A Tribute to Ten Years of Women Leading Change in Utah

Witness a milestone moment with Pat Jones, Nicole Carpenter and Patti Cook as they lead us through ten years of the Elevate Women's Leadership Institute, celebrating the strides made in gender equity. 

We talk about the ElevateHER Challenge, its inception, growth, and the measurable changes it's spurred within organizations like the Garf Automotive Group and others.

Finally, we turn our lens to the often unseen cultural revolutions fostering equality in the nuances of everyday life. From a heartwarming tale of a father's renewed approach to parenting to the Women's Leadership Institute's commitment to mentoring, this episode is an homage to the powerful individual and collective transformations underway. 

Here's to forging ahead into a future where leadership knows no gender.

www.wliut.com
@utwomenleaders

Transcript

Elevate Women's Leadership Institute Podcast

Speaker 1 0:05

Welcome to Elevate a women's leadership institute podcast . We've been in the trenches with CEOs and entry-level workers for a decade , offering the value and vision of a more gender equitable workplace In a state where male CEOs lead 95% of the businesses and the state legislature is 74% male . We've had some work to do . This podcast showcases individual stories , celebrates successes and explores what is still needed to shift culture as we seek to elevate women's stature and status in our state . Welcome to Elevate a women's leadership institute podcast . This is our inaugural episode and we are so excited to have you here with us . We are celebrating 10 years of the women's leadership institute and to help us do that and kick this off , we've got WI founder and CEO Pat Jones and director Nicole Carpenter . Welcome both of you , I'm so excited .

Speaker 2 1:02

We haven't seen you since this morning . I know right See you again .

Speaker 1 1:06

I'm so excited for this conversation and to just kind of dive into a decade what it's looked like , Kind of give us some background on how this started .

Speaker 2 1:18

Well , I'll start first , because Nicole is a very important part of the beginning too . I had retired from the Senate after 14 years in the legislature , and I had retired from the Dan Jones and Associates company , where I co-founded and was president for many years . And it was all in the same month , in 2015, . January . I was turning 65 at the time , so I thought I was retiring , and I was asked by one of our key business leaders , scott Anderson , who is CEO and president of Zion's Bank . He asked me to come in his office and he said Pat , we are struggling to attract and retain talent in the state of Utah because of the perception that many people have , especially outside of the state , of women in our state . Would you consider running being the CEO that was important to him of the Women's Leadership Institute , with the mission to elevate the stature of women's leadership in business and in politics ? And in 10 minutes I had my next career , rather than riding off into the sunset .

Speaker 1 2:28

Did you have a second thought about that , or were you just like , yeah , I'm going to do it , let's figure it out .

Speaker 2 2:34

No , I didn't have a second thought which is kind of like me . I'm a maverick , as you know , I'm not afraid to try new things , but I also had great respect for Scott Anderson . I knew that his intentions were where I would want them to be and probably if anyone else had asked me to do it , I would probably have said no , or at least I would have thought about it . But I have to say this the 10 years that I've been doing this has been some of the most remarkable and rewarding of my life .

Speaker 1 3:03

I love it . I love it . We often talk at WI about tapping women on the shoulder and how important that was . So I love that origin story of how Scott tapped you on the shoulder and the respect you had for him . You were like , of course , let's get it done . Nicole , I know you have been around for the decade . Give us your origin and how you play into this .

Speaker 3 3:23

Yeah , well , actually my origin starts with Pat , because she reached out to me when she was formulating the very first members of the board back in 2015 . So Pat has to tell the first part of the story and then I can share my side of it . I love it .

Speaker 2 3:40

The first part and ongoing part .

Speaker 2 3:42

Yeah , and then I'll take this we knew it was important to include men , and I think that's one of the reasons for our success is because we consider men as allies and advocates of women , and I wanted to have a board that consisted of men and women together . And I had to kind of think intentionally , do we have people on the board who are really good influencers and have more time , maybe more time to spend , or do I really seek out potential board members who are incredibly busy , very difficult to get in there ? You kind of have to make that strategic decision . And I went for the second . I picked people that I thought would be very busy , knowing that including .

Speaker 2 4:29

You know , Governor Cox at the time was a Lieutenant Governor and just key business leaders in our state , and that turned out to be a very good strategy . But I knew we needed a voice of women who were at home too . I mean , we are , our mission is to is targeting businesses in the state of Utah , but we really needed the perspective of a woman who had been at home , who you know was not afraid to speak up and who would add a great deal of value to our board . And so I started asking around . You know , do you know someone like this ?

Speaker 2 5:07

And of course there are many great , you know , younger women in our environment . But Nicole's name came up and when I met her I'm like she is it . She'd written a book . You know , she's not afraid to speak up but she does it in a way that is influential and has so much wisdom in it . I felt an immediate kinship with her and I knew that she would add value to the board , and she did from day one . You know , we had all of these well-known people on our board , you know , executives of large companies and so forth and Nicole was there and she always gave great advice . So I have been so fortunate to work with Nicole and with you , patty , as our communications and community outreach director for our organization , because it just gives me such inspiration to see young people . I consider you young because I'm not Just see you grow and mature and I think it's just indicative of what we do at the Women's Leadership Institute . Definitely .

Speaker 3 6:14

Okay , now I need to share my story . Yes , please , I love it Because it makes it sound like it was easy peasy , but it wasn't so . In 2015 , I was running an . I was an entrepreneur and I was running an online support for Overwhelmed Moms . I don't know if you know any Overwhelmed Moms , but Never been one of those .

Speaker 3 6:32

I know right . So I had a blog and I would speak at women's conferences and I had just authored a book . At the time I had four young kids myself two two-year-olds , because I have a set of twins , and then it would be seven . Two , five and seven , I think , is how old they were back then . So we were like right in the thick of it and I was doing the entrepreneur thing and loving it , but really I was doing that because I didn't know that there was a path for me .

Speaker 3 7:03

I always wanted to be like a business woman , right . But I didn't know there was a path for me to be able to do that and be a mom , so I created my own path and I think that's a whole different story for a whole other podcast .

Speaker 1 7:12

Yes , we will have a podcast on that . It's important .

Speaker 3 7:15

Absolutely , but 2015 . I had just published my book through a publishing house here in the state and I got this call from Pat Jones and I'm like , oh goodness . So I go to this meeting and she interviews me and , long story short , I end up getting offered a position to sit on I'm WLI's inaugural advisory board and I was terrified I'd never been in a boardroom before when she asked , did you immediately say yes , yes , yes , no , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 3 7:43

I said yes to the opportunity . I was so excited . But then I realized what I'd got myself into when I sat at the first meeting . And we've got executives of incredibly large organizations in Utah and I'm sitting next to them so close that they could hear me breathe . You know , we're rubbing shoulders , literally rubbing shoulders with these people that are so important . And who am I ? Who am I ? I'm just this stay-at-home mom that's trying to make a difference through entrepreneurship .

Speaker 3 8:11

And I realized that I had some strengths thankfully that I already knew about that . I could use in the boardroom the same strengths that I used in the baby's room . I could use in the boardroom and I would just sit back and listen to what the executives were saying and I would learn from them . But I realized that one of my strengths was summarizing what they said and helping our board come to a call to action at the end of every meeting . And so I leaned into that , because I didn't know any of the business things that they were talking about . Maybe a little bit , because I had my own , a little business I was running , but imposter syndrome was my serious .

Speaker 2 8:46

You know what's interesting . So as maybe I don't know if it's just a lack of confidence or just unsure of yourself , as you were , I was too . Oh what , yes what Because I had run a business . I started business . I had been in politics for 14 years and don't tell me that's easy but I'd never run a nonprofit before . I didn't know how to start , where to start , who to see . So I was learning too . But I think what we had in common is that you're not afraid to step up and take a risk . Neither am I .

Speaker 1 9:24

I love that , yes .

Speaker 3 9:26

I remember ever since I was a little girl , I was the one that raised her hand in the classroom because if I had the question , somebody else must have the question and I'll be the one to ask how did you get that confidence as a young girl ? I don't know , I've always had it . You just had it . Yeah , I'm the oldest , so maybe that's part of it , is like the trailblazer .

Speaker 1 9:43

So let's stop here for a moment , because I love how honest and vulnerable you just were about who was I to be in this boardroom ? So , realistically , was it a couple months before you leaned in your strength ? Was it a couple years ? Like what ? For women who are in that spot , what did that look like ?

Speaker 3 9:58

Yeah , that's a great question . I had to lean into that right away . Right away , because we only met every other month , so I only saw these people a few times a year and I wasn't about to not prove that I belong .

Speaker 2 10:17

To blow it . You're saying yeah , I didn't wanna blow it .

Speaker 1 10:20

Like .

Speaker 3 10:21

I knew that I could belong . I knew that there was a reason that I was there and there was a voice that I was representing and I leaned into that . But I remember one board meeting when we were talking about that gap space of cause I'm a college graduate and there isn't a gap on my resume because I made sure there wasn't but there could have been and we were having a conversation about that and I remember in the boardroom getting emotional and like crying oh my gosh , I'm crying in a board meeting . This isn't gonna go down .

Speaker 2 10:53

I think a lot of people cry in a board meeting because of that reason , Cause I was I think it was personal .

Speaker 1 10:59

And .

Speaker 3 10:59

I think that that's what has been the baseline for WLI's success , is that these things matter to us , not just me , not just Pat , all of those other board members . So I served on the board for a couple of years and then I got a phone call from Pat one day , saying my predecessor was leaving and she had called me up and asked who do you know that has these qualifications that could do these things ? And like , well , let me think about it . And I hung up the phone and then I'm like well , my babies are now going into school all day and I have these qualifications .

Speaker 1 11:31

I can do that . Yes , and knowing Pat now I'm like did you plan that , did you ask that , knowing that she'd say yes ?

Speaker 2 11:38

I honestly did not intentionally do it at the time , but as soon as she said I would like to do it , I would like .

Speaker 1 11:46

That's it , that's it .

Speaker 2 11:48

I mean , it was a natural fit .

Speaker 1 11:49

I love it and I love that you're like , hey , that's me yeah .

Speaker 3 11:52

So I called her back yeah awesome .

Speaker 2 11:55

What's interesting is our cadences are different . Our strengths are different . I mean , I'm more of a visionary . It's like I'm not a detail person and I never have been . Yeah , but I've learned to own that . I've learned to just go . Okay , I have this idea . I usually think of it at night , but I'm not yeah , have you noticed ? I'm not really great at detail , have you ?

Speaker 1 12:14

guys noticed that I just a little tiny bit . Okay , yes , that's okay , that's what we can do . Yeah , she's really good at detail .

Speaker 2 12:21

Yes , so I mean we immediately connected on that level and I realize it would be a really great natural fit for us , using the skills that we have .

Speaker 1 12:32

Yeah , perfect .

Speaker 3 12:33

I love that here we are 10 years later . No big deal 10 years later .

Speaker 1 12:37

Yeah , I've changed a bit .

Speaker 2 12:38

I've gotten a little more great .

Speaker 1 12:41

We're going to talk a little bit more about that secret sauce between you two . But you brought up , you get your ideas at night and I want you to tell the story about the elevate her challenge , because you've told us before that came to you in a dream , after some preparation and stuff . Have you shared how that came to be ?

Speaker 2 12:59

Yes , after Scott asked me to run the Women's Leadership Institute and just gave me the bones to this . I mean , it's just like you know . We want more women in politics , more women on boards , more women on a senior level , we want to look at the gender wage gap . So go figure it out . You know , we'll fund you for two years , you'll have a full-time assistant , you'll have a nice office in the Salt Lake Chamber . So go figure it out . That was 10 minutes worth and you know I said yes . So I felt a commitment walking out of that office .

Elevate Her Challenge Success Stories

Speaker 2 13:32

But I really had no idea how it was going to happen and , through some research , found out that Massachusetts had started a similar thing that seemed to be similar to what our mission was , and it was called getting to more . The governor at that time , deval Patrick , had started this getting to more and he was working in Boston helping companies understand you know how to do that , or at least they , you know taking a pledge to do that . And so I went back there , met with them and they gave me some really good information . They had only been doing it for about six months , so it wasn't really launched that well yet , but it was a great starting point for me . It gave me a little bit of substance to think about , come back and thought about .

Speaker 2 14:20

You know what it was because I had been in market research for 35 years . I've been a qualitative researcher , a quantitative researcher , and I knew we had to have a product . You can't just have an idea when you're selling this , selling it softly , to companies . You needed to have something tangible for them to hang their hat on , and so I thought of the Elevate Her Challenge name one night .

Speaker 2 14:45

What to name it ? I kind of patterned the Elevate Her Challenge on similar things to what they did in Massachusetts , but really it was quite different , was based on the mission that was stated to me by Scott when he asked me to run it . We , of course , have refined it , we've trademarked that name , but the name Elevate Her Challenge was brought to me in a dream and just the thought that I had , and it's turned out to be a fairly good thing , a great tool for companies to follow , a template , if you will , that is , bringing companies together with their employees and helping them go through . How do we actually , in a tactical way , bring this kind of development and inspiration to women within our company ?

Speaker 1 15:33

Yeah , thank you . As you bring up the Elevate Her Challenge , I want to celebrate 10 years of the Elevate Her Challenge and share some success stories around it , some of the most memorable moments that you two have in bringing this to pass , because you guys have done this together , along with the board members . So what are some success stories , or what have you learned about the Elevate Her Challenge and implementing it ?

Speaker 3 15:57

That's a great question . I think the Elevate Her Challenge has had different iterations of how we acknowledge and support the companies that have committed to this challenge . In the beginning , we would bring in experts from outside of Utah as a guest speaker to be a part of an annual luncheon that we would do , but what we found is that Utah has we are the success right ? Yeah , I love that the people are here . So for so many years we've been just reaching into our own pool of amazing board members , challenge companies , local participants . There's so much talent here so we do want every year we have an annual luncheon to celebrate these companies . No-transcript . I think it's important for them to feel acknowledged , but I'm also a nuts and bolts like me and potatoes type of person , and so I want them to leave feeling like they've learned something or that they have something that's new and tangible that they can take back with them .

Speaker 2 17:12

And I've loved working with Barbara Annis , who has the Gender Intelligence Group , and I , as a recommendation , I reached out to her the second year and she works with neuroscientists to understand how men and women think differently and I always ask that question when I am presenting to places do men and women think differently ? And I think there's only been one person that disagreed with that .

Speaker 1 17:37

Yeah , and I was there when they disagreed and you brought them around real quick , like we came to a consensus on that .

Speaker 2 17:43

Yeah , we do , but why is that and how is that impacting our workspaces and our homes and , you know , our communities ? And if we don't have sufficient numbers of women in places of influence , then are we harming ourselves , are we holding ourselves back by not including that kind of gender diversity that is so important ? So I've loved understanding that a little better and I've really studied that over the last nine and a half years now with Barbara Annis . I have great respect for her and her work and I've , you know , read several books on this and there are definitely some benefits of having women you know in and elevated in companies and at home , because we do think differently and we do bring different things to the table .

Speaker 1 18:32

Yeah , our tagline is raising the status and stature of women in the state , in both politics and business . Right yeah , and that's important . Share with me . Some , like you two , have been at this a lot longer than I . Have some success stories of what this looks like I can think of , like the dental school Kengar , okay . How does this look like an application for a company ? Well , patty .

Speaker 2 18:57

I want to attribute much of the success to you as well . I mean , you have been so wonderful in you know , thinking up new ideas , like for our rising leader series , for instance , and just your work in getting the word out with a communication in this podcast . That's starting . I'm so excited about the inaugural podcast and so this is your work , so we need to give you that kind of credit . Yes , I will , let me tell you about the Lawn Mower story . Okay , now , this is a story that I tell often , so people that have heard it over and over but they never get tired of it , but it's never failed me . This story will bring tears to the eyes of men and women in an audience and I guarantee they literally have passed around .

Speaker 1 19:45

So get ready , listeners Get ready for this .

Speaker 2 19:49

So this happened . A couple of years ago I got a call from Brett Hopkins , who's the CEO of the Garf Automotive Group . Now the Garf Automotive Group has , I think , 72 dealerships throughout the United States . I did not know they were that large , but nevertheless .

Speaker 2 20:06

What Brett said to me is Pat , we have 20% of all of our employees are women . We know that women oftentimes choose the cars . By the way , 80% of the decisions are made by women and I knew that , having been a researcher for so many years . Women are highly influential . Nevertheless and he said , those 20% tend to be in receptionist types of positions . But he said there are two of our dealerships that have 40% women and they're killing it . They're doing a great job .

Speaker 2 20:40

One is in Orem and one's in California and they wanted to mimic that in their other dealerships . How do we ? You know this is really good business for us , so would you come , pat , and explain to us and present to us about the additive value of women in leadership ? And I said , yes , I'd be happy to do that . I went and met with about 12 men and talked to them about the brain science behind the value of women's leadership and so forth , and they loved it . I mean , they felt we never blame or shame men , we always make them feel like they're part of the solution , not part of the problem , and it just is such a magic potion for success for us . And they felt that . And so afterward they asked me hey , will you come back and speak to our general managers next month ? And I did kind of a similar experience .

Speaker 1 21:35

When you talk to them . Was it , was it an aha moment ?

Speaker 2 21:39

Yes , yes , like something they'd never considered before , which is why they like come speak to our managers and I see , okay , yes , when you have science behind it and there's tons of it , especially with the new MRI machines , they can literally see brains in action as they're thinking . So there's a lot of science to this , now that we do think differently and for different reasons , okay . So the second time they asked me to come the a third time to Palm Springs to their large group , and I presented there . And the reason I say this is is because I got an email shortly after the third time and it was from their HR director , joe Bernard , and he said to me Pat , I'm sending you this picture .

Speaker 2 22:24

It was a picture of a little girl about five years old reaching up to hold , to push a lawnmower , you know , with her arms up on the handle , there with a man who happened to be Joe Bernard , and he described it she was mowing the lawn with him , he was gently holding onto the side and he said I have a precocious five year old daughter . And she asked me a couple months ago dad , why do you teach my older brothers to mow the lawn and not me ? And he said normally I would have told her well , that's their job , your job is somewhere else , probably in the house , and so forth , because that would have been my normal response to her . But after hearing you three times talk about how women can add value , how girls can add value , how we think differently , I thought I'm going to go out . And he did . He bought a lightweight lawnmower that day .

Speaker 1 23:17

I love that .

Speaker 2 23:19

Yes , we've been mowing the lawn every Saturday since then .

Changing Cultural and Workplace Norms

Speaker 2 23:23

Well , what he said was she mows straighter , she avoids the sprinklers . And he said I have this amazing new relationship with my precocious five year old daughter now , and this is what really matters . This is cultural change at home , but it's also in the workplace . So what happened ? Just this past year ? I got a follow up to that picture and Joe sent me this follow up . He says I have a younger son under her .

Speaker 2 23:59

And it was a picture of her teaching her little brother to mow the lawn .

Speaker 1 24:03

She's practicing leadership .

Speaker 2 24:05

And that's what happens in the workplace . You give women , you give them the confidence and the opportunity , they're going to shine like crazy , and then they will teach others to do the very same thing . Nicole , I just quite a bit here . Your turn .

Speaker 1 24:19

Well , I just think you want a great segue to Nicole , that's exactly right , and a full story , yeah .

Speaker 3 24:24

I just , I love that . I love that . Yeah , I just love that . When Pat tells the story , sometimes she jokes that he had to listen to her three separate times .

Speaker 3 24:34

And though that's funny , the truth of the matter is that what a great dad this is to lead by example , and it's not just Joe . There's a whole generation of dads that are making different choices than the generation that came before them , and we are seeing that . We also see a lot of the success stories . So when the world is saying how awful it is , at the Women's Leadership Institute , we kind of live in this bubble because we hear a lot of these success stories . But really it's these experiences that we need to change things , and it's dads with daughters that are the fastest allies that and they make the fastest change and they're our best allies . They're the ones in the boardroom that are sticking up for their female colleagues because in 20 years they want someone to do the same for their little girl , and that's powerful stuff .

Speaker 1 25:27

Yes , our mom hearts are both like our daughters . That's actually I love that you said that there's so many layers to this right relational , familial , cultural . That's actually how we intersected with our cohost who will be helping us on the podcast , chris Jenkins . He's got daughters coming up and he has a personal interest in this because of his daughters and it's got to be a different way .

Speaker 2 25:51

And it's not just dads with daughters or they're single men , I mean , they do see that there's a huge need for this . We find that 90% of the time I'm just throwing that . Figure out , okay , go and factor this .

Speaker 1 26:06

I like that figure .

Speaker 2 26:07

I'll look it up later , but that's who we deal with . We deal with people that are with men , yes , who understand why we need to do this , but what they don't know is how to do it , and that's why the Women's Leadership Institute is so helpful . That's how we can go through our career development series , our political development series , our rising leader series , our breakfast brainstorms . There's so many different things that we're doing with our alumni and we do it with three people , you know the Hermione three .

Speaker 2 26:40

Because we have advocates and colleagues and partners that see what we're doing and they're so interested in what we're doing and how they can help that we have men and women who normally would receive $10,000 , $15,000 for a presentation , for instance , but they come and help us out almost all the time , for free and because we keep our costs low we're a nonprofit , we're a 501c3 . Yeah and they're willing to contribute because they see the change that is made in women's personal lives , they see the change that are made at home , they're seeing changes culturally in organizations , and that's the kind of confidence that we need an opportunity for women .

Speaker 1 27:29

Opportunity . Yes , Pathways is something that has come up and you mentioned in the beginning is what was the pathway right Within an organization to be the leader you wanted to be ? So that is a great transition path into our programs , which we haven't touched on yet . I want to touch on that for our 10 years . Nicole , do you want to talk about our programs and just give a little overview ? And I want to know like your proudest moments , as you've created these things together .

Speaker 3 27:55

Yes , so our first program that we created was the political development series and that came almost in the beginning , within that first year , and I want to get to that . But to speak to your question , of which is the proudest ?

Speaker 1 28:13

moment . Yes , I love it . You're can't wait , let's do it .

Speaker 3 28:16

So the career development series , which is the second series that we had that we created , and the reason why that feels like my baby is because at one point it was just an idea , right , I remember sitting in on board meetings and pulling Pat aside and saying , hey , like what about these women ? And is there anything that we can do for them ? And at the time we were thinking maybe it could be these women that had a gap on the resume , but it didn't end up going that direction . So this was about the time that I came on staff and so for the first beginning , it was just this idea and it was a great big idea and we were able to take this big idea and it became a reality in 2019 and it survived 2020 , which is saying a lot Congratulations .

Speaker 1 29:01

Yes , Way to pivot .

Speaker 3 29:03

Here we are starting our sixth cohort . Each cohort has about 100 women . Some have had a little bit less , some a little bit more , but that's amazing to think about the hundreds of women that we've been able to help and to reach and to help them see that their careers are worth it , that their families are worth it , that the balancing act is worth it . They struggle with imposter syndrome , just like I did in that boardroom . They wonder what's next . They struggle with confidence and we're able to address all those things through our great curriculum . So that's always rewarding and that always hits really close to home every time we kick off a new cohort . We also have our rising leader series , which was your baby , your brainchild , and that's a fantastic program that one does reach those women that may have that gap on their resume .

Speaker 3 29:56

So the rising leader program is for the women who are ready to step into leadership . And what could that look like ? And it doesn't matter if you are still in college or you've been in your career for 20 years or you've been at home for 20 years . What does leadership look like and are you ready to take that on ? And if you are in the women's leadership institute , we are a place that can help make that happen . And then you think about circling all the way back to our political development series , which was Pat's idea , and I can let her talk more about the format that we use for this cohort . But to think about all the women in Utah that have run for office or are serving in office or have volunteered on campaigns , because they've had a touch point here at WLI , it's pretty significant .

Speaker 1 30:41

That's how I came into . Wli is through the political development series .

Speaker 2 30:45

Well , I think it's important that women and men of course understand that whatever jobs you have , you can learn from and take it to the next level maybe in your next position , because the political development series really was the start using that format that everything else sprung from yeah , the whole format .

Speaker 2 31:04

And that came about because of my experience running focus groups and I knew that women when I would invite them to focus groups , the best time for them to attend would be somewhere between 10 in the morning and two in the afternoon For most women many women their children were in school or it was just easier for them to take an extended lunch or if they're working . And so I took that learning over many years and said , well , if we're going to train women to learn how to run for a political office , this is the best time to do it . So I think it's really helpful that , no matter what your position is , whatever jobs you have I've had some pretty boring jobs in my life , really . I've had some scary jobs in my life with another , but anyway , I picked your interest anyway .

Speaker 2 31:51

That was learned from that , so we can learn something from everything we do and apply it to our next spot . Right , yeah , absolutely yeah , thank you . So I do think that all of our series is a collaborative effort on all three of us . We do brainstorm really well and the ideas for the things we're doing and there will be more coming up we don't know what they are yet . Yeah .

Speaker 1 32:15

There's lots of exciting things this year .

Speaker 2 32:17

There are , and so we try to adapt what we offer to the current needs of those out there , both women , but also the employers because things do change I mean AI and things right now and that's why I've loved working with you all , because you have great leadership skills , but also great technical skills that you can help with . So I think we're really complimentary . But we have room for more and as we grow and we're getting statewide more and more and footprints all over the state , which we've always been a statewide organization , I really do feel the presence of women from St George to Logan and we're seeing some of the impacts that we're making for rural areas and women of color . Just , we really do believe that diversity is very important to it and just love it . You can feel the passion , yes , and we just love working with women and men who are so involved and so passionate about changing culture and improving our state that way .

Speaker 1 33:27

Yes , I definitely know something that unites the three of us is we have passion for the work that we do here .

Speaker 2 33:31

Absolutely .

Speaker 1 33:33

And it's pretty palpable between us . So , as we kick off this 10 years , I'm wondering if you could describe WLI in one word . If you had to sum up what WLI is in one or maybe two words , what would those be ?

Speaker 2 33:48

WLI game changing . Game changing enlightening okay , fulfilling okay . I love it . No , nicole , your turn .

Speaker 3 33:56

How do I follow that ? Okay , I was going to say elevating , but hope came into my mind . Maybe that's because it doesn't matter if you're the HR executive that's struggling with your company culture , or the CEO or the female employee who feels stuck Like we can provide hope on a lot of levels .

Speaker 1 34:22

I like that too , and I hope our listeners realize that that is what makes WI enlightening , game changing hope I hope you just felt that and also honoring both of you and the work you've done here , one word about each other , because you really have worked so well . We talk a lot about sponsorship and mentorship in our programs , which I feel like you two have been for each other through this whole process . So tell me one word about each other , how you compliment each other .

Speaker 2 34:52

I can't do it in one word , I can't . You know , when I see Nicole , I see fresh , innovative , patient and creative and talented . So I mean she's the complete package for what is needed . With WLI and Patty , you're a great compliment too , so don't leave yourself out . You're really an important part of our success .

Speaker 3 35:18

Thank you and we'll thank you , for those are like kind words . It's hard to follow a compliment on that level , but I feel honored to get to work alongside Pat and she has been a great mentor for me , the skills I've seen . She's a great leader . To see that leadership but she's a collaborator and a bridge builder and she nurtures relationships and to get to learn about that by her side has been really empowering . But I think , as I think about this , she's also generously shared her network with me and on a personal level , how lucky am I that I get to know who Pat Jones knows and work alongside them and we work together for bigger , better things and that's really rewarding .

Speaker 1 36:11

I love that . Thank you , ladies , for coming and sharing . If there's one last thought you had that you'd like our audience to know about WLI , where we've been or where we're going , what might that be ?

Speaker 2 36:23

Well , it's really difficult to explain because there are so many women's groups out there and organizations .

Speaker 2 36:29

I think some people get confused about what they are , but I would say that we're narrow enough in terms of our mission , that we truly are trying to and I think we've been successful on many levels change the corporate culture of the state of Utah , which is our original mission . Business led right and it takes changing women , but it also takes changing the corporate structure and outlook of companies so that they can understand the value , the additive value , of gender diversity .

Speaker 1 37:06

I feel like it's been 10 years of planting seeds and watching those seeds grow and varying levels on those things right , changing the culture and developing the women , nicole .

Speaker 3 37:16

Sure , you and I talk a lot about how we create conversations . Yes , and that's where this all begins . A conversation in a boardroom , a conversation between an employee and her supervisor , that's the beginning of those conversations that lead to real ideas and real action . And there's a lot of power in those conversations that , when we think about the Elevate Her Challenge and I'm sure we'll talk more about that on a different podcast but for a company to be able to just talk about the challenge itself and not point fingers or place blame on like why they haven't done the certain things on the challenge , and they can just create a conversation around that , that gives them a lot of leverage and power to create change .

Speaker 1 38:00

Yeah , no shame , no blame , just change ,

Leadership and Vision Appreciation

Speaker 1 38:03

yes . Well , thank you for joining the conversation today . It is a pleasure Now I'm going to cry to work with you both to watch your leadership , and I love that you said hope . I really feel that I know that . Working with Pat and watching your vision , I love the story of someone tapped you on the shoulder and you said yes , and you've run with it and done so many great things you know , and that you've been so complimentary and been able to do this . So thank you both , so excited for WLI , and thank you to our audience for excited for more to come . Thank you , patty .

Speaker 3 38:35

Thank you have a great day .