Indra Nooyi: ‘We Need Our Own Sisterhood’

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The Women’s March enters a new era of leadership, ThirdLove’s workplace may not have been as friendly to women as its advertising suggests, and Indra Nooyi wants to build a sisterhood. Have a terrific Tuesday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

- Sisterhood of the traveling MPWers. Coins2Day's Most Powerful Women International Summit is in high gear in Toronto, and attendees ended their first night with none other than former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi.

“We need our own sisterhood,” Nooyi told the crowd. “Unconscious bias can only be addressed if the sisterhood calls it out.”

Who's in the sisterhood, exactly? We'll get a more specific definition in 2021, when Nooyi publishes the book she's currently writing. The project will pass on everything she learned as "a woman of color, a CEO, a mother, a wife, and a daughter."

Among those lessons: why it's important to build a company that can succeed even after you leave, how to deal when you just need to cry or scream in your office for 15 minutes, and why men and women both have to commit to combatting unconscious bias. You can read and watch more of Nooyi's talk in Danielle Abril's piece for Coins2Day here.

Also in Toronto, the MPW audience heard from Mexican information technology giant Softtek CEO Blanca Treviño, Crate & Barrel CEO Neela Montgomery, chairwoman of Investissement Québec and vice chairman of Fiera Holdings Monique Leroux, four-time Olympian rower Silken Laumann, and author Margaret Trudeau, mother of the current Canadian prime minister.

Montgomery broke news—Crate & Barrel plans to open 15 full-service restaurants—while Laumann and Trudeau had an insightful conversation about mental health. Tune into the livestream of Day 2 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Broadsheet will have a recap of all the events tomorrow.

Emma Hinchliffe
[email protected]
@_emmahinchliffe

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- By women, for women? ThirdLove has advertised itself as a company by women, for women—in contrast to Victoria's Secret. But current and former employees tell Vox that while co-founder and co-CEO Heidi Zak is the public face of the company, co-CEO (and Zak's husband) David Spector is highly involved in the day-to-day—and describe his management style as "condescending” and “bullying." ThirdLove and Spector declined to comment on the specifics of the allegations. Vox

- Women's March 2.0. Women's March co-chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, and Linda Sarsour—who were accused of anti-Semitism and, for co-presidents Mallory and Sarsour, also suffered racist attacks on their own leadership—have all stepped down, replaced by 16 new board members who will soon elect new leaders; co-chair Carmen Perez is staying. Among the board members taking the Women's March into a new era: Lucy Flores, who was one of the first to publicly discuss Joe Biden's behavior with women and Native Americans in Philanthropy CEO Sarah Eagle Heart. Washington Post

- Working for Warren. The Working Families Party gave its coveted endorsement to Sen. Elizabeth Warren over its 2016 choice, Sen. Bernie Sanders. In more Warren news, a new plan of hers to end corruption—which she boosted in a speech in New York last night— goes after the system that allowed Maryanne Trump Barry, President Donald Trump's sister, to resign as a federal judge and avoid continued investigation into the family's taxes.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Aspect Ventures is splitting up, with partners Theresia Gouw and Jennifer Fonstad launching their own firms, Acrew and Owl Capital. McKesson Corporation hired Bonnie Jacobs of Ancestry as SVP, McKesson brand, marketing and communications. Endeavor Group Holdings added Moda Operandi CFO Kristina Salen to its board ahead of its IPO.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Raptors win. Good news for Toronto Raptors fans who wear hijabs: the team is now the first in the NBA to sell branded ones. New York Times

- Salke's studio pivot. Amazon Studios once seemed to be the anti-Netflix, intent on releasing its films by the traditional playbook. But the studio, led by Jennifer Salke, is becoming more like its streaming rival, exemplified by its plan for big-budget movie The Aeronauts, which is only playing in theaters for two weeks before hitting Prime Video. Washington Post

- Ring ring. California Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin has been behind an effort to narrow the scope of the state's landmark Privacy Act. Irwin now faces scrutiny because her husband, Jon Irwin, is COO for Ring, the home security and video doorbell company acquired by Amazon that will face stricter regulation of its data collection practices as a result of the law. Politico

- Kamala's college years. For the Washington Post, Robin Givhan examines how Howard University shaped Sen. Kamala Harris's worldview. Harris says: "Howard very directly influenced and reinforced—equally important—my sense of being and meaning and reasons for being." Washington Post

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