In Honor Of International Women’s Day, MKTG Humans Celebrate The Women Who Inspire Them
As the CEO of MKTG, I hear all of the time that it is my job to set the culture for the agency. While I appreciate the vote of confidence, I have always believed that rather than dictate what culture should be, it’s more important for me to listen and support the evolution of our culture with our employee’s thoughts and needs in mind. It’s crucial for me to listen to our employees, to my colleagues, to our industry, and to what is going on in the world. Constant listening is my responsibility, and is necessary to help drive our business forward and create a positive, supportive, and successful work environment for our employees, our partners, and our clients.
One thing I have been hearing loudly are important discussions about diversity and inclusion. As an agency that speaks for brands, we must be as diverse as the populations we interact with to effectively represent the broad consumer mindset on behalf of our clients. As part of our diversity efforts, I am proud to celebrate and support women’s rights and to do the work to forge a diverse working environment at MKTG and a more inclusive, gender-equal world.
As an agency and as humans, we at MKTG firmly support International Women’s Day and all that it represents. In the spirit of IWD and in the spirit of listening, I handed the microphone to MKTGers around the globe and asked them to share their thoughts about gender equality and the women who inspire them.
This project has inspired us to create a content series focusing on inspirational women, as we have received many beautiful responses about moms, sisters and daughters. We plan to continue this dialogue and use feedback we receive to help inform us as we grow and nurture a diverse and inclusive workforce in our offices around the globe.
We hope you enjoy the thoughts of our employees as much as we did.
Best-
Charlie
CHARLIE HORSEY
MKTG — US CEO AND GLOBAL PRESIDENT
If there is a woman in particular that inspires you greatly, living or passed, who is she and why/how does she inspire you?
Thapas
There are so many, but the one who stands out the most would be Mother Theresa. I’ve had the privilege of visiting a facility run by her congregation, and was deeply moved to see the great, other-worldly happiness that existed there amongst the residents, who have endured the greatest hardships ever known to man, including but not limited to extreme starvation, absolute lack of sanitation, physical and mental abuse, major physical and mental disability and some of the most painful and revolting diseases known to man.
It is amazing what this foreign woman achieved at a time when India was nothing close to the modern liberal society that it is today. That means, she not only faced the stigma of being from a minority community, but also that of being a foreigner and worst of them all, a woman in what was an extremely patriarchal and backward cultural context (even a comforting or helping touch that she extended to men and boys in great suffering was considered scandalous).
Her life and work is a great model for me due to the way in which she defied tradition and shunned the need for approval and acceptance in pursuit of a cause she believed in. She was the ultimate disagree-er. And for that, she really tops my list of great women.
Maria
Michelle Obama. Drake’s own “started from the bottom, now we’re here” lyrics couldn’t ring more true! Her story of growing up on the South Side Chicago to become a Dean and out-earn her husband, then Senator Barack Obama, is inspiring. This woman can do anything and she has inspired an entire generation of women to “go high, when [others] go low.”
Daniel
My younger sister inspires me every day. From always looking for adventure to genuinely being kind & caring, there are countless reasons I admire her. Though she’s in college and I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like, part of me feels like her presence and core qualities are always with me at heart. Shout-out to Lizzi G!
Caitlin
My mother. She raised two daughters as a single mom while working at a high-level job at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. She taught me that nothing is more important than hard work and doing your best every damn day. Still don’t know how she did it.
Robin
My grandmother, Agnes! She was an incredible trailblazer. The daughter of immigrants from Czechoslovakia, she graduated from Marquette University at a time when most women didn’t attend college. She played competitive doubles tennis until she was about 76, raced a gorgeous Jag in road derbies with my grandfather and lived her life as a strong, loving woman. I couldn’t ask for a better role model.
Noelle
My stepmother inspires me greatly. After years of being in remission, she is currently living with stage-four breast cancer. After losing my own mother when I was just 18, this news was devastating to me. I felt as though I was walking around every day waiting for my heart to break — until she said, “let’s talk about it.” Her ability to stay open and positive and live life to it’s fullest inspires me every day. When you ask how she’s doing she’s “Wonderful!” and she means it. On bad days, her response changes to “Working on wonderful.” This past Christmas she gave me a quilt made from pieces of fabric from all my favorite childhood outfits. She volunteers at her church, she makes time to garden — which she loves more than anything — at Christmas she sent the family this email “Best Present of All — Doctor says the ‘Disease is responding.’ On to round 10! Merry Christmas!” She just started round 12 of chemo. She is a warrior.
Michelle
There are many fabulous women role models, but I would have to say Robin Roberts. She inspires me greatly by her positivity and spirituality at all times, even when faced with life-altering challenges. When I’m down or feeling badly, I think of her and everything she has overcome, and it immediately puts things in perspective.
Stephanie
I am inspired by so many incredible women these days, especially Brene Brown, Glennon Doyle Melton, Oprah (of course), Arianna Huffington and her sister Agapi Stassinopoulos, Terri Cole, Erin Stutland and Patricia Moreno. If you are not familiar with them, Google them immediately and you’ll see why they have become such a huge inspiration to me on a daily basis. I’m also hugely inspired by the work that Shelley Zalis and her team at The Female Quotient are doing to make huge, important shifts in advancing equality in the workplace. Check them out at www.thefemalequotient.com
If you know of a woman (personally or not) that has performed an act of courage who you’d like to give a shout out to, please expand. She can be living or passed
Maria
Serena Williams. If it is true that the greatest act of courage is to be yourself, then this woman has done it. She and her sister introduced the tennis world to “power tennis” and the sport should never go back. Title for title, she is the greatest athlete ever.
Thapas
I read a story recently of a group of Yazidi women, who are bravely resisting the ISIS incursion and fighting to take back territories from them. Their leader, Captain Xatun Ali is probably someone I’d like to highlight. While it is tragic that such violence should be resorted to at all, it is commendable how she is leading a group of women soldiers in the effort of resistance. I definitely don’t know her personally, but I sure wish I did.
If you could have lunch with one women, living or passed, who would that be and why?
Maria
Catherine the Great. I visited the Armory in Moscow last year and this woman had the grandest collection of carriages- by far the most majestic. I love a girl who loves her cars! I imagine she threw down with the guys all the time with her rides.
Samantha
I would love to hear Jane Jacobs discuss how she thwarted Robert Moses¹ plan to build a highway through the West Village in the 5⁰¹s and 6⁰¹s. She was a local resident who ardently opposed the highway, as it would inevitably destroy the neighborhood, and fought for over 10 years and through countless bureaucracy to stop construction. This woman fought so passionately, and we have her to thank for keeping the West Village, its homes, its parks, and its culture, in fact. It would be amazing to hear first-hand how she took on the responsibility of being that one ordinary person who stood up for her community.
Mary Kate
This is really weird, and if you asked me a year ago I’d probably have said someone else, but Chelsea Handler. She has a talk show on Netflix now that is something she self-describes as a replacement for not having gone to college. She has so many incredible politicians, thought leaders, philanthropists, and people on her show and I literally always learn something. I also feel like I relate to her a lot in my sense of humor and the way I use it as a defense mechanism. I’d just love to talk to her about her show, how long she’d wanted to do something like it and I’d like to have a really honest conversation about her decisions to not get married or have kids. She’s a huge role model for me right now, and kind of a beacon of hope when I think about my future and what I will do if it doesn’t go exactly how I want it to.
Daniel
Choosing one is almost impossible, but I’d go with Michelle Obama. She’s so inspiring, self-confident, a tremendous advocator for social and health causes, and very stylish. Having lunch with her would be amazing, because her storytelling could take the conversation practically anywhere — so by the end we’d have covered too many topics to keep track of. The conversations would be so vibrant, I don’t even think I’d have a chance to touch my food!
Noelle
I would love to have lunch with Oprah and Lucille Ball. They both have made strides and opened doors for women in so many ways. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. We often hear about all the great things and I would like to talk to them about the struggles and what kept them going.
Thapas
That would be Marissa Mayer. Her vision for Yahoo was sound and she stuck to it. What eventually occurred was tragic, but there are many external factors that led to it. However, Marissa stuck to her stand. Though I myself didn’t see all her moves as right, I admire her for being able to reign in investor pressures and people challenges, and stand dignified, even as she faced continuous criticism and even humiliation in industry press.
Robin
Susan B Anthony. She worked for the rights of women and to oppose slavery ￢ I can’t think of anything more worthy or brave. Although, we’d have to agree to disagree on the temperance movement.
Amy
If I could have lunch with any woman, I would love to grab Spanish tapas and wine with Spanx founder, Sara Blakely. She is a pioneer in her industry and a ripple maker in the business world, all while being positive, feminine, and professional. I would ask her about her story and how her upbringing and early experiences have impacted her and how they helped her get to where she is now. I would also ask her about her fails and falls and how they too, impacted her. And I would finally ask her about what she dreams on doing in the future and what she¹s working towards, both professionally and personally.
Michelle
Robin Roberts. I would ask her the question I¹m sure she gets from everyone: how do you remain so positive? And when you aren¹t, how do you get yourself back to positive?
Finish this sentence: By 2030, I want to see women/a woman…
Mary Kate
Equally represented in Congress, and leadership positions at major companies globally. I also want to see women paid equally for equal work. I want women to not have to overcome any stigmas related to their decisions to or not to have kids or get married, or do one and not the other, or do both. I want to see women do what they want, how they want, when they want, confidently and without prejudice.
Daniel
Be President of the United States (hopefully sooner)
Noelle
By 2030, I want to see… of course — a woman President in the US. I would also like to see a rapid decline of women being treated as sex objects. And I would love to see women striving in the arts at a ratio, in the very least, equal to men — in all roles — as creators, writers, producers, actors, editors, DPs, directors. And sports for that matter. I would like to see a world where we are all equal… as humans.
Robin
For all women across the United States to unite. We’re divided by so many issues and party lines, it feels like we’re fighting against ourselves.
Michelle
President of the United States of America. Oh, and president of a major sports marketing agency!
Lauren
I want to see women/a woman in the White House (OF COURSE) and I would also like gender equality to be the normality!! As passionate as I am about this topic, I don’t want to keep having to stand up and fight for these rights in 2017 and sure do hope that my generation will get it taken care of in time for our younger sisters to flourish without these shackles in the year 2030.
