Nothing says we need to close the gender pay gap more than noting Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. It’s August 22. That’s the day that black women “catch up” to what a white, non-Hispanic man made last year. That is 8 months and 22 days of extra work. It’s hard to take companies seriously when they say they realize they need to change and claim they have a high commitment to gender diversity. Women know for a fact, that it hasn’t budged in decades, not for white women either, who celebrated their equal pay day April 2. But compound this unfair imbalance for women of color with the fact that 80% of black women are the primary or sole provider of their family and it becomes an economic shortfall that affects entire communities.
Felicia Davis, Founder of the Black Women’s Collective, set about to right this obvious wrong when she turned her focus to Black Women’s Equal Pay Day last year, and held an evening mixer, “Strategize Your Way to Equal Pay” to help Phoenix area women close the gap and move into leadership positions. The mixer was such a success, that she immediately began working to make it an annual event.
“It was amazing, but we needed more time,” Felicia said. “This year we’ve got a full day of speakers, Power Talks, a Power Panel, Power Table Connections, and Power Connections.”
The 2019 “Strategize Your Way to Equal Pay” Symposium is a one-day empowerment experience for corporate and entrepreneurialblack women leaders, uniquely designed to help them amplify their vision, voice and visibility, and get paid what they’re worth. The day promises to disrupt any patterns of mediocre thinking, and attendees will be guided to breakthrough results in the areas of communication, negotiation, relationships, branding and wealth creation.
With more than a dozen recognized experts set to present, Davis says that this year’s symposium is limited to 50 attendees, so it remains small and intimate, and attendees can make high-quality connections to get the most benefits from the event.
“It’s our #BlackGirlMagic that has us be known as the most educated and most ambitious women with the strongest work ethic,” Felicia said. “While that’s great, it also becomes our blind-spot because workingincredibly hard is not enough to catalyze our leadership in a way that gets us recognized, respected and paid well.”
Felicia brings her expertise to the event and is slated to be one of the Symposium’s speakers. As an award-winning and certified leadership and personal branding strategist, author and advisor to women leaders, she also brings 20+ years of experience as a former HR executive, hard work ethic, and research to the event. Named as a “Woman of Excellence” by the National Council of Negro Women, Felicia has personally worked with hundreds of women using her proprietary branding process to help them develop compelling communication and leadership skills that position them to be recognized, remembered and recommended for high visibility projects.
Felicia says that the Symposium is, “Equal parts Heart and Strategy because you need both to thrive and succeed as a results-driven, Black Female Leader who also gets paid well.”
As part of our mission to facilitate networking among smart, amazing women devoted to changing the world, Women Connect4Good is excited to sponsor this event, and help Felicia elevate black women leaders throughout the Phoenix area. To learn more, go to www.BlackWomensCollective.com/Elevate and find out how you can help close the gender pay gap.