Hello Christina Stembel

Congratulations on your success. Huge congrats. You made it happen. Thank you for writing this and for being committed to helping women. In your industry and beyond.

The sad, sad truth is that what you describe happens over and over again in many industries. There are so many talented, qualified, competent, accomplished and results-delivering women who are penalized only because of gender. ( note that I didn’t say “ all” my words are “ so many”)

The sole solution: keep on doing what you are doing. Holding your head proudly high because you have earned the right to do so. Totally ignore all the naysayers and the negativity. It is just background noise. It is another attempt to silence you.

Your success says everything about you. The best way, I believe, for you (and any of us) to fix this ridiculous mess of gender discrimination is : 1. continued focus on your ( one’s)amazing business 2. Whenever possible write, say and do anything you (one) can to support and help out other women in similar situations. ( I see that you, Christina, already do #1 and #2 and more…)

Change happens as more and more of us see and feel support for our hard earned efforts. When fragile egos are threatened by us…we cannot “ fix” this. Instead we focus on the positive and reach out to sincerely support one another.

The day will come when the only important discussion will be about PEOPLE doing good things for PEOPLE. When a situation dictates, it will be about the most qualified, hard working PERSON. Gender, skin colour, religious preference, nationality, age, choice of life partner etc etc will not factor into the job/ contract/ promotion/ reward/ prize.

Yes, that day should be today.