Violetta Nafpaktiti, Managing Director of DotCoop, serves as a role model for all women entrepreneurs because she has garnered great height, and through her achievements, they see what is possible for them. Being part of a support network for other women leaders, Violetta ensures that she can contribute towards enhancing others with the best of her capabilities. “I tend to find things to admire and be inspired by, with pretty much all the people surrounding me. But, equally, I also see examples to avoid in my dealings with people,” she explains. “I have been fortunate to be in a role that has allowed me to interact with people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, industries, levels of competency and expertise. The cooperative values and principles have provided me with a compass to navigate life, both professionally and personally.”

“A .coop domain says that you are a Cooperative, and not just another dotcom. That you put people first. That you are ethical and fair. That you’re great to do business with. That you’re part of a global movement of more than 1 billion members, representing 12% of the world’s employed population.”

Being an excellent listener, Violetta can hear details and intentions of others, provide a quick, in-depth analysis in a matter of minutes and offer great “concise” advice in support of their endeavors. The discussions with others of their endeavors always ends up in a better place after listening and contributing, whether that occurs over a brief interaction or a long-term interaction. She helps others be their best and offers support without hesitation while keeping the efforts focused on the vital details and the greater good. Armed with the same leadership principles, Violetta is leading DotCoop toward greater heights.

DotCoop was created in 2001 to establish an internet namespace for the global cooperative movement. At that time, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was opening up the industry of Top Level Domains (TLDs), and so the stakeholders of DotCoop found an opportunity to bid for a domain exclusive for cooperatives -i.e., member-owned and democratically-controlled businesses. According to its brand narrative, “[DotCoop] unites the cooperative movement online with a shared identity. It transforms an organization’s value from a lone contributor to an active participant of a global online network of cooperatives.”

“The Cooperative movement consists of at least 12% 34 and cooperatives provide jobs or work opportunities to 10% of the employed population”, according to Violetta, demonstrating that Cooperative organizations and businesses reach deep into the fabric of our society and economy.

The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) each own 50% of DotCooperation LLC, headquartered in Washington DC. In 2017, DotCoop LLC became the owner of Domains.coop Ltd., an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar that, alongside other registrar businesses, retails the .coop domain. Domains.coop records and maintains the contact and technical information that makes up the domain registration and passes on the technical information to the central directory or ‘registry.’

DotCoop is working hard to help build the global cooperative awareness under the tagline “elevate your cooperative identity,” alongside building a community of .coop domain resellers in partnership with regional organizations. This will ensure that -as we go into the new decade- it will be easier than ever to register a .coop name. DotCoop takes part in many international events throughout the year, and the team is always ready and willing to talk about the .coop domain, the cooperative Identity, and the best ways the cooperative community can make itself visible on the world stage. Their identity tools include .coop domain names and the Cooperative Marque -the logo for cooperatives worldwide- and the .creditunion sector domain names. Resources include the .coop Global Directory, where the public can look up and find cooperative organizations on a map. The Digital Empowerment Learning Hub is a resource to get learning assistance for cooperatives taking on new digital initiatives.

They cover numerous questions and issues of cooperatives through their digital transformation content in the Digital Empowerment Learning Hub. Whether it be basics of the cooperative model, building a cooperative brand online, or best practices in managing digital/domain services. For the days to come, the company is rolling out the Digital Empowerment Learning Hub and developing partnerships with virtual event managers to bolster their events and deliver this information through regional Apex Organizations. They are also looking towards collaborating with national apex cooperative federations to bring .coop to more cooperatives in each country with an active cooperative movement. Finally, they are excited to roll out the domain .creditunion, serving such an important cooperative sector: the Credit Unions. IE

DotCoop

Management

Violetta Nafpaktiti
Managing Director of DotCoop

Description

Unite and empower cooperatives online – our mission, our singular goal that drives everything we do. Since 2001, DotCooperation has united the cooperative community through a shared online identity and platform where cooperative organizations can participate, inform, educate, and pioneer a path for others to join and support the cooperative movement.

Many women feel overwhelmed, overlooked and underserved in their financial lives. Terri Spath, CFA, CFP® understands. It’s why she has taken her experience managing billions of dollars through the bull and bear markets of the past 25 years to create Zuma Wealth, an investment management by women and for women.

Many women feel overwhelmed, overlooked and underserved in their financial lives. Terri Spath, CFA, CFP® understands. It’s why she has taken her experience managing billions of dollars through the bull and bear markets of the past 25 years to create Zuma Wealth, an investment management firm by women and for women.

Throughout Terri’s career spanning large and small investment management shops, two RIAs and a private equity shop focused on socially responsible investing. Time and again, Terri recognized that women wanted to feel financially empowered and free. To do that, holistic, personalized guidance is needed, not the one-size-fits-all products the financial industry sells. In both her personal and professional life, she regularly heard from women that they did not know where to start or who to trust with their wealth.

Terri wanted to change that.

In February 2021, Terri launched her own firm to help women feel free, understand their financial health and remove their fears around money and investing. The response has overwhelmed her in the best way. Since creating Zuma Wealth, some examples of the women who have sought out Terri’s guidance include a judge, a biotechnology executive, a marriage therapist, a mother of 9, a grandmother of 5, the founder of a successful market research firm, and many more. These are smart women who are successful in their respective fields, well educated and eager to learn, yet they felt overlooked and underserved in their financial lives. For Terri, this life-changing approach for helping women inspires her every day.

The investment strategies for clients of Zuma Wealth pursue two goals: growing wealth while guarding it. This is how they do it.

• Strategically, through great offense, different asset classes are combined in a strategic allocation designed with rock-solid prospects for delivering the unique needs of each client, while also guarding against unnecessary risk.

• Protectively, through effective defense, data is incorporated to flexibly respond to market information and to help guard clients in stormy markets while participating in rising tides. Together with her clients, Terri guides, grows and guards wealth because waves happen.

In addition to her impressive client base of outstanding women, Terri has a personal passion for helping younger women as they navigate their professional (and personal) lives. She has mentored countless women, not just those who have careers in the financial world, but those still in college and seeking to define their own future paths. It has been her great pleasure and inspiration to be a sounding board and guide to many.

Terri is often asked how she became interested in such a male-dominated field that had even fewer female role models 25 years ago when she was interviewing for jobs out of graduate school at Columbia University. When she was still in grade school, Terri’s dad explained compound interest to her, igniting what has become a lifelong interest in the power of saving and investing. Terri’s dad helped her buy her first stock when she was still in high school, and shares were still issued in paper form! When she graduated college from the University of Michigan, her dad opened a mutual fund account for her that she still holds today. There is a saying that behind every good man is a great woman, but Terri would add that behind every great woman is a great man.

A lifelong passion for learning is one of the keys for her success, Terri explains. In addition to her undergraduate and graduate studies, Terri earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, a challenging 3-year exam that tests the fundamentals of investing, wealth planning, portfolio management and more. More recently, she earned the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification, another multi-year test that represents the gold standard in study of 7 areas of financial planning.

Terri also recommends that women step into situations, roles and towards people even when that is uncomfortable. Last summer, Zuma Wealth ran a survey that uncovered a shocking result: only 12% of the smart and sophisticated women in the survey felt confident managing their wealth. Digging deeper, Terri found study after study documenting the “confidence gap” that women have relative to their male counterparts. For instance, when applying for a job, the guys apply when they thought they had 60% of the qualifications listed; women talked themselves out of applying if they did not have 100%. Seeing this “confidence gap,” Terri encourages women to apply for the job, ask for the raise and take money from cash and put it in the markets. All these steps can lead to great success.

We are pleased to highlight Terri and her passion for guiding women to grow and guard their wealth. WL

Toni Giffin has been an influential leader at Goodwill Industries of San Diego County for 21 years. During this time, Toni has made valuable contributions to the organization by enhancing our mission of providing job training and employment for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She believes that a barrier is not the characteristic that defines the individual; rather, it is their ability to work that helps to define their strength and purpose. This approach of encouragement and hope brings out the best in every ambassador (employee) she encounters. As the organization’s President and CEO, Toni exemplifies our core values of collaboration, credibility, and creativity to create a nurturing culture and work environment. She brought back the Paid Training Program which accepts people with little to no work experience and provides job training in retail and donations. She was instrumental in developing Goodwill’s Strategic Plan, which defines the organization’s vision, and ensures its financial strength and ability to serve the San Diego community for many years to come.

“A private, not-for-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization, with nearly 1,400 ambassadors (employees). Goodwill San Diego operates 31 mission integrated training and retail stores and specialty stores, e-Commerce (shopgoodwill.com), a North County Clearance Center, 2 South County Outlets and Recyling Centers and 5 Community Employment Centers throughout San Diego County. In 2019, GISD served more than 6,400 San Diego community members including people with disabilities and other significant barriers to employment through our various programs. Primary funding for our Mission programs and services is generated through our Used Goods Retail business.”

Under Toni’s leadership, Goodwill launched its Career Path Training Program, intended to develop the skills and competencies of its employees, and give them the opportunity for advancement towards a livable wage. From January through April 2021, Goodwill San Diego promoted 35 ambassadors! The success of this program impacts the lives of these employees, their families, and communities. Many others were able to find advancement opportunities in other organizations due to the skills and experience they gained at Goodwill.

Toni began her career at Goodwill in Retail, moved into Human Resources as a generalist, became Human Resources Director, earned her position as Vice President of Mission and Support Services, became Executive Vice President and then President and CEO. Toni exemplifies “Making Good Happen” by improving people’s employability and by example, her own. While working for Goodwill, she continued her education by earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and completed the Goodwill Industries International (GII) Executive Development Program. Toni believes there is never a time to stop learning. She credits her achievements and success to focusing on doing the very best at whatever task is before her. The advice she gives future leaders who want to advance is to not lose sight of the job they are in now, be a subject expert, work hard, and excel in soft skills.

Following through on promises made, both personal and professional, is simply a part of Toni’s character. She consistently comes up with creative ways to solve problems and can do so promptly. She prides herself on making time for all ambassadors; her approachable demeanor and genuine kindness make all employees feel confident in speaking to her. They have come to know that she is always consistent and thoughtful in her decisions.

Toni recognizes the impact her decisions have on our community. In her role, she ensures Goodwill is a successful not-for-profit, enterprise-funded organization, which provides job opportunities for 1,050 ambassadors, almost 51% of them with disabilities or other barriers to employment. Her everyday work gives a sense of purpose and belonging to more than 90 individuals with significant developmental disabilities, who otherwise may not have the chance to be part of the workforce.

Toni has been an active advocate for the people Goodwill serves. She has engaged many government representatives to express which laws and regulations would benefit the workforce with disabilities. In addition to her many responsibilities, Toni serves on the GII Board of Directors.

During the first weeks of the pandemic, Goodwill San Diego quickly pivoted and made all Community Employment Center services available online. Community members can access the organization’s programs and services through our 5 Community Employment Centers by appointment or online through our website. The Centers provide job search assistance and career planning for veterans and their family members, young adults ages 16 to 24, and people with disabilities. The Centers also offer job seekers a Job Readiness Certificate Program and 5 soft skill workshops including Ace the Interview, Job Application, Resume Builder, Workplace Communication, and Conflict Resolution. All services are free of charge.

Toni is always looking to the future and what is next for Goodwill San Diego. They are currently expanding their e-Commerce department by investing in technology that allows for decentralizing the listing of product to their 30 retail stores. This increases the quality and quantity of product available for purchase in a shorter amount of time. This decision has resulted in an increase in eCommerce revenue by 7.1%. IE

Monika Bolkun-Robert, COO of Schaefer Enterprises, defines her career aspirations and operating principle with her favorite quote: “If your dreams don’t scare you, it means you are not dreaming big enough.”

“Monika Bolkun-Robert serves as the chief operating officer of Schaefer Enterprises. Bolkun-Robert began her insurance career in New York as an assistant to the president of an insurance and bonding brokerage firm on Wall Street, working her way up to become the vice president of the insurance division only two years later. In 2010, Monika joined Schaefer Enterprises and facilitated the exponential growth of the firm as partner, vice-president and most recently, as chief operating officer.”

By this maxim, Monika has worked to become a leading insurance producer in the construction industry in New York City, the most competitive and aggressive market imaginable. “There are many times where I’m the only woman in a meeting, which makes me proud but also drives me to help open up opportunities for other women in this space,” she says. “As such, I am driven to break boundaries and grow my business every day, which, as a leader, means not being afraid to take a risk when my experience and industry knowledge tells me that a great opportunity is knocking.”

Being a leader means having the ability to influence people to work hard, join together, and be the best they can be at what they do. In a client situation, sometimes this means creating relationships where none existed and where other people might find it difficult or impossible to break through. Through hard work, Monika has learned to provide customers with unique solutions depending on their insurance needs, and she has developed the skills required to positively influence underwriters and capitalize on premium credits and coverage advantages.

Following the leadership examples of her mother and sister, Monika has always been a strong supporter of women as leaders and has never doubted achieving success because she is a woman. “I once read the following words in Forbes magazine which I’ve held close to my heart ever since, ‘Women alone have power; collectively they have an impact.’ That’s part of the reason why I am a member of Professional Women in Construction Organization, where we work to support and promote diversity in businesses,” explains Monika.

As the mother of a daughter, she also has another level of responsibility to her and young girls like her and her friends. “Imagine my delight when I heard my daughter speaking with her friends telling them, ‘Don’t worry, my mommy just gets things done.’ I couldn’t have been any prouder and I think that’s a key for women in all fields,” says Monika. “Getting things done is what succeeding in business is all about. Hard work is what helps women break through, which is why it’s important that we raise our daughters to be strong, confident women in their own right.”

When Schaefer Enterprises opened its doors in 2010, Monika quickly recognized several industries that were lacking appropriately designed insurance programs that could help business leaders manage their unique risks. For example, Schaefer Enterprises developed exclusive programs for the urgent care market, the food industry, and the construction industry, which is her area of specialization. Since then, the company has expanded to offer a broad range of insurance coverages to owners in several industries, including medical, food, retail, professional athletes, senior living, nonprofits, restaurants, and hospitality.

Schaefer Enterprises provides knowledge and options to customers so that they can make informed decisions. Most of their new customers were under-informed by their prior insurers and usually paid for insurance policies that were not only inadequate but wrong for their needs. Schaefer Enterprises are experts in industries where other insurance brokers either have zero or little knowledge of the risks associated with those organizations operating in these spaces. They can provide credibility, experience, responsiveness, and superior value to clients, backed with a commitment to customer service that is second to none.

Monika and her team are planning on organizing semi-annual meetings in their office with loss control experts from their carriers, legal teams, and claims adjusters and managers to help explain to clients the importance of proper contracts, risk transfer, and detailed language in the policies. Last year, Schaefer Enterprises was acquired by a private equity firm that has added them to its network of insurance professionals around the country. “This new partnership gives us access to new markets and specialty insurance products to better serve our clients,” says Monika. IEWL

Schaefer Enterprises

Management

Monika Bolkun-Robert
COO of Schaefer Enterprises

Description

Schaefer Enterprises: A division of Patriot Growth Insurance Services, LLC is an insurance agency specializing in all aspects of business and personal insurance. Contact us to learn more about: general liability insurance, property and product liability insurance, New York State disability, and workers’ compensation insurance and more.

As the head of strategic and creative operations at HashtagHealth, Kristin Hassan leads by example with passion, ingenuity, and grace. Driven to uncover unique insights that differentiate and elevate how HashtagHealth approaches every initiative, Kristin holds herself and her creative team to the highest standards. She is constantly pushing the envelope to find dynamic new ways to motivate the health care community. Her motivation comes from the amazing patients and families who engage with many of HashtagHealth’s projects.

Kristin inspires and empowers women entrepreneurs across industries into becoming great leaders of tomorrow through dedication, resilience, creativity, and a solid work ethic; she believes anyone—regardless of gender—can fulfill their potential. There are no limitations to achieving any desired level of greatness or success: hard work is all that’s required. Giving up on aspirations or dreams is not an option, no matter how many obstacles may present themselves. She firmly believes that if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Kristin has had many role models throughout her life who have influenced her work ethic or ignited her passion for creating. In the last decade, she has been most inspired by her business partner, Brittany Latson. Together, Kristin and Brittany cofounded, and continue to comanage, HashtagHealth. Brittany’s philosophy, passion, and unrivaled support are a constant motivation for Kristin: they work together in complementary ways to blaze new trails and motivate the health care community. Armed with these qualities, this steadfast leader has been taking the company to new heights.

HashtagHealth was created to improve the way people share and access information about health through focusing on the channels they most commonly engage with—namely, social media. Since its inception, HashtagHealth has been the only agency to specialize exclusively in social media communications and marketing for health care. The company has positioned itself as a trusted partner with unrivaled expertise: while other agencies may offer similar services, HashtagHealth is the only one to focus 100% in this arena. Kristin explains, “This allows our creative teams to become experts and innovators in leveraging social channels to meet the unique needs of the health care industry. We believe that social media is a science driven by strategy, inspired by creativity, and balanced by business. In doing business with integrity, we approach every project with the client’s specific goals in mind, and we never push ideas or concepts that wouldn’t ultimately achieve success.”

As social platforms evolve, so do HashtagHealth’s services and offerings. They are always working with their clients to optimize their social campaigns’ style, design, and format to mesh with the ever-changing social landscape. “Frequently, we help our clients pioneer the use of new media, platforms, or engagement protocols on emerging platforms within their organizations—often a very complicated and monumental task, given the strict limitations of the pharmaceutical industry,” Kristin adds.

Many of HashtagHealth’s clients are interested in driving disease education across social media—for health care professionals as well as for patients and their families. The company helps develop powerful social media campaigns with content to share critical information about various diseases and health conditions. They track performance metrics and engagement analytics related to those campaigns, thus enabling clients to see the tremendous impact of their work on the social community. “The most rewarding feedback we receive—and share with our clients—comes in the form of direct engagements by patients and caregivers who express their support for and appreciation of the work we do—often with deep gratitude for the information they have found through our campaigns,” remarks Kristin. “Of all the things we’ve achieved as an agency, we are most proud of the incredible team we’ve cultivated over the past six years. Their dedication and passion have helped form HashtagHealth into a unique agency driven to delivering exceptional work.” IEWL

Based in New York, Allison Halpern is the Chief Operating Officer of TriSearch and overall utility player. She has been in the industry for over seventeen years and has made placements across all functions and industries. She also manages key clients and relationships. Previously, Allison was one of the original co-founders of TriWorth, where she ran business operations. Prior, Allison was an Executive Vice President at JobPlex and was head of research for the east coast division of DHR International. Allison led projects dealing with executive searches for Fortune 500 companies and was instrumental in implementing retained search practices and methodologies to the JobPlex model.

Twenty-one years of roll-up your sleeves work has now helped Allison transform TriSearch into a Top Nationwide Recruiting Firm in 2021. Given Allison’s extensive background in recruitment, she provides real-life advice on the best way to approach emerging scenarios. Allison is inherently a leader and a power forward for TriSearch. Internally, she keeps the engine running, managing and getting the best out of the Ops Team on a 7-days-a week basis, expertly navigating important client communication and outreach. She is an innovator, continuously improving the culture, technology, and focus of TriSearch while always maintaining a relaxed, fun, and cohesive atmosphere.

Most, if not all in the company, have been heard saying on more than one occasion, “we wouldn’t be where we are today without Allison.”

Founded in 2007, the TriSearch Leadership Team began to look for ways to overcome traditional recruitment industry shortcomings. Their efforts resulted in creating a proprietary new recruitment model, Customized Partnership Recruitment (CPR), that would challenge the industry paradigm.

CPR is the next generation of the RPO by incorporating the best features of Executive Search and RPO and adding in a performance-based pricing model. CPR delivers the best aspect of executive search – original research, based on market knowledge, to identify an exact match to the desired profile. Like a good RPO, CPR provides service level agreements tailored to client requirements that include metrics, reporting, and transparency across multiple hires. CPR pricing is performance-based and ensures interests are aligned. The result is a process that rapidly delivers multiple, high-quality candidates with significant savings and some of the longest placement guarantees in the industry.

TriSearch is also focused on continuous improvement. Leading the charge, Allison is consistently researching new methodologies and technology and focusing on how TriSearch can be a better team. These learnings are shared with the team and incorporated into TriSearch deliverables.

TriSearch is more than its award-winning CPR model and provides a proven, highly targeted, single search solution, Diversity & Inclusion consulting and recruiting, and other talent solutions such as career transition coaching. “Our ultimate goal is to solve problems and provide human capital solutions while establishing long term partnerships with our clients. Being agile and flexible as a company, TriSearch is able to tune our managed services to perfectly meet the needs of our clients,” says Allison. “TriSearch provides a Targeted Single Search (TSS) solution built on our many years of recruiting and assessment expertise.”

TriSearch also offers Human Resource Consulting Services (HRC) to help organizations improve their internal talent acquisition process, technology, and results, including providing Diversity & Inclusion expertise and training. The Diversity Practice, led by Tony Gilliard, was recently recognized as a 2021 Diversity Power-65 Firm. Under the HRC umbrella, TriSearch also offers Career Transition Services. “Our comprehensive Career Transition Services customize each individual engagement for both organizations and individuals and start with a deep understanding of our client’s specific needs and objectives before building a custom program,” adds Allison.

As the world and the economy continue to rebound from the pandemic, hiring may be more robust and fiercer than ever. “Having weathered the pandemic better than most of our competitors, TriSearch is poised to be a market leader in the recruitment world; better equipped, staffed and seasoned to handle the increased demand that lay ahead,” she adds. “We’re eager to see what the rebound will ultimately look like and look forward to tackling the new, specific challenges it will bear.” IE

Trisearch

Management

Allison Halpern
COO of Trisearch

Description

TriSearch is an International full-service talent acquisition managed services provider headquartered in Denver, CO. Recognized by both Forbes and Hunt Scanlon as a Top Nationwide Recruiting Firm of 2020, TriSearch provides customized partnership recruiting for filling multiple roles at all levels, targeted single search, HR consulting, Diversity & Inclusion and Career Transition Services. Utilizing proprietary new models, TriSearch offers highly customizable and scalable talent solutions that focus on a client’s specific requirements. TriSearch places professionals at all levels and across all functional areas, throughout the US, Canada and Europe. For more information visit www.trisearch.com

Nicole R. Braley, Chief Marketing Officer, Inception Fertility, is a fast mover. It’s important for this steadfast leader, especially when taking on a new role in a new industry, to lean into transferable skills. For Nicole, that meant quickly assessing the big picture and determining what she could do immediately to jumpstart Inception’s marketing initiatives while beginning to plan for the long term. “My ability to offer a fresh perspective from outside the industry was welcomed. Many women executives are still the only women in the room,” says Nicole. “But my focus is on allowing my work speak for itself. Inception is an entrepreneurial setting that values everyone’s ideas, including my thoughts as a new executive to the organization.”

“Inception Fertility LLC, is a fast mover. It’s important for the steadfast leader, especially when taking on a new role in a new industry, to lean into transferable skills.”

Inception isn’t just one brand—it’s a family of brands, businesses, and service lines that comprise the premier fertility services provider for North America. Being new to the CMO role, defining a brand architecture was Nicole’s first challenge, including process standardization across brand identities. As the person who oversees commercial efforts, it was important to Nicole to establish a standardized lead generation process and incorporate it into Inception’s ERP to nurture those leads and measure defined objectives to track ROI.

After two years of IVF, along with frustration and tears, TJ Farnsworth, Founder and CEO of Inception, welcomed his son, Wyatt, into the world. His birth was the beginning of Farnsworth’s journey toward founding Inception Fertility with the goal of improving each patient’s experience of starting or growing a family. Inception strives every day to ensure that each patient, for which the company has the privilege of caring, has nothing less than a five-star experience. As CMO, Nicole works to ensure that exceptional messaging about patient experience, coupled with extraordinary CX across the patient journey, is a top priority.

Built by patients, for patients, Inception is working towards its purpose to achieve the highest bar in science and technology to enhance each patient’s experience and achieve better outcomes. “Part of my role is to oversee our client experience, which for us means patients aspiring to be parents. That patient experience is at the heart of all we do, so I make sure it’s the center of every campaign,” explains Nicole. “Part of my role is helping ensure we’re setting the highest industry standards in technology and science, and that those standards are communicated to the market for all of our brands and service lines as we continue to rapidly expand.”

Nicole thinks it’s important to feel connected and aligned with the customers. Inception’s patients are incredibly diverse, which allows them to understand so many different fertility journeys—no two families are alike. Like many, Nicole has friends and coworkers who have experienced infertility and the uncertainty and stress that comes with that often arduous journey. “It’s a privilege to come to work every day knowing we’re helping build families,” she says.

When asked for a piece of advice for future CMOs, Nicole advises them to lead with gratitude. “Ask your team what you can do for them today. That doesn’t just mean leaving thank-you notes and bringing in breakfast on Friday morning (though these are great things to do)—it also means holding your team to the highest standards and leading by example,” she explains. “Transparency is also key to leadership. Take yourself ‘on the road’ and showcase the hard work you and your team have been executing. Show how you’re driving the business forward.”

Inception is an innovator in the fertility space. “Just this year, we’ve rebranded one existing business line and launched an entirely new one that offers industry-first approach to fertility financing—and its only February!” adds Nicole. “Coming into a new CMO role, my job wasn’t to turn over the apple cart. It was to bring fresh perspective, be open to learning, and to elevate how we talk to the market, patients, and our employees.”IE

Inception Fertility

Management

Nicole R.Braley
CMO

Description

Inception Fertility, LLC (Inception) is a family of fertility brands committed to helping patients build their own families. Built by patients for patients, Inception’s purpose is to achieve the highest bar in experience, science and medicine in an effort to enhance each patient’s experience and achieve better outcomes.

When Tina Mortera, SVP of Marketing of Progress Residential, thinks about the company’s evolution and how she has helped lead it, what immediately comes to her mind are her efforts to optimize the customer experience.

“Traditionally, prospective renters in this space have had to schedule a time to view the house with a leasing agent. But even before COVID, prospects were craving a much more contactless leasing experience, and Progress had that in place well before the pandemic hit.”

“I’ve been laser focused on analyzing the wants and needs of renters to make the customer journey as seamless as possible,” she says. “Traditionally, prospective renters in this space have had to schedule a time to view the house with a leasing agent. But even before COVID, prospects were craving a much more contactless leasing experience, and Progress had that in place well before the pandemic hit.”

Progress is one of the largest providers of single-family rental homes in the country, with more than 40,000 homes in 17 major metros across the U.S. Prospects can search for homes on the Progress website and schedule and take self-guided tours. They can apply for a lease online and even conduct their move-in without having to meet with an associate in person. Recently, Mortera initiated a project called Voice of the Consumer. Through the Qualtrics platform, residents provide ongoing feedback about their experiences in Progress homes.

“This data not only empowers us to optimize the resident experience but allows our associates to address problems and drive customer satisfaction quickly,” Mortera says. “In a big-picture sense, I would say my team and I are both highly analytical and highly creative, and those qualities have served us well as we’ve created a customer experience that meets the needs and desires of today’s prospective renters and residents.”

Throughout Mortera’s career, she has had the good fortune to have several strong women as mentors, so mentoring is something that she makes sure to do as a leader. “I think it’s incredibly powerful and beneficial for women who are in the earlier stages of their careers. I’m currently mentoring a young woman who works as a marketer for a tech company,” Mortera explains. “She’s very talented and good at getting marketing results, but I’m helping her learn how to make sure her ideas are heard, how to navigate relationships across the organization and how to effectively collaborate with other people.”

As far as general advice to women in business, Mortera urges them to focus on their strengths. “Lean into your strengths and then invite people with other strengths into the process,” she says.

“Don’t focus on shoring up an area that is not as much a strength,” she adds. “Instead, collaborate with someone who is strong in the areas that you’re not. It’s not about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about building a team with the smartest people you can find.”

Another piece of advice for businesswomen from Mortera: be true to yourself. “Your career should also be about being authentically you,” she says. “Find a place where you’re really valued for who you are, where you don’t have to put on a whole lot of ‘otherness.’” Armed with this attitude, Mortera has been a significant contributor to Progress’s success.

Progress Residential was born out of the last housing crisis. There was a huge population of people who needed housing. Progress’s vision was to create a vehicle that can manage these single-family homes professionally, providing a level of service comparable to major multifamily operators while giving renters access to great neighborhoods and quality homes.

Progress has aggressive growth plans. Demand for professionally managed single-family rentals is certainly rising as renters see they can have all the benefits of a single-family home – the yard, space to work from home comfortably, a beautiful residential neighborhood – with the flexibility of a lease.

“Recently, we launched our third-party property management service for investors that own mid-to-large single-family rental home portfolios and built for rent communities,” Mortera says. “And this year, we’re moving into five new markets: Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Salt Lake City; Austin, Texas; and San Antonio. We are bringing a high degree of sophistication, technology and customer service to the single-family rental industry. It’s inspiring and rewarding to play a leadership role in that.” IE

“One thing I’ve found true throughout my career is that the product is most successful when diverse perspectives are embraced,” says Cait Porte, Senior Vice President of Product at Zmags. Porte is extremely passionate about increasing diversity on every level of her organization, from the board room to middle management. She has spent her Product career aiming to mentor, highlight, and advance successful women to be part of the leadership team and help drive decision making. Over her 15-year career, she has advocated for women in Product Management roles and mentored women as they make career changes. Says Porte, “I want my daughter to grow up and see people of all backgrounds and genders leading and managing companies. I want her to be able to see herself in any future she can dream up.”

And it’s not just about gender and diversity, it’s about driving company success. Genuinely connecting with customers, teammates, and partners is one of Cait Porte’s strengths. She has been able to transform the organization through her understanding of the market and bringing people together. While Cait has extensive knowledge of the eCommerce SaaS marketplace and technology infrastructure, her ability to align customers’ needs with technology that can empower them makes her truly unique. Cait has worked hard to get the right people in the right roles, identifying the strengths of her team members and placing them in Product Management or Product Design roles.

Cait is active in the Boston Product and Women in Technology space. She encourages women to find mentors and offers to mentor women starting in their product careers. Early in her career, it was challenging for Cait to find her voice because she couldn’t find women in leadership roles. “I sought out female peers and mentors in my space. I co-founded the Boston Women in Product group. If I wanted to see change, I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines waiting for it to happen.” Cait is encouraged to see a slight shift in recent years towards more women in Product Leadership roles.

Sherly Sandberg’s (COO Facebook, author “Lean In”) career and teachings has been something Cait has used to help her grow. As a business owner, mother, teacher, mentor, and sister (among other things), Cait struggles to find balance. Hearing from Sheryl in 2013 that there’s no way to ‘have it all’ was refreshing. In an interview from April 2013, Sheryl said, “The data on this is super clear: you can be a very successful parent with a great relationship with thriving children and have a full-time job. And you can be a great worker and a great colleague at work but not be there for 12 hours a day in person. And I think we have to let ourselves do that.” Hearing this made Cait realize that it was about finding the right balance between each role and molding her career to help support the things she wants to achieve. Armed with this unique mindset, she has been taking the organization to new heights.

Creator by Zmags was born after hearing from marketers worldwide that they were constrained by the resources, time, and money associated with bringing the best digital experience to their consumers.

Time and time again, Cait and her team heard from companies struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation. Creator revolutionizes how brands accelerate revenue by bringing interactive experiences to life online and wherever their customers are. Faster and without the need to write any code. Over the last five years, Cait and her team have helped retailers build and serve more than two billion pieces of content (and counting!) to drive up revenue and conversion. Creator has taken the restraints off marketing teams and allowed their creative vision to become a reality.

Godiva has focused heavily on its digital strategy over several years and has leveraged Creator by Zmags to lead this strategy. With growing customer demand for learning more about Godiva’s heritage, product quality, production processes, and interactive content such as recipes and entertaining tips, Godiva struggled to meet the scope of digital content regularly. To expand their content further, Godiva needed a scalable solution to generate rich content for an elevated site experience. Upon seeing Creator in action, the Godiva team realized that Creator could solve many of their immediate needs. Its drag-and-drop functionality reduced the amount of coding needed. Creator also has a Salesforce Commerce Cloud cartridge, meaning it integrates with their eCommerce platform for easy “shop the look” experiences, and it simplified publishing rich content pages. The tool was easy for non-technical staff to learn, including the marketing team, allowing for updates at any time.

Creator by Zmags is emerging as the fastest design-to-publish eCommerce content solution. The company recently launched a new way to convert all design files to interactive content with the click of a button. The team also launched Interactive Email – the world’s first and only truly interactive and shoppable email solution. With an eye toward building and growing the company, Cait is focused on hiring a more diverse set of individuals with unique skills and perspectives. Team and people play a significant part of how successful a company can be, and Cait is proud of how far the team has come in recent years. 2021 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Creator by Zmags and Cait has high hopes for 2022 and beyond.IEWL

Leah Power, EVP, Institute of Communication Agencies, comes from the rational world of finance and operations, but where she truly shines is when she can flex her creative problem-solving muscle on behalf of her member agencies. “I’m not the sole design and creative force at the ICA but I do enjoy the creative process,” she says. “I have been described as a unicorn because I am a stalwart supporter of the art directors, copywriters and designers in our industry. I love and admire that community and I’ve carried this passion with me to the ICA where I still hold the creative product up on a pedestal.”

Leah is a steadfast leader and who has overcome her share of roadblocks in reaching the top. Being raised by an entrepreneurial father and living with three brothers, she learned in childhood how to compete in a male-dominated environment. The biggest barrier she faced, however, came from being a single mother, raising her daughter alone while growing her career in advertising. “Balancing work and home was like walking a tight rope. There was a time where I would pick my daughter up from daycare, pick up food and drive back to work. She’d do her homework at my desk and then watch movies on the board room TV,” remembers Leah. “It was a challenging time but I found that being transparent, being an open communicator, went a long way when convincing my boss why I needed a more flexible schedule or why a work trip wouldn’t be possible. I never shied away from those conversations, but I never left the conversation without offering up a creative solution either.”

Today she is a highly effective leader on behalf of the advertising and marketing industry in Canada because she is able to use her experience in finance and operations to create initiatives that will drive long-term and far-reaching changes for the creative community she knows so well . Being able to affect the entire industry, both clients and agencies is an enormous opportunity for growth. Leah hopes that other people who may feel they are in seemingly “less than creative” roles get out there and assert themselves in the conversation because their perspective is needed to drive the industry forward. “One initiative I’m particularly proud of is Qualification-Based Selection Agency Search (QBS). It’s an innovative and creative way to find the most qualified agency for a client, as opposed to the very broken pitch process currently used by many clients and consultants that is an abuse of the agency sector and a poor way to find the right creative partner,” shares Leah. “I have also been very fortunate to have created many of the ICA’s programs under the IDEA initiative focsed on building Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Advertising and helped figure out what the ICA’s “pivot” would be during the pandemic to setp up and support the sector.” She adds, “The moral here is that it doesn’t matter which department you come from, if you’re a business lover, a lover of the industry, and of the people in it, you have a voice, you have a perspective, you can make a difference for the better.”

Leah has had some very positive managerial experiences and learned numerous leadership lessons. “I think of myself as a leader, not a woman leader, but I do think women are sometimes held to a different standard, where men in the same position are given a pass. Being a leader means making tough decisions that you believe are the right decisions. Not everything is by consensus and women should not be penalized for being tough when the situation calls for it,” explains Leah.

The ICA was founded in 1905 by four agency leaders that believed they were stronger together. They created the ICA as a community to support and represent agencies across Canada. “I believe strongly in the ICA’s mission to amplify, protect and transform. A strong industry community is our objective and so Protect is of prime importance to me and the initiatives we support and shepherd through to completion have real value,” says Leah. “A sister initiative to QBS is our Pitch Watch service. It’s a traffic light system that aims to provide clients with feedback on behalf of the industry without putting individual agencies on the spot about how a new business pitch can best deliver the results and callout pitches that are unfair to the agencies. Ultimately “good or bad pitch” practices affect the client in a very profound way. We want agencies and clients to achieve a mutually beneficial partnership that is effective and produces great work that works to drive marketing and business results.” IEWL

Institute of Communication Agencies

Management

Leah Power
EVP, Institute of Communication Agencies

Description

The Institute of Communication Agencies is the not-for-profit association for Canadian advertising, marketing, media and public relations agencies. Our mission is to Amplify, Protect and Transform the agency sector through advocacy, awards, community, consultancy, insight, networking, research and training. Our membership and board of directors represent some of the most recognized and influential businesses in our industry, both in Canada and internationally.