This Women’s History Month, we celebrate women's vital role in shaping American history and progressing the workplace mental health movement in the U.S. and worldwide. And it’s not an easy feat.
Biases and stereotypes against women in the workplace are deep-seated and remain formidable. For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, 87 women are promoted. For women of color, only 73 are promoted. This number is far less for LGBTQ+ women, especially transgender women. Women earn an average of 82% of what men earn.
Importantly, many women may also not be inclined to “other” themselves further by disclosing a mental health challenge.
Our research found that women are more likely to say work and the workplace is harmful to their mental health and well-being, and were more likely to leave roles for mental health reasons voluntarily.
Despite this, in our work at Mind Share Partners, we see women across industries, roles, and identities sharing their mental health stories and advocating for mental health at work.
Women Business Leaders Sharing Their Mental Health Stories
We want to acknowledge a few women in our network who are courageously sharing their mental health stories and redefining what it means to be a great leader.
Vignetta Charles is the CEO of ETR Education.
Grace Nicolette is the CEO of ETR Education.
Nichole Barnes Marshall is the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Pinterest.
Meredith Arthur is the Chief of Staff, TwoTwenty at Pinterest. She is also an author and founder of Beautiful Voyager.
Sarahjane Sacchetti is a Fractional Exec supporting standout Digital Health & Climate tech companies, and the former CEO of Cleo, a benefits platform.
Read her story in Fortune>
Follow her on LinkedIn>
Schroeder Stribling is the President & CEO of Mental Health America.
Morra Aarons-Mele is an author, the host of The Anxious Achiever Podcast, Founder and Consultant.
Imadé Nibokun Borha is the Director of External Communications & Engagement at the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. She is also the founder of an advocacy organization called Depressed While Black.
Maria Hernandez is a tech trainer and consultant, and a former Senior Software Engineer at Etsy.
Claire Lew is the Founder & CEO at Canopy.
Amy Lazarus is the Director of Player Inclusion and Product Equity at Electronic Arts (EA) and Founder of InclusionVentures.
Stacey Sprenkel is a partner at Morrison & Foerster.
Michelle Dickinson is a professor, workplace facilitator, author, speaker, and consultant.
Solome Tibebu is the Founder & CEO of Behavioral Health Tech, a Behavioral Health Strategist and Investor.
Saydeah Howard is the Co-founder and Managing Partner at Cherryrock Capital and Mind Share Partners board member.
Ariela Safira is the Founder & CEO of Zeera.
Kelly Greenwood is Mind Share Partners’ Founder and Board Member.
Jen Porter is Mind Share Partners’ Managing Director.
About the Author
Nina Tomaro, Marketing and Communications Lead, Mind Share Partners
As Mind Share Partners' Marketing and Communications lead, Nina develops and drives the organization's content marketing strategy. As one of the organization's early team members, Nina has a deep breadth of knowledge about workplace mental health and drives the creation of Mind Share Partners resources to support organizations in creating mentally healthy workplace cultures.