The Work-Life Equation: Ann Shoket, CEO, The Li.st and Founder, New Power Media

Ann Shoket

Ann Shoket, founder of New Power Media and CEO of The Li.st, shares her inspiring journey of reinventing her career as an author and entrepreneur after her memorable career as Editor-in-Chief at Seventeen Magazine. In this episode, you will be able to:

  1. Understand the value of a solid support network for women in their workplace journey.
  2. Tackle the issue of loneliness that often plagues women pursuing professional development.
  3. Discover fresh approaches to re-envisioning power dynamics and success for women.
  4. Harness the strength of your existing relationships to expand your professional network.
  5. Promote a culture of cooperation to establish a fairer and more inclusive workplace.

 



Read the full transcript

00:00:11 - Christine Michel Carter
Hello everyone, and welcome to The Work-Life Equation, a Bright Horizons podcast. The only podcast featuring candid conversations, stories and strategies from corporate leaders, public figures, and every day, people who are putting the pieces together to make life work. I am one of your hosts, Christine Michel Carter.

00:00:32 - Priya Krishnan
And I'm Priya Krishnan from Bright Horizons.

00:00:35 - Christine Michel Carter
Priya, how have you been this week?

00:00:37 - Priya Krishnan
I've been great. Today is a dreary day in Boston, but you have good days and you have bad days. It's called New England for a reason.

00:00:47 - Christine Michel Carter
Oh my goodness, it is so sunny here in Baltimore. I could not be happier. Personally, I am happy. Medically. My body is very sick of having allergies as this weather just keeps flip flopping. I think we went from winter, just the summer here.

00:01:02 - Priya Krishnan
Yeah, I think that's happening here too. I haven't had allergies all my life, but they say it's a seven year cycle, so maybe I'm going to develop them because I can see the sniffles coming by as well.

00:01:13 - Christine Michel Carter
Well, I got to tell you, I am very excited for today's guest. I feel like she has shaped an entire generation of young girls through her work during her time at 17, but now she continues to be a champion for those same women in the new chapter of their lives into adulthood. I'm a fan. I've been a fan for years. I'm just thrilled to know her and I think our listeners will get a lot out of what she has to say.

00:01:41 - Priya Krishnan
I think we will as well.

00:01:43 - Christine Michel Carter
Absolutely. But before we get into talking with her this week's here we go conversation. So other people call them dinner table conversations, but who really has time to eat dinner at a table with their kids anymore when four out of five meals are eaten in the car and here we go moment, or my dinner table, if you will. Conversation with my kids was really with my daughter Maya and motherhood. And even though she's eleven years old, she's pretty staunchly against the idea of being a mother. And I think it has to do in part with how she sees me advocating for working mothers and the challenges they're facing. But I also think it just has to do with it being of no interest to her, which is disappointing to me. And I think it's very selfish for her to deny me of being a grandmother. But that is probably what I am grappling with this week, which is this younger generation and the idea of wanting to forego motherhood. I mean, as an advocate, I want equality from mothers in the workplace. I never want the younger generation to just forego it all together because of the struggles that they see.

00:02:53 - Priya Krishnan
Yeah, I agree. And I think it's interesting my mom didn't work and she chose to stay at home. I worked, but I had all these expectations in terms of I would be just like my mom. I would do everything at home and then I would be the super successful career woman. What I see with younger women these days is that they are self assured moms in the sense that they want motherhood, but they don't really have the insight into what it could do to their career. So the notion of letting go and the notion of having control taken away is what they struggle with. But my here we go conversation with my kids was the exact opposite we were talking about. And mine are closer where I could become a grandma. And they want to have three kids each. So I hope that all comes true and that my current hope is that I look stunning at their graduations, but hopefully they'll have the kids and I'll be there with them.

00:03:50 - Christine Michel Carter
My thing is that Maya is depriving me of having the gray haired Bob and giving a Diane Keaton and something's got to give moment, a Nancy Myers moment while I'm on the beach with my grandkids. And how selfish. How selfish of her. I must say that she would forego raising kids 24 hours a day so that I can have the 2 hours a weekend of being Nancy Myers Diane Keaton. It kills me. But today's guest is a caregiver I admire for her passion for ensuring the next generation of mothers actually do live in a world that's a little bit less lonely. And I just love her for that. With paths that they carved on their own terms welcome, CEO of the list and founder of new power Media, Ann Shocket to the work life equation. How are you, Ann?

00:04:39 – Ann Shoket
Oh, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you. And thank you for such warm introduction. I am a huge fan of yours, and it is really an honor to be part of such a warm and generous conversation. So thank you for having me here today.

00:04:58 - Christine Michel Carter
Thank you. How was vacation? And I said I was going to mention it, that your boo looks like Oscar Isaac. How was your vacation with your lovely?

00:05:07 – Ann Shoket
So this vacation was epic. We did a family vacation. It was actually a double family vacation with my cousin's family, which is sort of a first for us. And we did a huge road trip through California and Arizona to the Grand Canyon. And I definitely felt totally Brady bunchy like we were it was it was classic old school, you know, national parks kind of vacation. And as I was taking my kids to school today and they were exhausted from this epic spring break, I said to them, like, this was a vacation that you are going to remember forever. And I was so excited to have been a part of that. We're finally at the stage, right? They're elementary school kids and we're finally at the stage where they're making memories. They're going to remember these moments. And it was family togetherness and it was epic. Thank you for asking. I love your dedication in this conversation of thinking about the next generation and the ways in which we can really set up the next generation for success. My daughter is too and my son are sort of too young for me to really dig into that, but very much care about being a champion of sort of not the whole next generation, but like, who's stepping into leadership next? How do we help the women that are just coming up the ladder to rise higher and to feel more supported? And I appreciate so much, Bright Horizons, that you're starting with your young ones.

00:06:56 - Priya Krishnan
Now, speaking of younger self, you're currently a regular contributor on Good Morning America. Would be Ann, who was just graduating out of NYU, have expected that. And if not, what led you to this?

00:07:13 - Ann Shoket
When I got out of college, I thought I was going to write the next great American novel. And then I looked around and I realized, that will be really lonely. I would sit in a room all day and write, even though that's really not how it happens, but that's what I imagined would happen. And also I looked around and I was like, gosh, awfully expensive to live here in New York City. How am I going to make a living? And so that was sort of a pivot into magazines, right? Magazines were super exciting. When I got out of college it was like fuzzy and sexy and fun and that was where I wanted to be. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to hang out with other writers and poets and rock stars and go to all the parties and I did all of it. New York City in the like, amazing. For finding your footing, for launching a business, for learning about how the world works. This is going to sound weird. I never had a five year plan. I never imagined I would be editor in chief of a magazine. I never really imagined that I would write. I mean, I wanted to be a novelist, but I never imagined that I would write a life guidebook for an entire generation of women. And I didn't have a plan to become an entrepreneur, which is where I'm sitting now as the founder of New Power Media and CEO of the List, which I acquired a couple of years ago. And what I did was keep my eyes open for opportunities and possibilities when it was sexy, crazy fun to be in the magazine business. I was in the magazine business when everybody in New York City was launching a website, I launched a website. My website made it into The New York Times when I was 25 years old. When the bottom fell out of the magazine business, I reinvented my career. I don't think I reinvented myself because the core of my message has always been there, but I reinvented my career as an author and an entrepreneur. And after two years of traveling the country talking to millennial women about how to build a big life on their own terms, I wanted to put my money where my mouth was right? I wanted to put more muscle behind it. I wanted to stop talking about it and start doing it. And that's when I founded new power media. Because of the conversations I had with the big life because of the conversations I was having with new power media, I had the amazing opportunity to contribute to Good Morning America. I worked with their web team to sort of build the nuts and bolts behind the scenes of what their strategy. And then I was on air talking about millennials and me too, and creating opportunity and possibility in the world. It's a tremendous privilege. And all of those opportunities I was saying to you, all of those, none of them were the journey. None of them were the destination. They were all the journey. And even where I am now, the list is a community of high impact leaders in media, technology, entrepreneurship. But what separates us from all other communities is that we are devoted to helping each other achieve and succeed, that. We want to share intel and opportunities and experience and also support because one of the things that I say very often, you know this to. Be true is that the world is not made for ambitious women. Ambitious in your life, ambitious in your career. Folks popping up over my shoulder here, you can see in the next room. But the world is not made for us. You have to build your own systems of support.

00:11:41 - Christine Michel Carter
So, I mean, you were very proactive. You lived in the power of the pivot when industries were failing, when companies were failing. You pivoted and thrived. Is that something that you feel like women have to do in corporate America because society won't help them pivot on their own? They have to be proactive and pivot for their own career? Or am I just totally off base? Is this something that women and men have to do?

00:12:07 – Ann Shoket
The system isn't set up for women to rise with the support that they need to live to their greatest potential. And I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. The ways in which women feel unsupported when they have children as they get more senior. We just did this really stunning research on the list in partnership with Berlin Cameron and Beninson strategy group about loneliness. And we are facing an epidemic of loneliness in this country. What I wanted to understand was how is that loneliness impacting women's lives and careers? And it turns out 53% of women say they are lonely because of their job. And it gets worse as they get more senior. And it makes sense. You're not only lonely, but you're literally alone, right? You can look around and say, like, where are my people? And that the traditional systems of support that have helped men rise through the ranks aren't necessarily the systems of support that women need. And this is not to say that men are not lonely, because they are. Everybody's lonely.

00:13:25 - Christine Michel Carter
We have a national mental health crisis. Exactly. Everybody is lonely.

00:13:30 – Ann Shoket
Everybody's lonely. But the ways in which it affects women, that it undermines their opportunities to rise, that it puts pressure on the relationships, their personal relationships, that should be supportive of them, and that a lot of younger women are kind of opting out saying, like, I don't want to be lonely. This doesn't look great for me. Right. I don't see myself in this position. And so what is so important for us to do is to shore up support that we need inside work and outside work. You asked me about women rising and the system being set up for them, and it doesn't have to work against them. I think that we're beginning to see ways for women to feel supported, to feel like they can bring their whole selves to work. Christine, I just want to give you credit. You and I had a conversation during the Pandemic, and we were talking about a dual crisis, a crisis after George Floyd in companies and people feeling wounded and unsure and how were we going to navigate that moment in our country? And also isolation, loneliness, panic around the Pandemic. And you said something to me which I will never forget, which is that, ‘Rather than see this as a moment to get smaller, it was an opportunity to step into your fullness right to.’Say what you need from work and from the people around you. I'm so grateful for you for saying that and for living that, and for championing other folks for stepping into their fullness. But I see where we are now. Our crises might feel less urgent, but the challenges are still there. We still feel isolated and alone and unseen and unheard. And so how do we see this as an opportunity to be heard and to build support rather than feel smaller?

00:16:00 - Priya Krishnan
The employers through this period actually have realized because one of the things COVID did was it allowed us to look into each other's rooms, see our children, see. So I do feel like the positive of all of this is it served as a little bit is it fast enough? Is it going to be quick enough? Will we make up for the time where several million women left the workforce? Perhaps not, but it'll happen significantly sooner than it happened in the last 35 years. So I feel people are taking notice and wanting to make the change. And thanks to the work you do, women are stepping up and saying, stepping into their fullness, as Bright Horizons said, right, and asking for what is right for them and what makes things work for them. And that confidence is really encouraging. Because it means that people are asking and employers are willing to give. So hopefully I have hope for the fact that things will move forward and people can continue working and thriving at work. Right. I know you're a mom to two beautiful children who are ten and eight, but did life change for you as you had your children? And how did career change for you? And what advice would you give to young women who are having children? When you look back upon that time?

00:17:21 - Ann Shoket
You just asked a doozy of a question. I know, man, oh, man. That's the hardest question. Yes and no and Holy Macaroni is the answer to that question. I was so ambitious in building my career through my twenty s and my thirty s, and I was not even focused on how do I build my family? And all of a sudden, I didn't even meet my partner until I was 35, which in New York City is no big deal, but everywhere else in the country, people are like, oh, 35. I was almost 39 when we got married, and I was 40 when our first came and 42 when our second came. So I had already established my career, and I was already Editor-In-Chief of Seventeen at that time.  Should have been a moment of tremendous support because I had a team of mostly women in a company run by mostly women. I suddenly looked around and I said Wait a minute, where are the other editors in chief who are having babies? And there were one or two that were there were a couple. There were not a lot. And I hid my bump under my desk for a long time, right. And I wore four inch heels to the office, and I traveled, and I didn't want anybody to see me sweat. Right. It was really that idea of, like, I'm fine. I can do it. It's no big deal. This isn't going to change anything. And it changed everything. It changed everything, but particularly the ways that some of the softer power got moved around, right? For me, it had to be less about going to every event, going to every cocktail party and traveling, right? It had to be if you give me a choice between going to some cocktail party or being home with my kids, I actually really want to be on the couch with the kids. But I actually think that we had to change the way we make those business connections, right. Sustain our careers, that it's less about going to every party and more about, like, who are the people? I have my phone here. Who's in your group chat? Who's in your WhatsApp group? Who's in your community, your digital community that you can ping at 06:00 in the morning or 08:00 at night when you get a minute and need some support. And so the ways in which we support ourselves and each other had to change.

00:20:14 - Christine Michel Carter
You know, it's funny. Indray Nooyi was on the podcast, and she said the same thing. I'm not on the golf course. I don't know how to play golf. I am a mother, and that is the role that I hold, and that is the one that cannot be replaced. Anybody can be the CEO of Pepsi or could have been. The role of mother is what can't be replaced. And I think that when it comes to being a working mom and the soft power, as you mentioned, of going to every event and schmoozing there, what I think is a skill that we don't always tap into is the beforehand. So, like, the best salespeople don't go to a networking event and get to networking. They look at the list of folks who are attending way in advance and get to networking. And I think that that's a skill that we can do. We don't necessarily have to be in the room. We can build those relationships beforehand. And you just mentioned that you gave birth after that and was pregnant through some of that. So talk to me about that. I don't want to skate over that. You were pregnant, but yet it was a high career moment for you, and yet it was one of the lonely moments.

00:21:21 - Ann Shoket
It's absolutely true that every time you rise to a new level in your career, you're leaving behind in a lot of ways the support systems that you have built that have gotten you to that moment. And I felt that when I became editor in chief of 17. At the time, I was the youngest editor in chief. I was single. I had a new team, an entirely new team to lead, and it was cutthroat competitive, right? Like, nobody was saying, like, hey, Ann, come on, we'll show you the ropes. And so I really had to figure out how to build up my own support system, emotional support system outside of the office and my support system within the office. Again, having children and looking around and realizing that being a pregnant Editor-In-Chief was a rarity was another moment that I needed to figure it out on my own. One of the other big leaps in my career was to become an entrepreneur, and man, is that lonely. But that taught me I had worked with this amazing coach who said to me, I was having this, like, frazzled moment. I can't do it. It's impossible. Who's going to help me? And she said, all right, listen. Stop thinking about all the ways in which you're lacking. Who's in your boat? Who's helping you? That was a real shift for me to imagine. Instead of looking for all the ways that I'm not supported, to find the ways that I was supported, who's helping me? Who can I rely on? Who can I turn to? Who do I trust? Who trusts me? And that shift towards abundance towards the hidden sources of connection in your world was game changing for me to see that maybe it looks different than it did before, and maybe it's not one stop shopping, right? You don't have just one person who's going to be your rock, but that all the people whose boats are riding alongside yours and that you can talk to about the way about what's coming up and the storm conditions ahead. All of that really matters. There are people this is the advice I want to give to anyone who is feeling lonely and is feeling disconnected and feeling isolated there are people who have your back. Lean into those relationships, deepen those relationships. Show up for them, check in with them. It doesn't have to be some kind of a formal to do it can. Simply be a text. Hey, I want your opinion. I've been thinking of you. It can be a get together. It just needs to be like, how can you deepen those relationships for the people who have your back already? Hidden sources of support.

00:24:22 - Priya Krishnan
No, it's interesting you say that. It's those people you actually take for granted, right? Like, my sister is my pillar and strength, and I know at any stage, if people ask for 04:00 a.m. Friend, she would be my 04:00 A.M. Friend. But I rarely call her this whole notion. So that's going to be my takeaway, is I'm going to call her and say, I love you and thank you for being my support system. One of the things you did, which I really admired, Ann, was you put together Project 24, and I'm a personal believer that there's so much potential, and human potential is the most underserved resource on Earth. And you talked about women achieving their potential, becoming president. We're sitting in 2023 on the envelope of 2024. How do you think that's gone? And how has those generation of women sort of come along over the last ten years?

00:25:20 - Ann Shoket
So Project 2024 was a campaign that I ran when I was one of the launch editors at Cosmo Girl magazine. So that feels like a lifetime ago, and 2024 felt like a million years away. It must have been 2004. It was 20 years. In which our youngest reader would have been eligible to be President of the United States. So it was 13 year old girls, right? Reading Cosmo Girl in 2004 and 15 year old girls 2004 and imagining what life would be like 20 years later for them. And we interviewed high profile women talking about the keys to their success. And we interviewed I mean, it was stunning. It was politicians and corporate leaders and beauty pioneers, and really, it was groundbreaking for a teen magazine at the time to think about power and success and to tell 13 1415 year old girls, you are possible in this way, you can be powerful. So now those young women are 35 to 40. And they are they they are leading us now. 2024. I want to know where those women are, if any of them are listening to this podcast get in touch, because the world doesn't look like what I think we thought it would be. I think we thought, maybe naively, that it would be easier, that the path would be paved, that some of the wins that we had had in our independence and freedom and rights would still be wins and not be turned back. I think that we thought there would be greater equality. Not in a way that feels so facile and easy, but in a shared responsibility way, that it would be obvious that we should be treated equally. It seems like it should be more obvious and that some of the struggles that we're having now to be seen as leaders in the fullness of ourselves. The fullness of our lives. We would not be still so deep in the muck on. So if any of those young women who read Project 2024, who were inspired by Project 2024, who did interviews as part of Project 2024, are listening demering, I want to resurrect, literally, Project 2024. Where are we now I still believe in the power of the next generation, always the next generation. Who is going to do better? Who's going to be stronger? How are they going to change and shape our world? I am wildly enthusiastic about Gen Z and the fierce independence that they are exhibiting as they start to enter in the workforce. And I said this about millennials, and I say it even more about Gen Z companies. Get ready. You need these people. Harness them. Don't make them sit still. Don't make them follow the old rules of the way things used to be.

00:29:03 - Christine Michel Carter
Like, let them lead so things don't look how they did when you wrote about Project 2024. And who knows what you think they'll look like 20 years from now with the new power media in the list. But for those women who are ambitious and young and are listening to the podcast today, how would you like for them to define what it means to be powerful and successful in the world 20 years from now?

00:29:37 – Ann Shoket
I want everybody who's listening to build a safety net of support so that you feel seen and heard and validated and so that you can step into your personal power. That is what I want. And it's not some crazy lofty goal. You can build your networks of support around you. The dreams have gotten bigger. I believe it wholeheartedly. With every single win, every single time that you see a woman rise to a new level, everybody else sees their possibility in a new way despite the fact I thought we'd be a little different looking at 2024 20 years ago, I still think from where we are now, you can see a further horizon. And from that next step, another horizon, but you're not going to get there if you can't build your support. Just like you said, reimagine power and success, transparent, accountable, communal, collaborative. Those are the changes that millennial women have driven in our society. Priya, you said earlier that during the pandemic, we all saw into each other's lives literally on zoom, that's the transparency, diversity has always been important to millennial women. And the more that we could build a bigger table, the more folks were bringing around that table. Right. The more we elevate this conversation about diversity and what does that look like at every level? How do we bring more people into the conversation to make ourselves, make the world and the conversation bigger and smarter and stronger? That's what power looks like. I'm over this old idea of hierarchical, top down, loudest voice, closed door meetings, need to know basis. like, all of that feels very dusty. I'm interested in how can we work together to build this future that is diverse, transparent, accountable, and collaborative.

00:32:08 - Priya Krishnan
So who are your supports? Who's your safe space? You said that you lean on a set of people, the boats that are riding alongside you. Who are those people in your life?

00:32:21 - Ann Shoket
So, TheLi.st. I was a member of TheLi.st for five years before I acquired this community, and I have never been in a room of human beings who are more generous, who are more vulnerable with each other. They share their wins, they share their challenges, they share their intel, they share their access and their contacts. For me, TheLi.st is.he framework that we should all try to build in our own communities. I have an amazing advisory team that has just opened my mind to new ways of thinking. I said earlier, when you think about who's in your boat my husband is in my boat. We are teammates. We are partners in this world together. And then I have got this great group of friends. Right. My friends and my business support colleagues are different. I still think you need somebody who you can have a glass of wine with and talk about, like, yellow jackets and succession and just nonsense that's happening on TV.

00:33:42 - Christine Michel Carter
Absolutely.

00:33:43 - Ann Shoket
Yeah. And just let yourself be. Who's in your squad, Christine?

00:33:50 - Christine Michel Carter
My goodness. So we tape a lot of episodes, and I have actually added, like, it's a right or privilege or something, but I've added Priya to my squad. I feel like we had a fabulous conversation just off the cuff and off of the podcast. So she's definitely one of the people that I like to talk about motherhood and caregiving with. I love her perspective. So many folks, my brother, my kids. Honestly, I love having candid conversations with them. As a single mother, you've got to sometimes help them grow up a little bit just so you have somebody to talk to and you're not lonely.

00:34:27 - Ann Shoket
Priya, who's on your team?

00:34:31 - Priya Krishnan
I count my husband as. Well, I've been fortunate enough to have a partner and I really remember one of the things you said in your interviews where you said, he lights up when you talk about your career. And I had that exact same experience. He said, you will be the queen of the world when you're 30. And I just needed someone who said that to me. And it wasn't about ambition, it wasn't about where you were head, but you just knew, this person's going to be in my corner and is going to root for me. And my recharge are my kids. When I have a really tough day at work, I actually just like spending time with them in the car where they're not looking at you, they're on their devices and just chattering away. Just listening to them gives you a perspective on the world. I actually get a lot of hope from younger people. Mine are 18 and 15, so older than both of yours. But I know they're self assured and they're going into the world knowing exactly what they want and gives me a lot of joy to know that. Just like you're saying you have your money on Gen Z, I have my money on Gen Z as well.

00:35:39 - Ann Shoket
Love it. I want to add one more piece of piece to this conversation, which is just a thank you to Christine. She sent me a copy of her book around the same time my book came out and just a nice note of saying that she was a fan of mine and that would I like to read her book. And she is someone who has always shown up for me. And so I am so honored to be able to show up for you in this podcast. But we've stayed in touch, right? We've reached out to each other to share opportunities. I've interviewed her for a couple of articles that I've written and I think that sometimes you forget about those people, right. That it's not we've actually never met in person, although I can't wait because we're going to give each other a very big hug. But she's someone who I just respect and honor and want to be in touch with. And I think that that's something to say, is you're building when people are thinking about building their communities, that if you want people to show up for you, you have to show up for them. And the sort of long tail relationship that Bright Horizons and I have had just touching base over the years and social media like each other on Instagram has really been valuable.

00:37:02 - Christine Michel Carter
You took the words right out of my mouth. That's what I was just about to say. I was going to say I have been a fan of yours, my God, since I was in college, and not because you were a guest judge on America's Next Time Model, but because, you know, because did you buzz us up there? No, go ahead. Five three, please. Because you were in the publishing industry and you had moved to a new medium and you were the first person I had ever seen, first woman who I'd ever seen be the head of something in publishing and moved to this medium that had a general audience. And I was like, and you see Issa Ray and she does it now, and other writers and Quinta Robinson, they all have moved to TV. But you were the first who said, I can still be a writer. I can still be in publishing and be on your TV screens. I had never seen that. And I said that to you when I met you. I thank you so much for that because I wouldn't have the podcast had I not believed that that would be the case.

00:38:05 - Priya Krishnan
It's incredible, right? Like, you guys haven't met. Christine and I hadn't met, but just like she said, I would counter. Because you also want to hang out with women who think like you to your point on loneliness, right? It is. You have the same perspective. You're thinking about the world the exact same ways. We are feminists who embrace our feminism and we think about being women but wanting to work for women. So it's incredible. It's really nice to watch this, even this dynamic of us collectively sort of saying, it doesn't matter. We might not speak, but we will show up for each other whenever we need it. And that's amazing.

00:38:43 - Christine Michel Carter
So where can listeners learn more about The Li.st?

00:38:47 - Ann Shoket
TheLi.st is The Li.StWe have a funky URL. You can also find us I feel like this is a good LinkedIn you can find us on LinkedIn. This feels like a good LinkedIn crowd. And feel free to ping me. I'm at Ann Shoket across all social media. Feel free to reach out to me directly. I would love to hear from folks.

00:39:10 - Christine Michel Carter
I think that we usually give a Thought of the Week. My thought of the week definitely is that I too am a fan of Generation Z. I feel like Ann walked so that I can run, so that Generation Z can fly and my daughter, Generation Alpha, can teleport. So I just feel like as we continue to go down, the generations of women, of course, Generation Z women, I love you. I hope that you gathered a lot from this conversation, whether you are a mother or not. Know that you can be in charge of your career. Know that you can set your own definition of what power and success looks like. And I am happy to support you and cheer you on along the way. Priya, what thought do you have this week?

00:39:54 - Priya Krishnan
I think it is what you said is so apt, which is generations of women have paved the way for each other. And more than anything else, I have this big smile on my face. Only because we've shown up for each other. And as more and more women show up for each other and root for each other and support each other, I think the world will only get better and there will be more equity both in the workplace and women will have their seat at the table. Ann, thanks to you, I'm going to call my sister and tell her how much I love her. So also go back to the people who have your back and make those connections. That's my takeaway from the conversation.

00:40:33 - Christine Michel Carter
And what resources does Bright Horizons have for us?

00:40:37 - Priya Krishnan
Plenty of resources in terms of you can go to Bright Horizons.com and go to Bright Horizons Resources and search for these things, but How Women Become Leaders? There's this great article you could read, Five Ways to Boost Your Leadership Skills. That’s another blog that's in there and there's this really interesting webinar on How Working Parents Need to Succeed and What They Need. I think in this isolation, just having some solidarity that solace and misery it provides that. So I think there's some great resources for women who are out there trying to say, where's my drive and where's my circle?

00:41:18 - Christine Michel Carter
Wonderful. And thank you so much for being a part of the podcast. We appreciate it you being on and having this kind of candid conversation with you.

00:41:26 - Ann Shoket
Thank you. So fun.

00:41:30 - Priya Krishnan
So much fun. Thank you so much.

00:41:32 - Ann Shoket
Absolutely.

00:41:32 - Christine Michel Carter
Thank you.

00:41:33 - Priya Krishnan
Bright Horizons is the world's most trusted education and care company. We partner with employers to provide exceptional early learning, family care and workforce education that transforms lives and organizations because we believe education and care can change the world. One child, one family, one organization at a time. Are you looking for a job? Visit Careers brightrisens.com where you can join our talent community and receive the most up to date news and events at Bright Horizons. And don't forget to subscribe to Teach. Play. Love., our parenting podcast, where you'll get expert advice from our education team and learn what really matters and what doesn't in your child's earliest years of learning, growth and development. Follow us on our social media and stay up to date on company news. Join live events and see what's happening at our centers. Join us by following Bright Horizons on LinkedIn and at Bright Horizons on Instagram

00:42:26 - Christine Michel Carter
Awesome. You've just listened to an episode of the The Work-Life Equation with Christine Michel Carter.

00:42:31 - Priya Krishnan
and Priya Krishnan.

00:42:33 - Christine Michel Carter
Until next time, guys. Take care.

 


Ann Shoket
About the Author
Priya Krishnan, Senior Vice President, Client Relations and Growth Operations
PRIYA KRISHNAN
Chief Digital and Transformation Officer
Priya Krishnan comes to Bright Horizons after founding and running India's largest childcare business. She is the winner of many awards for her work in the space, including Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Young Turk, FT1000 for Asia, and Red Herring Asia.