VEST Her Podcast

As proven by the Covid-19 pandemic, our economy relies on a broken care system and unpaid caregiving, which have played a major role in the pay and wealth gap for women, keeping women from fully participating in the labor force, and minimizing our economy's potential. So, why haven't we've done anything about it? Join us as we talk to Yi-Hsian Godfrey, CEO & co-founder of Apiari...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own a business? The highs, the lows, the untold stories? Fifty years ago, the idea of women managing their own company would have seemed ambitious at best. Today, more women are choosing entrepreneurship. In fact, there are now more women entrepreneurs than ever before. Why are so many women choosing this path? According to a recent study women liste...

What are the systems and societal norms getting in the way of women achieving economic mobility? How do we call out and dismantle those systems? In this episode we talk to Ruchika Tulshyan, author of Inclusion on Purpose : An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (MIT Press). She’s also the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy practice. A former international busi...

With many women still not returning to work after Covid-19 lockdowns and many of them still reporting high numbers of burnout, it can be difficult to find reasons to be optimistic about the state of women in business. But here’s one highlight: A recent report from the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) and 50-50 Women on Boards found that 2021 was a “watershed year” for women on corporate boards,...

Most people confuse personal brand with reputation but they are two different things. Everyone has a reputation. The first impressions we make, the relationships we form with managers and peers, and how we communicate — all of these things impact how others see us. Our personal brand, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It's how we want other people to see us.  We can curate our pers...

Companies don't scale unless we take the time to delegate. We also know that teams don't grow unless give them the opportunity to take on challenging projects. But even when we know delegating leads to productivity and developing employees, it's often hard to do because it requires us to trust others. Trust doesn't come naturally to everyone. It's also hard to build trust...

At many organizations there is a gap between the existing culture and the “desired” culture — the culture needed to support and advance the company’s goals and strategies. In the past, organizational culture was for the most part, an initiative led by the CEO and Human Resources. HR would design a campaign to tout a mission statement and the core values the CEO and senior management developed. Thi...

More than 50 million people now consider themselves creators, fostering a “creator economy” which is now valued at more than $100 billion . — The surge has been especially pronounced over the last year, with a growing cohort of women pursuing opportunities in the creator economy. But What are the opportunities for women? What are the challenges? Particularly as it relates to mental health. Join us...

In this episode we talk to Stephanie LeBlanc-Godfrey, Global Head of Inclusion Programs for Women of Color at Google about different ways we can support, promote, and invest in women of color not just in the workplace but at home and in our communities. For Stephanie’s full bio, show notes and resources mentioned on this episode go to www. VESTHer.co/podcast   Special thanks to VEST Member Dr. Mau...

It's that time again. When we welcome the new year, enthusiastic about setting new goals and developing new habits. The problem is, we don’t always follow through. So to gain perspective, we invited Ahniwake Rose , Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute , to talk about her approach to goal settings and to keeping herself accountable. We also talk about the barriers affecting wome...

Leslie Osborn was elected as Oklahoma's twentieth Labor Commissioner in 2018 and is currently serving a four year term. Prior to being elected Labor Commissioner Leslie served ten years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives representing District 47. During her tenure she was appointed chair the Judiciary committee, the first female in state history to do so and as chair the House Appropria...

Seventy percent of Healthcare workers are women , including ninety percent of nurses, and ninety three percent of midwives, yet only twenty five percent of healthcare leadership roles are held by women. Why is that? In this episode we talk to Robyn Sunday-Allen , Chief Executive Officer of the Oklahoma City Indian Health Clinic about how the lack of women in leadership positions affect women'...

Sevetri Wilson is the Founder and CEO of Resilia , a technology company enabling nonprofits to increase capacity. She is also the Author of Resilient: How to overcome anything and build a million dollar business with or without capital . Prior to founding Resilia, at age 22, Sevetri bootstrapped her first company, Solid Ground Innovations, to seven figures without raising any outside funding. Sinc...

When it comes to law school, women outnumber men in both enrollment (54%) and graduation (51%) rates with women of color representing 20% of those numbers. Women also account for almost half, or 47% of all law associates, though that percentage drops to just 22% (three percent women of color) when looking at the number of equity partners at law firms. There is also a big discrepancy in earnings. M...

Claudia San Pedro is the first woman and first Latina to serve as President of SONIC Drive-In, one of the largest fast food restaurant chains in the U.S. She was recently recognized as HERoes Women Executive Role Model , and LATINA Executive of the Year by LATINA Style.  Prior to SONIC, Claudia was appointed by Gov. Brad Henry, as the first female and first Hispanic to serve as director of state f...

Jill Wesley is the Founder of the Science and Soul of Speaking where she works with accomplished professionals who are already doing incredible work and now need to speak about it on bigger stages. Across her career, Jill has trained and coached over 80,000 executives and high-performing employees in some of the world's top companies and institutions like LinkedIn, Twitter, Square, Adobe, Net...

True or False: Some of our biggest adversaries in the workplace have been other women.  Women have often been put in situations where we've felt we have to be territorial. This has led to a cultural divide and competitive landscape amongst women.  How do we break up with this notion so we can claim power collectively, in a way that still acknowledges the roots we have and the lessons we need...

Women account for almost all of the job losses since the Covid-19 pandemic started and are nearly twice as likely as men to lose their jobs, post-pandemic. Women of color experience even higher rates of unemployment and discrimination. In a recent study, Newsweek reported how the pandemic could cost a typical woman in America, $600,000 in lifetime income.  To make things worse, according to Mckins...