Global Entrepreneurship Week 2021: Join Us!

Join us in celebrating the culmination of the FourthWave 2021 cohort while exploring the future economy and how women are paving the way!

About this event

As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2021, powered by Western Health Advantage, we are excited to bring to you the culmination of the 15-week long FourthWave accelerator journey. This will include a celebration of our cohort of female founders while sharing in a panel How Women Are Showing the Way to a Post-Pandemic World.

This event will discuss leadership and entrepreneurship as well as how the increase in women founded companies will lead the way to a brighter post-pandemic world. The discussion will be between two of our FourthWave team members and a panel of experts ranging from entrepreneurs to experts in leadership.

Moderators: 

• Cheryl Beninga, Co-founder of FourthWave and Managing Director at Wai Mohala Ventures

• Heli Rodriguez Prilliman, Entrepreneur in Residence at FourthWave and Founder of Lacquerbar and Investor

Panelists:

• Barbara DeHart, VP Strategy & Operations at NewTek and Co-Founder & Board Member at Sama Learning

• Colleen Ammerman, Director of Gender Initiative at Harvard Business School

• Kristin Haffert, Co-Founder of Mine the Gap

• Lily Cabrera, Co-Founder and CEO of wellmarkt Inc.

If you are interested in learning about additional events, workshops, and panel discussions check the full list of activities HERE.

If any special accommodations are needed please let us know at least two weeks in advance to secure the needed accommodations.

Opinion Piece by Mine The Gap & Bank of America: San Diego Union Tribune

Companies should adopt new practices that support workers at work and home. 

BY PAMELA GABRIEL, JESSICA N. GROUNDS

AUG. 26, 2021 3:48 PM PT

Gabriel is a senior vice president and San Diego market executive for Bank of America. She lives in Ocean Beach. Grounds is the lead advisor for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s “All Our Talent” initiative, and co-founder of Mine The Gap. She lives in University City.

Every workplace is tackling how to handle this new era of work spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we determine how to safely return to work, larger questions have arisen for decision-makers. How do we want our workplaces to look? What do our employees need to be productive and engaged?

A study conducted in 2018 by FTI Consulting and Mine The Gap found that both women and men prioritize work-life balance over financial compensation when considering what matters most in their jobs. COVID-19’s impact has accelerated conversations around flexibility in our work schedules and the ability to balance work and family. Specifically for women, COVID-19 has severely damaged the retention of women in the workplace. Roughly 2.5 million American women have left their jobs since the pandemic started, leading to women’s lowest labor force participation rate since 1988. Yet, as of 2019, women are the majority of the college-educated workforce, and earn about 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees. Even before the pandemic, many women were leaving their posts because of the inflexibility of the traditional workplace.

One of the primary drivers behind women’s exodus has been the demands from home. Women continue to provide the majority of child and elder care in our country and research this year shows that one-third of working women are out of work because of child-care demands.

Considering what creates a supportive and effective work environment, it’s time for all San Diego companies to acknowledge this caregiving crisis, with new policies that better support their workers.

A September study by CNBC and Catalyst found that senior-level women in companies are significantly more concerned about juggling work and family responsibilities. They fear this continued struggle will reduce their hours and ability to work, and might force them to quit.

These are the exact women who are on track to be our business leaders at the highest levels — board-ready women qualified and prepared to lead in the boardroom and c-suite (as chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief technology officers, etc.).

This summer we participated in a statewide symposium led by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s “All Our Talent: Women on Boards and Commissions” initiative. Business and government leaders discussed strategies to elevate women, particularly women of color, into board director positions for companies and nonprofits and in government commission roles. A key practice that came out of this discussion was the need for businesses to support child and elder care.

One local example is Bank of America, which is nationally recognized for its innovative workplace benefits and resources supporting employees and their families. During the pandemic, the bank is helping teammates with children who have been impacted by the health crisis by empowering them to hire a caregiver from their personal network (including friends and family) and be reimbursed up to $100 per day. This is in addition to the ongoing benefits and resources available year-round to help employees secure and manage child and elder care. The offering has resonated tremendously, as 4.5 million days to date of back-up care for children and adults have been used by Bank of America employees.

Last year, the San Diego Regional Chamber released research about how San Diego companies can step into supporting child care. They provide key examples of what to do, including recommendations that have little or no cost to the company. And as Bank of America has shown, innovative policies and flexible, comprehensive benefits are not only popular, they also help attract and retain exceptional and diverse talent by meeting individual and family needs.

To harness the power of our diverse and capable local talent, especially the talented women who are not in leadership, companies should adopt new practices that support workers at work and home. Child and elder care remains a critical issue impacting our local leadership. Let’s lead by example to retain and support all our talent.

Join us this fall at Georgetown! Building Inclusive Workplaces through the Lens of Women’s Leadership

The pandemic and economic crisis in the U.S. has put the issue of gender equality at the heart of discussions among families, leaders, and workers and has exposed the disproportionate amount of household responsibilities, including childcare and eldercare, held by women.

Since February 2020, more than 2.3 million women have left the US labor force compared to 1.8 million men during the same period. The concept of the ‘She-cession’ coined by Dr. C Nicole Mason has brought cultural and policy awareness to business and politics leaders that are grappling with how to entice people back to work.

Meanwhile, the workplace has traditionally been a less attractive and sustainable environment for women, evidenced by the #MeToo movement and challenges to work and have a family. COVID and the ‘She-cession’ revealed the disproportionate impact of challenges for women of color who already faced greater barriers to success in the workplace. While the entire landscape of work is getting an overhaul, how are leaders going to adapt to attract and retain diverse talent? What new tactics are being used to drive diverse and productive teams? How do we create belonging and connection for everyone in virtual, hybrid and in-person workspaces using an intersectional lens?

Building Inclusive Workplaces through the Lens of Women’s Leadership will explore these questions and use peer learning to uncover how companies and organizations can tap into the values and potential of all workers and leverage opportunities that help them show up at work as their full self – which research has proven fuels creativity and innovation. This interactive workshop provides intersectional gender awareness and provides practical tools for leaders committed to tapping underutilized talent in their organizations. Through a 4-module course, leaders will anticipate new questions that leaders and employers must navigate and explore how to address gender equality challenges in the new world of work with an inclusive and intentional approach that will be integral to the success and failure of leaders and their organizations. Participants will gain a high-level, intersectional understanding of how gender impacts decision-making, professional relationships and networks, organizational outputs and key performance indicators and more. The course will examine cutting edge research to illuminate gender differences in leadership style, new trends amid the “She-cession”, and examples of companies that have transformed their approach to leadership and management through an inclusive approach.

With an important pivot to DEI, it is critical that leaders, coaches, and individuals working to improve the workplace understand the transformative opportunities and innovation that they can bring with a diverse lens on gender equality in leadership. Our approach introduces participants through four critical components: awareness, behavior change, policies and accountability. Upon completion of this course, participants will have a new window of opportunity and tools for practically broadening the number of voices and quality of leadership in their organization, relevant to all sectors.

This workshop is intended for business leaders, entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants from across sectors and anyone who wants to manage and lead teams to see their highest potential.

Claim Your Seat: Women of Color on Public Company Boards in California

Mine The Gap is proud to release our latest project with the California Partners Project, led by the First Partner of California, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Claim Your Seat: Women of Color on California’s Public Company Boards

Women on corporate boards have been shown to drive business growth, and to promote environmental and social responsibility and strong governance practices. While the overall number of women on California public company boards has doubled since 2018, companies are still largely missing out on the talent, skills and perspectives of women of color. 

​The second in the California Partners Project’s women-on-boards series, this new report is produced in partnership with the Latino Corporate Directors Association and Equilar. It provides fresh data, insights on modern board governance, and profiles of some of the many women who are leading, serving, and breaking new ground in their fields.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

A Year Like No Other: Shifting the Workplace Toward Culture Change

A Year Like No Other: Shifting the Workplace Toward Culture Change
International Women’s Day -- March 8, 2021
By Kristin Haffert & Jessica N. Grounds, Founders, Mine The Gap

On International Women’s Day, we find ourselves more optimistic about the pace of change since we first launched Mine The Gap five years ago. We set out to assist companies and organizations around the globe to modernize, build inclusion, and improve their culture. When we began, numerous industries were speaking out about advancing women into leadership positions and their desire to foster a more diverse workforce.  But in that moment, we saw the commitment as somewhat superficial.  For instance, we were often asked to simply train the women, like they were somehow the problem. What we knew they needed (and continue to need) was to build a workplace that more deeply valued differing leadership styles, inclusive policies and behaviors, and intentional plans to recruit, retain, and promote diverse talent.

This past year was a turning point, particularly for our work in the United States.

The killing of George Floyd and the continued growth of Black Lives Matter, the “Shecession,” pervasive sexual harassment stories in the headlines, and a pandemic that meaningfully exposed deep race and gender justice issues, has spread into the consciousness of Americans. With this backdrop, we have seen a shift among the leaders of companies to think more deliberately about culture change and inclusive workplace practices, recognizing these dynamics as core business objectives.  We are already seeing opportunities open for women, particularly women of color, who have for far too long been undervalued and under supported at work. Top leaders have their antennas raised and are asking what a better workplace really looks like. They are beginning to open up to self-reflection, analysis, and begin a journey toward inclusion that does not happen overnight.

Part of the progress we’ve seen is at the state level.  In 2018, the California legislature passed the first law in the U.S. (SB 826) to legally compel public companies to add women as board directors. Our work with the California Partners Project revealed that 669 California board seats have been filled with women since 2018.  That year, nearly 30% of California headquartered company boards were all male; now, less than 1% are. Additionally, in 2020 a second piece of legislation (AB 979) was signed into law requiring directors from underrepresented groups to be included on public boards including: Black, African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native, along with directors who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.  In our work with the California Partners Project, we conducted focus groups with CEOs, board members, and other executives revealing that shareholders are increasingly putting pressure on companies to consider whether their board composition reflects diverse talent and is aligned with their diverse consumer base.  We will continue to preach (and hope companies understand) that these diverse bodies of leadership are key to better performance, increased revenue, and resilience in a competitive global economy.

We are seeing an increased use of culture surveys undertaken by companies, an indicator that they are moving away from the quick fix or ‘check the box’ approach. In addition to our research on workplace culture, these surveys allow for deeper company analysis and has enabled us to unpack the nuanced challenges facing women at work.  Important workshops on implicit bias and other awareness-raising tools have created a level of awareness that can no longer be unseen – or ignored. With this awareness, the complex challenges that women of color face in the workplace are now becoming a bigger part of the conversation. We’re encouraged that companies are digging deeper to try to understand these differences and are proud to work with a unique network of collaborators to help our clients address the gamut of diversity, equity, and inclusion issues they need to tackle.

Finally, this year has forced companies to think more strategically about how to keep their people happy – while working remotely. Companies had to face the demands of homelife and parenting on their employees while managing them outside of traditional workspaces during a global health crisis.  Despite the outsized negative impact of the pandemic on women, and the fact that it exacerbated existing economic divisions and professional challenges they already faced, the pandemic forced employers to have conversations about the health and well-being of their people and to consider how and where we work. Taking these conversations further will help us to understand external impacts on women, families, and caregivers leading to more positive outcomes for the future of work.

The convergence of the challenges during this past year has created a moment of pause within organizations across sectors and is prompting important exchanges. Our workplace leaders have a timely opportunity to lean into change. While some companies will continue with business as usual – we are encouraged by many of our clients who are moving ahead for a better future. At Mine The Gap, we are doubling down on this moment because we want to play our role in promoting and amplifying these shifts.  The workplace is changing, and we are here to support progress to create better, more inclusive places to work and succeed. 

Mine The Gap Speaks @ Georgetown's Women's Forum

About the Women’s Forum

The Georgetown University Women’s Forum celebrates Georgetown women from each of the nine schools and includes phenomenal plenaries, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. From law to business, policy to science and government, and technology to the public sector, the Forum features discussions on timely and intersectional issues while uniting and strengthening the Georgetown community.

Normally, a two-day forum, this event provides an opportunity for smart, passionate Georgetown alumni from across the country and abroad to share experiences, ideas, and expertise around women and gender issues. All are welcome to attend!

In light of the global pandemic, Georgetown has decided to postpone the in-person forum and create a week long virtual Women’s Forum leading up to Women’s History Month. All sessions will be hosted online within the Cvent Virtual Attendee Hub. The Hub serves as a centralized online platform that will host everything for the virtual week of programming. Registration is required to receive access to the Hub to view the live events. 

Link to schedule.

Progress Report from Our Founders

Advancing Gender Inclusivity in Global Politics Panel

On Wednesday, October 21st at 12 PM PT, our co-founders Jessica Grounds and Kristin Haffert spoke on advancing gender inclusivity in global politics! This was a women in international studies virtual panel hosted by Seaver College at Pepperdine University.

A Progress Report on Women’s Representation on California Corporate Boards

California passed the first-in-the-nation law, SB826, requiring public companies to add women to their board of directors. We are proud to partner with the California Partners Project, producing the first comprehensive analysis tracking the shift in gender representation on California boards since the law changed with the passing of SB826.

Read the full report with our findings here! 

Join Us! All Our Talent Legislative Summit

The competitive edge gained by companies when women and men lead together is undeniable. However, women represent 20% of board seats for the largest 3,000 companies in the United States. California is leading the nation in changing this statistic by implementing the first law requiring publicly held companies to put women on their board of directors. California boasts an economy of $3.2 trillion in gross state product, the largest in the United States with 53 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state. This legislation is a strong step toward gender parity.

Through collaboration with government officials, Mine The Gap is working with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce to take this legislation one step further, through the All Our Talent: Women On Boards and Commissions Initiative, to foster positive change in gender diversity, equity, and representation in organizations throughout the San Diego Region, one of the most populated cities in the nation. This initiative will become a model for gender inclusion for cities across the nation. Part of this leading initiative involves engaging women at all levels, tapping into existing talent pools, to open up opportunities and create change for women and organizations. 

Our Co-Founder Jessica N. Grounds will be moderating the All Our Talent Legislative Summit on September 23rd which will highlight women in policymaking roles who have been working on issues related to women’s advancement in the workplace. We invite you to join us for this interactive panel discussion, via Zoom, taking a deeper look into how legislation and policymakers have worked to highlight disparities and how women and men can work together to build more inclusive profitable and responsive businesses and organizations.

Register Here!