tell him anything
I came back a year later...
You know what I did?
I scheduled a meeting not just with him, but with him and HR.
I said, I have my MBA now.
What is he gonna say?
He gave me that as an excuse why I can't, but
we have to be as women stand up for what we believe in and sometimes the
consequences may not be the best,
but you have to be willing sometime to walk away.
We have to not be afraid to say, "you know what? I'm gonna walk away."
because I'm gonna stand up and fight for what I believe in.
So, I do have to share
that in the Chicago event one of the women leaders said,
"We need more mediocre women."
Right? Because we are crazy rock stars.
There's a lot of mediocre men
Sorry for any of the men in the room.
So this is for Kimberly and Diana.
Well, I read and I think that a
leader is always a student, always a student
Love to read.
I think that it's important that we as leaders stay current in the trends.
I think that we need to always have one edge up on everything else if we're
really true leaders. But those who know me know that the real belief that I have
about leadership is two very important words
and that is show up.
As a leader
you show up for baptisms, funerals, weddings, graduations,
you show up to be with your people.
And when you're with your people that influence remains.
It's the minute that you stop being with those around you, your people that you
are called to lead that you start losing your influence,
so if there's anything
that I hope you walk away with from tonight,
really are those two words.
If I think of those people in my life that have been the greatest leaders,
they have always shown up in my life
and that's what I hope that we do as women
is that we show up to support others.
So so similar. Mine is research.
Reading. I research constantly
finding information, things that other people are doing,
what they're doing that's great,
what you can start doing I think every day...
We were talking right before we started
and actually we were talking about this.
I mean every single morning
I get on LinkedIn just to grab a couple posts that I want to be inspired
by during that day
and think, okay did I just read something that I can share
with my team?
That I can bring back to the Arc?
Are there things that maybe
other people aren't thinking about?
Or just something that resonates with me
that I want to share?
And so I'm always doing research. I'm like a crazy research
I look up everything and read everything and blog.
I'm not the biggest book person
because I like things in smaller doses so I can really absorb them and
then put it to life in real time
and see how it feels and see how it works and
see if anybody gets anything from it.
So for me, same. It's research and it's
absolutely the people that we get to work with and the people that we serve.
I absolutely know innately that we are successful as the Arc of Palm Beach
County because of the people that work there.
There's no other reason why we're successful.
It is the people that are constantly there every day being open
giving their absolute all, to what it is that we're trying to achieve and
they love what they do
and so it's really supporting them in any way.
Being open, listening, they influence me every single day
I feel just honored to be there constantly.
So first Sofia and Diana,
Kim and I were laughing, I said I hate these questions
you know right these are the questions in the interview you know so what's your
weakness and I works on one thing that is their weakness what's your strength
it's like, Oh for crying out loud. Okay, So but I had to think this through
for a moment and I was actually thinking that it comes down for me and I do have
a couple board members here so I have to say this with love and affection.
But about about eight years ago at the Lord's place I had an incident where I
had some board members none of them are here in the room so I can say that that
actually for whatever reason I think had look had lost their way on the mission
of our agency let's just put it that way and I was a new leader. And I remember
thinking, Oh my gosh, I'm gonna change them. I'm just gonna
bring them up to speed they're gonna love the Lord's place as much as I do
and that lasted for about maybe six months when the talk six talks, how do
you say that? say that word ten times fast the toxicity became so great that,
I knew it was going to have a negative impact on the agency and I think it was
at that moment that I learned two very important things. One don't be afraid to
draw the line in the sand. You got to draw the line in the sand ladies, I mean
you know there is a line that if somebody crosses they've come into your
world and you need to protect that world that's what a leader does they protect
the world that they're leading that's what we do and the second I think even
more importantly, is that I had to learn to always remember that thing right here
that we call the gut . Right that gut, directs us more than we give it credit
to. So I, I think in my learning experience from that it was being able
to draw the line and to also know that whatever this feeling
is, that feeling is oftentimes the direction we need to go, So let's not
ignore that that gut feeling that we have. For me, it's communication. I used to
manage a team of you know people from different backgrounds and I'm military.
I have to tell you my son calls me the drill sergeant mom and you know and I
communicate a certain way because I'm also a type A personality and I had to
learn that you you have to communicate differently to different people.
You know, and even to this day you know I mentor people and I can give you an example of
there's a girl at my company who came to me and she's like I would like to go
meet you know some executives and I gave her my example of what I did. I literally
sat down and sent an email to all the VP's within the company and says, Hey
this is who I am you know I'd like to come in learn about your organization.
And, and and about you because that's what her the one thing that men love to
talk about is themselves, so you just put that in there and you know and so I told
her I gave her a sample of the email I sent and I said it worked I got a chance
I met with them and I learn about the organization and she came back about a
month later and she sat there and she's like, I can't do it and I was like what
do you mean you can't do it and she's like Yeah, I just it's too hard I'm like
what's so hard about it I mean it's just sending an email and meeting with people.
And I had to like catch myself and realize not everyone can do that!
It really is different people communicate different ways and I'm still learning
that and so for me it's, I'm learning how to communicate differently with you know
with different people because it's real as a leader communication is key and so
I've learned that it's not the drill-sergeant way, but sometimes it's
finding out what works best for that person and sitting down and having
that conversation. Thank You.
So this is for Kimberly and Diana,
Mine is prayer, that means seriously that's what it is.
Yep! I am a prayer warrior so there, I pray all day long. So I will lift people
up in prayer our whisper I'm a big believer in that and that habit has kept
has been true to me. And when so when I say I'm going to pray for you I
literally will be praying for you trust me when I say that so, So prayer for me
is is something that's just always stayed with me and I think it is habitual
and you have to continue to do it. So, it's part of my faithful life but I
could never imagine doing anything in the world if I didn't believe in the power of prayer.
Habit for me probably goes right back to learning, never stop
learning. Never stop I mean never stop seeking out other people's ideas. I can't
really say that I really have a habit probably my entire team would tell me
differently, I probably have some habits I ask them a lot. Does that make
sense, so now they always say it just makes sense Kimberly it just makes sense.
Which at first I've bothered me like okay I've got to change my thing but no
that's that's that's our way of communicating going are we kind of on
the same page so I guess that is a habit, I always want to know that what I am
saying to people they understand where I'm coming from and when they don't I'll
explain it again and that I'm listening but exactly what you were just saying
two minutes ago was just everyone listens hears and then goes and does
something so differently how you're communicating it and then what that
really means to them. So I would say that my habit is just always checking in with
people like does it make sense what I just said so that I know you're gonna go
and achieve and be successful because I don't want people leaving my office or
leaving a meeting or leaving a conversation with me and feeling like they're
gonna go and fail because they didn't know what they needed to do. Or they
didn't have enough space to feel like they could just do what was right for them to do.
So that's really important.
Thank You.
This next question is for Sophia and Kimberly.
Name one leader you would like to meet?
And what one question you would like to ask them? This is really funny so
um I'm gonna, I'll jump in I immediately thought of Richard Branson like I just
am so inspired by him every single day so we were talking and every day on
LinkedIn I jump on and I see if he has done a post or his people have done a
post through his spirit. I'm not gonna pretend that's what he does every day
but I would think it was kind of cool that he's talking to me. So I absolutely
and have been so inspired by him because again here is someone that if he listed
his top three things which he does all the time it is people first.
It is his team is first his staff is first, always on the front line because
makes his customers happy makes his shareholders happy I look at it the same
exact way. If my team is happy then everyone at the Arc is happy. If Mama's
happy everybody at the house is happy. You know it's it always works that way
and so I love that he is so into listening and always says something
about listening and then failures. It's interesting how everybody feels about
failures, but I say to my team all the time like let's make mistakes nothing,
nothing that would hurt someone. But let's take risks and let's make mistakes
and then let's learn from them and it's the learning every single time. Just so
many different things that you see as a failure but really if you then you get
to reflect back and go okay that was the best thing that ever happened, it was the
best thing that ever happened and I think at his companies, multitudes of
them he celebrates failure they celebrate taking a risk and I think
that's extraordinary and I was thinking about a question that I would ask that
the other part of that a question I would ask him and I really was kind of
like jamming my brain to think of that. Because I would just want to be with him
in the moment and whatever it is he's working on now what inspired him to work
on that now, because with each of the things or each of the things that he
created something inspired him there was just a cool story and but at first I was
thinking would it be, how you get over the first failure? how did you just keep
moving on and I think he's answered that a bunch of times, but it made me realize
it's really the old you know, You just get back on the horse but you really do
you just have to get past the first one and then know you can get past all of
them doesn't even matter what comes your way you can just keep getting over that
hurdle whatever that challenge is and just kind
of move on and find something great in it. So,
For me it's it's Oprah I just I you know looking at where she came from but not only where she came from
but what she's doing you know and just going into different countries and you
know helping young girls like this you know that's been like a dream of mine
you know just to give back and there's so many young girls out there who just
need some direction and I just I admire what she's doing
one of the questions I like sir is can I get some of your money to donate to
charity but you seriously I mean just you know I am sure a lot of people told
her that she you know she wouldn't have gone to to where she is today and I
would answer like you know what you know what motivated you what kept you go and
that would have been my question to her what get you what kept you going when
everyone was saying you're not gonna you're not gonna be anything you're
gonna make it
I Diana and Kimberly how would you describe your leadership style how has
it evolved over the years so I'm a servant leader if you've heard that term
I didn't know what that meant for years and then read about it because I love to
read so read about it and I think it does it does help me lead especially an
agency like the Lord's place right where it's really all about the people so a
servant leader is somebody that serves others and by serving others first you
are then providing that leadership that's needed so when I look at my staff
and some are here I mean to me my job is to serve them and in essence they get to
serve our clients and it's just this amazing culture of service to one
another so I really do believe that servant leadership is critical that
being said I also don't want you to think it's soft so I had a mentor a long
time ago that said it's really critical that we as women lead with having an
iron fist in a velvet glove right I love that so that's what we do so a servant
leader is not weak and always when I say that people go home you know oh god
bless you let me tap your own god bless you and anyone that knows me know that
you know that's not always the truth with me I can be as tough as nails right
people yes I can but it is about putting people's first that allows you to make
those tough decisions so that's what I would call myself
see I would say provocative bold open definitely pushing the envelope all the
time it's really important to push the envelope especially in the work that we
do because the people that we get to serve every single day at the arc people
might just forget about so forcing people to think about people and how we
interact with people no matter who you are no matter what your differences are
I think about that all the time and changing the conversation really
changing a conversation of it being totally about the human spirit and what
drives us as humans and what drives us as people and so yeah provocative
definitely this one's for Sofia and Kimberly you know we hear so much about
barriers to our success implicit bias glass ceilings hashtag me too what
advice can you give to other women here to manage or eliminate potential
barriers there is no ceiling yeah there's no ceiling
are you saying together there's no ceiling we are so similar in that III
will absolutely say I don't think I've ever seen a ceiling I never knew what I
could do I will absolutely tell you that I never knew what I was gonna be able to
do but I never saw the ceiling I had some self-doubt along the way in my life
for my career and as soon as I got over that I'm like okay I got this like just
move forward that doesn't mean I don't need like amazing people around me every
single day that tell me that I can do this that does not mean that I have an
incredible group of friends and relationships and people that support me
and that is so so important we were talking about mentorship and things like
that there's no glass ceiling I say sky is the limit
absolutely I got into the arc not the most conventional way really took over
at a time kind of similar to Diana the the arc was not a great place to be we
were serving people we're doing a really good job doing that but it was not a
great plate it wasn't being run like the business that it needs to be run because
first and foremost every single nonprofit has something they have to do
we have were upholding to what it is that our mission is well we need to have
good business practices in order to do that and so we need to be bold and you
need to just say there is no ceiling and everybody can do anything they want to
do I know people say that as cliche but it's true and that I would definitely
say that for women be bold and making sure that you're writing down what it is
that you achieve every single day write it down bring it to the person that
needs to see it bring it to the person that needs to give you what you want
next whether it be a promotion whether it be a raise whether it be just I want
to be noticed and I want to be recognized for the incredible things
that I bring to the organization or to my life because that is so important
I know Sophia got was great sharing that that doesn't
always happen the reason she got noticed for that is because it was a woman
another woman noticing her for that but if that's not where you are in your life
and you don't have someone that you directly report to they can see those
gifts and people write them down make sure that you give them to them and that
they see what you're worth that is really important I mean just the echo at
what Kim's saying for me there's no ceiling I mean there's no I don't think
of barriers I believe that you have to be strong you have to fight for what you
want and again you got to make sure that people know what you're doing and if if
they're telling you that you're not doing what they expect a few have those
clear conversations what are those expectations I mean again it goes back
to communication I've you know in in my career you know let's speak about the
obvious and black I'm a female and from the islands a lot of people would say
those are barriers they've never been barriers for me and the reason they've
never been barriers for me is because I've always stood up for what I believe
in when I want something I ask for it you know what I don't care if the answer
is no and sometimes the answer is no and let me tell you sometimes when the
answer is no it's a good no because I have learned that but but I've never
been afraid to act and I've never been afraid to step out and say you know what
if I'm gonna lose my job over this I'm willing to lose my job I have never ever
been afraid of losing a job ever because if I have an issue with a boss I go and
I have that conversation sometimes as woman we're so afraid we're afraid of
losing our jobs we're afraid of what if they don't like me where there's always
the waters and the what-ifs are always negative we never look at what if it's a
good thing what if they didn't even realize how many bosses do you've had
who have no idea what you're doing until you go and you're like did you know I do
this Oh know that I mean but we have to have
those conversations but we cannot be afraid I can tell you I packed up my
life and I move overseas and a lot of people thought I was crazy but I wasn't
afraid I wasn't afraid if it was gonna fail I put my stuff in storage I sent my
son to his dad and I was on the plane and I and I was like I'm gonna make it
work because if you decide always look at if
that person can do it why can't I do it what's different between them in me
nothing there's no difference it's just that you have to work at it and you have
to believe it and when I go after something I believe it and so for me I
don't see biases then I don't see barriers so this question is for Diana
and Sophia what is your strategy to ensure your values and purpose stay
grounded when life gets overwhelmed I
laugh I laugh a lot I really really laugh a lot laughter is
a great medicine and I have a pretty pretty loud laugh so I laugh a lot but I
also take time for myself so I love to cook I love to read his we know I'll
watch a movie but I think my real grounding besides my faith which I've
already talked about really comes from my family my greatest greatest gift ever
was being a mother so when I feel like I need to be reminded on my real purpose
in life which is caring for others and serving others there's nothing greater
than serving your family for me so talk to my children I have two sisters and a
brother that are amazing and I have an amazing husband of 32 years that is my
Rock of Gibralter that's my that's how I do it
for me it's travelin I tell you why because when when you get away from your
comfort zone you get away from home you're in a different country you really
take time to reflect and how important and how blessed you are you meet people
who are going through things that you go my god you know and so everyone who
knows me know that I give a hundred and ten percent when I'm at work but I
always say if you want me to really do 110 percent when it comes time for my
vacation I'm vacating from my vacation from work don't call me don't text me
and that's the reason I carry two phones but but it really getting away and
really disconnecting you know I you know there's people who take vacations but
it's not really a vacation because you're still working because they feel
like they're so important you know that oh I got to get this email I gotta get
that I leave my phone at home I leave my work phone at home when I travel because
it really gives me an opportunity to think to meet people learn about new
cultures and really appreciate my life and my family so we have two more
questions and the one I'm gonna ask goes to all everyone on the panel what's the
one thing that keeps you up at night and what's the one thing that you're most
excited about that you're doing right now so as a nonprofit what keeps me up
at my resources everybody knows is fundraising
that's why casing up at night am i right Kim that's what keeps us awesome night I
I do think though that when I'm when I'm sleeping and I hear the rain in the
middle of the night I always go to think of those that are living out on the
streets those that are serving that now have to deal with the weather and
I always whisper a little prayer for them at two o'clock in the morning
because I can't even imagine what it's like to be out there so that's what
wakes me up is that I know there's so much human suffering that's out in the
world and how do we as an agency how do I as an individual and as a woman stop
that human suffering from happening one life at a time because it's too
overwhelming to see to see the whole thing and I asked this question about
what excites me I asked this question to new staff what is it a scale of 1 to 10
how you feel when you get up in the morning to go to work one is that you
are hitting the snooze button 15 times 10 is that you are up way before the
snooze button and I'm about a 15 because I get up early and I love my work but I
love my work because of the people I work with this group right here these
amazing women and amazing board of directors and I think what excites me
the most is that every day I walk in and I get to meet someone new and I get to
look at somebody who would have been seen as homeless and hopeless and by the
time I get done talking to that individual at the end of the day correct
Lizzie we all of a sudden see a new person emerge and for me until that day
stops I will always be excited to go in to change a life
what keeps me up at night I'm always trying to be the best person that I can
be so I'm always thinking did I you know did I do everything today that I needed
to do did I make a difference today did I learn something you know today and am
I the mother that my son wants me today that's like the you know that's the most
important thing to me and I have those conversations sometimes like is there
something different you know that I can do as a mom because you know we
sometimes get so busy with work that sometimes we forget you know the
important things and the important people in our lives so when I go to bed
at night you know I think about those things where they're not them you know
I'm making a difference and you know doing what's you know what I really want
to do what excites me is spending time with friends and family I mean I you
know that's that's so important because that's what keeps everything all balance
what keeps me up at night everybody knows me really well knows I'm not a big
sleeper so what keeps me up at night is the person that's gonna create the pill
that you take it and that's your eight hours of sleep and you just keep going
that's what I want i I don't know life is just so exciting
that I don't want it I don't really look at it like I have to go to sleep I'm
like I could do so many more things there's so much I could do I'll start
cleaning at two o'clock in the morning I'm crazy but I would definitely say
it's this is so similar it's achieving all the things that I wanted to achieve
that day am i getting everything done at the arc am i being the best mom to my
two teens that are just absolutely they're incredible they're extraordinary
and sometimes it's staying up at night because my son is a big night owl and so
at one o'clock in the morning he likes to talk so we just kind of hang out in
the kitchen and talk and he's just that much more animated in
that timeframe because there's nobody everybody else is sleeping that's why
everybody's supposed to be sleeping including him going to school at 6:30 in
the morning but I don't know it just kind of drives me to I don't want to
miss those moments they're so short my son will has only two years to go
before college and my daughter for and it's going so so quickly and then I
think do I leave enough time for my husband that I've had for 26 years
I put successfully married for 24 6 years and go okay when when the kids are
gone and I'm not working maybe I'll be doing other things but I'm not working
like it's still just the two of us and keeping that going so there is a lot of
pressure as we know we put on ourselves as women but I think it's more because
we can achieve so many things I mean we just do everything there's really
nothing we can't do so I would say maybe sleeping I'll try that and I'll let you
know it keeps me up and just exciting I have never been more excited I think in
my life to be serving and feel privileged to serve at the arc of Palm
Beach County we're doing just incredible things for people and incredible things
in the community we really I think are changing how people our goal is to
change how people think about others and what it is that they need and how it is
that they need to grow so we have some just extraordinary things coming up on
the horizon that we're so excited about so thank you
so this is our last question and then we're going to open it up to all of you
to ask the panelists some questions so what is a characteristic that you
believe every should every leader should possess and what attributes do you look
for in potential leaders who you are considering promoting and if you have
the opportunity to mentor what characteristics do you look for in
potential mentees listening major character listening I mean you really
need to be open and listen to what people are saying to you it is
incredible the things you learn about people by listening and not by thinking
about what it is you're gonna say next and the the people on my team that
listen during the conversations that we have and walk away and just go achieve
those are the ones I look to promote and even if they walk away and come back
they ask another question just to make sure they have clarity they are
absolutely the team members that every time we've promoted somebody they're the
rockstars because they're doing the same exact thing for their team so that's a
major being caring which comes with listening to people I mean if you're a
good listener you care about people that's what you want to do so that we've
seen I'm looking at Holly my CEO oh sitting in the in the audience here and
going the people that have just become the rock stars and the agency are the
ones that are just great listeners for me is integrity I mean you have to have
you know high level of integrity as a leader because people have to be able to
trust you and in order for people to do that you know that has to be the key
thing so I look for someone who is willing to take the journey the journey
of growth is not easy and you have your ups and downs and so I'm always looking
for someone who's a risk-taker and that understands that during this
journey of leadership you've got to be willing to to deal with
what comes your way and so and I also want to say for a lot of the women that
are in the room tonight that it's really is important that we mentor I mean we
really need to be mentoring the next generation we need to be embracing them
encouraging them and it not even maybe people that are not even younger than us
but just people who are at a different point in their life where they need to
be lifted up and I think that's our responsibility that we have for women to
women but it really the ones I look for the ones that are willing to be a risk
taker think out of the box and get ready for for quite a ride on this journey of
life so we'd like to take a few questions if anybody has a question for
our panelists we'd like to open it up something that keeps popping them on my
mind is what does empowerment in general mean to you what's what is that define
as to you and then how does that show up in your own life i I think empowerment
is unleashing something that's been locked in you for a long time I think it
has a lot to do we've kind of all talked about the fact that we don't have a
glass sailing I agree with them but I think all women sometimes have a
question mark about where are we gonna go are we strong enough can we do this
and I think when that becomes unleashed and erased in our subconscious and our
mind that's when we start striving for wonderful things so I really do think
it's about letting that go and opening up a new thought process and for me I
have been I was raised by a father who believed that you know when Geraldine
Ferraro many of you too young to understand this but when Geraldine
Ferraro was nominated as vice president my father called the three daughters and
said come have dinner we all showed up we were in our 20s we didn't know what
the hell he was doing he had all this great wine there of course we all love
wine it's weed all this great wine there and we said what's going on daddy and
his response was every father tonight that has a daughter should be
celebrating because all three of you could become the next president of the
United States that's empowerment for me is you know
being an inspiration to others you know having the ability to to help you know
to guide to mentor we all have different abilities different skill sets and we
all have you know different ways of impacting others people's lives and I
think being able to have that ability and recognize it and being able to
inspire others that's that's it for me
empowerment for me is is really giving the people around you the space to to
grow giving them the understanding the tools that they need to go do something
great just hey you know we do we do say that's a really good question because we
do use that word a lot being empowered and what does that really mean some of
us just like feel it like we just feel the power no matter what we do we're
just like we're empowered I'm just letting you know and others just need
what are those tools we talk a lot at the arc about our tool kit like we I
constantly go I want people to know they've got this file of information and
that anything that comes up they've got another file they can pull I'm gonna try
this I'm gonna try that I'm gonna try this we're always talking about that for
our teams and so to me that is then empowering them that in any situation
they can go to that tool kit and they can find an answer doesn't mean it's
always gonna be the right one at the moment but it's the one that they chose
and then they can start dealing with what it is they do after that but
they're empowered to make that decision to try something
when you talk about the ceiling it do you think it's generational because I
don't know the ages of the panel and I won't do that to you Diana Twenties what
do you mean you don't know our age but I know I know right I know when I was
growing up you know I could be a nurse okay but I couldn't be a doctor that was
not the expectation but my daughter's could be any I brought them up to be
anything they wanted to be and they could be anything they want it to be you
know including President of the United States so you know you look at the panel
and you can feel that you know some of the answers are generational so do you
think that that's yeah it's definitely I mean I I'm gonna definitely say I'm very
proud to be 49 not 20 I don't want to go back there I go back to late 30s I will
tell you that and stop stop this process but but at 49 absolutely I feel like
we're in like such an incredible space to be able to just go and do and even
say exactly what we want I've even noticed I think that everybody
here would probably agree even with my husband I asked for everything I want
now I didn't always do that I mean I married 26 years so we got married when
I was 23 I was you know so grab a cook and I'd do all these great things that
doesn't mean I don't do them now I love to cook but now it's I want to go out
we're going out this is what we're doing okay and he just gets us let me get
dressed let me let me get going so I think it's also for him so this is
kind of unique because my husband is actually we share so many things on this
panel we don't share the same husband that's a whole nother for Honor's
there's art their names are the same they're both named Jim aha and so my
husband is a good bit older than me by 18 years so for him her 17 for him I
what I was so attracted to is that he grew up in the 60s he grew up like he
wrote our vowels as partners and it was just awesome because he was just so open
to women doing whatever so his days like do whatever you want
he was always very encouraging and very uplifting and that's why going back to
like have people around you that are so encouraging and uplifting and so I think
it's generational and how that might feel at first but if you have other
people around you like I've mentoring and I have friends that are in their 20s
sometimes I look at them and go oh my god please can we go somewhere dark but
but I love being around them and their energy because it energizes me so I have
to respond cuz I didn't giggle about that when they were talking about the
glass ceiling I'm thinking what the hell they were a different generation because
I could feel it sometimes I mean it was there for us right I mean it totally was
there so I totally think it's generational and I'm gonna give I'm
gonna give tribute to the women in the 50s right us and the 50s thank you that
we broke that glass ceiling so these beautiful ones here didn't feel it right
so there you go we're up to it but I can tell you that I always wanted to be a
teacher I mean I bleep teased about this at the office I just wanted to be a
teacher the worst way and my father you don't know about him now my father who
says to me oh no no no that's what women used to be okay
women used to be nurses and teachers and so I never became a teacher they all
tell me that I teach every day so I guess I do teach every day but I am also
the proud mother of a surgeon a female surgeon right so there you go we broke
that classroom yes we did some very excited all right
we'll take one more question we want to be mindful of everyone's time okay I
know each of you personally and for a long time most of you and I'm in awe of
each of you but you know me so I've got to be real what do you guys ever lose it
like seriously because I just want to know what makes you lose it and then how
do you cope with that because I love each of you you know that but sometimes
you're sitting here and I'm like how in the hell do they do everything they do
and be so beautiful and elegant and inspiring so you got to lose it
sometimes come on we both lose it she loses it from um totally tongue I
totally lose it and I I lose it I think it and I'm gonna say cuz I'm among
friends down so I used the term I'm bullshit this is my thing I'll just go
push it this is just drives me crazy and I will just lose it and I'll tell you
what makes me lose it
injustice really makes me crazy prejudice really makes me crazy and the
unnecessary way that we sometimes treat each other right so not true now I don't
throw things I don't throw things but I do do is I go get a really nice glass of
wine you see the theme here and I and I but I'm a crier and I will stop and sob
and sob and sob and I've these guys knows I've hugged them many a times in
the sobbing so that's how I lose it by crying fake crying you don't so another
cry
as a matter of fact and I tell my mentors all the time don't cry as a
woman it makes you look weak that's what that's why men always think we're weak
when we cry you know people think I don't cry but I lose it but when I lose
it I don't let people see when I lose it I lose it in private
I lose it amongst my friends because I always try to maintain that
professionalism I don't want people to judge me when I'm losing it so I get
behind closed door and I lose it and then I walk out like nothing happened
yeah yeah we're not surprised by that at all
I've never lost it just so you know I've never lost it
I don't lose it ever I always lose it Holly I mean Holly is my rock the holly
is my rock you know behind closed doors like lose it behind closed doors but
absolutely own it get it out cuz it'll kill you
it will absolutely kill you I will say that I'm not I'm not a big grudge holder
Toni's actually been part of situations that I should have just stood up and
lost it a lot but you know you kind of just you eat it for the moment you go
deal with it and you get right back and you just keep doing it I will say the
crying thing it's interesting because some people go it's so authentic I'm an
insanely emotional I mean I am Irish and Italian and I am very emotional but I
think for men that like first of all there's power and crying for the people
that you're around like they feel your passion if that's why you're crying if
you lose it and cry I don't recommend that so much but like if you're
passionate and you cry and people really feel that it's authentic and the reason
you're doing it like that's cool for men like use it for your power it scares the
daylights out of them they they don't even know what to do with it like use it
I mean I thought I have diamonds because of it you know use it
we will cut that out of the video syllabus because we want to keep getting
diamonds right so well I know that Kimberley and Sophia and Diana are going
to be sticking around you know we are very mindful of keeping and honoring the
time that we've committed to so I know that you're gonna stay around to answer
some additional questions you know Barbara and I Nicole and Katie feel so
blessed because I'm going to cry they know I cry all the time
truly to have you here thanks to Tamra for reaching out and helping make this
happen but we are so honored that you made time in your calendar especially
having just come back from two weeks vacation to spend this time yeah to
spend this time with us so your words I think have inspired all of us moved all
of us and we hope that you know the intention of this program was really to
introduce you to these amazing women and we are all leaders in our own way
whether that is leading a non-profit leading a public company being a mom
leading a team whatever it is all of us are leaders every single woman in this
room has a purpose every single woman in this room can make a difference and
every single woman in this room has something that humanity needs so we
encourage you to take time in your lives honor yourself pause to think what that
is it's not going to come tomorrow maybe it will but really think about what it
is because all of you can make a difference in the world so before we
close and have you enjoy the reception I do want to call your attention to a
couple things one we launched a Facebook page finally about a month ago
and thanks to our partners at venue for making that happen we would encourage
you please to go like it share it post it whatever it is that happens but we
are really we're really excited about it this is well we will share content keep
this community going continue this conversation and then lastly I do want
to call your attention to the remainder of the year we're going to be hosting
three events coming up in 2018 and then we've already got the one in January
2019 scheduled we would encourage you to share the invitations to come back and
and visit us to learn more about the Women's Forum and we are so grateful
that all of you are here so thank you very much please stay and enjoy the
reception
For more infomation >> Kundalini and Pranvayu : Difference in sensation part-1 || कुण्डलिनी और प्राणवायु - Duration: 8:00. 
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