She’s Speaking: Honoring International Women’s Day 2021

 
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Since the early 1900s, International Women’s Day (IWD) has been celebrated on March 8 to commemorate women’s rights and equality around the world. It is a day of education, empowerment, and action—elements that scream louder than ever in our current COVID-19 world. 

This year’s IWD theme is  #ChooseToChallenge, encouraging us all to call out inequality and help forge a path to an inclusive society. As we enter 2021, one year since millions of lives were turned upside down by the global pandemic, let us not only celebrate the achievements of women, but the new and ongoing conversations that have surfaced to lead us into a more equal and equitable future for everyone.

A women-led company ourselves, cred is proud to celebrate the women that have inspired and motivated us with their stories and movements. Though there is still so much work to do for gender equality, may we continue to inspire and be inspired, and help move the dial forward.

Meet the Women of cred: Highlighting our women speakers.

As we continue to actively work with more women speakers, we wanted to celebrate some of the voices we’ve had the pleasure of working with. 

Where you might have seen them:

For more videos of our women speakers, visit cred’s Youtube playlist!

Steps to 50/50: Empowering women on stage.

Our event management team works with clients every day to confirm speakers for their event agendas. We’ve loved seeing the shift our clients have taken to be more inclusive and aim for diversity in their sessions. Though it is definitely still a work in progress, we have seen a decline in the number of “manels” that overpowered agendas as recently as two years ago. 

We encourage our clients to focus on gender balance and aim for at least 50% women speakers at each event we help bring to life. Not only does this contribute to the overall mission of women’s empowerment and inclusion, but also this goal helps to vary perspectives on the event’s topics and themes. We feel it is most beneficial to the dialogue and content when several different outlooks are invited to contribute—women/men, LGBTQIA, and BIPOC. 

We are proud to say that as of March 4, 2021 we are at a collective 45% of women speakers across the events we support—just 5% shy of our 50% goal—and we will continue to emphasize the importance of this metric for the rest of the year & beyond.

Upcoming women conferences & podcasts in 2021.

Events, podcasts, and webinars are our bread and butter! With so many contacts across these three mediums, we wanted share some of our favorite: 

  • Events:  

    • Watermark Changemakers Conference | March 25: Featuring speakers like Rosario Dawson, Katherine Ryder, and Ann Young Lee, and others, this one-day conference features a slew of women “who have challenged the status quo, followed their dreams, and disrupted norms in extraordinary ways.”

    • PBWC Conference | May 11 - 13: Going virtual again, PBWC two-day conference is packed with speakers like Kara Goldin, Gloria Steinem, Valerie B. Jarrett, Dr. Bernice A. King, and so many more!

    • Women Impact Tech Events | August - February 2022: Coming back for in-person events in San Francisco, Boston, New York, and Seattle, this exclusive event brings together hundreds of top women engineers with companies who are committed to inclusion and innovation. 

    • Grace Hopper Celebration 2021 | September 26 - 29:  Considered one of the biggest women’s conferences in the world, last year’s virtual event had over 30,000 attendees, 250+ speakers and more than 200 sessions. 

  • Podcasts and webinars: 

    • Women to Watch® Radio Show: Once a week, Susan Rocco sits down with female CEOs, thought leaders and entrepreneurs to share the real story behind their titles on her national radio show. 

    • The Iridescent Podcast‬: A bi-weekly podcast highlighting extraordinary women who are disrupting the norm and pioneering hope. 

      • Past guests have included credClients like Annie Scranton, Julie Sharma, Heather Hansen, Heidi Nel, and our own Caitlin Bartley. 

    • #GirlsWhoProduct Podcast: A series of interviews with women that have been able to beat the “product” ceiling and get into the profession.The podcast’s mission is to inspire, connect, and empower more women to get into product roles and help them consider “product” as a venue of personal and professional growth.

      • Past guests include credClient Carey Jenkins.

Want more women conferences and events? Check out this credTen or read this list. 

If you’re ready to chat about planning an event of your own or getting out on stage, get in touch!

This post was written by Asia Camagong, Charlotte Heckard, and Gina King.

 

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