In this episode, Lynne and I are sharing our thoughts on the 2023 State of the Independent School Enrollment Industry Report, also known as the SOTI.

We talked about three areas highlighted in the SOTI and their impact on women:

1. What do enrollment leaders need to be successful?

2. What is the career journey for today's enrollment professional?

3. Real talk about the gender gap for men and women admission directors.

This report is the Enrollment Management Association's (EMA) flagship research project providing a snapshot of the enrollment management industry about every three years. The 2023 update is EMA's fourth edition of the report. EMA members can view the full report and access the SOTI Data Dashboard at enrolllment.org in the Member Community.

This episode is part of a new series we're calling Headspace, where we interview Women Heads across independent schools. Our first Headspace guest is Anne Stavney, Head of School at the Blake School in Minneapolis, MN, where she has served as their Head since 2012. We discussed Anne's history with independent schools, the key to her success as a leader with many priorities, and how she has been a champion for women leaders in her role as Head.

In this episode, we're joined by Heather Hoerle, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of The Enrollment Management Association. Heather became EMA's executive director in 2011. Working with the leadership team, she sets a clear direction for the staff, inspiring gold-standard service for our constituents and pushing for us to continuously innovate. Externally, in her work with schools and the wider education sector, she aims to advance the profession of enrollment management and empower individual professionals. We're going to talk about Heather's career, her steadfast support of women in leadership, and the ways she's innovating at EMA.

In this episode, we're joined by Penny Abrahams, Senior Consultant with Independent School Management. Penny first joined ISM in 2010 as a member of the Advancement Academy's founding faculty. As a Senior Consultant, she specializes in marketing communications, enrollment management, and development. Her experience in these areas comes from working in private-independent schools and other non-profits for more than 20 years.

Being a strong leader means knowing when to consider working with an outside organization to help you achieve your goals. Penny shares with us how she supports schools, their advancement teams, and women leaders in order to maximize their impact.

In this episode, we are talking with Susanne Carpenter, Founder and Principal of Carpenter Leadership Consulting, a firm focused on strategy, organizational development, and leadership performance for independent schools. She is also the proud graduate of an independent school, an independent school trustee, and a champion for these schools. Susanne knows first-hand how education has been disrupted in the last couple of years. Her goal is to help align independent school leaders' vision with goals and to build the best schools possible. Leadership needs support as they transition into this new era.

Today, we're joined by Dr. Carrie Grimes, Assistant Professor and Director of the Independent School Leadership Graduate Program at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College. At Peabody, Carrie serves as a faculty member across different graduate programs in the department of Leadership Policy and Organization in addition to her role as Program Director of the Independent School leadership master's degree program. Carrie is here to share with us the exciting research and changes at Peabody that have led to an increase in women joining the Independent School Leadership Graduate Program. These intentional changes are a reimagining of not only the training of our leaders but also leadership itself.

We recorded this episode at EMA's Annual Conference in Orlando. In this episode, we're joined by Lauren Lewis Director of Enrollment Management at the Advent School in Massachusetts, and Laura Burgess from Senior Associate Director of Admissions at Tabor Academy in Massachusetts.

Lauren and Laura presented the session The Struggle is Real: Avoiding & Managing Burnout in Admissions. The title says it all! They are here to share their own experiences but also create a space for women in schools to talk about the symptoms of burnout, why working in a school is a unique and all-consuming environment, and why it is different for women and people of color and what we can do to prevent, manage and recover from burnout together.

We recorded this episode at EMA's Annual Conference in Orlando. In this episode, we're joined by Susan Mantilla-Goin, Dean of Enrollment Management at the Pomfret School in Connecticut, and Vivien Valenzuela Mallick Director of Admission and Financial Aid at The Bishop's School in La Jolla, California.

During the annual conference, Vivien and Susan hosted the Women of Color Power Hour. This session gave these two long-time friends, former colleagues, and veterans in the field an opportunity to share how they earned their leadership positions by possessing the experience, knowledge, skills, and vision to meet their schools' enrollment goals. They're hoping to help women of color use their voice and bring their authentic selves to work so that they can confidently share their perspectives which are underrepresented at predominantly white institutions.

In this episode, we're talking with Angela Brown, Assistant Head for Admission and Strategic Initiatives at Dana Hall School. Angela is here to talk with us about claiming your achievements, tooting your own horn, and making strategic career moves. Angela shares her personal experiences as well as tried and true ways that women can overcome their fears of self-promotion to advance their careers.

In this episode, we're talking with Bethany Burgun, Director of Mission Advancement at Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana. Bethany is here to talk with us about the complexities of being a school leader while also having your children enrolled in your school. While it can be incredibly rewarding it can also bring on stress, and impact your relationships with colleagues and employees.