HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.
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HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.
Empowering Women in Leadership: A Vibrant Discussion with the Women In Leadership Society
Have you ever walked into a room and felt the physical energy of unity and purpose? That's the essence of what transpired when I talked with the dynamic board members of the Women in Leadership Society. April Lebo(President), Kim Rowland(Vice-President), Amber Sportsman(Treasurer), Adrianna England(Secretary), and Danielle McGeary(AAMI) joined me for an enlivening discussion on navigating the complex terrain of women in leadership within the HTM field. We dissected what it means to lead with passion and work ethic, and how these powerful women are creating inroads for mentorship and shattering gender barriers.
The heart of our conversation illuminated the society's adept use of platforms like LinkedIn to cultivate a robust network that's become integral in supporting and propelling women's careers. With personal stories that spark encouragement and a profound sense of connection, we discovered the transformational impact of storytelling and personal relationships. The spotlight glowed bright on the significance of such networks for recruitment, retention, and inspiring the upcoming group of female leaders. We also reveled in the anticipation of the Women in Leadership reception at AAMI Exchange2024, an event symbolic of our collective efforts to foster inclusivity and to challenge the gendered status quo.
As our dialogue ended, we celebrated the positive effects the Women in Leadership Society is having on its members and the broader HTM community. The personal stories shared by our panel served as a testament to the power of collaboration and mutual upliftment. Looking ahead, we discussed the excitement surrounding the society's expansion, including the potential formation of local chapters and inviting international members to join in their efforts. This episode is a tribute to the influence and action of leadership, a rally cry for unity, and a reminder that when fearless women unite, the impact is boundless and the future is bright. Join us on this journey of empowerment and see firsthand the difference a dedicated community can make.
This podcast is sponsored by The College of Biomedical Equipment Technology. You can find out more information about this outstanding institution at CBET.EDU.
Welcome to HTM on the Line, the podcast that's for HTM by HTM. I'm your host, bryant Hawkins, senior. Today, we have the pleasure of featuring the dynamic board members of the Women in Leadership Society. Joining us are April Lieber, the President, kim Rowland, the Vice President, amber Sportsman, the Treasurer, adriana Inglon, the Secretary, and De'Yale McHary from Ailey. In this episode, we'll dive deep into the mission and goals of the Women in Leadership Society, exploring their impactful journey and future aspirations. Stay tuned for an inspiring and insightful conversation. How are you, ladies, doing this evening?
Danielle McGeary:Good, Wonderful. Thank you Great great.
Bryant Hawkins:I'm just so glad we finally was able to get together. It started with four, now I see we have five, which is great, and let's jump right into it. First question I'm going to ask and I'm going to direct this toward you, danielle Can you share the inspiration behind the creation of the Women in Leadership Group? What motivated each of you to join this movement? Are you for that instance?
Danielle McGeary:Absolutely. And first and foremost, bryant, thank you so much for having us on your podcast. I love being on this show. So it's such an honor to be back here today and talking about the Women in Leadership Society.
Danielle McGeary:To answer your question about the inspiration, about the creation, this was all April and just really seeing a need for connection among women leaders in the HTM field. And she reached out to me about this group and how could I not be part of this or not want to join? It's just such a great mission and I was so elated when she reached out because I also agree that there's such a need for connection among women leaders and women in general in the HTM field. So, those of you who don't know my background, I started off in an all male dominated 40 person self-op HTM department and I was the only woman that worked in that department the whole time. I was there for seven years and luckily, my experiences were all positive.
Danielle McGeary:But it really shows the need for community for each female is just so necessary because there's so many unique challenges about the, about just being a female in a male dominated field, and that can also just become isolating if you don't have good connection points. And also once I learned about the group, I obviously wanted to be an individual contributor because I'm just so passionate about the mission, as we all are, but I also knew that Amy would want to help as well, and as an organization we are so excited about this initiative and Amy is also happy to support this initiative 100%, and I think really what it really comes down to is that we're just all stronger together.
Bryant Hawkins:Great points, danielle. I'm curious to hear what, adri, you have to say about this. What's your thoughts on this, adri?
Adrianna England:So I, as well as Danielle, is extremely excited to be part of this. For me, it was the fact that all of our visions were aligning. So, april, myself, kim, we all have the same visions, but we were holding it all internally. So, partnering together, joining a group of strong, dedicated, passionate and, what I'm going to say, fearless women, is exactly what I feel this HTM community needs. So I'm just blessed to join some fearless women, and that's what's inspiring me to actually be on the board. If something new coming to the field Great.
Bryant Hawkins:Now, I was looking over your mission statement and in the statement it mentions the importance of bringing together a diverse mix of successful leaders. How do you define success in leadership, especially in the context of empowering women? Let's see April. Can you take that one for us?
April Lebo:I sure can.
April Lebo:So for me, putting the mission statement together and thinking about getting a diverse mix of women I took that in a lot of different contexts because there are so many different avenues in our industry that you can go.
April Lebo:We've got people that are working in straight healthcare, We've got people that are working in HTM, we have people like us Amber, Adri, Kim, myself that are working in more of the retail wholesale market.
April Lebo:So there's just so many avenues that the women can come from and be a part of this group and bring their experiences and their stories and their leadership and their passion about what we do to the group. So that was first and foremost. But then, in terms of really defining the success in leadership, and what I feel is important is not necessarily always the title, but people that are just really passionate about what they do, have that sense of positivity and their work ethic and want to share that every day with others, whether that's coming into their office every day and being that light and that positivity to help encourage and motivate and inspire others wanted to bring that into the women in leadership society so that we can stand behind each other, learn from each other and just share in each other's success, especially for a lot of the women that are just joining the industry, being able to be mentors and show them that it is possible to be able to really be passionate about what you do and grow whichever direction you want to grow in. We're here to help.
Bryant Hawkins:That is so great. I'm so proud of you, ladies. I mean, this is something that's dearly needed because, as Danielle mentioned earlier, it's a male dominated industry, and to hear the effort you put in into making this transition for the new young ladies in the industry is completely awesome to me. Now, danielle, earlier you mentioned about it being a male dominated industry and you, being a leader within Amy, put you in a unique position to answer this question. Could you possibly share some insight on the main challenges women encounter in leadership roles and explain how your organization is working to tackle these challenges?
Danielle McGeary:Yeah, absolutely, and you know, you know I want to preface this answer. You know that this is. Some of these examples are my experience, and obviously everyone has a unique journey in this field and everyone's and because everyone's journey is different, you know, we have that, that diversity, right out of the gate. You know, the more diverse we are, the more diverse our conversations, and when we all come together, sharing our different stories, I think that's where we really can, can make change and really help others, and in that's one way that this group really so nicely addresses these challenges that I'm going to speak about.
Danielle McGeary:You know, I think one, one challenge that I've always seen is people in the hospital not expecting you to to be a female. I'll never forget that I got a call in the OR and I had gone up to look at the medical device that was broken and the chief of the OR said to me oh, you know, sweetie, we don't need another nurse, we're waiting for the engineer. And I remember saying, well, I am the engineer, I have an engineering degree. And and he just looked at me and said, oh, you don't look like an engineer. And I just said, well, what do engineers look like? You know, and and I think it's kind of those types of stereotypes people being caught off guard, especially if you're young and also being female and another challenge also is not having women connection points really easily. In 2022, and you did an HTM demographic survey and we surveyed close to 8000 folks in the field and only 10% of those folks that answered the survey were female, showing that 10% of the field is female, showing that that that we're not very diverse and in regards to gender at all. Because you don't have readily accessible connection points with other females, it can be hard in this group. What's so great about it is, through the LinkedIn group and in in as we grow, women now know the other women in the field. It brings people together, it allows people away to ask questions. You know commiserate on challenges and I think the final challenge that that I have felt as being a female in the field is since I became a working mom and had my daughters.
Danielle McGeary:I think it's sometimes very hard to ask for what you need when your children are home sick.
Danielle McGeary:You know obviously as much as we're, you know, working female, and that still falls on you a lot and, and you know, I always had this fear of saying you know my daughter's home sick, I you know I need to take the day off, and a lot of that to me was very self imposed and I think just letting other people know you know it's okay to ask for her what you need. One of my favorite things in this field is being able to mentor. I have always loved all well everyone that that I've worked with, but I've always tried to take a very vested role in mentoring those who have worked for me along the way, and I feel as though you know, through this network that you know this group has created, we really have, our boundaries are unlimited as to who we can connect with and who we can mentor and who we can help and who we can empower, and that's why I think this group is so great and you know, that's just one of the many ways that we can help address this challenge.
Bryant Hawkins:Collaboration and networking. They're vital in any leadership role. Now, how does women in leadership facilitate networking and connection among its members? Adri, could you help us out with that answer?
Adrianna England:Of course, I am 100% in networking. That is what I do. That is how I started my career. What we're doing is we focused on LinkedIn. We feel like in our HTM community, that's a strong social media platform. We started our group in October. We have 85 current members. It's a private group, so that is where we're focusing is LinkedIn. We also are looking for word of mouth, so anybody that we're connected with, we are inviting them to the group. We are sharing the group. The HTM shows. We just came back from Amy, Kim and I and instantly we're like let's take a photo so we put it up. We're high-fiving other women in leadership, ladies that are in the group as well, People like you, Bryant, like we're hoping to get you on board to help spread the word. Our newest thing is using Amy as another networking platform to help us spread the word and get more women into our group.
Bryant Hawkins:Adri gave a great answer there. Anyone else have any thoughts?
April Lebo:Through getting to know and hearing the stories and seeing the other people in the group. My hope is it's going to make other women feel comfortable being able to reach out to maybe somebody that they wouldn't have ever known before, wouldn't have ever thought to talk to. But now we've got this environment that really focuses on those connections and that networking and giving everybody an opportunity, whether it's through LinkedIn or finding them through their work or personal emails, whatever it might be but being able to just have that accessibility to reach out and just say I would love to talk to you about your journey. Can you tell me a little bit more? Here's what I'm facing. How would you handle it? And possibly being able to meet up at one of the Biomed shows or Amy or one of the other networking events that are out there, and just being able to help with those connections and, again, having an environment that really promotes that accessibility to talk to other women in the group.
Kim Rowland:Yeah, I agree, I'm going to jump in on this April. I agree with that. And I just want to add this was sort of your baby, your idea, and you put this together and you built a really great team. But the biggest value that I've gotten out of it is I've done this a very long time but I don't know that I've gotten the one on one and really getting into the stories of it and sort of humanizing it. You see people in certain roles with certain titles, the length of time they've been in the industry, and it can be a little intimidating whether you're new in the industry or you're just not. Maybe you're a little more shy. You know, sometimes those trade shows can be a little bit overwhelming, but then you sort of break it down. We have a common goal and you bring us all together like this. It really brings it down to a little bit more manageable idea and it makes it easier to connect.
Danielle McGeary:And just to piggyback off of that, this is also a great mechanism for recruitment retention and succession planning as well. We all know, combined with not being very diverse, we have an aging workforce. Over 60% of the field is over the age of 60. And I think it's so important to succession plans for the future. And by having these kinds of networking events and connections, we're more apt to keep females in the field, help them grow their careers and move up in a positive trajectory in the field.
Danielle McGeary:The last thing we'd want to do is lose female leaders or females that have just entered the field because they feel alone or unsupported or don't know who to turn to.
Danielle McGeary:And if you take that one step forward when we talk about creating a pipeline into the field, we all know that people don't believe they can be what they cannot see, and females seeing other females and having a support system and seeing us out there will help. People want to come into the field as well and it opens doors. I know whenever I see other females in the field, I automatically feel like they're my best friends. Up here in Boston there's a lot well, I wouldn't say a lot, probably still 10% but all the women that I've met up here throughout my jobs at Hartford Hospital, the VA, aira, mart, have become my friends and you know, because there's not many of us and we band together. And I think when we take that a step further, looking at you know, when we do that outreach to high schools, to colleges and females see other females, people more like them, it is very appealing to draw people in and we are in desperate need of people to grow this field for the future, to ensure we have a strong future going forward.
Bryant Hawkins:Great answers, ladies. Now I have a question for all of you. Well, not a question, but more of a favorite to ask. Like I speak to a lot of high school kids and, as Danielle mentioned, not many of them the young ladies, don't see females come and speak. If I was to go to one of these high schools and I set up a Zoom meeting, would any of y'all be open to remoting in and just expressing from a female perspective of the industry if I was able to set that up?
Danielle McGeary:Yes, of course, okay, absolutely.
Bryant Hawkins:Absolutely Great, great, great, Of course absolutely.
Bryant Hawkins:Cause that be the and you have a very diverse group. So that would be great. I'm just thinking why you guys are talking and a lot of females be in the audience, but they just it would be great if they saw someone like you said. Look like them. So keep that thought in the back of your head. I'll definitely tap into all of y'all, if not one of y'all. Now I'm looking at your mission statement and it mentions that education is one of your core components. What types of educational resources and programs do you offer to support women in their leadership development?
Kim Rowland:So I'll jump in on this one. Bryant, I've got this is Kim. I've got a long history in the educational space as far as my job and my career, but I think education has a lot of different meanings. We can talk about technical education, but I also think educating the females and the new people getting into the space, just about the opportunities, about connecting with people. It's always kind of been my passion to connect with the. Like Danielle was saying, when you see a new face in your area, when you go to a trade show, I just like making people feel comfortable. When I got into this industry it was about 20 years ago and 10% is now, but back then it was even less and the females that were just easily welcomed me into the space and introducing me around. I'm just very excited to be able to pay that forward.
Kim Rowland:We're pretty new as a group but, being connectors to the different associations, the state groups at trade shows, our main goal is to get the word out, find times that we can have a specific meeting, have a networking event, something like that at the symposiums or the trade shows, maybe even at quarterly meetings. We'd really love to see what the interest is and hopefully it spreads and we can normalize the rules and normalize the education at all levels, whether it's the technical level, the manager level. You're just getting into customer service, as you mentioned too, brian, that there's a variety of us on this panel. I don't think any one of us. We got a little bit of an overlap, but there's a lot to pull from and I'm learning even from being in this group, and then the mentorship. Of that, I'm excited to be able to offer that, even being mentored from these ladies that I get to be with on this board, and also that I'm going to be meeting in the field, that we're going to be meeting in the field.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, since you touched on mentorship mentoring I'm going to ask you this do the women in the leadership group have any plans for mentoring or having a mentorship initiative within your society?
Kim Rowland:Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, and mentorship is really what the foundation has been built on. April really had a strong passion for that. She's got a lot of stories that she could share, but the mentorship part of it. What I found interesting, and I alluded to earlier that the Amy website has a lot of resources and there's a lot of things that we don't have to rebuild. We don't have to recreate the wheel.
Kim Rowland:We can point in directions, but once you saw, it's kind of shine a light and you really you know you go into these areas that people are interested in and you connect with them on a personal level, it becomes a little bit more real. I've heard all those things but we're busy, all of us are busy. You don't always have time to take the time. Let's go to the website, take a look at this, but hey, I connect with Danielle and she gives some fantastic stats, but they've already built so many things, so many programs, and have bridges that can connect you to the things that. Mentorship is one of those that are already in progress and that's definitely something that we want to continue to really build and to be able to connect with on an individual level.
Bryant Hawkins:Thank you for that April. So they say you the brain trust behind this great society here. I know it may be early, but is there a way you can maybe share some inspiring success stories or examples of women who have benefited from being a part of this group already?
April Lebo:Sure, I know for me personally I have seen such a change in myself, even though it has been just a few months that we put this together Just for me.
April Lebo:Again in my own work life I have found inspiration and encouragement just through these girls, through this group, to have some really hard conversations that I don't think I would have been able to have a year ago and would have been very uncomfortable for me.
April Lebo:But knowing that we have this group and the mission behind the group is to help encourage women to be more vocal and to do some things that might make them feel out of their comfort zone and really gave me the determination to do some things and have again conversation that I might not have been comfortable doing before.
April Lebo:So just some personal success stories that I've found from being in the group. But also one of our members is going to be speaking at a state society show next month and was pretty nervous about it and reached out to the group asking for advice, for some tips, and a lot of people were able to jump in and help her out and hopefully that is giving her a little more confidence in terms of the talk that she's going to be doing and utilizing the group I know Danielle is going to be speaking at the same show and really us rallying behind to help promote, not only within the group but even on our own personal social media pages, to get that out there, to help support Danielle, to help support Rihanna and to get people to go and attend and be a part of that we can all rally behind and just support. So my hope is that it will continue to grow. More women will speak out in the group and ask for advice, ask for help, and we can continue to build on some success stories that way.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh, that's great and I would gladly promote anyone also. Feel free to shoot me, shout me out. I'll do what I can to help also. Now, this next question is for Danielle. This is for Amber, and the reason I'm picking Amber is because she's one of the most actionable people at the shows. I mean, I may not know her name, but I know her color and we all know that. And so, amber, everyone knows dream. So I want to ask you what are some actionable strategies or advice you offer to women looking to take on leadership roles or advance in their careers?
Amber Sportsman:It's a mindset. As we've discussed at great length, mentorship is huge. It was huge in my career. I mean recognizing someone that you admire, that you can learn from, that you can strive to be like, really helped me look forward and understand. This is what I want to do as well. So learn from those that you can learn from and, at the same time as you're growing, be that rock for everyone else as well. Don't make it about you. You can't.
Amber Sportsman:When you're trying to grow into a leadership role, you have to set your pride aside. You have to be willing to help others. You have to be a mentor, as you're being mentored for sure. It seems to be the common denominator with all of us mentorship. And, just like Danielle said she talked about empowerment and you do, and once you reach that leadership role, you have to empower those people that do work for you but you're still working for others. So it's not particularly a strategy, bryant, it's a mindset. I can do this, and I think if you're listening to this podcast, really you should check out our war stories, because I said in mine that you don't ever say I can't do that or it's not my job. Take it on and if you don't know how to do it, then you learn how to do it, and that's how you get ahead. So don't let yourself doubt ever get in the way, because you can do it. We've all done it, we've accomplished it. Be true to yourself, so that would be my advice.
Bryant Hawkins:Amber, I just want to tell you there's a great answer and, despite what you said, you gave some actionable actions there. You said you need to be a rock to someone, you need to be a servitude leader, you need to empower. You shouldn't doubt yourself. Those are some great strategies and those are some actionable items. So you didn't think you were giving them, but you trust me, you was giving them and I'm writing them down as you're talking. So trust me, they were very impressionable. A great answer. Now, along with those strategies there, that also ties in with motivation and reading once again from your mission. You guys want to build a motivating culture. That's one of your goals. Can you elaborate on what culture looks like and how it contributes to the women's growth and achievement within your society?
Adrianna England:Yeah, this is Adri. I'll take that one. Culture is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. In my current profession, I am the director, but I also am a leader for our engagement team and learning and building what I feel culture is, I've realized. For culture there is no best definition for that. It's our beliefs that we're going to build, it's our general culture of shared beliefs and it's setting patterns of just human activity and how we should treat each other in a community or a social group setting.
Adrianna England:So for me, we wanted to create a safe place for women, for young adults, for professionals. We want to have an open forum, so April's created this LinkedIn group that we marked as private because we are not too sure who's going to share their stories, who's going to share their journeys, and we want to make sure we have a safe place for them to be open and feel safe. The biggest thing that I'm building off of this culture right now is we are giving encouragement by experience, and to me that is invaluable. We are a true testimony of what it takes to start at the bottom and work our way up, and that's the culture that we're bringing. We are bringing hard work, dedication with a safe environment for all of us. And I've said it before and I'll say it again I truly believe together we can achieve more, and that's what April has provided with this Women in Leadership group.
Bryant Hawkins:I'm going to pose this question to Danielle and Kim. How does Women in Leadership ensure inclusivity and support for women of all backgrounds and identities? How does Women in Leadership ensure this?
Danielle McGeary:Yeah, absolutely so. Just before I give an answer, I'll give a couple more statistics about the HTM field as a whole. When we talk about inclusion and different backgrounds, when we did the diversity survey, only 8.5% of the HTM field now this is the whole field, not just female. So this number would be even smaller if we were just looking at the female population. But as a whole, only 8.5% of the HTM field identifies as African American or Black and only 7.3% of the field identifies as Hispanic or Latinx. So beyond just having a gender diversity issue, we also have a racial and ethnicity lack of diversity as well.
Danielle McGeary:But one positive statistic, just so it doesn't seem all looming gloom, because we're here to make that better, be positive and empower one another Of the 10% females, 14% of HTM managers are female, which is pretty remarkable, because the 10% denominator, as we figure out that that statistic, is the field as a whole. Then if you separate up the managers, which is even a smaller subset, you would think that percentage would go down. But it actually increased by 4%. So that shows that the women in the HTM field are succeeding in moving up in the field, which is very positive. And just the comment on ensuring inclusivity. Obviously, this is a welcoming group of every background and because of the LinkedIn group, the world isn't so large anymore. Anyone can join and with Amy being involved, we are an international association and we do do a lot of work with the international HTM associations as well, and we can help promote this group not only domestically but internationally.
Kim Rowland:I love listening to all the stats. We talk about these things but really showing the depth in that and sort of that gap that we are improving on and hopefully we'll be a big part of that. But I've not been a part of many industries. I've been in this one about 20 years but inclusion and relationships and the co-operative portion of that I've always valued that. I talk to people that are successful or in different roles in other industries and it's very hard to get your head around the co-operative but when I'm out there we're all in it to do well in our jobs, to grow. We're all out there to pay our bills and to eat and to be successful.
Kim Rowland:But I just feel like there's a bigger section of us, male and female, that are willing to get out there and to help people. I think it's a people helping people industry and when I'm at a show I see new people or newer people. I want to help introduce them around and the inclusion part of that has nothing to do with skin color. Gender is something we're trying to focus on. I think this is not as much about gender, except we've got to put some emphasis on that and really normalize that. That's my word for tonight is to normalize that for the female side of it and for the younger group, but inclusion of all and welcoming people into the space.
Bryant Hawkins:Right, I mean, danielle has an engineering hat on with the stats. I'm giving the inclusion part I can detest to all five of you ladies. I think I'm a pretty outgoing person, but when I met each of you, every single one of you was like greeting me with open arms as if we've been friends for years. So y'all have that talent and skill set to bring individuals into your fold and I think it's going to be a great thing you guys have going on here. Now, what about upcoming events? Y'all mentioned a lot of shows and things like that. Do y'all have any type of women in leadership projects, events, initiatives coming up? Let's see, adri, can you take that one?
Adrianna England:Of course, I am the secretary, so I'm making notes and I'm making meetings. So luckily we partnered with Danielle just in time. The Amy Exchange is coming up in June, located in Phoenix, and if you're attending or if you can get a day pass, amy is donating a room for us on Sunday, june 16th. It's going to be a one hour meet and greet. So it is our very first women in leadership women in leadership reception, 430 to 530. You can meet the ladies on the panel, join the team. So that is our very first event coming up. Some projects and again, ryan, you should feel special. Our very first project was building this and spreading the word and talking about who we are and what we represent. So doing this podcast was on our list of projects to do, because we can't spread the word without the following. So thank you again for allowing us to talk about who we are and what we represent.
Bryant Hawkins:I will be an Amy also, and I know it's a female only event, but I do photography and if you would need a media guy to come in and take pictures of y'all event, I'll offer that to you guys as a love offering. But I know it's female only so I might not be the guy for it, but that's something y'all can utilize if y'all like. Now I was Brian.
Adrianna England:let me stop you there for one second. This is Adri. I'm glad that you said that, because as we started this group, we started to talk about is this women only who can be in the group? And we're building it as women. We're taking on the role to start this group, but eventually, down the road whether it's six months, nine months or maybe even a year we want to mentor and give advice to our entire community, not just women, but us women leaders are taking on the role of getting this started before we reach out to everybody in our community.
Bryant Hawkins:Now, you mentioned about using my podcast to get the word out and we have some female listeners that's probably listening in. How can they get involved? Well, what could you tell those listeners, how they can get involved or support your mission? What opportunities are available for individuals, as well as organizations, to engage with women in leadership?
April Lebo:I'll jump in on that one. So, first and foremost, obviously we're trying to just grow the group. So, whether that's word of mouth, totally appreciating your helping to spread the word. But the more women we can get involved in the group, the more we can brainstorm ideas on what we can do and what the needs are of the women in the industry out there. But joining the LinkedIn community and, if you are a member of the group, inviting other women, you know, sharing the link, sharing what we do, talking up just some of the different initiatives that we have going on, the more people we can get in, obviously, the more we're going to be able to do.
April Lebo:But always looking for like Adriana mentioned doing the networking event at Amy anybody that would be willing to sponsor. That you know. The hope is, as we grow, as we get bigger, to do more networking events, you know, at the different society meetings, and we're always going to be looking for sponsors If we do need, you know, help getting a room or help with anything that we might be doing. So if somebody is interested in wanting to participate or engage at all with the women in leadership, we are more than open to having those conversations. But I think right now, out of the gate, it's just a matter of spreading the word and making sure that the women in the industry know that we're here and would love for them to be a part of it and to hear their stories and have them just contribute and help again, mentor and do what they can to encourage the other women in the industry.
Kim Rowland:Can I add also, april, you mentioned that the there's we need to invite and ask the other ladies to invite. You cannot, because it's a private group, brian, that you cannot search for it. So it's not like we're trying to exclude anybody, but we're trying to keep it private, trying to really cultivate our mission, and if you see anybody on their talk to anybody on this podcast, you can reach out to any one of us on LinkedIn and we can get an invite sent out to you.
Bryant Hawkins:OK, that's great. That's great information there. Amber, I want to pose this question toward you, being your leader in this industry what are some common misconceptions or stereotypes about women in leadership you may have seen and, if so, how would the women in leadership group address these type of challenges in your mission?
Amber Sportsman:You know I've been in this industry for 34 years. Believe it or not.
Amber Sportsman:I have. Yes, I have experienced some amazing people, both men and women, and that have lifted me up and praised me. You know I can only speak of my personal experience, so also those of you that know me know that I'm a very petite woman. I am five feet tall. I was not blessed with height, so a common misconception in my own personal experience is that I couldn't possibly be a leader because I look and sound like a little girl, right, but I'm almost 60 years old, so I've been doing this for a long time. So I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that women serve in support roles as opposed to those leadership roles. It did take me, like Adri said. You know, we, most of us have worked our way up from the bottom. I didn't start out at the top, and so you do have those people that just make the assumption that because you are a woman, you couldn't possibly be a leader.
Amber Sportsman:I have a great example. Just the other day I answered the phone at the office and they were asking to speak to one of my employees, who happens to be a male, and he wasn't available. And, um, they want to leave a message and you have to. I find that, I don't want to put it out there. Oh well, he reports to me. I don't want to be just brazen and sound because you come across as being forceful or arrogant, as opposed to if a man were to say, well, he reports to me, I can help you.
Amber Sportsman:And I think that misconception is just because you are a woman, you are in a support role, you are not in a leadership role. So that's one of the things that, again, going back to that mentorship, we want to share with those women that are entering this industry. We want to share with them our stories and what we did, how we reached the level of success that we have reached. And so again, again, mentorship, it's a big thing. That would be how we're going to address it. I would say but show your confidence, ladies. It's not arrogance, it's just confidence, and don't let anyone ever get you down on it. There's a lot of jealousy as well, and, women, you support the other women. That is something that I have witnessed in my 34 years Women being jealous of other women's success. We have to turn that around. You need to support one another so that.
Bryant Hawkins:Great answer. I want to ask you this question also, amber, since you wanted to find the members of this women in leadership society. You've been a leader in this industry for many years and it's been a short period, but what are some of the most rewarding moments you would say you've experienced or lessons you've learned from this journey with women in leadership, as you've been with this short period of time? What are some rewarding moments you can pick from it?
Amber Sportsman:You know what, brian? I love this question. I can say it's been bonding with these women. We have all been friends for many years. We all work in the industry. We've you know, we say hello, we'll excuse me, we'll be social with one another at the shows or wherever we're getting together.
Amber Sportsman:But I have gotten to know each of them on a much more personal level and finding out that our stories are so similar that we share the same fears, we share the same motivations, it's really just given me a new perspective on my own journey. I felt a little bit like maybe I was the only one feeling the way I was feeling. You know, again going back to what I just answered previously, don't have that fear, show your confidence and don't be afraid to show it. And so they've really lifted me up and April spoke on it too, with her confidence in being able to say some things and meetings that she didn't think before we had done this that she had been able to do. So I think it's just that camaraderie that we've got with one another and I'm just so grateful that we're starting this group and hopefully we can share that with other women in our industry.
Bryant Hawkins:I love it. Is there anybody else want to share some thoughts on this question?
Kim Rowland:Well, I love this question too, mainly because it's exciting to know how much like-mindedness there is out there. You know the generosity of these ladies on the panel and just that, the outpouring that we're starting to get of people that are in the same boat, that want to think I mean that think the same way, but they want to get on board and find ways to help other people.
April Lebo:And it's exciting. I'm going to jump into, if you don't mind, real quick. One of the things that has been so unbelievably rewarding for me is the fact that Danielle was willing to join this, and just the support that Amy has given us. And then, brian, your willingness to do a podcast with us, and I thought of this and called the other ladies asking them if they would be interested in doing this with me. Never in a million years did I think we would be here today already. You know that Bryant would want to interview us on his podcast, that Amy would be willing to give us a room to do a networking event, and it has absolutely left me speechless, and so to me, just the outpouring of support has been so unbelievably rewarding.
Adrianna England:Brian, this is Adri. I just want to chime in on something that actually happened today. It was a very rewarding moment. I had shared one of our War Story Wednesdays with my team currently and one of the girls reached out to me. She hadn't accepted our invitation yet and said like hey, adri, is it okay that I chime in? Because I'm not a leader, I'm just a tech. And I said well, you know what, join our group and you will be the best tech we've ever seen. And just knowing that you don't need a title to be a leader is exactly the reward and the benefits that I'm getting by being on this panel.
Bryant Hawkins:Definitely y'all. May Y'all answers are great. Looking ahead, what are some long term goals and aspirations for the Women in Leadership Society? How do you envision that evolving into the future? April?
April Lebo:So for me I mean obviously long term, it's just recruitment and having hundreds and hundreds of women join and be apart. And every day we're learning more and hearing more from all of the women in the industry and becoming such a draw and, I might say, fun society that it encourages more women to want to join. You know, the more we can get the word out, the more people hear about us. You talk about going to high schools. You know, if people know that something like this exists, they might say that is an industry that I want to be a part of if they've got this kind of group that I can join. So to me I look forward to doing that. And also, maybe we get to the point where we've got different chapters. You know, you guys were just in California at that society show and it's like would there be a women in leadership chapter that can meet in California, in Georgia, in Florida, in Ohio? And we just continue to grow and have more and more opportunities for women to be able to network and get together.
Kim Rowland:Exactly, and I want Danielle's statistics to be a lot bigger too. When we have this call again in one year, maybe Danielle will be able to report and do a comparison. I would love to see that.
Bryant Hawkins:Anyone else want to chime in?
Amber Sportsman:Yeah, actually I want to make a point as well. I don't know that we've really addressed this. Even though our group is called Women in Leadership, it's not only for leaders, it's for women that want to be leaders, that are looking for that in their future. So I would like to just maybe stress that. So, if anyone is interested, like Kim I think it was you that said it Search one of us out on LinkedIn and just ask and we'll send you the invite to get in the group. So I just wanted to make that point.
Bryant Hawkins:Yes, that's a great point because, honestly, leaders are not only in leadership roles. You could be a technician, as mentioned, and you can be a leader because I learned from technicians. I learned from anybody. Anybody can be a lead. You could be a leader by how you perform your activities, how you do your duties every day. So that's a great point there. Now I want to throw a little shameless plug in here that my podcast has listeners in six continents, 63 countries and over 639 cities worldwide. Will the Women in Leadership Society be open to women all over the world, or is it just a United States name?
Kim Rowland:Well, I think that goes without saying. We would love to be able to find ways to branch that out. And congratulations to you, brian, on your podcast. You do a fantastic job. I don't know how you do it as often as you do the preparation that you put into it. I mean the content that you provide. You really take the time to care about your person that you're talking to or your group that you're talking to. It's exciting to see how much you've grown. I know you've got many, many years behind you in this industry and other industries and as far as broadcasting and kudos to you you're doing a fantastic job. But we would absolutely love to find ways to build those bridges and to connect with all of the leaders the women leaders, the women leaders and leadership roles with our group.
Bryant Hawkins:I love to see people trying to bring attention to this industry, so that motivates me. So you're not only motivating the women in this industry, you're motivating the men too, and I'm one of them, which is why I pushed so hard to have you all on my podcast, because I know the hard work you're putting in. So if I could play a small part, I feel like it's a blessing. So, in the end, here we're going to wrap this up I would love to give each of you some time to maybe give some going away parts that you could share with the listeners, some encouraging words or anything you would like to share, and we'll start it off with Amber.
Amber Sportsman:Oh, my goodness, encouraging words. Follow your dreams. Don't take no for an answer, because you can do this. If we've done this, you can do this, so stick with it.
Bryant Hawkins:April.
April Lebo:To me I'd say set your goals and work hard every day, Be passionate and utilize all of your resources around you to get where you want to go. Just because your woman doesn't mean that you can excel and exceed and be the best that you can be and hit every one of those goals that you set for yourself.
Bryant Hawkins:Let's just stay in the A's Adri.
Adrianna England:I knew I was next For me. I'm going to go ahead and repeat what I said earlier you do not need a title to be a leader. You just need to be someone that someone needs to follow and wants to follow. So I, if you look at me my appearance, I do not look like a director of inside sales. I have colored hair and tattoos, which is not your typical director position. However, I want the young women and just different women coming into the industry that has the knowledge, that has the drive to be in this position, to know it's okay. Leaders come in all different shapes and sizes.
Bryant Hawkins:Right, danielle.
Adrianna England:Yeah.
Danielle McGeary:I think if I had any knowledge to impart is you know kind of what I said earlier we're all stronger together and I also think you know part of this bringing everyone together is knowing that every day is not always going to be easy. But when you look back on the trajectory of your career, you don't focus on those bad days, you focus on all the good and you look back and hopefully you can look back with a smile and you know really a found a career and you know I couldn't imagine doing anything else and I think it's important to always remember that we meet, we've up to this day in time, we have always made it through 100% of our hardest days and we can all do hard things and we can do them together.
Bryant Hawkins:Right, kim, you can close it up.
Kim Rowland:I'm going to close it out very simply. Thank you, brian. I have always lived by this, but you should always leave people and things better than you find them.
Bryant Hawkins:Wow, that's great. Now I have one more question for April. I just I know all the ladies was mentioning how this is your brain child, so you kind of touched on it earlier. But it has to feel kind of, I guess, outside, outside body moment to see that you thought of it and then and I don't know how many months it's been, maybe you can tell us that it's you mentioned. It's moving so fast. I just want you to know. It's probably going to pick up even more now, but how do you feel, knowing that you bought something in life that's going to make a difference, I promise you. I want to know your thoughts.
April Lebo:It's. It's hard to even put into words because it has already exceeded anything that I thought it would ever be. You know, I'm I'm so honored that the ladies wanted to be a part of it and agreed to join the board. I'm just again. It leaves you speechless to just see where it's gone in such a short amount of time and the support that we've gotten. But to me it's exciting because if we've been able to bring it here in just a few months, I can't imagine where we're going to be at this time next year and the thought of knowing that we're going to be able to reach and help, encourage and support.
Bryant Hawkins:I don't know how you assemble this team, but you picked a team of women that are high energy. I know a lot of people very outgoing. I mean you picked a great team. I don't know if it was systematically done or organically, but you got a great team on your hands and that's probably why it's growing as fast as it's growing. So kudos to all of you guys and anything I can do to be of assistance, you know it's no problem. Please reach out to me. I'll do it I can to help, and I just want to thank you guys once again for coming on. Htm on the line and you're welcome to any time you want to come back. Thank you, ladies.
April Lebo:Thank you so much, Bryant. Thank you, Bryant.
