VEST Her Podcast

In this episode we talk to Jamie Fiore Higgins, former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Author of Bully Market, about her experience of discrimination and misogyny working for one of the largest banks in the world. We also talk about the importance of having our own identity, not tied to any job, any person, or organization.

Special thanks to VEST Member Heather Lawrence for moderating the session. Bios and show notes can be found below.

This episode is sponsored by Audible ,the leading provider of audiobooks, podcasts, guided wellness programs, theatrical performances and more. They have over 1000 titles for you to choose from, including our Guest’s book - Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs. Click on this link and get a 30 Day Free Trial plus a free credit to use on Jamie’s Book!

About Jamie Fiore Higgins
Jamie Fiore Higgins worked as a managing director at Goldman Sachs. One of just 8 percent of Goldman employees to earn the managing director title, she was the highest-ranking woman in her department. An active member of the Women’s Network Committee, Fiore Higgins spent her workdays running the trainee and internship programs, recruiting, and managing top equity clients and $96 billion in stock. Living in New Jersey with her husband and four children, she is a trained coach, working with teens to hone their leadership skills, high school, and college graduates as they begin careers, professionals as they navigate the workforce, and those in midlife looking to reinvent themselves. Jamie was named one of the Financial Times “Top 25 Most Influential Women of 2022!” Connect with Jamie on Linkedin 

Show Notes:

The Bully Market by Jamie Fiore Higgins - A “riveting and powerful” insider’s account on Wall Street where greed coupled with misogyny and discrimination enforces a culture of exclusion in the upper echelons of Goldman Sachs.  Click on this link and get a 30 Day Free Trial to Audible plus a free credit to use on Jamie’s Book!

VEST Membership, become a VEST Member and join the conversation.  Apply today!

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

The non-profit sector is going through a transition involving generational change, a national labor shortage, and a demand for systemic change by new leaders in the space. In our latest podcast episode VEST Members share learnings and advocate for better ways to advance non-profit missions while supporting leaders in the space.

Brought to you by Instrumentl, helping grant professionals scale their fundraising strategy with their single tool for grant prospecting, tracking and management. Get personalized grant recommendations, reminders for upcoming deadlines and conduct all your research in one place. Try it free for 14 days then go to this special link and use VESTHER50 to save $50 off your first month.

Special thanks to VEST Members: 

Carol Herrick, Executive Director at OKC Dodgers Baseball Foundation, formed in 2015 as a not-for-profit corporation, with a mission to support the Oklahoma community through creative partnerships, charitable contributions and programming initiatives. 

Vanessa Morrison, CEO at Open Design Collective, a non-profit organization that brings together underrepresented communities and the design and city planning resources necessary to promote social and spatial change. 

Ahniwake Rose, Policy Director, Public Health Policy and Programs at National Indian Health Board, a non-profit organization, providing a variety of services to tribes, Area Health Boards, Tribal organizations, federal agencies, and private foundations. 

Shannon Cooper, Director of Philanthropic Services at BWF,  a company providing consulting and services across all philanthropic sectors. 

Show Notes:

The Loom, an organization weaving a community of care and belonging so that we can be generous together.

Community Centric Fundraising, a fundraising model that is grounded in equity and social justice.

VEST Membership, become a VEST Member and join the conversation.  Apply today!

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

"If men are 75% of leadership today, we are 75% of the problem with advancing women (in the workplace), but we are also 75% of the solution"

Join us as we talk to Gender Strategist, former Coca-Cola Executive and the President of YWomen, Jeffery Tobias Halter about the importance of engaging men in the advancement of women in the workplace. 

About Jeffery

Jeffery Tobias Halter is a Consultant, Author, Gender Strategist and the President of YWomen, a strategic consulting company focused on engaging men in women’s leadership advancement. YWomen focuses on driving actionable business plans and strategies to help organizations create Integrated Women’s Leadership Strategies. Jeffery is the former Director of Diversity Strategy for The Coca-Cola Company.

Jeffery is a two-time TEDx speaker and the author multiple books, including his most recent one WHY WOMEN, The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men. His clients include IBM, Amazon, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies. Jeffery currently is on the Board of Directors Trustees for the Miss America Organization.

Connect with Jefferey on LinkedIn 

Available on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcast.  

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

As we head into the 2022 Midterm Election we invited Kelly Dittmar to talk to us about the status of women in politics. Kelly is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University–Camden; and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns .

Dittmar’s research focuses on gender and American political institutions. Dittmar was an American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow from 2011 to 2012. At CAWP, she manages national research projects, helps to develop and implement CAWP's research agenda, and contributes to CAWP reports, publications, and analyses. She also works with CAWP's programs for women's public leadership and has been an expert source and commentator for media outlets including MSNBC , NPR, PBS, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Dittmar earned her B.A. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI and her Ph.D. from Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Join us as we talk to Kelly about the status of women in politics, and how we can harness women's political power together.

Special thanks to VEST Member Shagah Zakerion for moderating this session.

Shagah Zakerion, is the Executive Director of the Lobeck Taylor Operating Foundation (LTOF). Prior to joining the LTFF team, Shagah served as Executive Director of Tulsa’s Young Professionals (TYPROS) and The Forge business incubator. She also served as Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager for Williams, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Tulsa.

She serves on the board of advisors for Resonance Center for Women and the board of directors for the Khalid Jabara Foundation, Sally’s List, and Gaining Ground Literacy. As a three time cancer survivor, Shagah is passionate about eliminating cancer and serves several organizations on that mission, including sitting on Stephenson Cancer Research Center’s board of advocates and community advisory board.

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

As proven by the Covid-19 pandemic, our economy relies on a broken care system and unpaid caregiving, which have played a major role in the pay and wealth gap for women, keeping women from fully participating in the labor force, and minimizing our economy's potential. So, why haven't we've done anything about it?

Join us as we talk to Yi-Hsian Godfrey, CEO & co-founder of Apiari, a company building the future of work for providers in the $648B care industry.

About Yi-Hsian Godfrey

Yi-Hsian Godfrey is the CEO & co-founder of Apiari, a company building the future of work for providers in the $648B care industry. A former small business marketer at American Express, Yi-Hsian is building a more effective US care ecosystem by giving providers the right tools, resources and support to manage their jobs more efficiently. Born in Taiwan, raised in NYC and now living in England, Yi-Hsian has seen how care is a universal need across different cultures and countries. Having worked in corporate for over 20 years and building a start-up with two young children, she has journeyed through many of the difficult paths working parents, especially working mothers, face in juggling personal aspirations and life’s demands. She holds an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Management and dual BA and BS degrees from Boston University.

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own a business? The highs, the lows, the untold stories?

Fifty years ago, the idea of women managing their own company would have seemed ambitious at best. Today, more women are choosing entrepreneurship. In fact, there are now more women entrepreneurs than ever before. Why are so many women choosing this path?

According to a recent study women listed desire to pursue their passion as the number one reason to step into the world of entrepreneurship. Financial independence was second, and flexibility third.

In this episode our Chief Operating Officer, Gaby Eichenlaub talks to VEST Members about their leap into entrepreneurship. Listen as Noelle Acosta, Co-Founder and CEO of Noula, a digital health company in the reproductive care space, Arielle Brown, Founder of Bea’s Bayo Skincare, a herbal and probiotic personal care brand for eczema-prone scalp and skin, and Dr. Tabatha Carr, Founder of GoodGirl Chocolate a plant based Chocolate that supports all lifestyles share their journey into entrepreneurship.

For our guest full bio and show notes click here

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

What are the systems and societal norms getting in the way of women achieving economic mobility? How do we call out and dismantle those systems?

In this episode we talk to Ruchika Tulshyan, author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (MIT Press). She’s also the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy practice.

A former international business journalist, Ruchika is now a regular contributor to The New York Times and Harvard Business Review on workplace equity and inclusion. Ruchika co-wrote a paradigm-shifting article, “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome,” for Harvard Business Review with Jodi-Ann Burey. The article was among the top-read articles in HBR history, as well as the top three articles for the publication in 2021. Best of all, people all over the world have said it helped them stop blaming themselves for supposed imposter syndrome.

Ruchika is on the Thinkers50 Radar list, and LinkedIn’s 2022 Top Voices on Gender Equality, and was recently awarded the Jeanette Williams Award by Seattle Women’s Commission for her significant contribution and leadership in advancing women in the region. She’s raising a feminist son, who is 5. Ruchika is a Singaporean foodie who has lived in four countries.

For more on Ruchika's bio and show notes go to www.VESTHer.co/podcast

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

With many women still not returning to work after Covid-19 lockdowns and many of them still reporting high numbers of burnout, it can be difficult to find reasons to be optimistic about the state of women in business. But here’s one highlight: A recent report from the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) and 50-50 Women on Boards found that 2021 was a “watershed year” for women on corporate boards, with the largest ever year-over-year increase in board seats held by women among companies in the Russell 3000, an index of the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in America. According to the report, which was released earlier this month, women held 27 percent of board seats at companies on the Russell 3,000 in 2021, up from 24 percent in 2020. Another sign of progress, according to the report: Black board membership increased 32 percent.

In this session we talk to Esther Aguilera, President and CEO of the Latino Corporate Directors Association and VEST Member Beverly Carmichael, Former C-Suite Executive and Board Director at multiple companies including Blue Apron and Viad Corp, about the gaps we still have to overcome, and how we can position ourselves to serve on Corporate Boards so that together we can further advance Diversity in the Board Room.

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

Most people confuse personal brand with reputation but they are two different things. Everyone has a reputation. The first impressions we make, the relationships we form with managers and peers, and how we communicate — all of these things impact how others see us. Our personal brand, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It's how we want other people to see us. 

We can curate our personal brand or let it develop organically.  Intentionally creating our brand is much more powerful than letting the world create one for us. Because having a clear brand helps us position ourselves as an authority in our industry, elevates our credibility, and helps us differentiate ourselves from the competition, so we can advance our careers and have a larger impact. 

In this session we talk to Jill Hughes, Assistant Vice President of Advancement at the University of Oklahoma and former Disney Executive about how we can be intentional in developing our personal brand and the challenges we might experience along the way. 

For Jill's full bio and show notes; go to www.vesther.co/podcast 

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co 

Companies don't scale unless we take the time to delegate. We also know that teams don't grow unless give them the opportunity to take on challenging projects. But even when we know delegating leads to productivity and developing employees, it's often hard to do because it requires us to trust others. Trust doesn't come naturally to everyone. It's also hard to build trust when you are already overloaded and overwhelmed. 

To help us understand why delegating is so hard, we invited Valerie Riley, CEO of LifeSquire, an assistant resource company, offering job placements, outsourced personal & virtual assistants as well as assistant training. Join us as we talk to Valerie about how we can get better at trusting others and ourselves as we grow our companies and learn to let go of control.

Special thanks to VEST Member Jennifer Loren, Executive Director of the Cherokee Film Office for moderating this session. 

For Valerie and Jennifer's full bio and show notes go to www.VESTHer/podcast 

Support the show

If you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co