Summertime inspiration
Changing the world
Welcome to The Chief Brief. Every Sunday, I spotlight global, diverse, and innovative female leaders impacting the world around them. I curate and break down stories from across the world that caught my eye and help you connect with the women you should know, if you don’t already! Welcome to my passion project of building a globally aware and connected community of women leaders.
Your weekly Sunday dose of amazing women changing the world in your in-box!
Happy Sunday!
This weekend I decided to shake up The Chief Brief format a bit. As we all grapple with children home from school, summer schedules, workloads easing a tad bit, and holidays that are finally happening - what better time to be inspired by, get to know, and connect with, a few of the women across the world making massive impact in their chosen fields.
These women were nominated by members of The Chief Brief community as ones we all must all know about. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do. And don’t forget to reach out and connect if you can help their causes, or feel they can contribute to yours!
If you enjoy reading the brief, please spread the word!
Get Inspired by
Dr. Mona Mourshed, Educating the next-gen workforce
You know how the ‘skills shortage’ is every company’s go-to complaint now? Well, Mona Mourshed, the founding CEO of global employment non-profit Generation has the answer. She has created one of the largest global programs by volume that trains and places people of all ages into careers they didn’t previously have skills for. If Mona’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she previously founded and led McKinsey & Company’s global education practice and led McKinsey’s global social responsibility agenda.
Generation is in 14 countries, across 187 cities and has trained 44,760 candidates since it was launched in 2014. The non-profit was founded to tackle youth unemployment, but the Covid crisis has led the organisation to conduct a first of its kind global survey on the prospects of mid-career workers. These are people between 45-60 years of age, seeking or working in entry level and intermediate jobs, and the ones who make up the bulk of the long term unemployed in many parts of the world.
‘Meeting the world’s mid-career moment’ is an eye-opening report. It spans seven countries, includes unemployed mid-career workers, unemployed young adults, mid-career workers who have successfully switched careers, and the employers who do/don’t hire them. In a nutshell, the report is damning. Across the world this group is finding it near impossible to get jobs, despite worldwide calls to address inequality and to advance social justice.
If your company/employer needs skilled workers, reach out to Mona and her team at Generation. There’s the cherry on top for those who are looking for skilled women - 54% of Generation’s graduates are female. There is always a way to find the people you need, if you look for them in the right places!
Jill Houghton, Neurodiversity champ!
Jill Houghton is on a mission to ensure that the global economic recovery doesn’t leave people with disabilities behind. The President and CEO of Disability:IN and her team are working toward the goal of building an inclusive global economy, where people with disabilities can participate fully and meaningfully.
Some of the ways Disability:IN is pushing for inclusive growth is, for example, forming the Autism at Work Employer Roundtable. Set up in 2017 with founding members SAP, Microsoft, EY, JPMorgan Chase, Ford Motor and DXC Technology, the aim was to raise awareness around autism and help other firms with their hiring processes. In four short years the initiative has grown to 36 global companies. The organisation has empowered more than 270 leading brands to advance disability inclusion and equality. It also provides customised disability inclusion consulting for corporations, and most recently set up the 2021 Global Disability Equality Index Pilot.
Are you an employer who wants to understand how to be inclusive? Jill has the answer:
Miriam Gonzalez, Inspiring girls
Miriam González Durántez is a Spanish international trade lawyer, vice chair of UBS Europe and founder of Inspiring Girls International. I remember when she launched Inspiring Girls so many of us who knew her wondered, how would the legal eagle ever find the time for an organisation that would need so much to ensure it was impactful. Never underestimate the power of a woman on a mission. Miriam’s was to mentor young girls around the world, to be who they dream of being.
Serbia was the first country to sign up for Inspiring Girls International. Spain was quick to follow. Now, as Inspiring Girls International celebrates its fifth anniversary, the organisation is in 25 countries (Miriam will announce the 26th country in a couple of weeks!), it spans four continents, and reaches over 24,000 girls.
If you think you want to make a positive change for the next generation of women, think about volunteering with Inspiring Girls. It only takes a commitment of one hour per year. Do note- if you would like to volunteer in the UK, you can do so via Inspiring Girls’ sister charity Inspiring The Future
Mohua Mukherjee, Gup Shup* Queen & Green Economist
Mohua Mukherjee is on a mission to ‘democratise the language of 'Climate Change.’ The economist and former World Bank energy team leader has worked and led investments in 9 sectors of the economy, in 44 countries, across four continents. The lady really knows what she’s talking about, and now she is making the conversation accessible to the young and old. How? She’s (de)jargonising the science and politics of climate change with her LinkedIn series, ‘The Gup Shup* Notes.’
Gup Shup in Hindi means small talk. And there is plenty to gup shup about! From simplifying how cities fight climate change with innovation, impressing friends with climate speak, to the showers you take, easy ways to fight climate change and save money at the same time (who can resist this one?) Mohua sticks to a trademark easy conversational tone in her notes, which are insightful, and powerfully impactful but simple and easy to relate to.
Follow Mohua and her ‘Gup Shup* Notes’ to get on top of climate issues you thought were too complex, too boring, or just not relevant to your life. As Mohua says, it’s your planet too!
Caught my eye
Vaxteen
She is 18 years old, just graduated high school and is helping teens across the United States to take on their vaccine-hesitant parents. Kelly Danielpour founded VaxTeen last year to help young people access vaccines and learn about their options if their parents don’t want them to get vaccinated. And now she is TIME magazine’s featured story of the week.
“A vaccine is a collective health measure. We all have to take part for it to be truly effective.”
False advertising
Don’t believe ads is the lesson here. Australian women’s exercise and fashion retailer Lorna Jane has been fined A$5 million for claiming its ‘anti-virus activewear’ could stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said co-director Lorna Jane Clarkson authorised and approved the LJ Shield Activewear promotional material, was involved in crafting the words and developing the imagery used in the marketing campaign, and personally made some of the false statements contained in a media release and an Instagram video.
The company has 134 stores Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Singapore claimed in its 2020 advertisement that its LJ Shield Activewear “eliminated”, “stopped the spread” and “protected wearers” against “viruses including COVID-19″.
Bursting the Oz-Kiwi bubble
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has suspended quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and all of Australia for at least the next 8 weeks. Travel with the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia had already been paused the delta variant’s fast spread means travel bans will now expand to the entire country.
No breastfeeding @Tokyo2020
Ona Carbonell is Spain’s Olympic entry for synchronised swimming. But she isn’t being allowed to synchronise being a breastfeeding mother, with competing in Tokyo. The Spanish swimmer said she is disappointed and disillusioned that she hasn’t been able to take her breastfeeding son with her to the Olympics.
Ona’s husband and son Kai, who is nearly one, would have to stay in quarantine in a separate hotel and would not be able to leave their room for the 20 or so days she would be in Japan. According to Ona:
“For me to go and breastfeed Kai whenever he needs it during the day I would have to leave the Olympic villa, the team's bubble, and go to the hotel, risking my team's health. I had to make a really tough decision ... because the Japanese government's impositions are not compatible with my athletic performance and being with my family at the same time. I would have to use the breast pump for 20 days hoping that Kai still wants to be breastfed, something which is very important for me.”
Legally high
Legislation and research is helping the cannabis market in Germany to boom. By 2024, Prohibition Partners expects over a million German patients to have access to medical cannabis. That means a market worth €7.7 billion by 2028. Pia Marten founded found Cannovum AG together with co-founder Marius Koose. Just two years after it was founded in 2019, Cannovum has become the first German medical cannabis business listed on the stock exchange, making the 30-year-old Pia Marten the youngest female CEO to have a company listed on a German stock exchange.
Cannovum is the first company to make sustainably cultivated medical cannabis that is free of chemical pesticides and sunlight-grown as well as -ripened available for the German market.
If you enjoyed reading the brief, please don’t forget to spread the word! More folks in this community, the more awareness we have of amazing women leading and changing the world!