International Women’s Day 2021: Comperemedia analysts recognize leaders in their industries

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, we asked Comperemedia analysts to highlight one woman in their industry who they feel personifies this year’s theme of ‘Choose to Challenge.’

Shefi Ben-Hutta – Co-founder of Coverager

Nicole Bond, Research Analyst

Shefi Ben-Hutta is the co-founder of Coverager, an innovative online insurance platform that adds a modern twist to insurance industry news, insights, and data. Using her unique perspective, she is breaking the mold of stale insurance content and personifies #choosetochallenge. Ben-Hutta stepped outside industry norms by modernizing the approach to news delivery and readability and has successfully created a platform of timely content that challenges the industry and advocates for consumers.

Ben-Hutta continues to grow her business, generate interest, and bring a fresh perspective to all things happening within the insurance industry through Twitter and LinkedIn. The co-founder has established herself as a thought leader, and Coverager as a reliable source for industry news, by amplifying her messages with added context and sometimes fresh commentary on any given subject. She “never said that I love insurance,” according to her one-line LinkedIn intro, but Ben-Hutta enables others to love the industry a little bit more by adding color to often-drab insurance topics. She never backs down from sharing her opinions on what is happening in the world around us and is constantly challenging the moves, partnerships, and marketing efforts happening in the industry. Ben-Hutta knows the industry and is creating an opportunity for others to learn the nuances of insurance by approaching topics with her bold, fresh lens.

Ben-Hutta’s newsletters may be small in scale, but they are mighty in the groundwork they set. She is changing the way insurance content is consumed and shining a light on issues that have long slipped through the cracks. I personally look forward to my daily Coverager reports and seek out her expertise, as she continually challenges the standards within insurance with her opinions and writing.

Sallie Krawcheck – CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest

Lily Harder, Senior Director, Marketing Strategy

To say that 2020 was a challenging year for women would be the understatement of the century. But despite the many distinct and personal struggles that women have endured over the last year, there has also been a tremendous change. I am thrilled to celebrate one change-maker in particular and shine a light on the path she is paving for women in search of a brighter financial future.

Sallie Krawcheck is CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, the premier digital financial advice platform for women. Her mission is to help women reach their financial and professional goals, but she is doing this by focusing on one goal: putting more money into the hands of women.

Ellevest’s membership-based platform provides wealth management services, banking tools, advice, coaching, and more. But it’s Ellevest’s social media presence that has contributed the most to the brand’s overall identity and truly challenged the financial services industry as a whole.

With over 230k followers on Instagram, Ellevest continues to grow its presence while supporting, educating, and empowering women to reach their full financial potential. The brand’s daily posts cover a wide range of topics from financial tips to topical memes to career advice to spotlights on women-owned businesses that are changing the status quo in their own right.

The most impressive aspect of Ellevest’s social media strategy is that no matter what each post says or what image it shows, there is always an underlying message of support for women and the brand’s overarching goal of getting more money into the hands of women. Every post. Every Day. And because of this, Ellevest and the woman behind the company reins, Sallie Krawcheck, are creating a robust community of change-makers on a mission.

Anne Chow, AT&T Business CEO

Emily Groch, Director of Insights, Telecom

AT&T Business CEO Anne Chow embodies #choosetochallenge by using her platform, including social media, to drive meaningful change in her industry and beyond. As she highlights in both her Twitter and LinkedIn bios, the executive considers herself a servant leader, as well as a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) champion. Chow points to her cultural heritage as a second-generation Asian American as foundational for her appreciation of diversity and for shaping her leadership values. Her speaking engagements and social media posts exhibit her genuine commitment to diversity and to helping businesses grow through inclusion.

Chow is involved in countless initiatives to support DEI, many of which are observable across her LinkedIn and Twitter posts. Most recently, Chow launched a LinkedIn Live video series called “Champions for Change,” in which she speaks with leaders of diverse backgrounds and from various industries who are driving change in the workplace. Chow not only promotes these events on her pages, but, being a master of social media, she also summarizes the key learnings in LinkedIn articles, and then promotes the articles on Twitter and LinkedIn (as she does for many of the events with which she is involved). Both the video discussions and her articles share nuggets of her own personal experience, while also amplifying the experiences of others.

The content Chow shares on social media, as well as her public appearances, conveys her authenticity, thoughtfulness, and genuine drive to help businesses and individuals succeed. I have been inspired by her words of wisdom, as well as the advice from other professionals with whom she shares her platform.

Kerri Wise – VP of Corporate Marketing at True Car

Hannah Keshishian, Automotive Research Analyst, Mintel

Being a woman in the automotive industry is not always easy; being a woman of color makes it even more challenging. Yet, Kerri Wise, VP of Corporate Marketing at TrueCar and co-founder of WOCAN (Women of Color Automotive Network) tackles these challenges with tenacity and grace. Wise has always had a passion for helping women advance their careers within the automotive industry, which helped shape her journey in co-founding WOCAN.

While women of color represent 18% of the US workforce, they only represent 6% of the automotive industry, with few holding leadership positions. WOCAN was created in an effort to create more opportunities for women of color in the automotive industry, which will also ultimately help drive the industry forward.

To help with this, Wise and her WOCAN team leverage social media to expand her reach to women of color and promote the ways in which WOCAN can support them. Across various platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Wise aims to drive engagement with these women who may not always be able to attend conferences, and therefore don’t have the opportunity to have their voices heard or network with other women. Wise also recently took to the rapidly emerging platform, Clubhouse, to host discussions about the challenges of women of color, as well as engaging with women.

As women continue to push forward across all industries, Wise is in the driver’s seat and will continue to lead the way for women of color in the automotive industry.

Tanya Van Court – Goalsetter CEO and co-founder

Maegan Haugh, Associate Research Analyst

During my research for a report set to publish this week, my attention was drawn toward a company I had not yet heard about, Goalsetter. Goalsetter is a family money app that helps children establish good money habits. Tanya Van Court CEO and founder of Goalsetter is undoubtedly challenging the status quo. Tanya launched Goalsetter in 2019, vowing “to make sure that her children were never ignorant of what it takes to protect their wealth and create more.”

The company has been making waves recently, after announcing a $3.9M raise in seed money backed by some of the largest financial institutions and professional athletes. In recent months, Goalsetter launched its Black History Month campaign, depositing $40 in each of a million minority kids’ accounts. Tanya, who is the only Black woman CEO running a company focused solely on children’s products, has put forth great efforts to promote financial education, especially to young minority consumers, in order to create an equal America.

Not only do Goalsetter’s values stand out, but its social media presence does too. The brand heavily leverages its partnerships, with professional athletes such as CC Sabathia and Seth Curry promoting the brand alongside their significant others. The videos, posted to each of their individual accounts and the Goalsetter account, have generated thousands of views and reactions from followers. By tapping into partnerships, Goalsetter is likely to reach more people, especially young consumers who look up to these athletes and might be more willing to learn about the brand knowing that their favorite players support it.

Tanya’s dedication to and focus on financial freedom for kids is something to be admired. She’s challenging the norm by encouraging parents to open up about financial wellness in order to create a brighter future for their children.