The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You: BIC-sters women at Women + Media Career Summit!
The Women + Media Career Summit opened with a speech from Anne del Castillo, Acting Commissioner of New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. She talked about the robust amount of media and entertainment produced in New York City, is the home to major publishers, American broadcast networks, global advertising agencies, record labels, and newspaper. However, the female representative is still lagging – a 2017 study founded that “in the top 110 popular films, only 31% speaking characters were female, just over 7% were directed by women, 10% written by women” and women only compromise of “just less than 1/3 of all creators working in network programs and streaming programs.”
So, what can we do about that? Women + Media Career Summit invites C-suite women from Hearst, CBS, Nilsen, Warner Media to discuss their career journeys and their secrets to success to inspire and encourage the young women in the audience pursuing a career in media.
Kate Lewis, Chief Content Officer of Hearts Magazines discussed the twists and turns to get to her current position, a role that she is the second person to hold. Kate Lewis did not have a linear path: she worked in the art department, oversaw editorial and production, and even worked in HR. Eventually, she moved onto working in digital media. Even though this might seem scattered, Kate Lewis stated that these were the building blocks to understanding all of media. Her advice? Kate Lewis highlighted to be your own advocate and say “yes” to opportunities, even if you do not know. She also took this opportunity to talk about being a leader, especially as a big global company like Hearst. She had to “trust the leadership of the other brands” such as her interviewer, Lucy Kaylin, Editor in Chief of the O, The Oprah Magazine. 
Following Kate Lewis was a panel of conversation with Betty Liu, Executive Vice Chairman of NYSE Holdings, and other C-suite women. Megan Clarken, Chief Commercial Officer at Nilsen Global Media talks about an injury that ended her career as an Olympics athletic and needs to find another career path. She talked about her transition and how her athletic background helped, learning to “get up when you’re pushed down. You might not always win, you might not get selected, but it’s important to get up when you’re pushed down.”
Laurie Rosenfield, Chief People Officer at CBS Corporation talks about her short-lived career at being an actress and how her height (being at 6 feet) was her barrier. One night while waiting tables, she realized that she did not want to be there in ten years and took the leap to work for a television station. What she advised to all the students is to “be open, be confident, be curious.”
Kristina Newman-Scott, President at BRIC stressed the importance of listening to yourself; her parents wanted her to be an accountant and she wanted to be an artist. She followed her own instinct, putting herself through art school. She also talked about the other women she met in her career path and stated that “there is a lot of space in the world; I got my little space, you got your little space, we all have space. As women, we have to champion each other, we cannot be crabs in a battle – let’s lift each other up.”
Yrthya A. Dinzey-Flores, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, Diversity & Inclusion at Warner Media talks about the toxic relationship with her employer who kept her down, turning down sponsoring a leadership program in Japan. She decided to quit and took a look at what her next career path should be. Even though all the women advice to say “yes” to opportunities, work hard and be respectful and nice, Yrthya A. Dinzey-Flores talked about how not be taken advantage of and being given all the minuscule work: “Navigate your niceness in an effective and assertive way. it’s about figuring how to smartly navigate some of those asks.”
Even though all these C-suite women are successful and accomplished, their paths to their positions were not linear. Even the Acting Commissioner of New York City’s Office of Media and Entertainment - she worked in public broadcasting, independent films, and even went to law schools. As the opener of the Women + Carrer Summit said, “take risks.”
You might not know where it might lead you!
