Forma’s Post

To wrap up Women’s History Month, last week I had the opportunity to moderate a 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 panel discussion here at Forma. Getting to plan and host this panel session was a complete honor, and I feel so energized about celebrating the amazing women around me, encouraging the next generation of female talent, and elevating discussions that can inspire anyone across the gender spectrum. We covered so much ground during this internal event, including: 🤩 A look back at these accomplished leaders’ career paths, all the way back to the childhood dreams of what they wanted to be when they grew up 🤩 Perspectives on leadership styles and how each woman’s approach has evolved over time 🤩 Pivotal moments and breakthroughs in life and at work that shaped each woman’s career 🤩 The confidence gap – or lack thereof – for women at work and how anybody can increase their own confidence no matter where they are in their career 🤩 The hotly debated idea that women can or should “have it all” and how to optimize for balance in life instead 🤩 Insights into how male colleagues can be – and in many cases already are – strong allies to women at work 🤩 Ideas on how to accelerate the pathway to true gender parity in the workplace (since McKinsey predicts it will take 48 years, and that’s simply too long) 🤩 What each panelist would tell her younger self – the girl with the “someday I’ll be…” dream – if she had an opportunity to speak to her today Huge thanks to Forma’s Chief Revenue Officer Emily Roccheggiani, our Chief Customer Officer Jaclyn Berger, and our VP of People Operations Misty Mountain for sharing your insights and stories, and for trusting me with leading such an important conversation. This was actually my first time ever moderating a panel discussion, and it was really important to me to do a great job and set up each of the panelists to shine. It meant the world to see colleagues from across departments, countries, and genders engaging throughout the session and saying things like: 💬 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛’𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑! 𝑌’𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑! 💬 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 💬 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡! 💬 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝐴𝑅𝐾! 💬 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙! This was such a personally fulfilling way to honor Women’s History Month. Thank you again to my esteemed panel and thank you to Forma for championing women’s experiences and making space for educational and inspiring sessions like this one. 🎤