Smith’s Fourth Women Leading Women Discusses Empowerment and Self Promotion

On March 23, Andrea Brody, senior vice president of global marketing at BravoSolution, spoke to business women of all backgrounds at the Robert H. Smith School of Business’ fourth Women Leading Women conference. The event, moderated by Vice Dean Joyce E. A. Russell and presented by Smith’s Office of Alumni Relations, celebrated inspirational female trailblazers in the business world. Brody was this year’s honoree, according to a press release on the Smith Website.

Brody talked about empowering women to self promote at the event.

“I think a lot of women tend to not speak out or speak up – they won’t self promote. I have to overcome this, too,” she said. “Men do a great job at it – they do it naturally. We tend to wait to be acknowledged, but you can’t wait for that – men don’t! They do a great job, and we have to learn from them.”

She also offered the following professional tips to the women in the audience:

1. Build and nurture your network early. It’s important to have a network of both women and men.
2. Don’t be afraid to self promote. If you feel you need to be acknowledged, put it out there.
3. Keep growing and learning. A lot of people stay in their positions because they are comfortable.
4. You can stretch yourself. Never shy away from a challenge ever.
5. Don’t sit quietly. If you have something to say, say it and make sure you are being heard.
6. You don’t have to be a man to be in a man’s world. Be yourself. Embrace who you are.
7. Try something, and if it fails, try something else.

Dean Russell also used Women Leading Women as an opportunity to announce the 50/50 by 2020 Initiative, Smith’s pledge to achieve gender parity in its MBA programs within the next five years.

“We are very excited about this initiative,” Russell explained. “You may or may not know that in MBA programs around the country, the percentage of female students ranges from 20 to 40 percent. We are in the mid-30s – we want to have 50 percent across all of our MBA programs. It’s wonderful that we have the support and excitement of Smith School Dean Alex Triantis, as well as the provost and president of this university.”