SAN DIEGO, CA - Cultivating women’s potential… that was the goal this week as industry members gathered at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, California for the 3rd annual PMA Foundation Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference. I was one of this year’s newbies and can’t tell you enough how much the event offered and affected me, as a writer, a woman, and a professional.
The three-day event was complete with concurrent workshops that included Woman Up!: Overcome the 7 Deadly Sins that Sabotage Your Success with Aimee Cohen and He Sells/She Sells: The Truth About Gender Selling with Colette Carlson.
Each experience offered insights into developing female leadership while recognizing the challenges that stand in our way and forming strategies to address them.
Dan'l Mackey Almy, President and CEO of DMA Solutions, reflected on the event and told me, "A focused event like Women's Fresh Perspective is important because professional and personal development is a constant need. By having an event specific to women, the PMA Foundation is able to provide a unique learning environment that fosters connections through commonalities that advance the education process."
"An exciting movement is happening in our industry and it's incredible to be a part of that," Leslie Simmons, Marketing Manager, Dave's Specialty Imports tells me. "I am absolutely thrilled walking away from the Women's Fresh Perspectives Conference. It has once again provided a forum unlike any other in our industry. The energy was palpable and the educational sessions were transformative for me, both personally and professionally."
Networking Breakfasts and Strolling Dinner Receptions allowed attendees to meet a range of industry women, from emerging leaders to executives and beyond. The newly introduced executive track was also a popular element to the program this year and offered content geared to those on the executive track. The two sessions Overcoming Your Leadership Derailers – Tactics that Get Results and It’s Lonely at the Top – Building a Community of Support both sought to address the challenges and hurdles that women at the top are confronted with, as well as those issues that can be encountered along the way.
In addition, the PMA Foundation introduced a new mentoring program that was designed during the conference with participating executives and will offer participants a blended approach to mentoring, customized to the needs of all and will incorporate all facets of mentoring approaches. Stay tuned to learn more about getting involved.
One of my favorite highlights was the closing session with Geena Davis as the keynote speaker. A world-class athlete who qualified for the Olympic trials in archery, member of the genius society Mensa, and founder of her non-profit for women and girls, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, this powerful woman is a pillar for fresh perspectives.
During her segment of the conference ‘Geena Takes Aim: Empowering Women’ Geena shared her own journey as an actor and how evolving our gender identities can start in film. She advocates for gender equality in entertainment in order to address the biases that we form at an early age about women and their representations in society. Keep an eye out for a more in-depth story on the amazing actor and woman.
Another highlight from the conference was Monday afternoon’s panel She Speaks: Innovation, New Ideas in a New World With PMA’s President and CEO Cathy Burns, moderating the event. Panelists Judith Spires, President and CEO, AG Supermarket Holdings ; Jill Kanin-Lovers, Corporate Director, Heidrick & Struggles/HPF and Sureena Thiara, Partner, Manseena Orchards and Far Horizon Crop Insurance, shared the hurdles and achievements that marked their growth as women leaders. From long standing organization cultures, generational differences, and male dominated industries and hierarchies, these women fueled change in their respective roles and brought a new side of the female leader and what that looks like today.
If you missed this year’s stats… here ya go:
This year’s outstanding list of industry newcomers, veterans and everyone in between, was comprised of 53% newcomers and 47% of returning guests.
The roles in the group were also across the board, with guests describing themselves in a host of different areas...
- 60% describe themselves as growers/packers/shippers
- 30% describe themselves as emerging leaders
- 48% describe themselves as in middle of their careers
- 20% describe themselves as executives
Within these overlapping percentages, more than 10 retailers attended the event.
If you missed out on this year’s conference, I suggest you mark your calendars now for the 2016 Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference.
