Any company that strives to be profitable and successful needs to include women and other diverse representatives in its leadership. Yet even in the most forward-focused organizations, women may still face obstacles to inclusion.

Sameer Somal, a tech entrepreneur and the co-founder of Girl Power Talk and Girl Power USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping you women become leaders in business and society, will share his experiences and perspective on empowering women during the next Equity Now presentation on Nov. 19. The event is sponsored by School of Business.

“If you look at society for the last 1,000 years, women have too often been sidelined from positions of leadership. Yet studies have repeatedly shown that when women are added to the C-Suite and to Boards of Directors, those companies outperform their peers,’’ Somal said.

“I want business students to be aware that investing in and supporting women is not a trend or a fad, but something that can help your company reach its full potential,’’ he said.
His presentation, “Empowering Girls and Women in Organizations: A Conversation with Sameer Somal,” begins at noon on Nov. 19. The program is available via livestream. To register, please visit the registration page.

Women Walk a Tightrope of Expectations

Somal is the CEO and co-Founder of Blue Global Technology, focused on digital transformation, risk management, and technology development. Raised by a progressive father, and inspired by a friend, he began a journey to help girls and women advance in both business and society.

He will discuss how his organization inspires young women to be their best in their personal and professional lives, and how passionate engagement with girls today empowers them to build a career full of purpose.

Somal will also discuss the obstacles that women and other diverse employees face in the workplace, including how corporate structure has historically been designed to keep women out; hiring and promotion processes that favor men; and adverse institutional mindsets about who qualifies for certain roles, particularly in leadership.

Even today, women often walk a tightrope of expectations, he said. They are expected to exhibit assertiveness, independence, and dominance but still convey sensitivity and compassion.

“While both gender-specific roles and traits are dated concepts, female leaders often have to strike a hard balance to be seen as worthy, adding to the pressure that leadership brings with it,’’ he said.

Finally, women face ‘affinity bias’ in the workplace. Most corporate decisionmakers are still men, and affinity bias can lead them to consciously or unconsciously hire and promote people who are like them, he said.

Somal is a member of the Board of Directors of Future Business Leaders or America, the Abraham Lincoln Association, the Academy of Legal Studies in Business and the American Bar association. A graduate of Georgetown University, he has held leadership roles at Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Scotiabank before creating his own company.

Series Brings Business Expectations into Sharp Focus

The 2024-25 Equity Now series began in October with a presentation by Lauren Cleary, an ethics and compliance professional at Patagonia, who spoke about the importance of privacy in organizations.

“Each speaker in the Equity Now speaker series brings their own unique perspective on how legal and ethical issues are deeply intertwined in both business and society,’’ said business law professor Robert Bird, who spearheads the programs.

“For an organization to be truly successful, it must meet, if not exceed, the expectations of stakeholders in the society in which it conducts business,’’ he said. “The Equity Now speaker series brings those expectations into clear focus through the expert academics and practitioners that are invited to share their ideas.’’

The Equity Now series features expert insight on how law and policy can create diversity, equity and fairness in both organizations and society. The UConn program is conducted in affiliation with the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, Virginia Tech, Indiana, Boston and Temple universities.