Women Business Leaders Break the Glass Ceiling
Breaking the glass ceiling and bringing other women around it, the winners, divided among Corporate, Entrepreneurial and Career in Transition settings, are leaders within and outside the workplace, where they strive to provide resources and support for working women and tighten the professional gender gap.
Career in Transition winners of w2wlink’s first Ascendancy Awards- women making a difference in their careers, personal lives and the lives of others through their dedication to ensuring the emotional, professional and financial well-being of working women everywhere.
Cheryl Ladd
Ohio
President
Ladd Research Group
No one achieves success on their own. Invest in the success of others, and they in turn will drive yours.
Cheryl’s rollercoaster path transitioning from the corporate environment at Johnson & Johnson to marketing consulting allowed her to realize a passion that her own company, Ladd Research Group, is now based on, market research. Cheryl and her team of five other women constitute a group of researches that use past experiences on the flip side of the consulting sphere to differentiate themselves within the industry. Her mentorship within the workplace extends beyond making connections as she is currently paying for an employee’s participation in the YWCA’s Rising Star program, which develops its participants’ leadership abilities in preparation for the non-profit sector. She is a member of 100 Wise Women and Women President’s Organization, and she co-leads a biannual seven-week group for stepparents and step-mom support program.
Diane Danielson
Boston
Founder and CEO
Downtown Women's Club
DWC Services Inc.
Don’t take poor behavior on the part of others personally, because 99% of the time it’s only personal to them and you have nothing to do with it, nor could you have done anything about it.
Diane’s energies go toward empowering women with the networking and career skills they need to succeed. She is the founder and chief social media strategist for Downtown Women’s Club, a networking website for professional women. She co-authored, “The Savvy Gal’s Guide to Online Networking (or What Would Jane Austen Do?),” and regularly blogs for womenDISH.com and Entrepreneur magazine. A lively public speaker, Diane often is invited to speak to corporate women’s programs, universities and conferences with presentations at such prestigious institutions as the Fashion Institute of Technology and Harvard. She teaches teleclasses and mentors women online through the Downtown Women’s Club.
Lea Nesbit
Dallas
Principal and Founder
Linqualcare, Inc.
Never give up. You will face adversity on the path to realizing your vision. Just remember: if it was easy, anybody could do it.
Lea is the principal and founder of Lingualcare, Inc., which is the only U.S. provider of iBraces, the orthodontic invisible and individually customized mouth appliance. Before Lingualcare, Lea held various positions in the technology field including the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at OraMetrix where she helped the healthcare technology company accrue more than $20 million in equity financing. During her career with Micrografx, a developer of Windows graphic applications, Lea served as Managing Director for Latin America, Africa, India and the Middle East. She mentors by striving to help others see the benefits of finding ones passion and integrating it into a career path. Lea often shares her story to women’s groups.
Mary Madden,
Atlanta
Consultant and Board of Director
Grisanti, Galef & Goldress
For me the most important thing has been persistence. No matter what happens one must keep going toward your goals. That does not mean one keeps on doing the same thing even when it hasn’t succeeded. You have to be aware of what is going on around you, what is working, what isn’t, and recognize when changes are needed. It might be a change in method or in goals. Stopping or quitting is not an option. This isn’t easy and it often isn’t fun.
Mary’s experience lies in growing start-up companies with ties to the early stages of businesses such as eAttorney, Fabric.com, Courtlink, Sevista and MiAvendia. Previously a graduate level teacher at Georgia Technology Institute, Mary also served as COO of ValuBond, Inc., a technology and trading company and before her current position with Grisanti, Galef & Goldress, she was a consultant for Leader Publishing. She is a fellow in Istanbul for the Central Eurasian Leadership Alliance and organizes programs for the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for Corporate Directors. She also co-chairs the Atlanta chapter of Women Corporate Directors.
Career highlights, in-depth stories and inspirational quotes from our award winners will be on w2wlink.com all year long.
w2wlink.com is the premier community dedicated to professional women, helping them get to where they’re going – faster. w2wlink.com provides expert knowledge, tools to meet challenges, and connection with others in online networking groups. w2wlink.com was named by MORE Magazine, along with LinkedIn and Facebook, as one of the top three online sites for networking.