How these 6 women climbed up |

Many women today won’t see pay equality in their lifetime. That’s due to forces like the “broken rung” — or the lack of clear paths from entry level or middle management positions into the highest-earning corporate roles.

But plenty of women have bucked this trend and are eager to share how they did it. I talked to six female executives who told me their stories of rising the ranks in tech, marketing, public relations, entrepreneurship, financial services and renewable energy.

Here’s what they learned along the way.

Jacquelyn Berney, president in marketing

As a temp, Berney saw a need for the company to recruit new clients. She presented the job position, and then put herself in it. Her advice for young working women is to bring solutions to problems, which can include creating your next role. 

As she puts it: “Hey, you need this person, and I’m right here.”

At first, building relationships with older men was tricky. Some clients wouldn’t ride in the car or have business meals with her alone. She built trust over time by offering direct counsel, without the schmoozing. Berney ascended from brand manager to vice president of branding to where she sits today, along with a stint as founder of a consulting firm.

In her words, women are put into two buckets — strong, so you’re difficult to work with, or meek, so you can’t accomplish anything. “Whenever I was seen as strong or difficult, it definitely hindered my ability to move forward,” she says. “But no one could argue with my results.” 

At VI, Berney has helped introduce a parental policy, a room for nursing moms and overall flexible schedules for working parents. The company’s been named a top place to work by The Oklahoman the last four years in a row.

Melissa Franks, fractional chief operating officer

Melissa Franks, fractional chief operating officer and founder of On Call COO, has a bossy personality. “I think now that’s called leadership skills,” she laughs. “But at the time, I was definitely told on a regular basis I was being too bossy.”

Her first job after graduation was as an administrative assistant at Gap Inc., where she began asking questions about efficiency. Her curiosity amid the dot-com bubble led her from administration to technology.

Franks encourages young women to also stay flexible with their career aspirations. “It’s OK for the goals you set at 22 to not be the goals you want at 35,” she says. “There is abundant opportunity everywhere for somebody that is creative and willing to learn.”

Within 20 years, she’d joined the C-suite of a tech company.

Franks admits motherhood came with sacrifices. She traveled around the globe and often only saw her children on weekends, not without comments from other C-suite leaders. A peer told her she was doing a disservice to her kids.

But, “If I had stayed home, I wouldn’t have had the career that I had,” she explains. 

Today, Franks runs a startup offering part-time operational leadership to small businesses. She recently helped an overworked mom of young kids grow her business’s revenue by 400 percent.

That financial freedom was life-changing for her client. For Franks, it’s all in a day’s work.

Vishakha Mathur, vice president in public relations

Vishakha Mathur moved from India to the U.S. for her master’s degree in journalism — facing cultural and language differences.

Fortunately, her American mentors helped her feel more confident with workplace dialect. They also taught her to upskill.

“It’s very important to have a good relationship with folks within your workplace, and to let them know what you’re looking forward to and what would help you in your growth,” she says.

That networking served her well. In eight years, Mathur climbed the ladder of public relations, from entry-level account executive to director to now serving as the vice president of SKDK, a political PR firm.

She suggests young women in the workforce do two things: First, invest early in the right skills to fit the future of your industry. Second, make mistakes.

“Your propensity to make a mistake and correct it is so much higher when you’re young and when you’re starting out,” she says. “Maybe it’ll work. And if it does, then we’ve just discovered something new that we can provide for our clients.”

Jen Millard, entrepreneur and CEO

Jen Millard comes from an excavation and lobstering family in Maine. The first to attend college, she moved to Chicago after graduation to become Sears’s first female store manager before shifting to consulting. Her industry experiences are almost too long to list on a résumé.

Millard was the only woman in the room for most of her career. But in her words, that’s where the important work happens.

She discourages women from “building their own table” at the risk of getting left behind.

“The seat is at the table — sit down,” she advises. “And act like a business person.”

As she climbed higher, work-life balance became slippery. “I was on a plane, I was gone a lot, I missed a lot,” she says about motherhood. “Would I love to be at every concert? Of course. Was I able to be at every concert? I was not.” Still, she raised adaptable kids.

Today, she’s the co-founder of a small business, Mainelove, that uses breweries’ facilities to produce flavored and sparkling water when beer production is idle. She’s also creating jobs for young people in her home state.

Sheffali Welch, chief operating officer in financial services

Sheffali Welch’s first job was in a shoe store, sparking her love for high heels. Standing just over five feet tall, the added height boosts her authority among taller peers.

“I have been in many companies where there’s this equation that if you’re small, you must be young. And if you’re young, you must be inexperienced,” she explains.

But Welch held her head high and built a career with major players in banking. She’s now the chief operating officer at The Clearing House, a payments company.

Her advice is for women to take more risks — in the same way men do — to spur their career growth. And if you need to take a break for family obligations, do it unapologetically. Women often return to work at a lower pay rate. But after pausing her career to care for her mother, Welch vowed to rejoin the workforce with higher pay and more seniority.

“Your worth doesn’t decline just because you’re not sitting in front of a computer at a desk for 12 hours a day,” she says.

Bankrate found women in finance typically earn 62.7 cents for every dollar men earn. It’s important to look for a company that levels the playing field.

That’s why Welch wants young women to ask the hard questions in interviews. “Where are there other senior women around the table?” she probes. “What is the level of seniority I’m going to have, and the voice that I think I’m going to have at that table?”

Zoë Gamble, president in renewable energy

Zoë Gamble dropped out of high school as a sophomore before finishing her degree in community college. After studying environmental law, she worked as a lawyer in tax credits and low-income housing.

“It was terribly boring,” she says. “I would close my door and cry at my desk pretty much every day.”

But it wasn’t for naught. She suggests young people say yes to opportunities, because they can get you where you’re trying to go. At her first job, she mastered taxes and served on five nonprofit boards.

And it was at a nonprofit fundraiser when she met the director of a solar energy startup, who asked her for tax help.

Gamble ended up spending 800 hours pro bono helping bring renewable energy to North Carolina. Today, she’s the president of CleanChoice Energy, a home energy provider powered by wind and solar farms.

When it comes to women negotiating pay or promotions, she points to the trust equation: credibility plus reliability plus authenticity, divided by perceptions of self-interest. Gamble says women have to work harder to downplay their self-interest than men do. Thus, she suggests framing negotiations around how your work will serve the greater organization.

Because right now, women in legal occupations only earn 54.8 cents to every dollar men earn.

The bottom line

Amid stories of women downtrodden by corporate politics, there are also those of female managers, entrepreneurs and C-suite leaders who’ve defied the odds. 

Working women who want to bypass the broken rung can aim to gain relevant skills, take their seat at the table and embrace risks, these women say. Not every job will be a win nor every negotiation a success. But while companies and policies play important roles, so do individuals.

I’m a woman, too, with my own share of past mistakes and discomfort. I’ve quit jobs, pivoted roles, lost jobs and earned promotions. I’m in your corner — and hopeful we can still win the fight for equal pay.