Women's Leadership Forum Presented by SBN - SEMA Businesswomen's Network - header Women's Leadership Forum Presented by SBN - SEMA Businesswomen's Network - mobile header

 

With a fresh take on what it means to provide opportunities for women in the automotive industry, SBN has held back-to-back Women's Leadership in 2023 and 2022. More than 50 women have participated each year, where they spent three days networking and learning how to advance their careers. Hear about their experiences and what benefits they were able to get from attending.

Hear from attendees on their experiences and the benefits of joining this event.

"The Women's Leadership Forum impacted me both personally or professionally in so many ways. I left feeling empowered and inspired. I cried during Erin King's discussion. All of the speakers really resonated with me personally and professionally. Not only am I a leader in my organization, but I also lead a family and a friend group. The discussions that I attended were applicable to many aspects of my life."
—Aliceje Keyburn, Yamaha Motor Corp.

"I was able to take a risk and put myself out there. I met some great women through networking and have already exchanged conversation with them after the event. I loved the "queen bee" syndrome Angelia spoke about. I also enjoyed Shaundra's story of her first failed talk but not giving up, Erin King brought a lot of energy, and I loved the borrow someone's cape tip. I took a personal impact on the importance of my own health and fitness and how that effects my day-to-day decisions, engery level/my ability to work better."
—Katlin Weber, T Sportline

"SBN leadership gave me the confidence and boost I needed to advance my career. I realized I was selling myself short by setting my goal out at such a long term, when I am ready now and I don't need to wait on anyone to teach me or show me what I need to learn: I can teach myself and study and learn it on my own. There is nothing that in unattainable. SBN taught me some leadership skills I was lacking that were so beneficial, that not only will help me, but more importantly, help my teams that I lead!"
—April Rogers, Dee Zee Inc.

"I'm new to the industry and it helped me come out of my shell and network. I also learned a little more on how I could better my company as a female owner, and how to talk to my employees and have them take me seriously. In addition to networking activities, the event included sessions with expert speakers, several that were led by the world-renown Dale Carnegie program. Topics focused on creating and building skill sets in high-performance leadership, dealing with difficult people and emotional intelligence."
—Christina Storm, Ikon Industries LLC

"I needed this more than I thought. I have gone to these types of events before but never with others in our industry. It was so impactful to see the other women in our industry that go through all the same things that I am going through. My bond with other women and business owners grew 10 times what I thought it would. It was great to spend time with them all especially outside of the SEMA Show."
—Sara Morosan, LGE-CTS Motorsports

"It was refreshing to be surrounded by other positive and empowering women, discussing both personal and professional development and leadership opportunities. At times I forget there are many powerful women in this industry, so networking with everyone in attendance was a priceless experience for me."
—Mallorie Anderson, QA1

MORE TESTIMONIALS

WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE (BY THE NUMBERS)

Women have worked their way through the ranks of the professional world to represent well over half of the US workforce. Yet, they continue to hold a vastly smaller percentage of leadership positions than men in various sectors. WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

As of 2023, 35% of top management positions are held by women.

  • This is despite the fact that women make up more than half of the workforce in the United States as of 2022.

As of 2023, women hold 10.4% of leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies.

  • There are a total of 52 women running businesses on the Fortune 500 list, an all-time high. In 2021, two Black women were running Fortune 500 companies for the first time ever, Roz Brew at Walgreens Boots Alliance and Thasunda Brown Duckett at TIAA.

Women make up 27.9% of the 117th United States Congress.

  • This translates to 147 women out of 535 seats across both the House of Representatives and the Senate. While this is a 50% increase from the previous decade, it's still far from representing the full percentage of the female population.

The industries with the highest rates of women in leadership include human resources (74.85%), education/social services (41%), healthcare (41%), and hospitality (33%).

  • Close runner-ups included food and beverage services (27%) and financial services (25%).

The industries with the lowest rates of women in leadership include mining/quarrying (12%), construction/real estate (18%), and transport (19%).

  • Other industries with low rates of women in leadership are manufacturing (19%) and technology (19%).

Women represent 56.5% of medical students and 55.75% of law students in the United States; however, they only account for 37% of doctors and 40% of lawyers.

  • The trend of women accounting for more than half of the students in a higher education program but then receiving only a little more than a quarter of jobs in the field is common among many industries.

WOMEN OF COLOR IN LEADERSHIP

For women of color, the climb to be equally represented in leadership roles has been even more laggard. While today's statistics about women in leadership show improvement from years past, there's much more work to be done.

Less than 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women of color

WHO IS SBN?

The SEMA Businesswomen's Network is a dynamic group of professionals representing the women of SEMA. The SBN oversees the continued development and management of the SEMA Mentoring Program, the Annual SEMA Speed Networking Breakfast, opportunities for SBN Member Networking, SBN Communications, SBN Projects, development of articles and member features, contributes regularly to SEMA Member News, and much more!

SBN DIRECTOR

Nicole Bradle - SBN Director - headshot

Nicole Bradle

nicoleb@sema.org
909-323-2149