Published 8 a.m. ET | Updated 11 a.m.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Sen. Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Billy Jean King, Melinda Gates and other vocal advocates for women’s rights were among those who weighed in on Women’s Equality Day yesterday, reminding the U.S. that while we should celebrate the 99-year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, there was much work left to be done on the gender parity front. “A record number of women serve in Congress today, but we’re far from equal representation in government. Let’s celebrate our progress and recommit to electing more women at every level of government — including the White House,” presidential hopeful Harris tweeted. “99 years ago today, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving white women the right to vote. Women of color had to wait much longer,” tweeted tennis legend King [Fast Company].
Here’s the BB breakdown of the biggest female-focused news by industry. Have news to share? Email us at tips@bossbetty.com.
ADVERTISING & MEDIA: Laura Visco, deputy creative director at 72andSunny Amsterdam, runs InVisible Creatives, a platform for agencies and recruiters to find women to fill junior-, mid- and senior-level positions. She talked about why the organization is necessary and the lessons she’s learned in the industry [AdWeek]. GMA co-anchor Lara Spencer apologized for her “insensitive” comments regarding Prince George’s ballet lessons, which she seemed to mock in a segment last Thursday [Daily News]. Also in GMA news, actress and TV personality Keke Palmer joined the show as the third co-host [Deadline]. Harvey Weinstein’s trial has been moved to January, and he entered a not guilty plea Monday on a new indictment alleging sexual assault. The indictment will allow Annabella Sciorra to testify in the trial [CNN]. Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures has resolved its outstanding $200 million debt. It is not seeking new lines of credit but instead will look for investments on a case-by-case basis or Ellison will fund projects herself [Variety].
FINANCE: KPMG is on the hunt for a new CEO following the news that Lynne Doughtie will not seek reelection. Doughtie was the first woman to lead the U.S. Big Four accounting firm [Bloomberg]. WEX CEO, Melissa Smith, discusses women’s roles in financial institutions and how she’s working to increase diversity in the C-suite at the payment technology platform. This month Wex made Fortune‘s list of fastest growing companies [Yahoo! Finance]. Rep. Maxine Waters, the House Financial Services Committee chair, met with Swiss officials to discuss Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans. The congresswoman has been openly skeptical about the social network’s plans for Libra, the currency Facebook plans to launch next year [American Banker].
LAW: Jessica Berman, formerly deputy general counsel at the National Hockey League, became the first female deputy commissioner of a professional sports league in North America on Monday. She said her 15 years as a sports lawyer helped propel her to her new role at the National Lacrosse League [Corporate Counsel]. Lest we neglect Jones Day news for a day, here’s a think piece on their handling of the latest gender discrimination suit against them [American Lawyer].
MANUFACTURING & RETAIL: Another D-to-C beauty brand, Better Not Younger, is ramping up its efforts under founder/CEO Sonsoles Gonzalez. The brand targets the 45-and-older crowd with hair care products and just inked an exclusive deal with Sephora, which it’s launching an awareness campaign to promote [AdAge]. Following the backlash over Kim Kardashian West naming her new shapewear brand “Kimono,” the reality star has settled on a new name: SKIMS [Fast Company]. KraftHeinz promoted Nina Barton to chief growth officer. Previously she was president of the brand’s Canada business and digital growth [AdAge]. Cuban-American fashion designer Isabel Toledo died of breast cancer at 59. Toledo designed Michelle Obama’s dress and overcoat for the 2009 inauguration [THR]. Rihanna’s next Savage x Fenty runway show will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video on Sept. 20 [MarketWatch].
TECH & ENGINEERING: A new survey shows that young women applying for tech internships face discrimination at the internship level at both startups as well as large, established firms [C|Net]. Liz Klinger, the co-founder and CEO of sex toy company Lioness, said Samsung kicked her out of a conference they were co-hosting with SF Women in Tech [Inquirer].
If there’s no relevant news of note to share in a given sector, we skip it for the day. Did we miss something? Let us know at tips@bossbetty.com.
