Happy Saturday and welcome to CEO Speaks for Saturday June 3, 2023.
This week kicks off the start of Pride month, and here at TMA we pride ourselves in being agents for a better tomorrow. From implementation of DE&I initiatives aimed at supporting new pathways into our industry, to programming aimed at greater understanding of community, the better business of inclusiveness, and how to be better allies for each other and those who need our support and mentorship, we at TMA will always stand for all people being seen, heard and respected.
Last week, the women of our organization brought these very words to life during the 2023 TMA Network of Women (NOW) Global Summit held in NYC. Lead by TMA NOW co-chairs Ebba Gebisa and Rakhee Patel, as well as a planning committee that drove a comprehensive, creative and exceptional program, we showed how the women of our organization and their allies empower, support, create and connect in defining ways.
When we say you are a part of something bigger through TMA, we mean that nowhere else can you connect with a welcoming community of newcomers, luminaries and everyone in between who are part of our vast and engaged global network, that champions inclusiveness at the highest levels.
Welcoming leaders from all over the world, the women of TMA including representatives from Italy, Germany and Serbia, as well as leaders and luminaries from all throughout the US, gathered to celebrate the growing population of women who define TMA.
From start to finish the NOW Summit did not disappoint. From breakfast with Tiffany’s to exploring the challenges of retail and big Pharma insolvency featuring trailblazers of our industry including Laura Davis Jones of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, and Holly Etlin, of Alix Partners, women of our time, as well as truly ahead of their time, and forces to be reckoned with in our industry, who have raised the bar on professional excellence, to a program on the business of Broadway on the Summit main stage, led by powerhouse women of the theater world, including Wendy Federman, Amy Hasselbeck and Emily Lawson, the women of NOW left no stone unturned and showed diversity of thought, power and leadership in creative and real time, real world and relevant ways.
Likewise, a keynote by Dr. Arin N. Reeves, an expert in workplace leadership and inclusion, managing energy levels, making time for yourself and learning how to say no, was a moment of learning and understanding, that was an important learning to both the women in the room and for those of us who now have a better understanding and appreciation, as their allies, in how we can be supportive of their needs.
As shared by TMA Global Chair Jane Mitnick who participated in this defining conference experience, ‘IT WAS A DAY OF INSPIRATION, CONNECTIVITY, AND EMPOWERMENT…I COULDN’T BE TMA PROUDER OF THE WOMEN OF TMA.’
I couldn’t agree more, and as an organization that seeks to be more inclusive, more understanding, and more connected with those who have been left out of the conversation of professional and societal betterment, we forge forward, creatively, and constructively to support a positive and prideful future.
LGBTQ+ Pride this month we celebrate, is a reminder of the hard work of a community that has risen from the sigma of the AIDS/HIV crisis, to today where we are free to marry, build a loving family and be considered equal in a world that still struggles with inequalities not just within our own community, but in other minority communities as well.
Today we celebrate who we are, and the community of allies that support like-minded values and who make us better and show how as a society we are better together for reciprocal support of the needs of others too.
We celebrate inclusion, the ability to be out, and to mentor others to stand with pride and support one another in the world community we are all a part of. Women, Men, Trans, Queer, Black, White, Jewish, Muslim…amongst many others who have and continue to suffer at the hand of oppressors who dare to diminish who we are, I am here to tell you that this Pride month, I take the message of my LGBTQ+ community to a greater world, to assure we all have the opportunity to be equal and to thrive.
This Pride we celebrate dignity and respect of all. As stated so eloquently by the late LGBTQ+ activist and politician, Harvey Milk:
“It takes no compromise to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.”
Happy Pride and may we be greater people for embracing the differences in who we are and all that together we can do and be to make a better world for each other and generations to come.
As always, thanks for taking the time to listen today. In the one connection that is you, your input is critical, your contributions paramount, and your engagement the foundation that will create a better TMA for all our members.
Until next time, I’m Scott Stuart. Be safe, resilient, and TMA Proud.