“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

This quote was one of many heard and appreciated at the recent St. Louis Young Women’s Leadership conference held on March 7. Organized by Elle Harris (’19), the event consisted of girls from several different schools within the St. Louis community. The theme of the conference, “Hear Me Roar,” was addressed by eleven regionally-based, accomplished speakers, each of whom elaborated on their respective journeys to find their voices in the professional workplace. These women were brought together with one crucial, shared goal stated by the conference organizers: “[to] educate young women on how to navigate a world designed for men.”

ACI-Boland construction marketer Meri Cross was one of the featured speakers at the conference. She provided an anecdote from when she was only woman in the boardroom.  In an attempt to be

“one of the guys” she hurled a below-the-belt insult at another man. At first, triumphant and deeming her endeavor successful, Cross soon realized the significance behind her actions: she had sacrificed her composure, work standards, and professionalism simply to conform to her workplace environment. She realized if she continued to be “one of the guys,” she would lose the voice she had worked so hard to make powerful and be heard.

Another speaker was Hannah Mayer, a nationally-acclaimed blog writer for Scary Mommy and Huffpost. She shared her experience of finding her voice while dealing with the challenges of motherhood. After she married, she soon became pregnant and took time off work for maternity leave. Eventually, she made the difficult decision to stay home permanently while her husband worked outside of the home. As a result, Mayer’s husband encouraged her to use the internet as an outlet to voice her opinions. Within hours, her blog posts had gone viral, and she’d gotten job offers to write for Scary Mommy and other influential “mom blog” websites. At first she feared no one would relate to her internal struggles and that she would subsequently be shamed for her unabashedly honest blog posts. However, Mayer learned a new lesson: vulnerability was crucial when it came to sharing your voice with the world; the consequences of staying silent were far worse than enduring critics and naysayers.

One speaker, Jackie Yoon, president of the St. Louis market and managing director of U.S. Trust, Bank of America, shared a powerful story about a lesson she learned during her first job interview. Ms. Yoon was well into her interview when she realized that her interviewer has assumed she was applying for the receptionist position at a bank. In actuality, Yoon had applied for a leadership spot. Yoon left, embarrassed, but five minutes later, she realized she could not just accept this outcome. She walked back in and asked for another interview. Her determination to stand her ground and not get discouraged after the incident was clearly inspiring, based on the amount of applause she garnered at the conference.

The conference concluded with a question and answer panel with the speakers and an open discussion period where girls in attendance had the opportunity to interact with one another and talk about key takeaways from the conference. Many girls left that day with a newfound appreciation for the women who had struggled so much for their successes. Udonne Eke-Okoro ‘21 expressed this feeling:

“The Women’s Conference was an experience like no other. As I sat in a room with high-achieving women of all different backgrounds, I learned how to manage a world where women are seen below men on the societal hierarchy,” she said. “From speakers like Talia Goldfarb and her entrepreneurial journey to Sharon Harvey Davis and her emotional life story, I was enabled to think about how similar my experiences as a female were to those speakers and the other girls around me.”