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Thank you for joining us for #OWiB2016 - Friday was a blast! 320 registrants spent the day learning from and connecting with one another at the Out Women in Business Conference in New York. We couldn’t have pulled off this great conference without our presenting sponsors: Accenture, EY, Liberty Mutual, our reception sponsor: Citi, and our airline sponsor: United Airlines.

As a recap, beginning around 9:00am, we heard from some incredible speakers and thinkers who broadened our minds and challenged what it means to be an out woman at work.

Arwa Mahdawi gave us a view into the complexities of diversity at work today. She spoke about how to avoid tokenism and combat institutional inequality. Taking on the adage of “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” Arwa uses humor to combat inequality. In fact, she created the satirical website Rent-A-Minority to shine a spotlight on systemic inequality!

After Arwa’s talk, we learned from five incredible people about being out women across the world. Representing Europe, Asia, and South America, Milena Otasevic (one of our steering committee members from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University) spoke withMaria Sjödin (OutRight Action International), Karen Potter (Citi), Maital Dar (EY), and Bachul Koul (A.T. Kearney) at length. They each talked about their experiences, particularly speaking to how difficult it can be to be out in regions of the world where homosexuality is either still a crime or not widely accepted in society.

After a brief break, we dug into design thinking with Lotus Child from Arson Agency. Lotus led us in a workshop to push our boundaries and keep our creativity flowing when we approach problems and design solutions. Jacob Tobia, a genderqueer activist, taught us about how problematic the gender binary is for gender justice. They encouraged us to open our minds when we think about what an “out woman” is.

Jennifer Brown facilitated a discussion across industries between  Annise Parker,  Roberta Kaplan, and Nevin Caple. Each of them gave lessons from their own experiences — in politics, law and sports, respectively — about how being an LBT woman has affected their professional lives and where they think the moment for equality is headed. Finally, we learned from  Vivienne Ming‘s time in the tech industry and her research on the unexpected tax on LGBT people due to recruiting in the job market. She gave us great insights into how to combat the stigma from the work she’s doing. We closed off Friday with a networking reception at the end of the day, sponsored by Citi.

Then on Saturday a small group of OWiB attendees came together to meet with a dozen inner-city at-risk LBT youth for a mentor program with SCAN NY (facilitated by United).  Those who were able to attend walked away inspired by their experience.

Thanks to everyone who came to learn, speak, and support Out Women in Business! We hope to see all of you again at the conference next Spring.

To help us make this event even better for our 3rd year, please give us your feedback by taking this quick survey!

Posted by Reaching Out LGBT / in LGBTQ BUSINESS STUDENT BLOG / No comments yet

Last weekend Reaching Out premiered  “Queer Women in Business,” which is designed as specific programming throughout the year for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women at all career stages(professionals/alumni and students) in business to foster a stronger network of visibility and support in the workplace.

The initial activity was our NYC Queer Women in Business Summit on March 7th.  192 lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer women from young professionals to senior management at over 75 organizations joined us for a day of speakers, panels and other content.  The NYC Summit will return Spring 2016 – look out for other QWIB events this year!

Here’s the second of several videos from the Queer Women in Business NYC Summit, featuring keynote speaker Brigadier General Tammy Smith.

More about Tammy Smith:

Tammy Smith is a career Army Officer. Her current assignment is Deputy Chief of Staff, United States Army Reserve, responsible for synchronizing strategic planning and resourcing for a world-wide, 205K military force. Tammy made history in August 2012 when Tracey Hepner promoted her to Army brigadier general. With the simple act of having her wife place a General’s star on her shoulder, Brigadier General Smith became the first gay or lesbian general/flag officer to serve openly in the United States military. This promotion occurred less than 1-year after repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. military. Her education includes a Masters in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College and a Doctorate in Management and Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix. Tammy serves on the Deloitte External Inclusion Advisory Council in addition to the Out and Equal Workplace Advocates Board of Directors. She has been featured in the Oregon Quarterly and Out magazine, and More magazine’s 2013 Fierce List, which included 50 women who made brave stands. She is currently profiled in Diversity Journal- Women Worth Watching in 2015.