You Said It: I’m an Economist — Here’s Why DEI in Business, Education and Community Leads to Economic Prosperity

In 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking all federal government diversity, education, and inclusion (DEI) training. While several lawsuits followed that order, and President Joe Biden has since reversed the ban on DEI training, federal government agencies, businesses, and nonprofits that contract with the federal government already felt the impact from the […]

by Better

'Determined to Prove a Villain': Paralympian Katy Sullivan Takes on 'Richard III' at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Actor Katy Sullivan got out her running legs to prepare to play Richard III. In Shakespeare’s tale of the manipulative, deceitful would-be king of England, Richard is portrayed as a hunchback, which integrates with Sullivan’s physicality: she has two prosthetic legs. “There is a line in the opening soliloquy where Richard said, ‘Sent into this […]

by Claire Zulkey

Women On The Rise: Cecilia Conrad, Jennifer Steans and Kathy Roeser Share Expert Advice on Building Financial and Career Confidence

Wealth management and finance have traditionally been male-dominated industries, but that’s changing. Women manage more wealth than ever, controlling a third of U.S. household financial assets, equalling more than $10 trillion. By 2030, U.S. women are projected to retain more than $30 trillion in financial assets, according to Kathy Roeser, Managing Director and Wealth Advisor […]

by Jessica Braun Gervais

Chicago’s Most Powerful Women 2023

According to the study Empower Women, Empower Your Organization published by the management consulting firm Culture Partners, organizations with more women in leadership improve outcomes on financial performance, increase innovation and enhance corporate culture. The formula is simple: to empower women in the workplace, add more women. Maria Salterio Doughty, president & CEO of The […]

by Susan Yem

International Women’s Day 2023: Ways to Celebrate All Month Long

Every March, we honor Women’s History Month and on March 8, specifically, we celebrate International Women’s Day — a time to examine the social, economic, cultural and political impact of all women across the globe, now and throughout history. Many women at the forefront of intellectual, artistic and political progress — the likes of Ida […]

by Margaret Smith

10 of Chicago's Top Black Women of Impact — 2023

McKinsey & Company in partnership with Lean In recently published its eighth annual Women in the Workplace study. This annual report card is the largest research project of its kind to assess the impact women are making in corporate America. Among other findings, the study concluded that 59 percent of Black women leaders want to […]

by Susan Solomon Yem

Q&A: Red Cross Board Member Jan Tratnik Talks Following Her Passions and Sharing the Lasting Impact of Photography Through Her Book 'Hand Me the Camera'

As a young child, Jan Tratnik stepped off a bus and into conversation with a “small man” in a child-size car. A photo of this interaction between Jan and what was actually a ventriloquist’s dummy appeared in the Sunday paper soon thereafter. She was fascinated by this. Thus was born her life-long passion for photography. […]

by Margaret Smith