Editor’s note: Names of the three campers in this essay have been changed to protect their privacy. I first met Lylah, Grace and Josie when they were 14. Each girl bounded up the stairs into the circle of cabins with wide smiles on their faces, clamoring to get inside and Read more…
It happened again. I received a call about receiving an award – and my immediate instinct was to resist it. A familiar whisper began in my head: “This can’t be right. There are countless others far more deserving.” My brain, it seems, has a default setting for “deflect and deny.” Read more…
The air in the interview room felt thick with expectation, a familiar pressure I’d come to know well throughout my career. I was interviewing for a leadership role at an investment firm, a position that felt like a natural next step, yet a quiet part of me wondered if I Read more…
Have you ever found yourself downplaying a significant achievement, that little voice in your head whispering that sharing it might come across as boastful? I certainly have. I remember vividly the day I received an email informing me I’d been recognized with a prestigious industry award. My initial reaction was Read more…
“Are you crazy?” My friends asked, not unkindly. I just smiled. After several decades climbing the ladder in the high-stakes world of finance, the question hung in the air: “Why would you leave such a successful career?” That was over a decade ago and my peers, family, even the nagging Read more…
Compiled by Macey Shofroth and Emily Barske Wood Nearly 500 people, a record number, shared with us their thoughts about the status of gender equity in Iowa. The Business Record has published its annual survey on women’s and gender issues as part of our Fearless initiative for the last several Read more…
In February, the African American Museum of Iowa named Jacqueline Hunter as its new executive director. Hunter joined the museum in August 2024 as museum educator with vast experience in education and history. She began her career as a recreation director in central Florida before going into teaching. She began a Read more…
I remember the day I was promoted to managing director at the investment firm where I’d worked for several years. Although my MBA degree had prepared me for elements of the job, it had certainly not guaranteed advancement. Moving up required developing a track record of hitting numbers, building client Read more…
What if the biggest barrier to women’s leadership isn’t a lack of ability, but a lack of self-recognition of their identity as leaders? I’ve seen this phenomenon in action. When I worked in financial services, I had a colleague named Patricia, a talented woman who — even without formal authority Read more…
By Rachel Manuel Bruns Are you looking for a simple and no-cost solution to increase both the quantity and quality of applications you receive for job openings at your organization? With Iowa’s unemployment rate at 3.1% and more than 50,000 job openings, employers need to leverage every tool available to improve their applicant Read more…