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mi DECENieERB, 2017 INFLUENTIAL ElON WOMEN KATIE BURKE CLASS OF 2003 B urke graduated from ETON in 2003 with a major in business and a concentration in finance. She then worked for more than a decade in the financial services industry before attaining enough knowledge to start her own firm. Self-doubt played a huge role in why it took her so long to open her own financial planning firm in an industry that is typically dominated by males. “I was worried if people would take me seriously being a young er female in finance,” Burke said. Burke credits her husband, family and business network for pushing her and believ ing in her. Burke said she never once in her 12 years of finance worked under a female advi sor or manager. This made it difficult to picture what her career could develop into. ^ She combated this by ' realizing women are greatly suited for the financial plan ning field. “We naturally are organiz ers and relationship-focused, which are two of the main traits that make you successful in this field,” Burke said. She often gets asked the question, “How do you man age it all?” As a wife, mother and businesswoman, she has learned the meaning of balance and realizes that sometimes her needs come first, too. . “Balance is not giving each part of your life the same attention each dayr Burke said. “It is giving the part of your life that needs it the most at tention that day. Sometimes that is my business and sometimes that is my children, family or even myself” GABRIELLE L. MCGEE CLASS OF 2006 G ABRIELLE MCGEE '06 IS the vice president of digital marketing and special projects for the Tory Burch Foundation. In this role, McGee develops content, online programs and products. The Tory Burch Foundation empowers women entrepre neurs. “iVe conceptualized and launched ToryBurchFounda- tion.org, which has empow ered more than 200,000 wom en in the last year. I’ve also worked with our Tory Burch Fellows online program, #EmbraceAmbition cam paign, Seed Box and much more,” McGee said. McGee is able to utilize her talents in the numerous op portunities provided at Tory Burch to create, design and develop content to support to foundation's cause. McGee calls Tory Burch — the chairman, CEO, and designer of Tory Burch LLC — the ultimate en trepreneur. Women CEOs in Fortune 500 compa nies, like Tory Burch, have increased from zero percent in 1995 to 5.4 percent in 2017, according to the Pew Research Center. WOMEN CEO'S Women CEO's in Fortune 500 companies have increased from zero percent in 1995 to 5.4 percent in 2015. COURTESY OFTORY 8URCH FOUNDATION FACFBOOK ALANNA VAGIANOS CLASS OF 2013 A LANNA VAGIANOS '13 WORKS as the associate women’s editor at HufFPost in New York City. “Tm very passionate about wom en’s issues and activism, so the fact that I get to be in a field I’m passionate about is definitely a positive,” Vagia- nos said. Living in New York City is not cheap. For Vagianos, finding a job that paid HALLIE CORNEHA CLASS OF 2009 enough, while staying within the journal ism field was a big feat. “Journalism doesn’t pay the big bucks,” Vagianos said. “So getting to a point in my career where I didn’t feel like this struggling writer has been big for me.” In her role at HuffPost, Vagianos writes and reports on women’s issues with a focus on sexual violence. She also tackles femi nism in entertainment, body image, wom en in politics and reproductive rights. Va gianos said it is important to maintain self care while tackling the hard issues she sees in her day-to-day reporting. “The negative emotions are unfortunate ly just as real,” Vagianos said. “1 write a lot about sexual violence so understanding the importance of self care, whether that’s going to therapy or just letting myself unplug from work on the week ends, is really key. Also, working online all day and dealing with trolls is very taxing. Much of it comes back to self-care and knowing my limits.” This variety of sto ries ranges from small er write-ups to longer form pieces that can take weeks to create. But Vagianos’ work doesn’t stop there. She also edits copy, pack ages stories and runs social media accounts. “I honestly feel like Tm making an impact every day I go to work,” Vagianos said. SUBMITTED BY ALANNA VAGIANOS A S VICE PRESIDENT OF human capital at Red Ventures, a marketing company headquartered in South Carolina, Hallie Cornetta 09 has made her mark in previously a male-dominated environment. After starting my career in marketing and business, I found a new sense of pas sion, purpose and excitement for my people-focused role,” Cornetta said. “My strongest positive emotions are seeing the accomplishments, suc cesses and personal break throughs of younger talent I have touched in some way.” She joined the senior lead- SUBMITTED BY HALLIE GORNEHA ership team at age 28, where she was more than 10 years younger than her team — which was 90 percent male. The struggles she faced were found in trying to un derstand her value, having belief in her decisions, and to be a thought-leading peer rather than an order-taking subordinate. Now, three years later, she has found her voice and the senior leadership team is now nearly 40 percent female. The trend of female leaders climbing the corporate ladder is spreading across industries. On this year’s Fortune 500 List, there were more female CEOs listed than ever before.
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