Over the past two years, we have faced several social challenges, including the "Black Lives Matter" movement, the "#MeToo" movement, and of course the overturning of Roe v. Wade this year. With such important issues being addressed, CEOs and business leaders are being tested more than ever on how, if at all, to respond publicly. At Marie Claire's 2022 Power Trip Conference, MC Senior Editor Tanya Benedict Klich sat down with four women who are using their companies as a vehicle for change. Panelists Mutale Nkonde, CEO and founder of AI for the People; Laura Modi, CEO and co-founder of powdered milk company Bobbie (opens in new tab); Amira Fouad, director of social communications at Google ( (opens in new tab), and Sali Christeson (CEO and founder of women's workwear line Argent) (opens in new tab) spoke about how they want to make a difference and what the cost of silence is for their companies. [Many of the people in this room are either investors, making technology products, or thinking about how to expand into the marketplace, but about how technology itself can express racial bias, can express gender bias, can express all kinds of things. I don't always think about it."

In 2020, Nkonde and AI for the People examined $50 billion in pledges by the top 50 U.S. companies to fight racial injustice What Nkonde found may not be so shocking: Generation Z said they would do They really care about the companies that do what they say they will do and how companies treat their employees. What is surprising, however, is that of the $50 billion in pledges, only $250 million has been released to the public, and "the vast majority has not been spent on organizational change," Nkondo noted.

Meanwhile, Christeson was inspired after reading "insane" statistics about how women are judged by what they wear: how you dress "affects your lifetime earnings by 20 to 40 percent," she said. So in 2015, Christeson left her engineering job and set out on a personal mission to find clothing for working women, which became her workwear line, Argent. And in 2020, Argent partnered with Supermajority, a nonprofit organization focused on mobilizing and leveraging the power of women as the majority of voters. The partner unveiled a pink suit on the day of the vice presidential debate to visually represent the movement. And it worked. Says Christeson, "We had hundreds of thousands of women phone bank and call, and we really made an impact." now in 2022, Christeson continues to use her brand to support women." We exist to give women the tools they need to best navigate their careers."

It starts with a product that is a physical connector,

reminding you that when you are the only woman in the room, you know you have our army behind you, paving the way.

As for Modi, she told the crowd that she "never grew up dreaming of starting a powdered milk company."[11] Since its launch in 2021, Bobby has become the fastest-growing powdered milk since the 1980s, she said. After this year's milk powder shortage, Modi is even more fired up to change the industry. 'It was in me to fight to change this product and this industry. It [the industry] was complicated, very controversial, and even a little corrupt, as you now know. And that made me determined to push for change," she explained. With the help of celebrities like Tan France and Ashley Graham, Bobby co-developed legislation to improve domestic manufacturing practices.

Finally, as Google's Director of Society Communications, Fouad was instrumental in making a tangible difference for the company's employees and users after Roe v. Wade was overturned. From a technical standpoint, Fouad wanted to ensure that when anyone wanted to find information about a very important decision, such as abortion, that information was readily available. Second, Fuad wanted to ensure that the person's privacy was protected. She said, "So we let the courts around the world know that if someone was going to conduct that search, their privacy was theirs to make that choice, and that information would not be shared." 'It wasn't about PR, it was about doing the right thing.'

While how these companies advocate for change may differ, all four women agree that silence is not an option in this day and age. Christeson explains, "I think historically companies have chosen silence, but I think today's consumers want to know where companies stand on the issues they care about and whether their values align." If companies remain silent, they will not be able to capture future markets. "Even in the midterm elections, if you look at what issues Generation Z cared about and how they acted on them, you'll see that ...... Acting for women is acting for the future market. If we act for the environment, we are acting for the future market. If you are innovative in the fact that in the next 20 years we will be a more brown country, you are showing up for your market."