Sandy Mayer is Senior Vice President and Director of Team, Content, and Platform Mobilization at Conill. In her role, she is responsible for developing and directing multiple people, projects and platforms to help bring stories to life and make the impossible possible.
Dedicated to cultivating and advancing women in their careers, Sandy is the National Co-Lead of Publicis Groupe’s VivaWomen! business resource group within the company’s domestic operations. She is also an advocate for CARE, an international humanitarian organization that fights global poverty by empowering women and girls.
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The theme for this International Women’s Day, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,” greatly benefits the advertising industry – both men and women – and is key to nurturing the next generation of women by providing them with support, opportunities, and resources to thrive.
While the advertising industry has evolved considerably since the heady days of Mad Men, where rampant sexism, gender discrimination and other problematic behaviors proliferated, we still have a way to go. There’s still a gender pay gap, still a lack of women on leadership teams (but not at Conill!), still gender stereotyping in ads, still that ‘mad men’ culture to a certain degree. For the first two, we need to support and empower women–especially women of color–in their professional development so that we can reverse gender inequality in the industry. For the second two, we need to educate people about what’s okay and not okay in terms of representation of women. The stories we tell send a message about what’s important in the world. It’s essential that women tell their own stories.
Investing in women is not only good for women, it’s good for agencies. Studies show that with more gender diversity, companies have increased productivity, greater innovation, better decision-making and higher employee retention and satisfaction. The environment is evolving into one that is more empathetic, transparent and human, making it a more inviting culture. Women bring diverse perspectives and approaches to problem-solving and create better collaboration and consensus building. Could this shift be because we’re starting to see more women in leadership roles? Just a hunch…
While women still face challenges in the industry, one positive change that has affected everyone is how we work. Post-Covid, our personal lives have become co-mingled with our professional ones. Not only are we employees, our colleagues and clients have seen that we are parents and partners with responsibilities beyond our nine to five selves. Women—even when they work and earn as much or more than their husbands—still carry more of the burden of non-paid domestic work than they do, which challenges our demanding work roles. To reverse gender inequality in the industry, we must start at home.
It’s imperative that we nurture the future generation of women ad execs, whether it’s through advocacy and mentorship, leadership and professional development, or by showcasing successful women in the industry as models for the next generation to inspire and ignite. When you invest in women, you invest in the entire organization. And the entire organization prospers.