Company Culture
Activewear company Athleta is one of the largest corporations to be certified as a B Corp. In other words, it balances its purpose and profit while maintaining a positive environmental and social impact. Its corporate purpose? Improving the way girls view their bodies. And Athleta’s put its money where its mouth is by making its marketing more inclusive, training its retail staff in confidence-boosting methods, such as asking girls how they feel rather than how they look after trying clothes on. Forbes
Amazon’s board of 10 now has four women with the appointment of Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer. Brewer is the second Black woman to serve on Amazon’s board. Her appointment suggests that the “Rooney Rule”, which requires initial lists of candidates to include women and minorities, just might be successful. Forbes
Quick Hits
Building a more inclusive culture doesn’t start and stop with hiring. Employee Resource Groups (they’re sort of like clubs for the workplace!) are an excellent way to build connection and understanding across a company. Forbes
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has officially announced her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election. NBC
Ivanka Trump is heading a new women’s empowerment measure called the “Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative” to improve financial security for 50 million around the world by 2025. The initiative will be funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and will partner with companies like UPS and Walmart to accomplish its goals. NPR
Women showed up big at this year's Grammys, winning awards for best new artist, album of the year, and more. InHerSight
And because nobody should have missed this... Back in January, Jasmin Paris became the first woman to with the Montane Spine Race, a 268-mile ultramarathon that takes place in the UK. Rowan crushed both men's and women's course records, beating the previous record by more than 12 hours! Oh, and she stopped to express breast milk at four checkpoints along the way. That's one tough mother. Women's Running
It’s Still Black History Month, & Black Women Are Still Killin’ It
Stacey Abrams delivered a dazzling speech in response to last week’s State of the Union address, making history as the first Black woman to speak at the address. Among other things, she spoke about school safety, economic security for families, and lowering healthcare costs. NPR
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been selected to headline speaker for the “2019 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit.” Forbes
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City offers encouraging news about Black women entrepreneurs. Black women have seen more growth in business ownership from 2002-2012 than any other group. Kansas City Fed
Around the World
In diverse countries: It’s old news by now that companies with more women workers perform better financially than less diverse organizations. Researchers at the Harvard Business Review wondered if this phenomenon would hold true when it came to government—and they found it did, particularly in diverse countries. When women lead the most diverse countries, they saw about 5.4 percent GDP growth within a year. Men only saw about 1.1 percent GDP growth. Beyonce knew what she was talking about when she proclaimed, “Who run the world? Girls!” InHerSight
Jamaica: Girls are running the Jamaican sustainability movement, too. Meet these 10 extraordinary women fighting to preserve the environment on the beautiful island nation of Jamaica. Forbes
Hungary: In an effort to maintain the nation’s economic growth without increasing immigration, Hungary’s prime minister announced new measures to encourage families to have more children. Under the new measures, the government will subsidize home mortgages for families with at least two children. It will also provide aid to newly-wed couples wishing to purchase a car or take out favorable loans. The icing on the cake: Women with at least four children will be exempt from taxes on their personal income. Bloomberg
By Mitra Norowzi