Speaker: Rachel Truair, CMO, Cart.com
Why is Women’s History Month important to you? How are you celebrating?
Rachel Truair: International Women's Day and Women's History Month is so important because women have worked really hard to get to where we are. I'm a mom. I'm a full time marketing leader. And I know how hard women work today, but I also know that we really stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. And we're able to do more and see farther because of that. So it's such an important time to really remember the plight of women over the years and the equality that they've been fighting for and that we can continue to fight for today. Personally, I want to celebrate by reaching out to a few of my amazing women mentors in my life who have helped me get to where I am today, catching up with them and thanking them, making sure I'm expressing gratitude for everything they've done for me. And also looking to mentor others and make sure that I'm making time for them.
23's International Women's Day theme is #EmbraceEquity. How do you think we can work together to impact positive change?
Rachel Truair: I love the theme of "embrace equity". And the thing that comes to mind for me is this idea of "don't be a blue crab". So what do I mean by that? Well, in this idea of blue crab thinking you have a bunch of blue crabs, you put them in a bucket and one of them starts to climb to the top and as soon as one gets near the top, the others pull them down because they're also trying to climb to the top. I think for women, there was a lot of scarcity over the years and it created a very competitive environment for many women. And one of the things I love about all of the work that's happening around equality and showing greater representation of women in the workplace is that there is more opportunities for women and more seats at the table, so to speak. And so really working together to make sure that we are creating more opportunities for the women around us to rise up and not being a blue crab is one way we can continue to impact positive change.
What advice would you give to the next generation of women as they begin their careers?
Rachel Truair: My advice for the next generation of women as they begin their careers is really about not being afraid to reinvent yourself. Careers are long, and the fact that you come out of college or sometimes high school expecting to know what you want to do with the rest of your life just doesn't happen for a lot of people. I think that not being afraid to take a nontraditional path is always really actually an incredible opportunity. I didn't go to college until I was 27 years old. I pursued a lot of different careers in my life. And I'm might pursue another one in the future. And I think that it's good to continue to look at your growth and what you're challenging yourself with as you go through your career and look for that next opportunity that's going to help you really become the greatest version of yourself. So try not to take yourself too seriously as you start off in your career and know that your career and your dreams might change over time and that's okay. Just always be looking for the next thing that really piques your interest and don't be afraid to pursue it, even if it doesn't look like what everyone else is doing.
