NAME: Anna Bonfiglio
TITLE: Manager, Lincoln Media & Strategy
COMPANY: Ford Motor Company
MOTHER OF: Two daughters, nine-year-old Corinne and 11-year-old Carmen.
WHY WE PICKED HER: For steering Lincoln toward the future of the modern luxury consumer through creating unique brand experiences and partnerships—and that includes an increased emphasis on marketing to female buyers of all backgrounds. For instance, with Bonfiglio leading the charge, Lincoln partnered with HeyMama, a community of working moms dedicated to supporting each other's careers and families, for the launch of its Aviator SUV.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

AB: To make the industry one where working moms are choosing to climb the ladder, we need to get rid of the stigma around those flexible programs. When you see dads, people without children that love to travel and people who want to go back to college taking advantage of the work-life balance that the new industry provides, it will get rid of the stigma around having a different work schedule. Once it's the norm, it'll make the industry a lot more attractive.

CM: Any positives or bright sides to having your kids at home—and being at home right now?

AB: There have been a lot of positives for my family. This has been the most time I've been able to spend with my children because I've always been a working mom. Eliminating two hours of commute time has created more opportunity for time with them, and I'm really enjoying that.

There have also been moments [of sharing]. Bill Ford was holding a global town hall in April for the entire Ford Motor Company. He was announcing our company's commitment to help mass produce PPE and talking about what we were doing in the factories to help produce ventilators. My daughter overheard it and brought me a chapter she was working on in social studies that was about Rosie the Riveter and what happened at the Willow Run plant during World War II. We had a great moment where we shared an appreciation for what she was working on and the company I was working for.

CM: Any advice for moms who now find themselves teachers in addition to working moms?

AB: Setting expectations with teachers is helpful. I've told the teachers, with my daughters present, what my work schedule looks like. It gives my kids a bit of room with their teachers to say, “My mom's working and I'm not able to get help at this time. Can I get her help this evening and turn it in later?” I’ve been clear with teachers that school is our priority, but sometimes my children do need to time shift.

CM: Who are your mentors and what have you learned from them?

AB: The best mentors I’ve had have had big dreams for me and encouraged me to follow them and not limit myself. I had a mentor who found out that I had always wanted to get an MBA but it never worked out for timing and career reasons. He encouraged me to get it, laid out a plan and pushed me beyond just encouragement. At the time I had two children, I was in my late thirties, and would not have thought it was even remotely possible. But because of his encouragement, I stopped setting those limits for myself.

NAME: Angela Burgin Logan
TITLE: Director of Marketing
COMPANY: AT&T
MOTHER OF: An 11-year-old daughter, Samia.
WHY WE PICKED HER: This trailblazing marketing executive is not only behind a plethora of award-winning work, including AT&T’s millennial-focused “Dream in Black” activation, but she also founded a blog for women seeking information on parenting, wellness, fashion and entertainment and is a fierce advocate for and speaker on behalf of women’s maternal health.  

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

ABL: We have seen slow progress. Some of the basic essential benefits, everything from having appropriate family and maternity leave policies, to best-case scenarios, which would be things like onsite daycare, baby bucks and remote work opportunities, are sometimes few and far between. Instead of being the exception, they should be the norm.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

ABL: What has to change is the culture. Having an inclusive work culture is something that values the contributions moms are making to households, the community and the future workplace. The culture cannot look down on moms who are taking time off to have their children or to bond with them. It certainly should not view a resume gap as a negative for moms. Those paradigms have to change.

CM: How have you met the challenges of working remotely and having kids at home? What's working for you?

ABL: I'm an early riser. I made the decision to start my day around 5:30 a.m. I need that time to myself to get my day started and feel a sense of accomplishment from getting a few tasks done. It’s a calm before the storm, before everyone is up, around and moving and things have to get accomplished for the greater good of the family. That's given me a little bit of solitude, a way to work through and navigate the waters of the day.

CM: Any advice for moms who now find themselves teachers in addition to working moms?

ABL: Google is your friend. Sometimes we have to re-learn some lessons that our child might be going through that you're attempting to teach them. It has been a secret weapon of mine [at work], too. Many times I've been given tasks I’m not sure how to do, so I research each and every step on how to get there.

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

ABL: Focus on being better; bigger will take care of itself. I have aspirations to advance my career, but also to be the best at what I'm doing. And I believe that that work ethic, those wins I'm experiencing in the moment, will create those opportunities for me to advance and to climb the ladder.

NAME: Stacy DeBroff
TITLE: Founder and CEO
COMPANY: Influence Central
MOTHER OF: A 28-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old son.
WHY WE PICKED HER: One of the originators of the Mommy Blog phenomenon, DeBroff has not only grown her influencer marketing empire into a formidable partner for the world’s top brands, she has created a workplace where parents can scale up, scale down and thrive as their family needs change.

CM: What “mom” skills have helped you in your career?

SD: One of the most profound skills that I acquired as a mom that has translated into me being a CEO is finding this line between positive encouragement and setting boundaries. You want everyone to feel like a really connected part of the team, and the team becomes a work family. And at the same time, one of the things we always balance as moms is trying to bring out the best in our kids, trying to make sure we're keeping them in play. I think of motherhood as kids rafting really fast down a river and we’re just creating invisible bumpers so they feel like they’re doing it all by themselves but really we’re keeping them safe. At work it’s about helping people feel seen and included and making sure people can stay focused and on mission. So it’s flexibility but also moving things forward.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

SD: There’s a lot of built-in flexibility in marketing and it’s one of the few verticals from a career perspective that enables working moms to have this scale up scale down flexibility. COVID has highlighted this more because the whole world has gone to virtual and when you’re remote you’re trusting people to get things done. So it really enables moms to be vitally present and to not have to worry about conforming to standard hours.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

SD: Once moms get into their late 30s, very few of them are sustained because the agency model is all about billable hours. So anywhere you have billable hours instead of driven results, you have a lot of women [that opt out]. It’s not the glass ceiling, it’s the sticky floor. They could rise but the trade-offs of having to commute, be in the office, it’s very hard to juggle. The more that you have to have face time and be in the office, the harder it is to sustain straddling your work obligations and rising in a corporate environment with your family.

CM: Who are you mentors and what have you learned from them?

SD: Women and mentoring is still evolving. We need to make it easier for younger women to feel embraced and to make it personalized. We tend to look forward to where we’re going instead of thinking how can we help somebody who's relatively new in the profession.

CM: What was the best advice you received regarding career growth and advancement?

SD: “Choose your own adventure.” You can be the architect of your own destiny. You really have choices, and passion and a sense of adventure can really leverage that. If you’re not doing something filled with passion, it’s time to reinvent yourself.

NAME: Shelley Elkins
TITLE: Chief Creative Officer
COMPANY: Jack Morton Worldwide
MOTHER OF: A six-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter.
WHY WE PICKED HER: When she’s not driving creative vision and execution for a global portfolio of Fortune 100 clients (and picking up industry awards for her outstanding work), Elkins is walking the talk and infusing her passion for gender equity into her team culture and her client programs. Our personal fave: the “Rantin’ and Raven” program for Covergirl.

CM: What “mom” skills are helping you in your career?

SE: If I boiled it down to one thing, it's persistence. From nursing… to sleep routines, to getting them to try new foods, it was about being persistent and trying new ways of making it work. And that translates so well to what I do at work, especially around creatives and ideas and shaping them and being persistent in that journey. It's often the case that we give up too quickly on a beautiful idea.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

SE: I think the fundamental change is communication. Acknowledging it—that's half the battle. We’re acknowledging the things that our moms are dealing with and talking about solutions. I've seen progress there. I've also noticed a big change in how moms return to the workforce and how we're supporting them. We still have a long way to go, don’t get me wrong. But in terms of how they're coming back to more flexible work arrangements, I think that's definitely a silver lining of this year. I hope that will accelerate as a way to support our working moms.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry and not be at a disadvantage?

SE: I wrote this line [turned bumper sticker], “You never hear, ‘He's a working dad,’” and I think that's kind of the end state, right? When we're so supportive and it's so natural and we communicate about it so thoroughly, and we have policies in place that you don't feel it anymore. And I think that's what we're ultimately working toward.

CM: Who are you mentors and what have you learned from them?

SE: I've had the privilege of collecting a group of mentors over the course of my career and I would say you have to find your mentor. Even if your company or your agency doesn't have a formal mentorship program, seek that person out who you can go to for advice outside of your manager or outside of your day-to-day team. That’s something I've definitely done over the years.

CM: What was the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

SE: Have your eye on what's next and look at the people in leadership positions around you. Look at who they are and what they represent and make sure that that reflects who you really want to be.

NAME: Brooke Faw
TITLE: Vice President of Client Services
COMPANY: Bespoke Sports & Entertainment
MOTHER OF: An eight-year-old son.
WHY WE PICKED HER: This (pre-COVID) road warrior who used to spend half of every month traveling for work is proving you can adjust the pace while still leveling up in your job. In a male-dominated industry, she is boldly carving out a work-life balance and becoming a role model for other women passionate about sports marketing and their families.

CM: What “mom” skills have helped you in your career?

BF: Time management has changed, especially this year. I’ve learned it doesn’t all have to get done during the nine to five. If you ask a mom to get something done, they will get it done. It might not be in the next 15 minutes because she’s making dinner or helping with homework, but it will get done—and it will be really well done. Moms try to do things right the first time because we don’t have time to redo things. Efficiency is a mother’s middle name.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

BF: I don't think much over the past five years, until this year. It was really hard to be a working mom in this industry because if you didn’t want the job, someone else would do it. We didn’t have time off and flexibility. It wasn't until everybody had to work from home that it opened everyone’s eyes to how truly hard it is to be a working parent. Now dads are home and they’re seeing first-hand what the women in their lives were doing to make sure work got done, making sure the kids were happy, plus taking on other job responsibilities, like being a teacher, which nobody signed up for.

So one of the positives from this year has been showing people that work from home doesn’t mean you slack off. Everyone having to work from home has taught people grace and flexibility. We’ve got a long way to go in terms of paid maternity leave and proper facilities to support breastfeeding, but this year I’m seeing the growth in some grace. If I’m on a Zoom call and my kid pops up and says hello, a year prior I would have been mortified. Now it’s like, “Oh hey!”

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?


BF: It’s nothing women can do. We’re doing everything we can do. I think it’s the men in our industry. They need to start becoming advocates and I am incredibly fortunate in that I work for two amazing men that allow me the grace and the flexibility to be a working parent.

CM: What was the best advice you received regarding career growth and advancement?

BF: Susan O’Malley, the first female president of an NBA team, said every woman needs three bones in her body: a wish bone, so that you can think creatively, dream big and take whatever situation you are in and make it better. A funny bone, so you don’t take yourself too seriously; you have to “practice” having fun because happy people are productive people. And a backbone. You have to stand up for yourself. You have to say, “This is what I stand for and this is what we’re going to do.”

NAME: Manasi Gangan
TITLE: Founder and President
COMPANY: Nested Bean
MOTHER OF: Two sons.
WHY WE PICKED HER: After 15 years of experience building IT products for major corporations, Gangan founded Nested Bean, a company with the mission to help babies and toddlers sleep better with the help of weighted garments, blankets and onesies. Taking up a direct-to-consumer model way before it was cool, Gangan leveraged social media marketing to acquire customers by communicating a compelling brand story. To top it off, her family is uniquely intertwined with her work. Her second son’s sleep difficulties were the inspiration for the product—and her first son helped create the brand’s logo.

CM: What “work” skills have translated to being a mom?

MG: You are your children’s first teacher, before they go to school. And that role I take extremely seriously. Whatever little I learn, I try to bring that into teaching them. My older son has more propensity for marketing as a creative, intuitive person. I teach him about the customer journey and the marketing tactics we use. My youngest son is more transactional. I bring him those learnings—how a company operates down to showing him the balance sheet. I integrate my work life with my personal life to make a more enriching learning experience for my children.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry and not be at a disadvantage?

MG: Working moms are exceptional because they are doing things that most men wouldn't even dream of. They're balancing their career and they're nurturing and bringing up the next generation. That's not something that should be taken lightly.

To make this period of transition—from taking care of themselves and their partner to now taking care of an entire family—as easy as possible, do whatever is needed to set the goal, but not set the way that the goal needs to be met. [It requires] being more flexible with time, so that taking care of the family and taking care of their careers doesn't have to be a choice. Only then are we going to see women who are able to balance their careers and still make advancements.

CM: Any positives or bright sides to having your kids at home—and being at home right now?

MG: I'm able to attend to them while they're distance learning, in case something happens that is emotionally challenging for them. My younger one, for example, entered middle school this year. He’s entering a brand new environment in this situation, so I want to know whether he's having any challenges making friends or if he’s down. I'm able to keep that within earshot.

CM: Any advice for moms who now find themselves filling the role of teacher as well?

MG: Integrate, don't separate. The how depends on the situation. The minute we start separating, we see them as a tug of war, a push and pull. For example, kids love to emulate. That's how they learn. So, use examples from work to teach them. If you're sharing the home as your workspace, share your table. I know that if I'm working and being extremely focused, they’re going to emulate that.

NAME: Kelly Gillease
TITLE: CMO
COMPANY: NerdWallet
MOTHER OF: A five-year-old son.
WHY WE PICKED HER: For leading NerdWallet’s vigorous growth strategy and seizing opportunities for brand building even during the pandemic. Her long-term vision has helped the personal finance company remain profitable year after year. Owning a marketing style that balances performance and brand building by taking a quantitative approach, this risk-taker's got two decades of marketing experience at high-performing startups to prove it.

CM: What “work” skills have translated to being a mom?

KG: Delegation. Just because I can do something doesn't mean I should. People on my team have responsibilities and are very capable and I should give them that opportunity. The same with my son. I give him a lot of autonomy and authority and delegate to him. The first reaction shouldn't be to ask me; the first reaction should be to try to do it yourself.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

KG: Accessible and affordable childcare. I applaud companies that provide it or subsidize it, or support employees around it. But I wish it was more. The other thing is having partners step up and do fairly equal amounts of work around raising children. I'm very lucky because I have a husband who does more than I do. But I am in a luxurious situation compared to a lot of women. There have been several articles in The New York Times published during the pandemic about women doing 90 percent of the homeschooling and parenting work. It’s about having the hard conversations about why you are doing 90 percent.

CM: Any advice for moms who now find themselves filling the role of teacher as well?

KG: All parents are teachers. We spend a lot of time teaching our kids how to behave, how to walk, how to eat, teaching them by examples that we set. You're just teaching different things now—how to write and do math. If your kids learned to talk and eat, you have the right skills to do it. We're also teaching our children by being at home and working that it's important for women to work. They see, every day, that someone is doing what their mom does. That's something kids don't see a lot.

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

KG: It was around taking risks. When I first went to work at an internet company, they were relatively new and it was considered somewhat risky. I was working as an economist at the Department of Labor, a very steady gig. I said to my father, who had had several different careers, that I could get a job at one of these internet companies, but I don't know if it's stable. His advice: “The Department of Labor is always going to be there, Kelly.” You can take a risk and go back if you don't like it or it doesn't work out.

I talk to my team about this. What's a calculated risk that makes sense to take? What's the consequence? If it's not so bad, you should do it. We can walk it back pretty easily. I push people on my team to think about the outcome scenarios. How can we take a big risk that could pay off well?

NAME: Melanie Huet
TITLE: EVP and CMO
COMPANY: Serta Simmons Bedding
MOTHER OF: “Two lovely daughters and one cute pug.”
WHY WE PICKED HER: In a short 20 months, Huet transformed Serta from a mattress company into a sleep company by focusing squarely on the consumer. One example: She pioneered the launch of the vertical’s first sustainable bedding line. And another: She chose to relaunch Simmons, a 150-year-old brand, on TikTok. (That bold choice racked up 5 billion impressions.) And even in the face of business declines during COVID, Huet pivoted to chartiable relief with a donation of 10,000 beds for New York City residents.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

MH: Frankly, I think the progress has been really slow. I wish that we would have gone further. COVID has done two things: It has accelerated the idea of flexible work arrangements, which is a huge step forward for women or single parents. It's also been two steps back for females specifically, though. Women are dropping out of the workforce at a faster pace than ever over the last six months. And it's because the childcare duties are falling on their laps due to COVID, with children being at home and access to daycare being limited. So, the women are selecting out.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

MH: We need more women with children at the top of these companies and we need more visibility into all the additional stresses on their plates. This is where COVID has been a bit of a gift. These flexible work arrangements are going to enable mothers greatly. It's finally given us the business case that says women and single parents can work from home and be highly productive.

CM: Any advice for moms who now find themselves filling the role of teacher as well?

MH: Set up your days to accommodate work and your children. Be structured about that and create those spaces. Set up a schedule, communicate it and try and stick to it as best as possible. Then also remember that you're not necessarily going to be a fabulous mother and fabulous employee at the same time. You can be great at both in the long run, but you have to make your choices in a day.

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

MH: Two things. The first one is feedback. You need to truly be open to feedback, to receive it, to hear it, to reflect on it and then make an actual change in yourself to improve. The second thing is that 80 percent of the battle is perseverance. You just need to stay in the game.

NAME: Cassie Hughes
TITLE: Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer
COMPANY: Grow Marketing
MOTHER OF: Audrey, a high school freshman, and Alexander, a recent college grad.
WHY WE PICKED HER: For fearlessly co-founding one of the first, and now longest-running, woman-owned and led—and female forward—experiential agencies in the industry. And for infusing her impressive portfolio of work with quick-thinking COVID-era pivots that supported families and non-profits when they needed it most.

CM: What “mom” skills have helped you in your career?

CH: My daughter learns differently and because of that, it's taken empathy to a new level for me. The training wheels that she gave me and what she needed to teach me about patience and active listening, I had to up-level a thousand percent. To be able to do that with a client or all the problems we're trying to solve creatively right now has completely helped me. Empathy has always been a super power for my partnership with [Grow Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer] Gabrey Means. If we don't come from empathy from every angle, we can't do the work that we do to the level that we do it.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

CH: I have not seen the industry change around working moms over the years. However, I think one of the greatest silver linings of 2020 is that CEOs we've worked with who have not been supportive of a work-from-home environment have had an “aha!” moment like, “Oh, this working from home thing can work.” I think before it was a concept and now it's undeniable.

I think what's also so incredible is that there's this new fierce, protective layer that's around us in our parenting. This notion that there's no room for shame. I think there was a lot of shame earlier on without being named like, “Oh my gosh, I can't make that meeting my kid’s in the emergency room and if I have to parent and it gets in the way of my work, then I'm not the stellar employee and I'm not going to get the next promotion.” I think that will be very antiquated thinking a few years from now, if not now.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

CH: If we could just look at the output of one's work—the output is the output and you should be incentivized and given the right professional development to grow your career because of it. The antiquated version of how many hours you work, billable hours… I think for us to really make strides, we have to go back to a value-based fee structure.

Companies also need to look at employment not as the person but the person and their family. It's not just the individual, but how is the company supporting that individual to be the leader in their family as well? It’s going to be a new intangible benefit that I think we're going to see with the more progressive companies, which excites me.

NAME: Danisha Lomax
TITLE: VP/Group Director and National Paid Social Lead
COMPANY: Digitas
MOTHER OF: An 11-year old girl, Kamaiyah, and a six-year-old boy, Ke’aun.
WHY WE PICKED HER: Yes, she’s a social media wizard with a long list of client success stories in her portfolio. But she’s also a tireless leader, role model and mentor for women, mothers and people of color in the marketing industry. Just one example: She created the Multicultural Center of Excellence, a Digitas collective of BIPOC focused on bringing equity to the work.

CM: What “mom” skills have helped you in your career?

DL: Patience and autonomy. Always encouraging my team to, yes, identify a problem but always seek for a solution. And what they think their place is in solving that issue. Being a leader is not about title or hierarchy, it’s really about your ability to solve a problem and think critically using your technical skills and the skills you have as a human being, that empathy and autonomy and patience. In marketing we are always looking for that quick solution and that quick fix to solve our clients’ problems but it doesn’t happen that way. It’s about having a dose of patience to give yourself grace to figure out the problem and the solution.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

DL: If someone on the team says, “Hey, I’m in need of some support,” it’s not a block and tackle. It’s an embrace and find a solution. So we’re always trying to bring people along and solve the problem. And leading with empathy. It’s good to see a lot more companies take pride in that and say, if we want these women to be leaders, we have to change—we can’t ask them to change. We have to show them we’re an open environment.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

DL: I was a new mom at 25. Being an assistant media planner, I wasn’t able to go out and do after-work things. I felt like I missed out on that gathering and connecting that naturally happens in advertising agencies. It was what built the strength of the team, it wasn’t just what you were able to accomplish at work.

One thing I started to do as I grew up the ranks was build the same kind of comradery but in the day to day—not specifically and explicitly after the work day was done. You have to have fun throughout your day. I definitely know what it’s like to feel like you’re left out and that helped me infuse fun into all of the moments at work.

CM: Any positives or bright sides to having your kids at home—and being at home right now?

DL: You own your schedule. Whatever you need in the moment, going back to that idea of autonomy, we are being given the opportunity to really verbalize what it is you really need and bring people along to support you. There’s so much power in that. I don’t know if we would have ever gotten to that point otherwise.

CM: Any powerful words or mantras you live by?

DL: I turn to the word “flawless.” Not that I am actually flawless, not that I don’t make mistakes, but who I am today and how I’m made and how I choose to represent myself and be myself is flawless. I try to keep being my best self in front of me all the time.

I also love to reframe because a lot of the language we use is steeped in patriarchy, so even my decision to not call myself a “single mom” (I prefer “self-partnered”), is because I don’t like the negative connotation. I want my legacy and my children and friends to understand that when you own the language, you own the story. I want my story to be about positivity and not trauma. I’m big on switching up the language to support my story.

NAME: Christine Ngo Isaac
TITLE: Consumer Engagement Director
COMPANY: Hennessy, LVMH
MOTHER OF: “A sweet two-year-old son who likes to play the ukulele and imitate his mother on conference calls.”
WHY WE PICKED HER: For her bold approach to reaching the new luxury consumer through leading campaigns that empower and support the lives of Hennessy’s multicultural target demo. Like its Unfinished Business program which provides relief and support for Black, Asian and Latinx small business owners during the pandemic. An insatiable curiosity and passion for representation of women and minorities within marketing and culture shines through her work.

CM: What “mom” skills have helped you in your career?

CNI: Prioritization. Before I had my baby, work was my baby. I'm a woman of color, so there's also that feeling that I had to work extra hard. Now, with Irving, I have a reason to put my pencil down and to lift my head for inspiration. Taking that breath of fresh air every day is very important because you need to reset to do well.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

CNI: The fact that you are creating a feature like this shows that we're headed in the right direction. I'm seeing more mothers in the C-suite and talking about it. I also think that fathers are allowed to play a more visible role in parenting because there is more paternity leave. The unintended effect of that is fathers playing an allyship role for mothers in the workplace. We still have a ways to go, but it's a vast improvement from when I first started in the industry.

CM: Who are you mentors and what have you learned from them?

CNI: I have had three different mentors during distinct periods in my career. Dushka Zapata, who ran the Ogilvy San Francisco office when I was a young assistant account executive, taught me how to build trust at all levels. I was very junior, but she made time for me and made me feel like I was heard. She taught me how to be a humble leader.

Phyllis Fogarty was my boss when I was working as a brand manager at PepsiCo. She taught me how to lead with empathy and patience, because I was learning a new skillset and working in a new function. She created a safe place for me to ask questions and to learn.

Jasmin Allen, currently senior vice president at Hennessy and my former boss at Moët and Chandon, embodies servant leadership. She taught me that I don't have to hide who I am or what my personal passions are outside of work in order to succeed. And in this case, it's my family.

CM: What was the best advice you received regarding career growth and advancement?

CNI: For me, it’s not about following the title or even the job. What's served me well in my career is following the leaders. Working for people who you can learn from, from observing, is a more valuable and enjoyable experience professionally.

NAME: Minjae Ormes
TITLE: CMO
COMPANY: Visible
MOTHER OF: Two daughters.
WHY WE PICKED HER: For her innovative and disruptive approaches to marketing Verizon’s all-digital phone service (like an intentional spelling mistake on a billboard that went viral), her fierce advocacy for women's professional development and her commitment to supporting social justice organizations. How's this for original: The brand's recent "Unlimited Eyebrowsing" campaign, starring the brow-prominent "Schitt's Creek" actor Dan Levy, included a website that consumers could browse using their actual eyebrows. We're not kidding.

CM: What “mom skills” have helped you in your career?

MO: Saying no to other people’s priorities to be able to say yes to yours. If you can give a firm “no” to your child’s request for a third snack, you can give a firm “no” to someone’s request that doesn’t align with your goals and focus areas.

CM: What “work” skills have translated to being a mom?

MO: More so than skills, I use my own experience at work as examples and share stories of my own struggles as well as wins with my daughters. I grew up thinking adults were perfect and they knew everything (as we all know, untrue), which contributed to a rather late and gradual realization that being a grown-up in itself is a work in progress.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

MO: Hardly fast or progressive enough. This pandemic has been a wake-up call for a lot of individuals and corporations that working parents and caregivers, especially women, have little-to-no safety net. But what’s more frustrating is that it’s only just now even registering as a wake-up call, at the cost of 865,000 women dropping out of the American workforce just in the month of September.

My job is demanding, and I, too, still struggle to keep up with it all, but I’m an executive with wonderful benefits and support all around me at work, and most importantly, a partner who supports my career 110 percent. Not every working mom or a caregiver has that, and our industry leaves that burden entirely too much on the individual to figure out on her own.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

MO: We need to stop treating this as just a women's issue. We often talk about how much more women need to “lean in” to opportunities and break the glass ceiling—but this is just as much about men, women, all of us creating the conditions with which that makes sense for more women. That’s why family leave matters—and not just maternity leave. That’s why the conversations about gender norms and roles matter, and not just rallying women to do the work all on their own. That’s why the boys and men in our lives are just as important stakeholders to imagine a future that isn’t the same as today—it will take all of our imagination and work together to continue the hard work ahead.

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

MO: Think deeply about the “why behind the what.” Why do you want to climb the ladder? Get bigger jobs? Be recognized? What motivates you? Unless you know what your internal drivers are, no amount of external drivers—like money, title, fame, power—will sustain and endure the hard work required to drive impact and increase scope. For me, the “aha” moment was when I realized my motivation came from a desire to have as big an influence on a business, its culture and people.

NAME: Madelyn Robinson
TITLE: Director
COMPANY: IdeaQuest
MOTHER OF: A seven-month-old daughter.
WHY WE PICKED HER: In just a few years this go-getter has quickly ascended the ranks to a key leadership position in her company where she leads sponsorship strategy. Becoming a new mom in 2020 has only accelerated her passion for her clients, her work and for finding the right tools to optimize both her home and work life in equal measure.

CM: What “mom skills” have helped you in your career?

MR: Hands down the biggest skills I’ve gained as a new mom has been increased patience and increased flexibility. Every single hiring manager should take into consideration what I call the “Mom Factor” when looking to make a hire. The amount of soft skills you gain as a mother that are transferable to the business world is unbelievable. They help bring additional value to your hard skillset.

CM: What “work” skills have translated to being a mom?

MR: We’re a boutique marketing agency. We’re small and we can be nimble for clients. The reason we can do that is we’ve taken the time to build process and infrastructure to ensure all team members feel empowered to do their job. So I took that approach and applied it to my home life. My husband and I have processes in place to make sure we’re maintaining our parenting responsibilities. We spend two hours every Sunday morning meal prepping. It sounds like a lot but every night I come home I have quality time with my daughter because we put these processes in place.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

MR: The visibility of a working mom’s struggle has really come to the surface and has been intensified because of COVID. Organizations are starting to have these honest conversations to say, what can we do to help ensure that we’re not seeing a bigger financial gap or we’re not losing our working mothers? I’m starting to see people realize and recognize—working mothers are struggling.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

MR: In the business world, you have deadlines, but there’s no reason you have to work nine to five. So, flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. I log off at 4:00 and am back on at 7:00. I’m getting two and a half hours with my daughter. For me to have that time is so incredibly important and it makes me feel valued as an employee because I’m getting my home time, but then also energized enough to want to log back on and finish all the work I have to do. I believe as long as you’re getting your work done in a quality manner and hitting all your deadlines, why does it matter when you’re logging on?

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

MR: You may zig and zag to get where you need to be. There will be seasons in your career that will require some sacrifice and you’ll have to go 100 percent to make that next leap to where you need to be, but there will also be times in your career that you’ll need to stay put because your children need you. And that season will pass too and eventually you’ll make that job. I’m the same ambitious person I always was, but I can focus on what’s important and know that when I’m ready, I’ll eventually get to where I want to be in life.

NAME: Kristen Salvatore
TITLE: SVP, Marketing
COMPANY: Cloud9
MOTHER OF: "A madcap blended family of six."
WHY WE PICKED HER: Since joining Cloud9 in April, Salvatore has already spearheaded a slew of firsts for the esports company: a vision statement, a brand narrative and its first-ever annual marketing plan. How’s that for hitting the ground running? Thanks to Salvatore, key to Cloud9’s mission is the brand’s all-women esports team, its commitment to equal pay and its dedication to showing all fans that the esports industry must be an inclusive one.

CM: What “mom skills” have helped you in your career?

KS: Adopting the concept of the beginner's mind. Approach everything from this perspective. You’re going to learn a new way to do this today, and the way you did it yesterday won't work exactly the same. That’s exciting and wonderful; don't get discouraged by that. You’ll probably never crack the code—and that's okay. How you act and react with children has to evolve—and the same thing happens in a job and managing people.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

KS: We need to not penalize working moms for trying to divide and conquer. How do we make more adjustments to work and workplace in a long-term sustainable way? That could mean different work hours or a different work week. Working moms demonstrate all the time how to work efficiently and effectively so that they can do five days’ worth of work in four days. So, how do we make that a possibility without penalizing them from a development and a salary standpoint?

CM: Any advice for moms who now find themselves filling the role of teacher as well?

KS: Be realistic and kind to yourself. Frankly, this was advice I wasn't taking and so I have redoubled my efforts. I can go to bed at night knowing I've done my best for that given day. A lot of the time it's going to be highly imperfect, but I’m teaching—especially my daughters—how they're going to be working moms one day, if they so choose. I don't want to inculcate them with this notion that they have to try and do it perfectly, or all is lost.

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

KS: Don't search for job titles; search for jobs that describe how you like to spend your time. That changed everything for me and it’s how I ended up doing fantastic, unique jobs over the course of my career.

NAME: Carrie Skillman
TITLE: Senior Vice President
COMPANY: Scout Sports & Entertainment
MOTHER OF: A fifteen-month-old daughter
WHY WE PICKED HER: For setting a strong example for women and mothers in a traditionally male-dominated sector of the industry. Her colleagues call her an “industry force to be reckoned with,” and say that she’s the “architect of more sponsorship deals than any other female in the industry.” With a growing client roster filled with some of the biggest names in the Fortune 500—and a shelf full of awards and accolades to boot—it’s tough to argue they’re not right.

CM: What “mom” skills have helped you in your career?


CS: The biggest skillset that I've learned as a mom has been adaptability. Obviously, children are unpredictable. And this year, at work we've had to adjust in this new environment and ensure our clients that they're receiving the same amount of value through their partnerships, with new assets and a different strategy and approach. That adaptability of having to quickly pivot and think on your feet has been a lifesaver this entire year.

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?

CS: My company is very understanding and has been very flexible with parents but I can't say the same across the industry with other female colleagues that have really had to go to bat to get more flexibility and a decent maternity leave policy put in place. It’s heartbreaking.


CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

CS: Appropriate maternity and paternity leave policies are critical for working parents. It would be amazing to see more of a universal policy that all companies would adapt, like what you're seeing in Europe, where they're giving such substantial time to both men and women. I think the other challenge is that there's this societal perception that women are the primary caregivers and they sometimes need to sacrifice their careers to take care of the children. If you can create more of a balance [through paid parental leave]… it opens the door for women to stay in the workforce.

CM: Who are your mentors and what have you learned from them?

CS: A lot of my mentors have been men with families. I’ve been able to watch them as I've progressed in my career and see them manage their families and juggle schedules and where they feel they need to prioritize. They’ve been really great role models from that perspective.

CM: What’s the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

CS: Make sure that I speak up for myself, and don’t wait for somebody to speak up on my behalf. So whether that's me progressing within my career or feeling that I need more flexibility to focus on my family, it’s being comfortable speaking up versus waiting for someone to assume that that's what I want and then speak on my behalf.

NAME: Ashley Walters
TITLE: Chief Development Officer
COMPANY: Curiosity
MOTHER OF: Three girls: a five year old, a two year old and a baby girl on the way.
WHY WE PICKED HER: She’s an accomplished advertising leader driving record growth at her agency (hello, 2019—best year ever), but she finds her true calling in lifting up women and giving grace to working moms. “I'm here to support other women and to bring more women up in the system, and to give them that creative flexibility and challenge them in unique ways.”

CM: How has the industry’s relationship to working moms evolved in the past five years?


AW: It actually goes to differences in the way we look at gender. I think we're making some significant strides in the way our industry is treating women, promoting women, giving women higher level roles and responsibilities within the entire creative and marketing supply chain. Once we're on a path to fixing that, I think that mothers will also benefit.

CM: What still needs to happen in order for working moms to succeed in the industry?

AW: I've been a nursing mom twice and seeing the evolution of how much easier nursing at work has become over the last five years, and how health benefits and maternity leave packages have changed, is amazing. I think the more we talk about it and the more we're unafraid to say, “I've got a doctor's appointment,” or, “I have to get my kid off the school bus today,” the better it becomes for all of us. We can be more understanding and empathetic and give women what they need to succeed.

CM: How have you met the challenges of working from home and having your kids at home? Any positives or bright sides? What’s working for you?

AW: The theme for me is probably authenticity and just being yourself because we're all in it together. When someone asks me how I'm feeling, my first answer is not, “I'm fine.” I tell the truth because somebody might need to hear it and they're probably feeling the same way. I feel like vulnerability and authenticity has really become a benefit this year.

CM: What is the best advice you’ve received regarding career growth and advancement?

AW: There's a huge difference between being a manager and being a leader. You manage tasks; you lead people.