WELCOME TO THE DANCE Women Leaders on Diversity & Inclusion
T
he direct selling channel has always represented an opportunity for all—and is even described as the “democratization of entrepreneurship.” But in today’s world of inclusion and diversity, are companies being good stewards of that heritage value? We asked some of today’s top direct selling leaders to share their thoughts on diversity and inclusion efforts at their companies. Deborah Gibbins, COO, Mary Kay Inc. Our initiatives were out there as part of our overall ten-year goals from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective. But certainly, they have taken on a new sense of urgency and relevance. Each one of the senior executive leaders at Mary Kay has sent a message out to our employees, being clear about the actions we are taking corporately, and then leader by leader and function by function. So certainly in the last year, it has become a huge part of our broader strategy. We are fortunate in Mary Kay that it is our heritage. It is our roots. We were founded by a woman who wanted to create opportunity for other women. That was the whole reason why Mary Kay Ash started the company. She had been passed over for promotion after promotion after promotion. She got tired of training men to do a job that she was able to do, and she got frustrated by it. And so it is in our DNA and we are fortunate as a company that it has translated over the years. We are going to be very transparent about our own statistics and where we stand in terms of what employment looks like at Mary Kay at all levels—whether male, female, people of color—and having conversations, being open first on where we stand, and then holding each of our leaders accountable for different objectives.
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January 2021
Even if your statistics are great and your diversity numbers reflect your broader community, there are always things you can be doing. We have been working, for example, with the United Nations on several initiatives. One is a women’s entrepreneurship accelerator. Part of that is empowering women entrepreneurs all around the world. One of the tactics is changing your procurement methodology. While my teams have great diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) numbers, we can always be better. The functions that I lead have great statistics when we roll them up. One area I could do better in is procurement and how do we bring more women and women-owned businesses and people of color-owned businesses into our procurement landscape. That is just one way we are thinking about it in terms of weaving it into our whole CSR strategy. Jane Edwards Creed, President & CEO, WineShop At Home I think that, in our channel, we have all developed such strong cultures. Each company is a culture unto itself. We live in a nation that is so divided, one side or the other side. What we really found ourselves guided by is a strong desire to be united without judgment of others. We call ourselves One Wine Nation. That’s one of our taglines—Wine Shop At Home, One Wine Nation—No Red, No Blue. Just great wines that unite us in a shared experience. And that message really seems to be resonating, especially in these times. What we have found is that in the past year we have attracted more people of color and more people from diverse backgrounds, which I find absolutely wonderful and fascinating. And it also really behooves all of us to understand the cultures around us—whether it is the MeToo Movement or the Black Lives Matter
