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AUGUST FOCUS: CONFIDENCE | ISSUE 1 OF 4 | 8.1.22
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Good morning, happy Monday and happy August!
Last week we shared words to live by from the first half of the Business Record’s 2022 Women of Influence. This week, we’re sharing the second half! To read their full profiles, click on their names.
Finally, as we start working on our annual Fearless print publication, we're looking for fearless women to profile. Do you know of someone who has a compelling story? Let us know! (You can also see previous Fearless profiles from 2020 and 2021 on our website).
Also in the newsletter this week are takeaways from a conversation with University of Iowa professor Beth Livingston on management strategy. Plus we have a Q&A with international coding educator and Des Moines native Elizabeth Tweedale. Our break from the news this week features a sunset and sunrise forecasting tool.
Have a great week!
– Emily Kestel, Fearless editor
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Meet five of the 10 Business Record’s Women of Influence
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BY BUSINESS RECORD STAFF, PHOTOS BY EMILY KESTEL
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The Business Record's Women of Influence awards celebrate the work of women who have made a difference. They've devoted their lives to doing things most wouldn't. They've spent countless hours on various boards and they've blazed a trail either personally or professionally for other women to follow.
Now more than ever, we need leaders who operate with strength, resilience and empathy. The 2022 Women of Influence honorees exemplify these characteristics. Their stories of work both past and present are inspiring, especially in a time when we need role models who offer humility and thoughtfulness.
This year’s honorees dedicate time, resources and effort to businesses and community organizations. They lead in top roles at organizations large and not-so-large. They plan initiatives and strategies that are transforming Greater Des Moines and its citizens. They have earned multiple degrees. They come from different backgrounds. They have overcome challenges and embraced opportunities. They are not simply influential because of what they do or have done but also because of who they are.
This is the 23rd year the Business Record has honored inspiring and influential women. They’ve amassed a tremendous amount of experience and wisdom and showcased integrity, grace and intelligence. We hope their stories inspire you as much as they’ve inspired us.
— Emily Barske, Business Record editor
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"The four agreements are No. 1, be impeccable with your word. No. 2, don’t take anything personally. No. 3, always do your best. No. 4, don’t make assumptions."
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"You need to be centered. One needs to find their strength from within."
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Do you know a fearless Iowa woman?
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- After a 33-year hiatus, women have returned to competing in the Tour de France. In the event’s 119-year history, women have competed only five times. The women’s tour lasted from 1984 to 1989 — and then was canceled because of a lack of financial backing. Cycling app Zwift sponsored the women’s race this year.
- The year 2022 marks a record high for women running in gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, but the total number of women running for the U.S. House fell slightly from previous cycles, according to an analysis by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Black women have set record numbers for candidates in gubernatorial, senate and House races in this cycle. There are also a record number of Latina/Hispanic gubernatorial and US House candidates, and a record number of Asian/Pacific Islander women are running for governor.
- A University of Iowa survey about nurse midwives finds Iowans understand they deliver babies, but don’t know much else about them. The UI’s Carver College of Medicine is planning to open the state’s first nurse midwife education program this fall to help fill gaps in rural areas. Stover predicts it will be an important addition for the state’s health care offerings.
- The Iowa Women’s Foundation last week, announced a $25,000 donation from Aetna Health of Iowa Inc. The donation will help fund the Building Community Child Care Solutions (BCCCS) collaborative to increase awareness and investments in community-led solutions that address child care and workforce shortages in the state. Read more about the BCCCS collaborative on the Fearless website.
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"IF YOU WANT SOMETHING SAID, ASK A MAN; IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE, ASK A WOMAN."
MARGARET THATCHER
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In Jan. 6 hearings, gender divide has been strong undercurrent (New York Times). The 'aspiration gap': Why many women aim lower than men (BBC). Do nice guys always finish last in the workplace? A University of Iowa study has an answer (Des Moines Register). How employers can protect workers who seek out abortion care, according to legal experts (Fortune). Debunking myths about why your relationship is unequal (The Double Shift). Brittney Griner’s fight for freedom (Time).
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5 thoughts on business leadership, corporate social responsibility
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BY EMILY BARSKE, BUSINESS RECORD EDITOR
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While visiting the University of Iowa for our Fearless initiative, I sat down with Beth Livingston, who is an associate professor in management and entrepreneurship at the university's Tippie College of Business. Here are a few takeaways for business leaders related to management strategy.
Creating belonging is part of social responsibility.
Employees are often the most important marketers for a business, and whether people feel like they belong or not plays a big role in the messages they spread about their employers. There is not much that businesses can count on staying internal when it comes to workplace culture and DEI efforts in today’s day and age, where the ability to share on social media in addition to spreading opinions via word of mouth is easier than ever. Because of that, corporate social responsibility and DEI have to be much more than making philanthropic donations, Livingston said, and business strategy has to be people-focused and not just profit-focused. "What's gotten a lot of these leaders ahead has been numbers," she said. "They have forgotten that behind those numbers are people. And the pendulum has swung in a lot of these organizations where they want to know the stories behind the data points, not just the data points."
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Des Moines native returns from U.K. to launch U.S. coding school
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BY SARAH BOGAARDS, BUSINESS RECORD STAFF WRITER
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When Des Moines native Elizabeth Tweedale moved to London about 14 years ago she was applying her passion for coding in the architecture field — since then she has used it to teach children the skill and built the U.K.’s largest coding school, Cypher Coders.
Now she is moving back to the U.S. with her family to roll out a U.S. version of the curriculum starting with her hometown and the San Francisco area.
Founded in 2016, Cypher Coders is an in-person, after-school program for children ages 6 to 12 that also started offering virtual courses during the pandemic. Tweedale took that opportunity to test some of the virtual courses in the U.S. and found a significant interest from American parents.
A U.S. expansion was also natural because Tweedale infused the creativity she knew in the American education system into Cypher’s model.
She designed the curriculum to teach coding by engaging students through their interests and then showing them "how they can use technology to make an impact in whatever they’re interested in."
"Instead of going to a drones programming camp, for example, you might go to a camp about ocean conservation, and learn about how drones are being used to find and collect plastics in the ocean and then learn how to program your own drone," Tweedale said in an interview with the Business Record.
Her experiences as one of few women leading software developers and technology companies inspired Cypher’s goal to introduce girls to coding and STEM subjects. Tweedale said six years in, 60% of Cypher’s students are girls.
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A break from the news: SunsetWx
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If you were to ask my friends and family members what comes to mind when they think of me, I'm willing to be they'd say "sunrises and sunsets."
I've built up quite the reputation for being up at the crack of dawn to see the sun come up and always taking a moment to watch the sun go down in the evening. In fact, in 2018, I made a resolution to watch the sunrise or the sunset every day that year. I fell short of my goal, but I documented more than 100 of them, and shared my favorite photos at the end of the year.
One of my favorite tools that I used throughout that project – and still use today – is the SunsetWx platform. Every day, the maps are updated to forecast how "good" the sunrise and sunset will be in a given area. Warmer colors denote more vibrancy while cooler colors typically correlate to a more plain sky.
I have the website bookmarked, and when I have a free morning or evening, sometimes I'll check it to determine whether or not to drive out to a lake or another scenic viewing spot to watch it.
This by no means will change your life, but I've found it does help break up the monotony and drabness that day-to-day life can bring.
Happy sunsetting!
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