Last week we hosted our third event in the Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business series. Set in the sleek, open office of eMarketer, a leading market research and industry insights firm, over 70 women of all ages and industries joined us for the morning event.

We’ve been sharing snippets of our panelists in anticipation of the Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business event, happening this Thursday morning at eMarketer. We also wanted to highlight one of the key forces behind (and in front of!) this event, our moderator: Rabia de Lande Long.

We asked Rabia to share with us a little more about herself and her career. Below are her responses:

In case you missed it, we have our semi-annual women’s event, Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business, this Thursday. In anticipation, we want to introduce you to one of our panelists: Liz Elting, CEO, TransPerfect.

We asked Liz to share with us a bit about herself and her background, and here’s what she had to say:

As we gear up for our semi-annual women’s panel, Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business (check out recaps of our events from last October and this April), we wanted to introduce you to one of our panelists: Lori Blinder Barr, Director of Buyer Platforms, Tremor Video.

We asked Lori to share with us a little more about herself and her career. Below are her responses:

How to navigate your sales career in today’s ever-changing media landscape? We recently took on the topic in an evening of craft beer and conversation with sales leader, John DiLeo, VP of Sales and Marketing at DNAinfo, attended by over 30 individuals at all levels of their careers. Our very own Eugenia Neri Mini moderated a lively discussion with John in which he challenged the audience to consider a range of issues (including their greatest personal achievements and what comes to mind when they think of “sales people”) and offered advice, personal experiences, and suggestions for how to close a difficult sale.

With our roots firmly planted in promoting women in business (“CFW” stands for our original company name, “Careers for Women”), CFW has been dedicated to the mission of creating an equal workforce for over 40 years (43, to be exact!). After hosting our event, Changing the Conversation: Women in Leadership, last month, CFW Careers President, Cynnie King, reflected, “the hiring and promotion process for advancing women into higher level positions needs to be intentional.” We’re certainly not alone in our attention to this topic.

We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate our 43rd anniversary as CFW Careers (originally Careers for Women) last week then by hosting our second event in the Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business series. Set in the spacious and sunlit office of eMarketer, a leading market research and industry insights firm, over 60 women of all ages and industries joined us for the breakfast event.

For many businesses, Q1 is synonymous with hiring. Budgets are big, and companies are eager to beat last year’s revenue; this means bringing in more clients, which means bringing in more employees. However, once you’ve gone through the hiring process and secured your new employees, your job is far from over. The first 3 months (and sometimes longer!) are crucial to the success or failure of a new hire. We recently outlined the structure and benefits of a good training program, and now we’d like to provide a few easy pointers on how to effectively manage a new employee. We asked Dave Rowe, US Head of Sales at Institutional Investor, for his advice, and below are a few tips for successfully onboarding so that you don’t find yourself back at square one of the hiring process mid-way through Q2!

Last year we examined the role that Employer Brand plays in attracting and maintaining talent, and a recurring theme in our conversation was the importance of training—both initially in onboarding and continuously as professional development throughout an employee’s tenure. We’ve found that among millennials in particular this rates among the top factors they seek in a new position.

Last month we hosted our first industry-specific wine tasting, in an effort to facilitate discussion around industry trends important to our candidates and clients. Surrounded by an intimate group of individuals with various levels of experience in the industry, our guest Brendan Spain, US Commercial Director at the Financial Times, shared some insight on the ever-changing digital media landscape, what it’s like to work at The FT, and most importantly, his preferred East Coast skiing destination

At the end of October we hosted the first women’s event in our new series, Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business focusing on Planning Your Career with Leadership as an End Goal. Over 60 women (and several men!) joined us for the breakfast event, held in the office loft space of Schoology, a leader in EdTech. With coffee and bagels in hand, our audience took notes, tweeted, and engaged with the guest speakers, women representing different aspects of leadership. Moderated by CFW’s President, Cynnie King, our panelists shared their personal experiences and insights into building a career, facing challenges, managing priorities, and taking risks. By 9 am, attendees were on their way out the door, hopefully feeling refreshed and ready to tackle their daily challenges with a new sense of purpose (we certainly did!).

A few notable takeaways:

WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN TO SPEAK OUT

by David W. King

Originally published in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, December 13, 1979

They marched in small rows in my grandmother’s day. And for short distances. Her name was Marie Louise Arthur: “Molly” to her husband; “Mama” to her children. My generation never met her, my mother’s mother, but we all knew of her.

We were proudly shown the reprint from the newspaper, with the photograph of her ten children pyramided in front of her: one of them my mother, the uncles and aunts. The story was almost too faded to read, but it was fun to see what Aunt Gladys looked like at age 22, and Uncle Dave – the baby – at age three. And all the others in between, except for Uncle Eddie, who hadn’t been born yet. The story was framed and proudly hung on a wall in our living room. She even made the cover.

“The New York World Magazine and Story Section” was dated August 16, 1914, and a crowd of fifty marchers must have been a pretty big deal in those days – in the days before a demonstration was a demonstration. I imagined all 50 to be just like grandmother: big-bosomed, dresses to the ankles, and all with hair piled on top of their heads like dark brown popovers.