“People get excited about the $2 T-shirt” and don’t think about the impact on factory workers making the clothing, Susan Scafidi, director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham, told Fordham Now.

But industry leaders are looking to help companies and consumers change, in part by incorporating more sustainable practices that are better for workers and the planet.

Three Fordham graduates in the fashion and beauty worlds shared some industry and personal insights at a recent Fordham Women’s Summit.

Corporate and Consumer Responsibility Is a ‘Give and Take’

Georgeanne Siller, GABELLI ’17, an assistant buyer for women’s apparel at Macy’s, said that customers can be “catalysts for positive change” in the fashion and beauty world through their buying habits. However, oftentimes she feels “an undue amount of responsibility falls on consumers when it’s really the companies that need to be driving the change.”

“I think that there’s a lot of company influence on consumers, things like seeing the popularity of TikTok hauls, where fashion influencers will just buy an insane amount of clothing at one time,” she said, adding that influencers can end up buying tons of products each week “looking for dupes or cheaper alternatives.”

“There’s a lot of give and take, I think, with the consumers and the companies, and I think the responsibility definitely tips towards the companies, but consumers can still be a powerful voice for that change,” she said.

Companies Can Do More to Source Sustainably Created, Long-Lasting Materials

Fast fashion usually involves “cheaply produced and priced garments” that are designed and produced quickly, according to Earth.org, an environmental news organization.

Claudia Rondinelli, FCLC ’91, head of global materials, leather, and trims at Ralph Lauren, said the company is working to “take a more proactive approach when we’re talking about material research and materials we’re using—specifically on handbags and footwear—but also in apparel.”

This means sourcing materials that will last longer, leading to less turnover and waste, as well as materials that are made sustainably, such as by using recycled products.

“It is really [about] selecting materials that are truly making a difference, and focus[ing] on the circular life of the material, not just looking at it from a short term, on how it might look like it’s less impactful on the environment, but really looking at end of life,” Rondinelli said.

Stacey Ferrara, GABELLI ’10, director of strategic initiatives and operations for Estée Lauder, said the company is working to make its sourcing practices more sustainable.

“We really want to help the communities [where] we live, work, and we source our ingredients from,” she said. “We’re partnering with organizations around the world, assisting women who are sourcing our ingredients—we’re working with them to make their lives better and help them get the tools that they need to succeed.”

An Eco-Friendly Approach to Packaging Materials Can Help Reduce Fashion and Beauty Industry Waste

One way Estée Lauder is looking to reduce waste is through their packaging, Ferrara said.

“By 2025, we aim to have at least 75% of our materials be recyclable, reusable, refillable—and refillable is something that I really am hoping is going to be a trend,” she said.

Ferrara said that this is a practice she’s incorporating at home and is starting to see it more with beauty companies, where people can bring their containers and have them refilled.

But according to New York Times-bestselling author and Fordham President’s Council member Adriana Trigiani, author of 18 books with numerous producing and directing credits to her name, our only limitations are the ones we place on ourselves. That’s the message she delivered to a room of approximately 200 women — many who identified themselves as aspiring writers — at the eighth annual Fordham Women’s Summit on Oct. 16. 

‘Find Out What the Men Are Making’

During the summit’s keynote session, Trigiani took part in an inspiring and often hysterical conversation with Fordham’s Mary Bly, chair of the English department and author of bestselling romance novels under the pen name Eloisa James. Trigiani offered advice on topics spanning from how to keep to a writing schedule, how to handle the naysayers, and most of all, how to get paid what you deserve. 

“The number-one job of getting paid properly is finding out what the men are making,” said Trigiani, who is also a Fordham parent. “It doesn’t take much. Sometimes just half a cocktail and I can get the numbers out.”

Her tell-it-like-it-is delivery sent one wave of laughter after another through the crowd of career and philanthropy-focused women, many of whom were Fordham alumni or current students. She also offered words of encouragement and reassurance that touched on the real obstacles writers are facing today. 

‘You Cannot Create Without Engaging the Soul’

One such moment came when Trigiani addressed the looming specter of the new AI text generators that threaten the craft with occasionally convincing imitation. 

“Everybody’s worried about AI, but something’s missing there. That’s our secret — they don’t know, but the Jesuits would know. It’s that you cannot create without engaging the soul. It can look like it. It can walk like it. But it’s like one of them handbags in the street. It looks like a Birkin, but if you put two things in it the handles fall off,” said Trigiani. 

Giving with a Purpose

The attendees were encouraged to join Fordham Giving Circles, a form of collective philanthropy where groups of individuals donate to a pooled fund. Emmy Award-winning content creator Isabel Rivera, FCRH ’90, who served as the summit’s emcee, highlighted the Fordham Women’s Summit Scholarship Giving Circle, created to make a Fordham education accessible to students of all backgrounds. Since 2017, more than 100 Giving Circle members in 20 circles have joined forces to give more than one million to Fordham, Rivera said. 

For Trigiani, who along with Bly pledged to join a Giving Circle during the keynote session, it’s a worthy cause. 

“I like that I’m looking at the world at Fordham,” said Trigiani. “It’s not just privileged people … Every country in the world is represented. Every religion. Those Jesuits are sharp, because they know the meaning of the word Catholic. It means everybody.”

“It is overwhelming, this thought of what is happening to the planet, of our own sense of powerlessness, sometimes, to do something about it,” said Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham, in her welcome remarks, referring to recent global events like the Hawaii wildfires. “[But] we have to have respect for Earth, our home.” 

During the daylong summit, about a dozen alumnae offered perspectives from their unique industries. Below are four ways that prominent Fordham women are creating change—and their advice on how others can follow their lead. 

Addressing Ecological Challenges

Aiding a poultry farm in Africa: Keynote speaker Jeannette Ferran Astorga, GABELLI ’96, executive vice president of corporate affairs, communications, and sustainability at animal health company Zoetis Inc., helped to support a woman who runs a poultry farm in Uganda last year. “The work we do to support veterinarians and livestock producers and farmers around the world [to raise healthier animals]is helping all of us as we depend on animals for comfort, for food, and for well-being,” Astorga said. “My call to action is think about ways to create that sustainable future, intentionally looking to create that change through others.” 

Studying ecology and the environment: Faculty and students are working together to study potential predators of the notorious invasive spotted lanternfly (squirrels in New York City, for example) and the impact of air pollution on the honeybees, among other topics, said Marie Thomas, Ph.D., co-director of Fordham’s environmental science program. 

Reducing Food Waste 

Changing menus and buying local ingredients. Jordan Hunter, FCLC ’12, director of events for Italian restaurant group La Pecora Bianca, said her business condensed its lunch and dinner menus into a single menu that wastes less ingredients. They also try to buy more local ingredients, instead of importing from abroad, to lower transportation costs and emissions. 

Leaving less room for leftovers while donating what hasn’t been sold. Elisa Lyew, MC ’07, owner of gluten-free bakery Elisa’s Love Bites, said, “If you’re coming in 10 minutes before closing, you’re not going to find the same amount of food as if you had come in when we first opened. People get upset about that … People expect us to be wasteful, but then they also want us to be sustainable. … We need the public’s cooperation because it’s usually the consumer driving that demand that brings huge amounts of waste.”

Adopting innovative solutions. Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, third-generation grape grower and director of operations of Macari Vineyards, said her business is practicing no-till farming, composting, and other sustainable activities.

Rethinking How We Use Clothes and Cosmetics 

Buying sustainable materials like mushroom leather and understanding what you’re purchasing. “The consumer must always ask to look at the labels and understand what’s making up the product that they’re buying, and also question how could this be so cheap? If it’s so cheap, there is someone probably not making minimum wage,” said Claudia Rondinelli, FCLC ’19, head of global raw materials, footwear and accessories, leather and trims at Ralph Lauren.  

Reducing plastic packaging and making more items recyclable, reusable, and refillable. “All of my bottles at home, be it shampoo, conditioner, dishwashing soap, hand soap, are in a refillable container. I really try to stay away from single-use plastics, and from a beauty company’s perspective, we’re moving there. Some of our foundations, you can go to a bar and have your foundation refilled,” said Stacey Ferrara, GABELLI ’10, director of strategic initiatives and operations at the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation. 

Borrowing outfits from organizations like Rent the Runway. “When I’m going out, I just rent clothes, and I feel like my closet is happier, and I’m happier. There’s less clutter in both my brain and my closet,” Ferrara added. 

Buying less. “If I buy less things less often, and everything I do buy has an intention behind it, that’s one way to start as a consumer,” said Georgeanne Siller, GABELLI ’17, an assistant buyer for women’s apparel at Macy’s Inc.

Reimagining Fordham 

Bringing innovation to campus. “The administration and the facilities team at Fordham is working really diligently on tremendously innovative solutions, from expanding our solar array to utilizing found materials like recycled fishing nets for the new carpets in the Campus Center … to utilizing cow fertilizers on campus grounds,” said Julie Gafney, Ph.D., assistant vice president of strategic mission initiatives and executive director of Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning, who also spoke about Fordham’s green work and long-term plan. “This is something that we can lead from wherever we come from. We can lead from justice; we can lead from faith. But this is a vision for a hope-filled future.” 

The event was co-sponsored by Ernst & Young, Greenberg Traurig, Macari Vineyards, and Zoetis. View the speakers, sessions, and 2023 Pioneering Women in Philanthropy honorees at the Fordham Women’s Summit website.

At this year’s Fordham Women’s Summit, to be held Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan, four alumni in the fashion industry will share how companies are looking to implement innovative practices to curb their environmental impact.

Barbara Porco, Ph.D., professor of accounting and head of Fordham’s Responsible Business Center, will moderate the panel, which will feature the following Fordham graduates:

• Stacey Ferrara, GABELLI ’10, director of strategic initiatives and operations at the Estée Lauder Companies
• Claudia Rondinelli, FCLC ’91, head of global materials: leather and trims at Ralph Lauren
• Georgeanne Siller, GABELLI ’17, assistant buyer, women’s apparel at Macy’s Inc.

Beyond Fashion: Sustainability Across Industries

This year’s women’s summit—“Beyond Green: Investing in a More Sustainable World”—is inspired in part by the University’s environmental action plan and aims to highlight how Fordham women are helping to lead charge across many industries. Speakers will share ideas for how everyone can take bold action in their own lives to live more sustainably.

Jeannette Ferran Astorga, GABELLI ’96, executive vice president of corporate affairs, communications, and sustainability at Zoetis Inc., will deliver the keynote address. She’ll share how her values-driven career started at Fordham and has led her to Zoetis, a global animal health company. In addition to setting long-range environmental and social impact goals for the company, she started the Zoetis Foundation, which aims to advance opportunities for veterinarians and farmers, including those in sub-Saharan Africa.

The day will also feature a conversation on how the food, wine, and other products we consume affect us, and how we can become better consumers for our own benefit and the health of the planet. Other sessions include a look into environmental research happening at Fordham and a discussion of the ways Fordham is taking action to support our common home and inspire change in its communities.

Learn more about the Women’s Summit and register at fordham.edu/womenssummit.

This year’s Pioneering Women have enhanced all areas of the University, from endowed faculty chairs and student scholarships to community engagement programs, academic research, and facilities. Many of them have advanced Cura Personalis | For Every Student, the University’s $350 million campaign that is creating a wealth of learning opportunities for students and helping to make a Fordham education more accessible and affordable, particularly for lower-income, underrepresented, and first-generation college students.

The 2022 Pioneering Women in Philanthropy at Fordham honorees are

Kim Bepler

A Fordham trustee and the executive trustee of the Stephen E. Bepler Estate and Trust, Kim Bepler is one of the University’s most generous supporters. Since her retirement in 2002, she has devoted much of her time to philanthropy, focusing her efforts on causes directly related to the Jesuits and Jesuit education. She received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Fordham in May, and in 2007, she was a recipient of a Fordham Founder’s Award, alongside her late husband, Steve Bepler, FCRH ’64.

She recently supported the creation of an endowed chair in the natural and applied sciences, adding to the four endowed chairs—in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology—she and the estate of her husband established five years ago. She also has helped create and support student scholarships, including the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, and contributed to renovations to the University Church and the McShane Campus Center, among many other initiatives.

Mary Byrne, Ph.D., TMC ’72, GSAS ’78, ’83, PAR

A three-time Fordham graduate, Mary Byrne is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Eastchester, New York, that focuses on individual psychotherapy for adults with anxiety and depression. Previously, she was a staff psychologist at Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, New York, and worked on the crisis unit of the Community Mental Health Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In 2009, Byrne and her husband, Thomas Rogan, established an endowed scholarship fund at Fordham to benefit doctoral candidates in psychology. They named the fund in honor of Marvin Reznikoff, Ph.D., her doctoral dissertation mentor who became a family friend. After he died in June 2013 at age 88, Byrne spoke at a memorial service at Fordham. She said Cicero “must have been thinking about someone like Marvin” when he observed: “The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a life well spent is eternal.”

Joy Fernandez, GABELLI ’88

After graduating from Fordham with a degree in accounting, Joy Fernandez began her career at EY in the entrepreneurial services group. After her children were born, she adopted a flexible work arrangement—and it didn’t stand in the way of her making partner in 2003: Fernandez was the Long Island office managing partner for five years before transitioning into her U.S. East regional independence leader role. She has been a generous supporter of the Gabelli School of Business Undergraduate Scholarship Fund and the school’s accounting program. EY is also an annual sponsor of the summit.

Kathleen Anne Ford, J.D., FCRH ’75, LAW ’78

Kathleen Anne Ford was a member of the first class of women to graduate from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1975. After earning a J.D. from Fordham Law School three years later, she spent her entire career in public service, including roles at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, the Organized Crime Strike Force, the United States Attorney’s Office, the Office of Enforcement Operations at the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She received numerous awards throughout her career, including the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the FBI Director’s Letter of Recognition, and the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence.

At Fordham, she and her husband, Joseph Ford, established the Kathleen Anne Ford, FCRH ’75, LAW ’78, Endowed Scholarship Fund in 2013. Since then, it has provided financial support for two students at Fordham College at Rose Hill and two at Fordham Law.

Theresa Lim Mao, Ph.D., GSAS ’60, ’64

Theresa Lim Mao is a retired chemist, businesswoman, and philanthropist. A native of Taiwan, she moved to the U.S. when she was 18 years old. In 1964, after earning her Ph.D. from Fordham, she was hired by Exxon Mobil Corporation, then known as Esso Research, as the company’s first female chemist with a doctorate. Unfortunately, when Mao was 46, her husband, Peter T.H. Mao, M.D., died suddenly, leaving her to provide for their two daughters and prompting a career switch to real estate investment. At Fordham, Mao recently started a fund to support Campus Ministry retreats and other events to foster a greater sense of community among graduate students.

Ann Marino, R.S.H.M., MC ’63

A Catholic nun, Ann Marino grew up in the Bronx and graduated from Marymount College in Tarrytown in 1963. Sister Marino entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary in 1957, and since then, she’s taught in schools owned and staffed by the R.S.H.M. in New York and in Colombia, Spain, and Italy.

Anne Williams-Isom, FCLC ’86

Anne Williams-Isom is the James R. Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare Studies at the Graduate School of Social Service and a 2018 recipient of an honorary degree from the University. In January 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed her to serve as deputy mayor for health and human services. A native of Queens and an alumna of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, she earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Prior to serving as a deputy mayor, Williams-Isom was chief operating officer and then chief executive officer of the Harlem Children’s Zone. She began her career in child welfare as the deputy commissioner of community and government affairs at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.

She has been a loyal supporter of the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, Fordham’s Higher Education Opportunity Program, and a member of the President’s Council, a group of successful professionals and philanthropists committed to mentoring Fordham’s future leaders.

A total of 33 women have been honored as Pioneering Women in Philanthropy since 2017, helping to provide Fordham and its students with resources, mentorship, and support.

If you missed the 2022 Women’s Summit, check out our full coverage of the day.

Despite their varied experiences, all of them shared a common desire: They wanted to make sure the doors they opened would stay open for the next generation.

That was one of the lessons that Fordham President Tania Tetlow said she learned from her late mentors, Congresswoman Lindy Boggs and Boggs’ daughter, journalist Cokie Roberts.

‘Smashing the Door Down’

“She really taught me that when you get to go through a door as a woman, that’s so hard-fought, sometimes there’s this temptation to think that the young women who are coming behind you are whining and they don’t really appreciate what they have and all of that—but she was determined to not just help them through that the door, but to smash the door down,” she said.

The power of mentorship and support also helped Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author, who led the keynote conversation with Tetlow. She shared three inspiring tips from her own mentor: “You got to pick the thing that you like to do. Then the second thing—you’ve got to be the best at it. And the third thing is to serve humanity.”

During a panel discussion on entrepreneurship, innovation, and transformation, Linda Dunham, PCS ’82, who is the president of Dunham Management Corp., an owner/operator of McDonald’s restaurants, and former chair of the Global Board of Trustees of Ronald McDonald House Charities, described how she put some of those tips into practice when a door opened for her to become the first woman—and also the first African American woman—to chair that board.

“I was proud that I had this opportunity—I just lost my mother and I was thinking, ‘Wow, I wish I could call my mother this morning and tell her I had my first board meeting and yes, I did everything you would have told me to do,’” she said.

Dunham said that she worked to make sure the board addressed critical topics, such as the importance of diversity in the charity and the need for people in leadership to receive the education they needed to excel in their positions. She also made sure that before she left as chair, they identified the next CEO, who was a woman, and the next chair, who was a Hispanic man.

“They continue to this day to make sure we are inclusive,” she said.

Those kinds of efforts are what Tetlow said the Women’s Summit was all about.

“We are here because we keep teaching each other, because we’re so determined to pay [the lessons]  forward to the young women of Fordham and beyond,” she said.

Those efforts have already helped younger women like Nishi Akter, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill studying psychology and business administration. Akter and her family moved to the Bronx from Bangladesh when she was 12.

“As we settled in the Bronx, I struggled with the abrupt shift in language and culture while also navigating troubles at home, where money was tight,” said Akter, who also has a speech impediment.

In high school, Akter was placed in foster care, and by her senior year she was in a runaway homeless youth shelter.

“Nevertheless, I was committed to my education, and most importantly, to my 12-year-old self, who didn’t think she could ever break the cycle of poverty,” she said.

She said her dream was to become the first in her family to graduate from college; when she applied to Fordham, she received multiple scholarships to help her get started on that dream. Akter is a Christina Seix Dow Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program scholar, a Portera Family scholar, and a Loyola scholar.

Akter told the audience she wouldn’t have been standing before them if not for women who had helped her along the way— with financial support, mentorship, and guidance.

“Thank you for continuing to invest in those who have come from nothing, for believing in them, and for giving them a chance to make a difference,” she said, drawing a standing ovation from the attendees.

Finding a Mission with Purpose

That chance to make a difference was what inspired many of the women catalysts for change who participated in the summit, including Kathleen Adams, FCRH ’10, GSAS ’12. Adams is the vice president and digital director ofEvolveMKD, a public relations and digital marketing agency in New York; the co-owner of Angel of Harlem Bar/Restaurant; and co-founder of Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen.

Adams said Fordham’s commitment to being men and women for others made her think, “How can I be part of the solution?”

“Why don’t we do edutainment—education plus entertainment?” she said, describing the idea behind Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen, an annual event showcasing female hip-hop artists—especially women of color—and providing a forum for women’s health issues, such as HIV/Aids. “Instead of just pamphlets, people are really leaving the event learning something new, but also getting access to services that they need.”

Being of service to the community is also what inspired Adams to open Angel of Harlem.

“I love being around others, I love hospitality, so it seemed like Harlem had great bars and restaurants, but not a ‘Cheers’ place—your neighborhood bar where you could go and everyone knows your name, so I wanted to create that environment,” she said. “It’s called Angel of Harlem because we want to be the beacon of hope in the community.”

Finding a passion like Adams’ is what Trigiani–author of 18 books and executive producer for shows and films, including Lifetime’s Emmy award-winning show Growing Up Funny—said she hopes for the more than 200 attendees attending the Women’s Summit: that they would walk away with a sense of their own creative possibility.

“If you are engaged in something that you love, it increases your energy, it increases your love for living,” she said.

For Lauren Sweeney, FCRH ’12, that something was the opportunity to make a tangible difference in a field that was a part of her everyday life—food delivery services.

“I was a busy single mom—I was working long hours and relied on the convenience of takeout delivery, and I would order from the same salad place and the same sushi place all the time, and would stand there with my red stout sushi containers, not sure if I could put them in recycling,” she said.

She knew the containers were ending up in a landfill so she thought, “This is a problem I want to solve in the world.”

That was the impetus behind Sweeney’s company, DeliverZero, a platform that allows you to order food from participating restaurants in reusable containers and then return those containers to the same restaurant or others.

“It’s been a bit of a ride—I can’t say that we pressed go in November 2019 [the month the platform launched] with a solution that would scale, but we proved that there is demand for it, and that has instilled a solution that makes it easy for restaurant operators, POS systems, delivery platforms, and customers to all being part of this reuse ecosystem.”

Tetlow emphasized that women leaders need to teach the next generation how to both find a purpose and to learn “effective activism”—how to really bring about meaningful conversation and change.

“How do you really sit at the table with complexity? How do you find a way to turn up the pressure from the outside, but also engage from the inside?” she said. “It’s all of that work, and to find your purpose in life—and we’re not going to tell you what it is, and it will be different across all the diversity, including ideological diversity of our students—but having that vocation in life of that thing that makes you excited.”

New World and Values

Having a company that is aiming to make a difference is essential to this next generation of workers, according to multiple women panelists. Companies that already are or have been doing this type of work, often referred to as corporate social responsibility (CSR), have a leg up, said Alison Whritenour, GABELLI ’11, CEO of Seventh Generation. Her company has been making sustainable products for many years.

“Our founders were lightyears ahead of their time, and really built the business on holding people, planet, and profit at the same time, which really was the inception of CSR,” she said.

In her role as CEO, she said that she strives to make sure they continue this work and that the next generation can see that it’s real and not just a slogan.

“We have a mission to transform the world into a healthy, sustainable, and equitable place for the next seven generations,” she said. “That truly is how we run the business—from decisions that we make in terms of what we put in our products to advocating and using our voice to amplify reasons for change and how we educate consumers.”

Meghan Simio, GABELLI ’13, director of PVH Foundation at PVH Corp., said that PVH, which is the parent company of brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, has used its position to bring together brands to address some issues in the fashion industry. She helped PVH partner with the UN Foundation and the Gap initially to put together an industry-wide pooled fund to address women’s needs.

”We didn’t want it to be another COVID emergency fund—so many of those were popping up—we really wanted to address those kind of root problems that were making women so susceptible to these types of disasters in the first place, and making sure that we addressed those systemic challenges,” she said. “So the fund is focused on women’s safety, on bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health, and geographically focused in the regions where we have our supply chain—so India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia.”

Jordan Catalana, GABELLI ’15, said that she was one of the first people who was able to “start their career in CSR as opposed to getting into it from other fields.” Catalana, who is a senior associate for foundation and social impact programs at Tapestry Inc., said that she’s seen the field shift in just the short time since she started in it, which was just out of college.

“When I started in 2015-16, the question I got from senior leaders was always, ‘Why should I care? Why should I care about the environment? Why should I care about communities?” she said. “The question has changed—it’s now ‘How do I care about the environment? How do I care about communities, and how do I care for our employees?’ It might seem small but the distinction is very real.”

Catalana, who is also an adjunct at the Gabelli School of Business, said that shift is partly due to consumers, shareholders, and the next generation of employees demanding those things from companies now.

Whritenour agreed.

“I think we all really need to hold businesses accountable for driving the changes that we need in the world,” she said.

Recognizing Pioneering Women in Philanthropy

The Summit also served as a chance to recognize Fordham women who made a difference in the lives of others..

This year, seven women were recognized as Pioneering Women in Philanthropy for their impact on others: Kim Bepler, Fordham trustee, 2007 Fordham Founder’s Award recipient, and 2022 honorary doctorate recipient; Mary Byrne, Ph.D., TMC ’72, GSAS ’78, ’83, PAR; Joy Fernandez, GABELLI ’88; Kathleen Anne Ford, J.D., FCRH ’75, LAW ’78; Theresa Lim Mao, Ph.D. GSAS ’60, ’64; Ann Marino, R.H.S.M., MC ’63; and Anne Williams-Isom, FCLC ’86, Honorary Doctorate ’18, James R. Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare Studies, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.

The event concluded with a networking happy hour hosted by Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, of Macari Vineyards, which sponsored the event along with EY and TIAA.

If you missed any of the sessions, check out our videos from the day.

This year’s summit—to be held in Manhattan at Fordham Law School on Wednesday, October 19—will mark a return to the kind of in-person networking and community building that was a hallmark of this annual gathering prior to 2020.

The event, set to begin at 10 a.m. and conclude with a cocktail reception at 3:45 p.m., will bring together Fordham women who are transforming a variety of fields—from improving the hospitality industry to creating eco-friendly products to innovating in the financial sector—for the betterment of their colleagues and the world around them.

Fordham’s history-making new president, Tania Tetlow, will participate in an opening keynote conversation on women in leadership with Adriana Trigiani, a bestselling author, producer, and playwright USA Today has called “one of the reigning queens of women’s fiction.”

Participants then have their choice of two breakout sessions: a panel on entrepreneurship, innovation, and transformation, or a workshop on emotional intelligence and leadership.

Fordham Theatre program director May Adrales will moderate the panel, which will feature Kathleen Adams, FCRH ’10, GSAS ’12, vice president and strategy director for the ad agency FCB NY and a co-owner of the Manhattan bar and restaurant Angel of Harlem; Gloria Athanis, MC ’81, the owner and partner at Healthful Habits LLC—Phyter, a healthy food company; Linda Dunham, PCS ’82, president of Dunham Management Corp. and owner and operator of multiple McDonald’s restaurants; and Lauren Sweeney, FCRH ’12, co-founder and CEO of DeliverZero, which partners with local restaurants to provide reusable takeout and delivery containers.

Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., professor of psychology and associate dean for strategic initiatives at Fordham College at Rose Hill, will lead the workshop. It’s designed to help participants learn how to foster greater emotional intelligence, in themselves and others, to diffuse conflict and build more gratifying relationships in the workplace.

A networking lunch follows the breakout sessions, and at 1 p.m., the University will honor several Pioneering Women in Philanthropy. The 2022 honorees are Kim Bepler, a Fordham trustee, who is also the recipient of the Fordham Founder’s Award and an honorary degree from the University; Mary Byrne, Ph.D., TMC ’72, GSAS ’78, ’83, PAR; Joy Fernandez, GABELLI ’88; Kathleen Ford, FCRH ’75, LAW ’78; Theresa Mao, Ph.D. GSAS ’60, ’64; Ann Marino, R.H.S.M., MC ’63; and Anne Williams-Isom, FCLC ’86, the James R. Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare Studies at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service.

In the afternoon, Kay Turner, vice president for human resources at Fordham, will moderate a panel titled “A View from the Top: Retention and Recruitment in the Great Reshuffle.” The discussion—featuring Marcella Barry, FCRH ’92, chief people officer at Phoenix Tower International; Gloria Isbell, GABELLI ’93, CEO and leadership coach at Aerial View Coaching & Talent Management Solutions, LLC; Jacklyn Quinn, FCRH ’08, head of human resources at Angelo Gordon; and Sheila Maith, PAR, principal at Maith Consulting and a professional certified leadership coach—will explore how companies and managers are responding to a realignment of professional and personal priorities, such as career aspirations and work-life balance, in a time of flux.

The final session, a keynote panel titled “A Spotlight on Corporate Social Responsibility,” will feature leaders focused on the impact of ethical business practices in their respective industries.

Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., interim dean and professor of marketing at the Gabelli School of Business, will moderate the discussion. Panelists include: Jordan Catalana, GABELLI ’15, senior associate of foundation and social impact programs at Tapestry Inc.; Arlene Isaacs-Lowe, GABELLI ’91, board director of the Compass Group, Xenia Hotels and Resorts and Equitable Holdings, and a former global head of corporate social responsibility for Moody’s Corporation; Meghan Simio, GABELLI ’13, director of PVH Foundation at PVH Corp.; and Allison Whritenour, GABELLI ’11, the CEO of Seventh Generation.

Following the panel, attendees are invited to a networking and cocktail reception hosted by certified sommelier Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, of Macari Vineyards.

Tickets are limited and cost $100 for the full day. Learn more and register at fordham.edu/womenssummit.

“I saw how much pain and suffering people’s financial lives are causing [them],” she said, despite their efforts to stick to a budget and “create financial security.”

Tisdale, a 1988 graduate of Marymount College (the Tarrytown, New York, women’s college that was part of Fordham University from 2002 until it closed in 2007), said she felt many financial experts were overlooking—or underestimating—the “psychological and emotional toll of financial stress.” She saw a disconnect between consumers’ good intentions and “how our economic system works.”

She wanted to get down to root causes, so she spent six years researching consumers’ financial behavior, interviewing experts such as clinical psychologist James Prochaska, Ph.D., and collaborating with financial adviser Paula Boyer Kennedy to write a book, The True Cost of Happiness: The Real Story Behind Managing Your Money (Wiley, 2007).

One of the things she found is that our financial decisions can “really reflect … where you are—and if you’re not living in step with your priorities.”

“Money’s almost like a palm reader,” she said. “You learn a lot about someone if you look at their financial choices, their financial life.”

Tisdale wrote The True Cost of Happiness to help people bring their decisions in line with their priorities. She plans to share some of that wisdom during the fifth annual Fordham Women’s Summit, to be held virtually on Wednesday, Oct. 20. (Update: Watch Tisdale’s address at the Summit.)

She also wants to draw on her personal story to help attendees examine the various experiences and influences that have shaped their financial lives.

“For me, experiences that I’ve had—being born a Black woman, growing up with a privileged life and finding myself a lot of times in racial isolation, and trying to build career as a Black female financial journalist—I didn’t really feel like I fit into any group, and so I had to look deeper into dimensions of myself,” she said, to understand how all of those things affected her approach to money and to making financial decisions in line with her priorities.

The True Cost of Happiness was published in late 2007, right at the start of the Great Recession, which inspired many people and groups to contact Tisdale for advice. The White House asked her to develop a behavior-based financial education program for students at historically Black colleges and universities.

“That’s maybe where my lightbulb went off,” she said, and she began to feel a call to “educate and teach.”

Shortly after her book was published, Tisdale took that calling to the next level. With fundraising help and support from NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, she launched Winning Play$, a program that aims to teach students how to create positive relationship with money and how to manage it effectively. The program won an Excellence in Economic Education from the U.S. Department of Education in 2010.

Tisdale is also the founder and CEO of a multimedia company, Mind Money Media, that aims to educate people about the complex psychology of money, including how socioeconomics, gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and culture affect our financial experiences.

“People don’t get much education in how to navigate those deeper aspects of ourselves, and that’s what I hope to show people how to do,” she said.

Fordham Magazine spoke with Tisdale in advance of her keynote address at the Women’s Summit.

How did you get interested in financial behavior?
When I worked on Wall Street, I really saw how the financial system worked and how that integrated into the community, into our lives. And my first job in journalism was at The Wall Street Journal. That really immersed me into how businesses work, from the inside out. When I went to CBS, it was a total 180: I was immersed into the financial experience of human beings. Having seen all that intersectionality, I saw how much pain and suffering people’s financial lives are causing them—money is the leading cause of depression, the leading cause of substance abuse, the leading cause of divorce.

Why did you want to do all this research into financial behavior?
Money works very simply: Don’t spend more than you have. Don’t borrow more than you can afford to pay back. Don’t invest more than you can afford to lose. But I can also see this disconnect between the intentions of consumers to create financial security and how our economic system works. They don’t coincide very well, largely because people place a big focus on the monetary side of money when the psychological and emotional toll of financial stress is really causing problems.

What did you learn from your research?
The problem became clear: We live our financial lives largely through conditioning—I call it the “money script.”

There really are three major areas: the childhood script—the way we saw money handled, or not, managed or not, growing up; social scripts—the messaging we see that our brains literally process and that we get our sense of identity from; and social messaging around gender and race—what our behaviors are “supposed to be.”

I was able to identify real skills to navigate this positioning, to help people learn to see what those messages are that we tell ourselves about money, so that we can rewrite scripts where they don’t serve us. That means having a visceral connection to what your true goals and priorities are, and what is important to you. When you connect your financial behavior to that, you’ll generally see that you spend a lot of time and money on things that are not authentically important to you, and you will find that you have a lot more resources for what really matters.

How did your time at Marymount influence you and your career path?
It was just such a supportive environment and an environment where it was so natural for women to be all that they can be. I came to Marymount after a pretty traumatic experience—I had been a figure skater, and I was vying for a spot on the U.S. national team. I left home when I was 11 years old to go live and train with coaches. And I got into a car accident, which ended my skating career. I went straight to college, to Marymount. It was just such a transitional time for me, so to be in such a safe and nurturing place where learning was fun, relationships were forged—that was what I needed.

What do you hope to share during your keynote speech at the Fordham Women’s Summit?
I think just taking responsibility. When we think of philanthropy, we tend to think of what we want to affect, but [it’s also about] taking responsibility and owning your power when it comes to outcomes.

We have, I think, the biggest mass exodus from the U.S. workforce in history. It started before the pandemic, but since the pandemic, a lot of people are just walking away from their jobs. They’re calling it the Great Resignation, but it’s also the Great Realization. When people were really forced to be in their lives, they saw how they spend their time, their priority, and how they were living was not adding up. So we’re saying a collective “no,” and the change that that’s causing in the workforce is amazing.

So, when people think about giving [and how they can use their financial power for good], I want them to think more about how can they be more demanding in terms of what they want to see happen.

Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Kelly Prinz, FCRH ’15.

Watch the Fifth Annual Fordham Women’s Summit. Tisdale’s keynote address begins at 16:30.

“I think one of the reasons you’re here is to make the world a better place than the one you arrived to,” she said. “And philanthropy is an incredibly powerful tool for that. I want the women at the Women’s Summit to own that. I want them to see that. I want them to evangelize that.” (Update: Watch Garry’s address at the Summit.)

Making the World a Better Place

For Garry, the desire to make the world a better place stems, in part, from her personal life. In the early 1990s, two decades before the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage, she and her partner, Eileen, were discussing the next steps for their family.

“I believed really deeply that if we were going to have a family that it was incumbent upon us to do what we could to make the world as safe as possible for them,” she said.

They became plaintiffs in a precedent-setting case in New Jersey in 1993, and Garry eventually became the first woman in the state to legally adopt her partner’s biological children.

“It was a huge ‘aha moment’ for me, recognizing, cheesy though it may sound, that one person can really make a difference,” she said on an episode of the Fordham Footsteps podcast last summer. “And it was huge news,” she added. “The story of our family was educating people about members of the LGBT community in a very different kind of way. In the early 1990s, gay families were not common at all, and I realized that the media had this incredible power and responsibility to tell these stories and really shape how the LGBT community was perceived and understood.”

At the time, Garry was an executive at Showtime Networks, but her family’s victory in court inspired her to take her career in a different direction a few years later. In 1997, she was named executive director of GLAAD, a national nonprofit organization that aims to “rewrite the script for LGBTQ acceptance” and tackle “tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.”

“Because GLAAD focused on the media as an institution where we could change hearts and minds, the bridge from corporate media to the nonprofit sector was a no-brainer for me,” Garry said.

Garry said that when she started at GLAAD, there were “precious few images at all” of LGBTQ people in the media, and when they were featured, the depictions were usually negative. She built partnerships with media executives to change that, working with the producers of Survivor to help get a gay man on the popular TV show in 2000 and successfully lobbying The New York Times to feature gay and lesbian couples in its “Vows” section.

“We are part of the fabric of society,” she said. “The object of the work was to ensure that the media representation reflected the diversity of our society that included LGBTQ members.”

Lessons Learned

Garry said her work at GLAAD was influenced by her previous jobs, particularly at MTV, where she began her career soon after graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill with a degree in philosophy and communications.

At MTV, Garry learned the “dynamics, energy, and the urgency of a startup,” which became valuable to her as she transitioned to leading GLAAD.

“Running a nonprofit organization, they have a very similar energy [to a startup]—moving quickly, often too quickly, under-resourced,” she said. “The other piece that corporate America provided me was an understanding that numbers tell a story.”

And even before MTV, while still a student at Fordham, Garry said she learned about the value of having a mentor.

She got her start at MTV, several months before the network launched in 1981, thanks in part to her mentor James N. Loughran, S.J., FCRH ’64, GSAS ’75, a Fordham philosophy professor who later served as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. Father Loughran encouraged her to reach out to a Fordham graduate who was looking to build a team for a new project at Warner Communications.

“All I know is that one moment I was unemployed, and the next moment I was sharing an office with someone and looking at the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, and feeling like I had won the lottery,” she said with a laugh. “Little did I know that we were creating the business plan for what would become MTV.”

The ‘Accidental’ Consultant

All of those lessons helped prepare Garry for another career transition—starting her own consulting firm for nonprofits.

After working at GLAAD for eight years, Garry decided to focus more on helping raise her three children, who were in middle and high school at the time.

“We believe that older kids need you even more than younger kids,” she said with a laugh. “And so I went home to be on the ground when they got home from school.”

She began to take on some jobs as a way to “maintain my sanity,” Garry said, adding that she became an “accidental” consultant. In 2012, she launched a website to share tips, advice, insights, and lessons she learned from her time in the corporate and nonprofit worlds. The site “took off,” she said, and eventually led to a full-time consulting business and a book, Joan Garry’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership: Because the World Is Counting on You (Wiley, 2017).

Garry said that she found that many nonprofit leaders don’t have advocates and supporters for their work, which is why she also launched the Nonprofit Leadership Lab to help provide support, networking, and professional development to leaders of nonprofits.

“These jobs—whether you’re running a food pantry or whether you’re researching the cure for a disease or you’re advocating for the Latinx community—these are hard jobs,” she said. “They’re really hard to get right and far too often these leaders do not have champions.”

Inviting People In

Garry said that one of the pieces of advice she plans to give those who attend the Summit, and one she often shares with nonprofit leaders, is to invite people in to be a part of their causes and work.

“It makes people feel good to give money to causes they care about—it is an invitation, an invitation to get closer to those things that drive meaning and purpose in your life,” she said. “And why wouldn’t you invite people to do that? They can always say no. But I’d like to be invited. And so I have grown to understand through all of the work that I have done raising money, that it is  [about]  offering someone the opportunity to bring meaning and purpose into their lives in a different way.”

In particular, Garry said that she wants to invite women to use philanthropy to support the causes they care about.

“Women have not been socialized in the same way as men to be philanthropic; they have had fewer opportunities,” she said. “And I would like them to leave feeling inspired to be engaged in philanthropy in whatever way it makes sense for them.”

Watch the Fifth Annual Fordham Women’s Summit. Garry’s keynote address begins at 3:44:20.