Cynthia Good is the founder and CEO of Little PINK Book, and is chair of the final judging committee for the media awards categories in the 2013 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run. We asked Cynthia about her experience as a Stevie Award winner, the value of awards programs for women in business, and what inspires her.
Here’s what Cynthia had to say about being a Final Judging Committee Chair, and her own experience of winning a Stevie Award:
“I personally value the invitation to chair one of this year's final judging committees. At PINK, we have found that whenever we contacted our friends - all senior level women, at Walmart, HP, Accenture, Estee Lauder, Ahava, JPMorgan Chase, and UPS - they were thrilled to join the committee to judge the Stevie Awards. It speaks volumes about the Stevie Awards organization that some of the most prominent women at many of the world's top companies are willing to take the time to be part of this. It also shows the commitment their own organizations have to helping women succeed.
“The Stevie Awards have a great reputation and many longtime partners of PINK also participate. We have been excited to share the work PINK has done and to be recognized for the hard work the team at PINK has put in over the years to tell the story about women, career, and advancement.
“At PINK we were especially pleased to have received the Gold Stevie Award in the website awards category for two consecutive years (2011 and 2012) from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. I’m so proud of the PINK team. It is their hard work that resulted in this recognition. And we all appreciate the support given by the Stevie Awards to organizations working to promote women in business.”
We asked Cynthia for some advice on what Corporate America can do to expand the roles of women and minorities in the workplace. Here’s what she told us:
“In our work with corporations to advance women and minorities we’ve found that most companies rely primarily on mentoring, networking, affinity groups, and sponsorship programs as the means of advancing diversity; but this isn’t enough to change the metrics.
“At most companies, diversity engagement becomes the responsibility of the HR and Diversity departments in order to make sure a company is compliant and that minority employees have a sounding board. But this does not drive real change and may even contribute to a continuation of the status quo.
“How to fix it? What we at PINK have found is often lacking is full endorsement from the top. Once the CEO of a company decides to measure and then increase diversity participation in leadership roles, then we can bring about real change.
“At PINK, we will only work with companies to increase diversity leadership when there is full support and direction from the top. This makes it far easier for Diversity and HR to set--and then achieve--specific goals.
“Advancement within a company or organization requires not just the full participation of the individual diversity candidate: it means finding out what each candidate is most passionate about; what the obstacles to advancement are; and what it will take to overcome those obstacles.”
When asked for her sources of inspiration, Cynthia told us:
“Eighty percent of those in PINK’s community say they advanced in their career because of Little PINK Book. It is those individual stories of inspiration that keep us motivated and excited to get up every morning.
“You can read one example in a recent feature story we ran on America’s Top 10 Female CFOs. Another was the Facebook Contest we organized that gave one contestant a week at Canyon Ranch Spa for sharing how she had found the ‘courage to do what she loves.’ We also share the wisdom of women leaders every year at our signature events. The next one, our 9th Annual Fall Empowerment Event, is November 12 in Atlanta, and we will be live-streaming it free for women around the world to watch, learn, and be as inspired as we are by these leaders’ stories of triumph.”
2013 Judging and Awards Dinner and Ceremonies:
The final judging committees of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business are currently determining the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the winners. In addition to the media categories, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business final judging committees will also confer marketing awards, new product awards, management awards, company awards, and PR awards. The awards will be announced and presented, and the recipients and judges will be celebrated, at the 2013 (10th annual) awards dinner and ceremonies. The dinner will be held on Friday, November 8 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square, New York City. Tickets are still available.
About Cynthia Good:
Cynthia Good is the founder and CEO of Little PINK Book, America's #1 digital platform for career women. PINK launched in 2005 as the only national women's business magazine, which under Cynthia’s leadership grew to a readership of 650,000. She then grew the digital version, LittlePINKBook.com, into America's top online resource for working women. Now she's bringing advancement directly to Fortune 500 companies with programs such as ITAP (Identify, Track, Advance, Promote), enabling corporate America to increase the diversity representation of women and minorities in leadership roles. "It's our legacy work," says AIG.
PINK has won numerous industry honors including the Ozzie Award for Best Feature, and the Gold Stevie for Best Website from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business for two consecutive years. Stories featuring top women in business on LittlePINKBook.com continue to inspire generations of ambitious women. Cynthia has written six books and appears regularly as a women's business expert on evening newscasts. She gives speeches to corporate and entrepreneurial groups alike, including The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, McKesson, Andrews Kurth, Hilton Worldwide, Deloitte, and KPMG.
A self-described Famillionaire, Cynthia knows riches are in family. She lives in Atlanta, GA, USA with her husband of more than 20 years and their two sons, Alden and Julien; two miniature horses; four chickens; and Lucy their giant orange cat.
About Little PINK Book:
Little PINK Book describes itself as: “Your daily dose of encouragement and inspiration to follow your dreams and have the beautiful career and beautiful life you deserve.” For more information, go to www.littlepinkbook.com.
