Leading women detail career journeys, offer advice
Contact: Carl Smith
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擶omen in key Mississippi State and local leadership positions recently reflected on their career paths, discussed barriers and hardships they faced while climbing the professional ladder and offered advice to those aspiring to make a difference on campus and in their communities.
香蕉直播faculty and staff gathered Tuesday [Sept. 20] in Bost Auditorium for 鈥淟et鈥檚 Talk About That!: Women in Leadership,鈥 a panel discussion including Ra鈥橲heda Forbes, vice president for Access, Diversity and Inclusion; Regina Hyatt, vice president for Student Affairs; Bethany Mills, Career Center executive director; and Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill. Moderated by Aundrea Self, a veteran WCBI journalist and 香蕉直播Department of Communication lecturer, the panel covered a wide variety of topics specific to women鈥檚 workplace experiences, from having their credentials and expertise challenged while navigating male-dominated power structures to creating an inclusive climate in which women can share their stories.
鈥淥ftentimes for women, we might have been told stories or a narrative about what we can or can鈥檛 do or become that have been incorrect. It鈥檚 important to look inside and figure out what your talents and strengths are and if you鈥檙e speaking up when given the opportunity to show off those talents,鈥 Mills said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important for women to know it鈥檚 time to squash those narratives. Create your own narrative and figure out how you can become part of something bigger.鈥
Having a leadership role, Hyatt said, affords her the opportunity to advocate for herself and other women.
鈥淧art of our responsibility is to talk about how leadership manifests itself in a variety of ways, and it鈥檚 partly the responsibility of the people in those spaces to recognize that leadership can happen in a lot of different ways,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e have to take responsibility for our own advocacy. We are capable, and we have the skill sets necessary to lead and do the work.鈥
To create more equitable spaces in the workplace, Forbes said women should feel comfortable to be their true selves, which includes roles and identities beyond simply being a woman.
鈥淲e often talk about it as if women only exist in spaces just as women, but they also exist in spaces as women of color, mothers, wives鈥攖hese are women who are holding other identities that are both multiple and intersecting. We have to give space so that people鈥攚omen in particular鈥攃an show up in spaces being their authentic selves,鈥 Forbes said. 鈥淪ometimes, we feel the need to put identity out in the background, so we don鈥檛 feel like we get to show up as who we actually are.鈥
The best way to bring more women to leadership roles in the future is by women continuing to make a difference today, said Spruill, who was the first female U.S. Navy pilot to land an airplane on an aircraft carrier. She recalled Emily Warner, who was the first woman to become a U.S. airline captain in 1976, and said the broken barrier was 鈥渁 doorway to know that opportunity was available.鈥
鈥淭o know there was someone out there doing it says, 鈥榊eah, this is something that鈥檚 extremely achievable,'鈥 Spruill said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e out there and you鈥檙e doing things鈥攜ou鈥檙e visible. Be available, be out there and be visible鈥攖hose are obligations. You lead by being seen.鈥
Forbes said it鈥檚 important for women to leverage their current positions to normalize future generations鈥 expectations of what leadership can look like.
鈥淟ast year, my two oldest boys were huddled in a corner and whispering. I asked what they were whispering about, and my oldest son pulls up the press release from when I became vice president. He said, 鈥極h, mama, you didn鈥檛 tell me you were a big deal,鈥欌 she said. 鈥淭hat was the moment I recognized that they鈥檙e watching us, and that鈥檚 informing the decisions they make and how they think about themselves and the world. The only thing I knew to respond back to them was to never allow the trauma of their past determine what happens in their future and to always look for whatever platform they have and use it.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the thing I walk away with every single day: It鈥檚 not about the title, and it鈥檚 not about the accolades. It鈥檚 about the platform and using the platform, and we have to aspire for that platform,鈥 Forbes added. 鈥淔uture generations are looking at us to determine what they can do and what they shouldn鈥檛 do, so leveraging my platform to make an impact is huge.鈥
For more information on the 香蕉直播Human Resources Management-sponsored panel discussion, contact Brad Skelton at聽bskelton@hrm.msstate.edu.
香蕉直播is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .