While they all took different routes to helming LGBT chambers, women leaders in the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce® (NGLCC) family share common missions and passions.
The NGLCC Women's Business Initiative (WBI) second quarterly teleconference call featured women chamber leaders sharing their personal stories and discussing their shared goals for LBT women in business and the LGBT chamber movement.
Each panelist featured on the call had her own story to tell, but the conversation started with a discussion about the importance of mentors. Not surprisingly, many of the panelists' mentors were strong, driven women much like themselves.
"A lot of my mentors did come out of the women's movement," said Louise Chernin, executive director of the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) and former national chair of the CCBO. "Because women have so many areas of discrimination, we have so many layers and we understand that perspective very well, so we have to reach out to each other."
"I've had many mentors in my career," said Sam McClure, executive director of the Twin Cities Quorum GLBTA Chamber of Commerce and active national chair of the NGLCC Council of Chambers and Business Organizations (CCBO). "I do try to pay that forward by trying to be fully present to other leaders, younger leaders, particularly women who are looking for support."
During the call, the women leaders also discussed what their chambers are doing to support women members and those in the greater LBT community.
Christina Pinson, executive director of the Chicago Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the Midwest regional chair of the CCBO, said that the chamber's Women in Business group is one of the main initiatives this year for the CAGLCC, and the number of women on the chamber board has expanded to three&mdashmore than ever before in the chamber's history.
While the GSBA has always had a "very good percentage of women members," Chernin said the chamber's board has just recently become completely gender-balanced. The GSBA also holds Women at the Top events, in which successful women are invited to share ideas and network with one another.
"It's not about passing your business card, it's about having a visible representation of women and getting to know each other, and it's been incredibly successful," Chernin said.
While there can be a risk of fractionalization in an organization that makes a point of reaching out to women specifically, the benefit outweighs the risk, the panelists agreed.
"For organizations trying to develop affinity networking [for women], it's important that you're adding something, not taking something away," McClure said. "You wouldn't want to take away from the programming that's for everyone, you're just adding [programming] to engage a specific part of the community."
Although most of the women admitted to having hands-on leadership styles, each offered their own ideas for what makes a successful leader.
"I think mine is a hands-on approach," said Jenn Tracz, executive director of the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities—one of the fastest growing chambers in the NGLCC's affiliate network. "I make sure I know every member by name, and make a point to know about them and their businesses."
"My leadership style is very entrepreneurial," McClure said. "The values I hold most dear are creativity and innovation—be a good listener. Of all the skills, I think listening is the most important and helps us to understand the constituents that we serve."
Every successful leader, the women agreed, must be willing to continue learning throughout the leadership process.
"I have a lot of growth I have to do, I only started as [executive director] in December," Tracz said. "But if you're not growing and learning, you're not leading."
