B2 March 2023 | Remarkable Women | parkcitiespeople.com
14 STORIES Highly Successful Companies Invest In Women ENCOURAGE, AND INSPIRE Women bring dynamic value to leadership roles. Harvard Business Review research shows that women in leadership positions are perceived as being every bit as effective as men. “In fact, women were thought to be more effective in 84% of the competencies DE B R A H U N T E R most often measured. JOHNSON Women make highly competent leaders, according to those who work most closely with them — and what’s holding them back is not lack of capability but a lack of opportunity.” Now, in a post-pandemic world, Texans should pay attention to the startling data that now, more than in recent years, women are considering leaving the workforce. Citing issues such as inflexible work practices, lack of childcare, and burnout, women are leaving their companies at unprecedented rates. McKinsey & Company’s annual Women in Workplace 2022 survey indicates that the situation is dire: 46% of women of color are planning to leave their job in the next
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Jennifer Stimpson
T.D. JAKES FOUNDATION CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER By Maria Lawson
maria.lawson@peoplenewspapers.com
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if it is disaggregated by gender, race, and age. The numbers will illuminate pay disparities and underrepresentation and provide a roadmap to solutions. For every 100 men who are promoted from entry level to manager, 87 women are promoted, and 82 women of color are promoted, according to McKinsey. In the ongoing war for talent, an analysis is a first step to ensuring that top talent can be retained. Highly successful companies work to invest in women and address the intersection of race and gender in their corporate processes. Those who hire and promote women early and often offer flexible working conditions and ensure diverse representation in leadership will find themselves at the top of their industries with a high-quality, sustainable workforce. Debra Hunter Johnson serves on the Texas Women’s Foundation Board of Directors and as the 2023-2024 Economic Leadership Council co-chair. She considers her role an opportunity to help build the next generation of leaders who understand the connection between gender equity and economic prosperity. She also is the founder, president, and principal consultant of Reciprocity Consulting Group, Inc.
The experiences, though limited [due to COVID-19], provided me with insight on the importance of having educator voices in federal spaces. Jennifer Stimpson
COURTESY T.D. JAKES FOUNDATION
hat better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than by featuring inspiring women in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow? Our thoughts exactly, so we present to you our new special section, Remarkable Women. In this 12-page section, we profile 14 trailblazing women — probably including some familiar faces and new friends. These women were selected by People Newspapers’ staff with M A R I A L AWS O N the help of some nominations from the section’s presenting sponsor, the Texas Women’s Foundation. Philanthropists, business leaders, STEM experts, and other women doing important work made the cut this year. Learning their stories has been inspiring. It’s encouraging to see the change one woman can make, regardless of the field. Some standouts include: • A former legislative fellow who co-authored legislation declaring International Women and Girls in Science Day. • Highland Park’s first, “but hopefully not last,” female mayor. • A cancer-surviving former model, who now works for SMU’s global programs department. • A real estate entrepreneur who has sold a home to the Bush family among other iconic Dallas names. We also asked each woman to share a remarkable woman in their life. They told us about role models, family members, and longtime friends who have shaped them into who they are now. To learn about who inspires the 14 women in this section, visit the QR code below. We hope you enjoy meeting some of our remarkable neighbors who continue to do good in our community each day. Do you know of a local remarkable woman we should have on our radar for next year? Let me know at maria.lawson@ peoplenewspapers.com.
three to six months, as are 35% of White women. According to Fortune.com, if we brought back the 1.067 million women missing from the labor force since February 2020, we could close the worker-toopen-job gap by almost 25%. In a region that has been wildly successful at enticing companies to relocate, North Texas must continue to invest in the next generation of talent, and that includes the nearly 50% of women that make up the workforce. In my work, I strengthen leadership capacity, corporate culture, and the employee experience to make companies more competitive. My firm focuses organizations on growing sustainably productive cultures by advancing innovation in talent acquisition, development, succession planning, retention, and DEI. By leveraging 30 years of deep human capital management, legal, and governance expertise across numerous industries, I help companies drive longterm value. To build an engaged, motivated, and productive leadership team, I encourage my clients to dive as deeply into their people data as they do their financials. The story is always in the data — especially
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eb. 11 marks International Women and Girls in Science Day each year. Jennifer Stimpson, chief program officer for the T.D. Jakes Foundation, is one of the people we can thank for it. She co-authored the resolution declaring the holiday during her 2020-2021 term as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow in Capitol Hill. “As a fellow, my role was to influence federal policy that’s centered around STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education,” Stimpson said. “The experiences, though limited [due to COVID-19], provided me with insight on the importance
of having educator voices in federal spaces.” STEM has always been one of her passions. She worked as a science educator at Dallas ISD for 11 years and The Hockaday School for 12 years before starting her gig at T.D. Jakes. She says some assets she brought to the classroom were providing career-driven lessons and showing students how science influences their day-to-day lives, such as through technology, using colors, and getting up in the morning. Stimpson is also an IF/THEN Ambassador, an initiative to further women in STEM by empowering current innovators and inspiring the next generation of pioneers. An orange, life-sized, 3D-printed can be found of her at Pegasus Park, along with a plaque about her work.
“As an IF/THEN Ambassador, I immediately saw my goal, not just as a science teacher to so many students but as a role model to inspire students to consider what science means to them and how to see themselves in the field of science,” Stimpson said. In her new role at T.D. Jakes, which started in August 2022, she oversees the programmatic output for the foundation’s entities. “I am focused on two initiatives, and that is workforce development and STEAM (A added to STEM for art), and that is to help young students become exposed to the wonders and possibilities of science through different activities,” Stimpson said. She continues to use her expertise to empower the next generation of women in STEM. “What I recognize is that I’m always going to be a role model for girls who look like me and look up to me because when they can see themselves in you, then they see the possibilities of what can be because so many kids need that,” Stimpson said. Her advice for women or girls in STEM: “The first thing I would encourage you to do is to find a mentor, find someone you can talk to about your interest. ... I would [also] say find which field of science interests you the most, and find your way to that interest and participate in opportunities that expand your active practice in that field.”