Women’s History Month is more than a moment to reflect. It’s an opportunity to recognize the women shaping the future of leadership, creativity, and experience design.
Across Creative Group, women in leadership are building cultures, solving complex business challenges, and redefining what leadership looks like in the experience and events industry. For Women’s History (HERstory) Month, we brought several of these leaders together for a candid conversation about women in leadership, inspiration, career advice, and the lessons that have shaped their journeys.
Here’s what they had to say.
What does being a woman in business mean to you?
Janet Traphagen: Being a woman in business—especially in a senior role—provides the opportunity to reshape what leadership looks like. It means bringing both feminine and masculine energy into decision-making, balancing head and heart, and demonstrating that vulnerability is actually a strength.
As a senior leader, it’s important to have the courage to look someone right in the eye and acknowledge their worth. Equally, it’s important to be clear when the mark is missed. As author, Brené Brown says, “clear is kind”.
Maritza Zaenger: As a woman in business, I have the opportunity to help grow other leaders and help a company reach its goals while creating a culture where employees feel cared for. Women often bring empathy, open-mindedness, and strong communication into leadership—qualities that drive both innovation and profitability.
Jamie Schwartz: For me, being a woman in business has been an evolution. I found my stride later in my career as I learned more about product management and strategy. Understanding that I didn’t have to know everything to add value was very empowering for me. Diverse teams bring incredible expertise to the table—and leaning into that diversity makes organizations stronger.
What does meaningful progress for women in leadership look like today—beyond representation?
Hillary Smith: Meaningful progress goes beyond how many women are in leadership—it’s about how leadership itself is evolving.
For decades, leadership was measured by IQ: strategy, decisiveness, performance. Today, the leaders shaping the most resilient organizations lead with EQ—emotional intelligence, empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to build trust.
Women are having a profound impact here. We’re seeing women normalize courageous conversations, psychological safety, collaborative decision-making, and cultures where people feel seen and heard. That doesn’t just change morale — it changes performance. Teams innovate more, stay longer, and take smarter risks when trust is present.
Melissa Van Dyke: Meaningful progress goes far beyond representation. Representation gets women into the room. Real progress gives them influence over how the room operates.
To me, progress means women shaping strategy, owning P&L decisions, architecting systems, and influencing capital allocation, not just being present at the table. It means designing organizations where leadership isn’t modeled on exhaustion, but on sustainable performance that includes family-life balance. It also means building structures that outlast any one leader: transparent pathways to growth, flexible operating models, and cultures where ambition and empathy are not opposites, but two sides of the same coin.
Mary Wysopal: Progress also shows up in the stories we choose to elevate, the voices we put on stage, the perspectives we design around — they shape how people see themselves and what feels possible. Representation isn’t just about who’s in the room; it’s about who’s leading the conversation and whose stories are being told.
That kind of intentionality creates more meaningful, human-centered experiences
In honor of Women’s History Month, tell us which women inspire you—and why
Janet: I’m inspired by female leaders who are confident in the value they can bring while simultaneously remaining curious and open to continuous growth.
Hillary: Brené Brown has profoundly shaped how I think about leadership.
She reframed vulnerability not as weakness, but as courage. Her work reminds us that innovation, creativity, and trust cannot exist without emotional honesty. In my world — where creativity and risk are constant — that mindset is foundational. You cannot build brave work without building brave cultures.
I’m also deeply inspired by Melis Senova and her book This Human. I have gifted this book to colleagues and teams more times than I can count. It fundamentally changed how I see my responsibility as a designer and leader. It pushed me to rethink what it truly means to design for others — not just from a place of expertise, but from empathy, awareness, and humility. It challenged me to examine my own assumptions and biases, and it made me a more intentional thinker, a stronger partner, and ultimately a better leader. It reinforced that transformation — whether in business or in culture — starts with the human doing the work.
The women who inspire me most are those who expand what leadership looks like — who lead with clarity and conviction, and who create space for others to grow.
Maritza: Michelle Obama and Ruth Bader Ginsburg come immediately to mind. Michelle Obama because she is so clear on her values and has a strong moral compass. Ruth Bader Ginsburg because she was a moderate consensus builder who advocated for gender equality and women’s rights.
Mary: I’m inspired by Reese Witherspoon. She didn’t just build a successful career — she used her influence to open doors for other women. By producing female-led stories and championing women writers, directors, and entrepreneurs, she helped fill a gap in an industry that needs more authentic female representation.
She didn’t wait for the system to change — she became part of the change.
What message would you share with young women thinking about their careers?
Janet: Comparison is the thief of joy. Comparison to a peer. Comparison to past performers. Comparison to some old definition of leadership. Know that you are enough. You belong at the table. Your authenticity is beautiful.
Mary: Just start. Don’t wait until you feel ready—you’ll never feel completely ready.
One of the biggest secrets I can share is that most people don’t have it all figured out. They’re learning as they go. Confidence isn’t something you have before you begin; it’s something you build by doing.
Say yes to the stretch role. Raise your hand for the opportunity. Don’t wait until you meet every qualification or have every answer. You grow into capability by stepping into it. Stay curious. Pay attention to where you can add value and trust your instincts — they’re often stronger than you think.
A mentor once gave me an Eleanor Roosevelt quote that sits on my desk: “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face… You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
That’s the path. Do the thing that scares you a little. That’s where strength and confidence are built.
Jamie: Listen first. Listen to managers, peers, clients, and even those who experience failure. Then speak up. You’re in your role for a reason.
People believe in you—and you should believe in yourself.
Hillary: You can have it all — but not all at once, and not perfectly how you might plan it. Protect your time.
Being a senior leader, an entrepreneur, a mom of three, a wife, a friend, and someone who prioritizes self-care is not easy. No day feels perfectly balanced in every category. Some days you’re leading. Some days you’re parenting. Some days you’re rebuilding your own energy. And what I want you to hear is that is ok.
What matters most is understanding what truly motivates you at your deepest level. When you’re clear on your values, you make better decisions about how you spend your time. And time is the most precious resource we have. It’s fleeting. It forces clarity. It asks you, constantly: What is worth this hour?
Build your career around working hard, giving your best, forming meaningful connections, and exercising your creativity in a way that is authentic to you. When your work aligns with your values, prioritization becomes more natural. You stop chasing someone else’s version of success and start designing your own.
You can have a full life. But you must design it intentionally.
Melissa: The world is at an inflection point in how business gets done, so I’d offer four thoughts from my point of view:
- Your career is not a ladder; it’s a portfolio. Design it intentionally.
Mine has moved across marketing, design, operations, technology, and now data. Each move was driven by following problems worthy of solving. Look for problems to solve, not just jobs to take on. - Don’t aim to be the most impressive person in the room. Aim to be the most expansive thinker.
Women were some of the original technology system coders in the 1940s and 1950s. Broad, multi-view thinking has long been one of our strengths. As AI reshapes work, the future belongs to connectors: leaders who can zoom in and zoom out, who understand both technical/functional detail and human impact. - Go deep and wide.
Find an industry you love. Build depth and credibility. But also build range. Learn how systems work. Learn how decisions get made.
Learn how to ask better questions.
(4) Don’t shrink yourself to make others comfortable.
The world needs your unique brilliance. Leadership doesn’t belong to one personality type or one gender. Bring your authentic self and learn to trust yourself to make decisions from that place.
Maritza: Make sure you have an unwavering set of values. Stay true to who you are and find your passion. You will encounter prejudice but don’t let this stop you.
Your values will always guide you in determining what is right or wrong. It will help you look in the mirror and still like who you see.
When have you felt most seen or supported in your career?
Hillary: One of the most defining moments in my career was when I sold my company and was trusted to lead the creation of a centralized creative team built for scalability.
It was a major shift — from founder to enterprise leader. And during that transition, a Board member asked me a question I’ll never forget: “Hillary, how are you going to teach people to fish?” Admittedly, at the time, I didn’t have a clear answer.
But what made that moment powerful wasn’t the question — it was the belief behind it. They trusted me to figure it out. They believed I could build something that didn’t depend on a few individuals but instead created capability across many.
That trust sent me on a mission. It pushed me to think beyond delivering great work and toward designing systems that empower others to create great work. It forced me to rethink leadership — not as being the best fisherman, but as building an army of fishermen.
The irony is, that question is now at the center of my purpose. Helping organizations scale their fishermen — building creative cultures, developing capability, and creating environments where more people can think boldly and contribute meaningfully — has become my passion.
Being seen isn’t about praise. It’s about being entrusted with something bigger than yourself before you feel completely ready. That kind of belief doesn’t just support you — it transforms you.
And now, I try to offer that same belief to others.
Mary: One of the moments I felt most seen in my career was when I was promoted to Director to lead a client I had supported for years in operational roles. It was a stretch opportunity — honestly, a few years earlier than I expected — and the account had experienced a revolving door of leadership. The team was fatigued, and the client was craving stability and true partnership.
There were a lot of “firsts” for me in that role, and I put everything I had into creating consistency for the team and rebuilding trust with the client.
What made it truly impactful was a dinner early on with the client’s primary contact and my leader. She went out of her way to tell me and my leader that she had never felt more supported, and that the team had never been more successful. She shared her trust and confidence in me as a leader — and that meant more than she probably realized.
It was a defining moment. It affirmed that I wasn’t just capable — I was making a meaningful impact. And it’s not lost on me that both the leader who believed in me and the client who voiced that trust were women. That moment reinforced the power of women advocating for and elevating one another.
Closing
If this Women’s History Month conversation reveals anything, it’s that leadership is evolving.
Across industries, women are expanding what strong leadership in business looks like—bringing empathy alongside strategy, collaboration alongside ambition, and humanity alongside performance.
That shift doesn’t just advance women in leadership. It builds stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more resilient organizations.
And if the women shaping Creative Group today are any indication, the future of leadership in the experience industry won’t just include more women.
It will be shaped by them.
Imagine that.
