Forum advises women to be confident, have fun

Lori Ginoccai is one of seven women holding one of the 1,000 upper management positions… Lori Ginoccai is one of seven women holding one of the 1,000 upper management positions at her company – and she wasn’t handed the position.

Ginoccai and other professional women in the Pittsburgh area offered advice to the next generation of professional women in a question-and-answer forum, held last Friday afternoon in the Kurtzman Room of the William Pitt Union. The event was sponsored by the Women in Business organization.

“Companies will support women in leadership positions, but you have to have the confidence to ask for it,” Ginoccai said.

Ginoccai currently works as director of global education services for FreeMarkets. A young company, FreeMarkets faced the challenge of creating a diverse staff.

Ginoccai said she experienced first-hand the pressures on women in the workforce – she also returned to work after childbirth more quickly than many women in the company.

As a result, Ginoccai created and now serves as co-chair of the FreeMarkets Women’s Leadership group, which focuses on creating a more balanced leadership staff within the company.

The women stressed the importance of showcasing competence to customers, coworkers and, particularly, their male counterparts. Amy Niceswanger works for Pitt Athletics, making sure the plush box seats at the Petersen Events Center are filled each season so that the players receive scholarship money from the profits.

Niceswanger said that she often wins the respect of many of her male associates by surprising them with her knowledge of sports.

“Most men are shocked when I say statistics, or can tell them [Pittsburgh Steelers runninng back] Jerome Bettis played for Notre Dame in college,” Niceswanger said.

Sharon Mickels, district manager of the Great Lakes region for Pfizer, started her career by “carrying the bag” in the industry. Mickels was originally a sales representative, and she said she allowed her determination and confidence to carry her to the top. As a black woman, Mickels added that diversity is a main concern for her.

“Diversity is a good thing, and any corporation that wants to be homogenous will not be successful,” Mickels said.

The women also spoke about having families and careers. A few of the women on the panel were single mothers, and they spoke about how to balance work life with family life. Constance Curry, a vice president at Mellon Financial Corporation, offered her advice.

“Have a support system that can back you up, because it will allow you to be flexible,” Curry said.

Single mothers are often at a disadvantage because they have responsibilities at home that keep them from putting in the extra effort of staying late at work. By having a support system, single mothers can show employers that they are as capable of holding leadership positions as anyone else.

Communication was also discussed at the forum. Men and women have different ways of communicating, the panel members said, explaining that women in male-dominated industries must adapt to communicate with their male counterparts.

It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it, the women on the panel stressed.

“Become a part of the team,” Curry said. “Being a woman is not an excuse for staying in the office all day while the boys decide to go for a golf outing. Learn to play golf, read the sports section and don’t let being a woman become an excuse for not getting ahead.”

Germaine Glaser, a store buyer for the Pittsburgh Jeans Co. in the South Side, briefly touched on the topic of sexual harassment. Glaser works in a female-dominated industry, but before she got the job, she had an internship where a male co-worker made discomforting advances.

“Speak up if anything like that happens,” Glaser said, adding that she spoke to a person in human resources who helped fix her problem.

Assistant Chancellor Jean Ferketish discussed the importance of having an informal network, as well as a supportive spouse. Raised to be a lady before anything else, Ferketish had to overcome her soft-spoken tendency. She found that her husband was her greatest cheerleader.

“Being different is good, and it will work to your advantage, but you have to have the confidence to back it up,” Ferketish said.