In honor of International Women’s Day, Siegel+Gale convened panels in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles of exceptional female marketing executives. In the empowering panel discussions that followed, we focused on the challenges of brand building and navigating leadership in 2018. Below we captured Tweetable moments from these conversations.

Advice to young female talent:

  • “Leaders make leaders, not followers. It’s your actions, and where you take lead, that will create change.
    • Michelle Froah, VP – Digital Transformation, Samsung Electronics America @MichelleFroah
  • “When I talk to younger women, I often see the tug of who society thinks they should be versus who they want to be. It’s our time to make change. And to do it now.”
    • Doris Daif, Senior VP, NBA @DDSethi
  • “Know how to help yourself. Raise your hand and ask for what you want. Take a chance – it’s much easier than you may think.”
    • Jessica Joffe Stein, Sr. Director, Marketing ­- Brand, DaVita Inc.
  • “Polish your shoes. When I say this, I mean: show the world that you’re proud of who you are.”
    • Margaret Coughlin, CMO, Mount Sinai @MargaretCMO
  • “Stop apologizing – you have every right to be here.”
    • Gina McDuffie, CMO, VER @GinaMcDuffie
  • “My advice is to go for it. Make it work. Don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back from taking risks.”
    • Kira Scherer Wampler, CEO, Art.com @Kirasw
  • “When it comes to finances, what matters most is how you live your life.”
    • Joan Khoury, Managing Director – CMO, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc @JoanKhoury
  • “We write narratives and we can change narratives. That is our superpower.”
    • Angela Pih, CMO, Halston  

Thoughts on women in the workplace:

  • “Equal is equal. No buts.”
    • Rashmy Chatterjee, Global Sales Leader, IBM Security @RashmyC
  • “Sometimes you have to take operational steps to ensure equality. But I look forward to the day when quotas aren’t necessary.”
    • Cynthia Kleinbaum, VP – Brand & Retail Marketing, Bonobos @CynKleinbaum
  • “Women need to help other women more.”
    • Alicia Tillman, CMO, SAP @AliciaTillman
  • “Be the change you want to see. It’s about creating progress, not perfection.”
    • Michelle Adorjan Chila, SVP, Marketing and PR, TACORI
  • “It is incumbent upon marketers to create change for the better while selling.”
    • Rita Drucker, Head of Brand Integration, Snap, Inc.
  • “It’s not a woman problem or a human problem, it’s a business problem. Cognitive diversity is key.”
    • Vasu Jakkal, CMO, FireEye
  • “I cannot stress the importance of mentorship enough.”
    • Stacey Allen, Head of Global Brand Strategy & Identity, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • “It’s up to us in the workplace to continue the movement.”
    • Judy Fujii-Hwang, Corporate Brand & Thought Leadership, Western Digital
  • “When it comes to women in the workplace, we need to ask, how do we create stories that reflect the world we want to see?”
    • Lauren Johnston, Head of Brand Management, Google
  • “If we open up the doors for young women, they will walk through and be successful. There is hope but we have a lot of work to do.”
    • Elisabeth Charles, CMO, Rodan + Fields 

It strikes me that we are facing a parallel challenge—as brand leaders, we must navigate a complex world with many channels, tactics and fast-changing customer requirements. And as females, we must navigate complexity with evolving opportunities, workplace environments, and cultural expectations.

I thank these leaders for the further clarity and color they provided on how they’re navigating these dual challenges. We at Siegel+Gale hope to continue these important conversations about brand building and female leadership. Follow us on Twitter: @SiegelGale

Margaret Molloy is Global CMO and Head of Business Development at Siegel+Gale. Follow her on Twitter: @MargaretMolloy