Conversations with Powerhouse Women
In a world constructed by men and for men, women are conquering every stereotype and gender norm all around us. Breaking into professional spaces traditionally dominated by men, presents challenges and obstacles for women. However, with confidence and grit, countless women are proving that not only do they belong in these spaces, they excel in them and are courageously redefining success.
The professional world, no matter what that may look like to you, is no longer exclusive for men. Women are making their mark in their respective industries and paving the way for young women. The experiences of these women is a cherished learning experience among many girls. From WNBA powerhouse Sabrina Ionescu, CEO of Global company, 1Spatial, Sheila Steffenson, to President of an ad agency Paige Campbell, all these insanely successful women, and many more, have unique experiences and challenges to share with young women. Below are some of the standout moments from conversations with these women on excelling to their position.
What inspired you to pursue your current career path and what is your job title?
“My path to this role [CEO of 1Spatial Inc.] was rather winding. In my 20s I was running the deed department for a county appraisal district in TX. One day the Chief Appraiser asked if anyone was familiar with computer mapping systems. I thought it sounded interesting, so I said I was taking a course on them in night school (I went out and registered that evening!). I loved it from the get-go and continued my journey by taking a job as a trainer for an Esri (the largest Geospatial Information System…GIS) business partner and then was offered a job with Esri to do training and also sales (what I really wanted to do). After 3 years, they offered me the role of Regional Manager for the South Central area of the United States. After 14 years, I moved to the DC area and took over Management of the Federal Sciences Team, managing the Account Execs who were responsible for clients such as NOAA, NASA, EPA, etc. After a total of 23 years with Esri I was offered the CEO position covering the Americas for 1Spatial Inc, a provider of master data management automation tools that ensure data governance. I have been with 1Spatial 8 years now and have grown the team from 6 people and no clients to 35 staff and approximately 40 clients today, all of whom are large organizations who have mountains of data and mountains of data issues. Clients include States, State DOTs and Federal clients like US DOT, Census, etc. One of my favorite fun clients is Google Real Estate Workplace Services (REWS) who uses our tools to automate the data for managing all their facilities world-wide.” - Sheila Steffenson
“My job title is: President/Partner, Grady Britton. Art Direction and Design inspired me to pursue a career in Advertising. I studied visual communications, which introduced me to Advertising in the Journalism School at UofO. When I had the opportunity to work with other talented team members, my role naturally shifted to serving as a 'hub' of the team's effort. I realized that I was more valuable and natural as a leader and coordinator of the team's work than as a Designer. I shifted paths pretty early on and pursued Account Management and eventually Account Leadership, ultimately purchasing my agency and becoming our President about 15 years ago.” - Paige Campbell
“Growing up, I had always been an active kid. I was involved with a ton of sports (even if I wasn’t the best on the team). I thought little of the business of sport until high school, when I became the equipment manager for my high school football team. Counting football helmets and inventorying equipment opened my eyes to the entire ecosystem of sports outside of just the play on the field. Turns out you don’t have to be an athlete or a coach to stay involved in sport. I was lucky to stumble across this desire while I was in high school and set my sights on it from that day forward. I am now the Assistant Director and Undergraduate Program Manager for the Warsaw Sports Business Center here at the University of Oregon.” - Kennedy Schull
“I was inspired to my current career path by my parents. My father was an architect. My mom was primarily a homemaker, but also an art teacher at times and substitute elementary school teacher. I grew up loving Fabrics especially colors and textures. I was interested in architecture. I ended up as an interior designer.” - Michelle Pellitier
“While I was attending University of Oregon, I had to choose an area of study to pursue. I honestly felt pretty lost and directionless at the time. I knew I was a decent writer because I had been raised by a magazine editor who used to proofread all of my papers in high school and force me through rounds of revisions (which I hated!). Journalism seemed like a logical fit, even though I didn’t initially feel particularly inspired or excited about going that route. One of the classes I enrolled in was copywriting, and it was taught by a wonderful professor, Ann Maxwell. By the end of the course I was hooked. After college, I worked for a small agency as a copywriter and made my way to Portland where I continued my career and eventually got into creative direction.” - Shawna Harch
Were there any specific role models or mentors who influenced your journey?
“Absolutely, I learned about good management practices from my original “boss” at Esri as she was always very fair and allowed good people the freedom to do things their way…a very important lesson. Another mentor was the owner of Esri, Jack Dangermond. I learned good sales skills from him and how to interact with clients (be interested, not interesting).” - Sheila Steffenson
“Steph Curry has been a huge role model and I wanted to learn how to lead on and off the court like him” - Sabrina Ionescu
“Fortunately, I'm grateful to have had a few women entrepreneurs as examples in my career. I had two bosses/agency owners early in my career who were both amazing women, leading their businesses forward, and demonstrating tenacity, grace and persistence in the face of adversity. Additionally, I have always held integrity as a personal value that has guided my life and career. I have the ultimate demonstration of integrity at the core of how one can live their life, in my father.” - Paige Campbell
“A few role models and mentors come to mind. When I was a freshman, I was very proactive in making connections on LinkedIn with women in the industry. They were typically short informational interviews or just emailing over a couple of questions. One connection I had learned about from a site visit to the Minnesota Wild was Alexandra Mandrycky. She was one of the few women in analytics AND operations. She is truly inspiring and I still think about her to this day.” - Kennedy Schull
“My father was my role model with regard to my career. However, there were a couple of teachers at the University of Oregon architecture school that were specifically important in bringing me along , one was a woman named Cherrie Hammacher and another named Gunilla Finnrow. They were very important mentors for me that both really believed that I could be an interior designer and not just because my father was an architect and I had been exposed to the business.” - Michelle Pellitier
“Yes. My college professor Ann Maxwell was the one to introduce me to copywriting. She connected me to an incredible woman, Amy Daniel, who hired me to work as an intern and then as a part-time marketing assistant at her plant farm and nursery as well as her branding company. That was a defining point early on in my path, as I was able to get some invaluable guidance and real-world experience. Amy was also just so encouraging and that really built my confidence. She ultimately provided a recommendation that helped me land my first full-time agency role. Later in my career, I was lucky enough to work with Alexandra Fuller at a Utah-based agency. She was a creative director there, and she taught me a lot about writing, campaigns, client relationships, and creative direction. She’s extremely talented, driven, and thoughtful.” - Shawna Harch
How have mentorship or having strong female role models influenced your career journey?
“Strong women have continued to pave the way and have been able to use their platform to shape the future.” - Sabrina Ionescu
“I will say the greatest female influence in my life was my mother. As a divorced mother of 5 in a time and place where there really were no other divorcees, she worked hard to achieve her role as a news anchor for the South TX CBS TV station. I couldn’t help but appreciate her determination to make it so far and I still feel inspired by it. Also, all my life she told me I could be anything or do anything I wanted to, which made me feel so empowered.” - Sheila Steffenson
“I think because I had female role models and examples in my life, it never occurred to me that I couldn't do something or achieve something I wanted to pursue. Although I am positive these women experienced challenges and setbacks, daily, they pushed on. And while I worked with them, I learned that that's what you do. You push forward and work hard for the life you want to create. And when there's a challenge before you, there's no reason why you can't just move around it or through it. There's always a way. You have to get creative and find it.” - Paige Campbell
“My biggest mentors were some of my professors within the sport management program at the University of Minnesota. The first, Dr. Tiffany Richardson, who taught me to go outside of my comfort zone. Her office door was always open to chat about everything under the sun. The second, Dr. Vicki Schull (no familial relation) was one of my biggest supporters and advocates, especially as it related to my thesis on gender in sport business. We still talk even though I’ve been out of college for four years.” - Kennedy Schull
“I didn’t have a lot of mentors in this business other than working part time for my dad‘s architecture firm and then deciding to be self-employed. I probably worked for my dad‘s architecture firm for about three years part time in the early 1980s which was a time when business was very suppressed. I had started doing consulting and small design projects while I was still at the University of Oregon, and my career grew from that. I was fortunate that as I graduated from the University of Oregon, my partner at the time had sufficient income to support both of us so I was able to explore my career and expand my career without the need to specifically support myself. They really weren’t strong female mentors, other than clients that I worked for that were strong women, but not necessarily in the design business.” - Michelle Pellitier
Can you share a moment where being a woman presented a unique opportunity or challenge?
“I didn’t have a middle school girls team, and had to try and form one to be able to play and compete for middle school basketball.” -Sabrina Ionescu
“When I first became the South-Central Regional Manager and began attending the management team meeting, I was the only female at the table. I remember feeling quite intimidated by that. I found it hard to add much to the meeting as I didn’t want to say something “stupid”. But after a few of those meetings it finally occurred to me what the males at the table were saying was often what I was thinking. I then pushed myself to speak up and at that point I say I found my “voice” and I have been speaking up confidently ever since.” - Sheila Steffenson
“I think as women, we have a unique perspective as business leaders. Unfortunately, there are not as many women business owners or CEOs in our society today. But, with that being the case there's an opportunity to continue to pave the way for amazing women to have opportunities to make a greater impact, and impact we greatly need, in business. Our world would be a very different place and I think a better one, if leadership roles were filled with diverse perspectives from broad experiences. So, right now as a woman leader, I have a unique role to do what I can to create opportunities for others.” - Paige Campbell
“I won’t sugarcoat it. Being a woman in the industry has a lot of challenges. But one of the biggest opportunities is the ability to rely on a network of other women. I found that when I connected to women, most of them I had never met before and whom I had essentially cold called via LinkedIn DMs, were so happy to help support a fellow woman. It’s so incredible to have an entire community of women out in the world ready to help lift one another up at a moment's notice.” - Kennedy Schull
“Traditionally, architecture has been a male dominated field. However, since I was in the sub category of architecture called interior design, there was more opportunity for women to work in interior design than in architecture. My training at the University of Oregon was in interior architecture however, architecture is a licensed and titled name that cannot be used, unless I have passed the test to become a licensed Architect. So I’m an interior designer. There were many women business leaders or women in leadership in the businesses that I worked for that were really great examples. One specifically was Leah Murphy. She was an executive in a credit union. That I did design work for. Sandi Christensen was the practice manager for Pathology Consultants, a group of doctors that provided pathology for other medical professionals. I worked with her many times over the years and we are still friends even though she retired many years ago. And since I did a lot of medical interior design initially, interestingly enough, the practices were mostly managed by powerful women. So I think those women were my primary mentors.” - Michelle Pellitier
Have you ever had to challenge gender stereotypes in your field, and if so, how did you approach it?
“While the GIS industry is much better than what it was when I first started in it, it is an arena that is dominated by males. One of the things that is very frustrating is male clients often assume a female wont be technically knowledgeable (which I definitely am). How I have handled this is when they direct their questions to one of my male staff members, I occasionally ask the staff member if he would mind if I fielded that question and then I proceed with a very technically detailed answer (just to drive the point home).” - Sheila Steffenson
“Yes, of course. Gender stereotypes just come with it as we continue to evolve belief structures in our world. Mostly, unfortunately, I have harbored personal situations I've been in and struggled to learn how to approach each situation in a way that both honors myself, is in integrity, as well as moves the situation forward, positively. It's not enough to just advocate for yourself. You also bear the responsibility of evolving the situation for the greater good.” - Paige Campbell
“Absolutely, all the time. Looking back on an old job, I was working in a traditionally masculine industry, in a position of leadership (also not a place women find themselves often), and I was very young. There were so many outdated societal standards and stereotypes stacked against me and I definitely faced challenges because of that - microaggressions, not being treated the same as my male counterparts, assumptions of my lack of skill or ability, and the ever classic “you only got into sports so you could date the athletes.” How did I approach it? Unfortunately, there isn’t one easy fix to it. It’s an everyday thing. Everyday coming into the office with a plan; everyday working twice as hard just to prove myself; every day of acting tougher, more assertive, and more confident.” - Kennedy Schull
“It’s interesting in my field of interior design. I've worked in a lot of commercial settings as well as residential settings and it’s always assumed that women understand color, texture, space, etc. more intuitively than men do. I think that’s a gender stereotype because there are plenty of men that understand color, texture and space just as well as women do. So being a woman has probably has had advantages in that I was deferred to in the case of making decisions. I was not only the expert with the training and experience in interior design, but because I was female, I was deferred to in some cases.” - Michelle Pellitier
What advice do you have for women looking to break into traditionally male-dominated industries?
“Bits of advice I have given other women include 1) remember that if you like/love what you do you will be good at it (that applies to males and females), 2) don’t put up with anyone belittling you for your gender…remind them they put their pants on the same way you do…1 leg at a time, and 3) always maintain your “voice” at the table, share your ideas/thoughts!” -Sheila Steffenson
“Any woman looking to break in barriers should continue to be confident and do whatever it is that their goals are.” - Sabrina Ionescu
“Keep at it. Keep pushing. You are special for taking it on and your effort and strife are worth it. We are with you and support you and are pushing with you.” - Paige Campbell
“Bear with me, as this is probably going to be a pretty nerdy response (I love research). I’m a firm believer that knowledge is power and, serendipitously, I spent most of my college career working on a thesis on gender and policy in sport business. Entering the industry, I felt armed to the teeth with facts and theories that made it all just a little easier. It became more manageable to engage in conversations with people who were most often being unintentionally sexist because I could educate them on it - it would often become a healthy two-sided conversation. When people expressed hostile sexism, I knew why and I knew it wasn’t a knock on me; it was a knock on them.” - Kennedy Schull
“My advice about women breaking into a traditionally male dominated industry, would be to be your own person. Make sure you’re paid as much as the men and ignore the patriarchy. Sometimes it’s tempting to push back against it but you get further by just ignoring their bullshit. Unless it’s really abusive. Fortunately, I have not ever faced anything that was abusive.” - Michelle Pellitier
If you could give one piece of advice to young women breaking into their careers, what would it be?
“Remember to pick a career you feel passionate about…it will rarely feel like work if you love doing it. Once on your path, don’t be afraid of change…something more interesting may come along (e,g, when I got the opportunity to own the mapping system for the appraisal district), share your ideas, and, make sure you never stop learning!” - Sheila Steffenson
“I wish I had known myself better earlier on in my career. My lack of confidence got in the way and I couldn't see my value and didn't know how to trust myself. Thankfully, people around me believed in me more than I did at times. So, I would say that it would be great if you knew and honored all of the ways you are special. And, at the same time, surround yourself with people who believe in you and your capabilities. They'll keep you straight on the days when you can't see it. On many many days, when I couldn't trust myself, or just couldn't see that I could do it, I relied on and trusted those people. I still do.” - Paige Campbell
“This was a piece of advice that I received from another woman in the industry, and I want to pass it along here. Don’t be the coffee fetcher. Don’t be the person in the office that never says no for trivial tasks that ANYBODY could do. And ask yourself why you may have felt inclined to do that? When I asked myself that question, it was because I was afraid people wouldn’t like me. You have a job to do. A job they chose YOU for, and YOU are skilled enough for, and your skill is being wasted fetching coffee for the office. If someone really wants coffee that bad they can get it themselves.” - Kennedy Schull
“My advice for young women now that I am no longer a young woman is that there are so many right ways to have your career. Ask people you admire for advice, respect their time, buy them a coffee and ask for 10 minutes. Chart your course in a way that feels right to you, however you morph through the process and change along the way is right. Stand up for yourself, always advocate for your value, believe you have the value and don’t be afraid to tell anyone that you and your ideas have value. I think it really is a case of “fake it till you make it” because we all have impostor syndrome to a certain extent and it’s just about how well you cover it and just go forth. Also, this is especially important in a creative field. Dress for the position you want! Present yourself well because as much as it shouldn’t matter. First impressions matter!” - Michelle Pellitier
“Be proactive about making connections. Use free resources like ADPList. Reach out to people you admire and book informational interviews. Join professional groups and communities like AIGA. Explore your own side projects or collaborations—and ask for honest feedback. Don’t be afraid to try different roles and industries. Nothing is permanent, and you’re allowed to change your mind. I spent a few years in the nonprofit world and also co-founded and co-ran a branding company. I think perceived “detours” often end up getting us closer to the work we are happiest doing.” - Shawna Harch
With incredible women paving the way, the future can seem hopeful for generations of women to come. Breaking into the ‘real world’ can be scary, but these incredible women are proof that there is so much success and fulfillment to be had.