59
Time
Room Name: Core Conversation
Tuesday, July 21
Empowering the
Female Founder
For female business leaders, it remains difficult to gain a strong foothold in the business
world. Only about 8.1 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and a 2011 study of
60,000+ people found a strong preference for male bosses.
Amy Balliett, co-founder of industry-leading design agency Killer Infographics, has en-
countered a number of gender-charged assumptions in the last 4 years as she's worked
to grow her company. In the business sphere, some people still assume that even a
female founder must defer to males—or to a husband—for the final say in a transaction.
This Core Conversation seeks to engage women and men in the V2V community to de-
termine how widespread these obstacles still are, and to identify solutions. The discus-
sion will also explore whether men and women have different leadership styles. Balliett,
who has a male business partner, will offer up rare insights into contrasting managerial
styles based on her own experience starting and operating a highly successful agency.
Questions Answered:
1. Do female founders, entrepreneurs, and business leaders still face gender
stereotypes, obstacles, and gender-based assumptions in the workplace
today?
2. Are men still viewed as better or more natural leaders by employees and
peers in the business sphere?
3. How should a female entrepreneur handle a situation in which she faces
gender stereotypes and obstacles, and what can we do to finally close the
gap for future female leaders?
Amy Balliett
Killer Infographics,
Chief Executive
Officer
3:15pm
Raphael 2: Core Conversation
TUESDAY
