After spending time this month with a talented, dynamic group of women, I’m more confident than ever about the opportunities in front of us in packaging.
I, along with four other women from Brenton and Orion, attended the PowHER of the Pack annual meeting, October 11-13, 2023 in Covington, KY. Created just two years ago, PowHER of the Pack is a women’s resource group serving female employees from all 48 ProMach brands. Its goal is to advocate for women in packaging manufacturing career fields and serve as a path for professional development within the ProMach organization. Today, PowHER of the Pack boasts over 150 women from ProMach brands encompassing customer service, marketing, engineering, management, and senior leadership titles.
The three-day annual meeting included breakout sessions on authentic leadership, authentic and effective communication, and other career development discussions.
One of my many takeaways was learning more about myself in becoming an authentic leader and how that can benefit Brenton. Our speakers, Lily Chang, a senior advisor and board director at Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity investment firm, and Dr. Patti Fletcher, a workplace equity influencer at LeapGreat, a manufacturing automation consulting firm, stressed what it means to be an authentic female leader. This is a process of self-examination, transparency, empathy, and other characteristics to become truer to yourself, and a more effective leader and role model to others.
Working in a male-dominated industry brings along challenges that are specific to women. I think women in general approach situations with an empathy-first mindset, and to some that could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. But that is not the case. Authentic leadership and communication aim to strengthen one’s set of morals, values, thoughts, and self-reflection, and how that can be applied to the work environment. It is important to continue cultivating this next generation of female leaders to ensure women are at the table with men because the benefits of men and women leading an organization together are strong and powerful.
Women throughout ProMach are not only holding general manager, vice president, and other senior leadership titles, they are thriving in those roles. It is inspiring that these women are succeeding while not sacrificing family life for a professional career.
I’m excited to take what I learned and apply it to Brenton. This three-day seminar was an uplifting experience and I think these efforts put forth by ProMach collectively will make us a stronger company for years to come.
Kaitie Kluver is the Marketing Manager at Brenton (https://www.brentonengineering.com/). She can be reached at Kaitie.kluver@promachbuilt.com.