Atlanta, Georgia Local News
Accenture, Goodwill of North Georgia celebrates International Women’s Day with ‘Be Without Limits’ event
[ad_1]
Women earn an average of 16% less than men. For every dollar earned by men, women earned 84 cents. The controlled gender pay gap, which considers factors such as job title, experience, education, industry, job level and hours worked, is currently at 99 cents for every dollar men earn, according to a study by Forbes.
Accenture and Goodwill of North Georgia celebrated International Women’s Day with a “Be Without Limits” panel discussion featuring diverse hard-working women.
The event included networking and an engaging panel discussion facilitated by Rose Scott, host of the midday news program, “Closer Look”, heard on Atlanta’s NPR station 90.1 FM – WABE.
Speakers on the panel included Packaged App Development Analyst at Accenture and Goodwill graduate, Erica Campbell, President and CEO at Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Veronica Maldonado-Torres, Customer Support/Strategy/Consulting and Business Development at Chic-Fil-A, Inc., Nancy Easterling, and Managing Director for Accenture Song, Jayasree Amburkar.
Equality for All
The discussion focused on progress made in advancing gender equality and ways to accelerate equality for all. The event also was a great opportunity to celebrate the partnership in investing in women in non-traditional industries.
Amburkar said it’s going to take everyone’s power to get to a place of equality.
“How are we all going to help this ally ship for us to help women get what they deserve. With everything that we do day-to-day whether it’s taking the kids to school or working or anything like that, I believe we should be paid more,” she said.
Another way to get to equality, Amburkar said, is to call people in versus calling people out.
“Let’s give everyone a purpose and that purpose is to advance and they want that purpose. If we don’t have people who are on the other side, I want to believe in the goodness of humanity,” she said.
Campbell said people must be intentional about what it is they like to see, which is being paid equally to men.
“We have to be intentional about how we present ourselves, but also proving our worth and standing up for ourselves is so important,” she said.
Maldonado-Torres also said she thinks women are passionate.
“Statistically, there are more women in the United States than guys and we need the values, and the skill sets women bring to the workplace, and we need to continue to advance those avenues,” she said.
Torres said women need to learn more skill sets in the workplace such as negotiation, branding, and networking.
“To advance our women to get equal pay equity, we want our women to be able to stand on their word, their value, and to speak up. For a lot of us, those are cultural constructs that we’re confined to in our community,” she said.
The Value of Mentoring
Easterling said when she started her career journey, she didn’t have a formal mentor, but as she reflects, there were a ton of instrumental people in her life, both personal and professional.
“Those individuals supported, encouraged, and pushed me forward and honestly, one of the one that’s coming to my mind right now is my husband,” Easterling said. “He decided early on that my trajectory from a career perspective was going to be so much potential to better than him as he decided to stay home with our children and encouraged me almost pushed me to go to work.”
Easterling said fast forwarding to today, she has an opportunity to steward the leadership role she’s been given.
Maldonado-Torres said she grew up with a woman-owned business mother, who surrounded her with the example of how to do things with other businesswomen.
“I was able to absorb a lot and really learn. It wasn’t until I probably was about 30-ish that I really had my first kind of formal mentor,” she said. “I’ll never forget 27, I was asked to join my very first board of directors and the lady said, I just see something in you.”
Fast-forwarding to now, Maldonado-Torres said it was a blessing her mentor and her mom gave her opportunities and shared nuggets Torres didn’t see herself. Additionally, she said she is reflecting on her own legacy as she has a seven-year-old daughter.
“I need to make sure I’m doing my part to support this next generation and having those whispers, those moments, and someone reaching out and saying, ‘hey, you know what, I see something really, really amazing in you and you should join this leadership program,” she said.
The Clean Tech Infrastructure Academy at Goodwill
Additionally, Goodwill (in partnership with Accenture) recently began a four-week training program called “The Clean Tech Infrastructure Academy at Goodwill”.
Students who enroll in this program attends 40 hours per week and get paid $15 an hour to learn how to be maintenance techs for electric vehicle supply equipment, which is basically the charging stations for electric vehicles.
Atlanta is one of four accelerator locations nationwide. Training includes skills involved in solar and storage, electric vehicle charging, heat pumps, and energy efficiency.
To think that a year ago, it was a bit of a crazy idea I had during a phone call with a colleague at Goodwill of North Georgia and it turned into real opportunities for the people who are in this room,” Robin Boggs with Accenture said.
For more information about the accelerator program, visit https://goodwillng.org.
Related
[ad_2]
Isaiah Singleton
Source link
