Uplight celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021. What is International Women’s Day? According to the IWD website, it is “ a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.”
Uplight recognized this global holiday by inviting a panel of female leaders in energy, technology, and finance. We intentionally created the event at a time when all of our global teammates could attend, which was 7:00 am for our West Coasters and 7:30 pm for our colleagues in Pune, India. About 54 women and men joined the conversation. Our speakers included some inspiring leaders including:
- Brenda Darden Wilkerson, CEO of AnitaB.org
- Lucille Mayer, Chief Business Product Architect at Apex Clearing Corporation
- Tish Mendoza, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at AES
- Angela Tucci, COO of Uplight
Panelists spoke about their experiences with the gender divide, the value of challenging the status quo, and advice for pushing for change. The group reflected on how far women have come in the workplace, telling stories about their experience decades ago and the stark differences in the workplace now. But, the work is not over and the group also talked about how we could collectively make work, and society even more equitable for women.
As Brenda Darden Wilderson said: “The struggle is not an event; it is an eternal process.” Participants especially responded to the advice on how to weigh the risks of a change against the potential step changes. Participants left feeling inspired to “do it brave” and work towards change with heart and courage.
