Jeanne Marie Spicuzza

God

Trust your intuition.

My best advice is don't take advice. I think the most important thing is learning to trust your intuition, really being fostered in that regard to hear your own intuition rather than listening simply to what other people are saying. Certainly, you can take that into consideration, but I think it's so important in making our own decisions to realize that we are very individual. What might work for one person may not work for another. We're given a path, and it's important for us to pay very close attention to that path while being discerning and hearing out other people's experiences, but making our own decisions. I also have a saying: advice doesn't come with insurance. We are the ones who live with the consequences of our decisions, regardless of what other people think. I think that's particularly true for women, because we tend to be very intuitive creatures, but that's not necessarily fostered. So I think fostering confidence in a mentoring situation becomes really important - asking what do you think about that before I answer your question. Really support each other in making our own decisions. I also think it's important for young people to realize that mastery requires sacrifice. Sometimes we're so afraid of making mistakes or getting hurt that we don't necessarily remember that as children, we had to do that just to learn to walk. Sometimes you have to take calculated risks. Don't be afraid that people will say, "Well, that's not how you're supposed to do that." Who says? If you're doing everything by rote, then you're just pumping out factory work. Creativity requires thoughtfulness, imagination, and risk-taking.

I think we need more women holding the purse strings, not just going out and asking for more from men. That's something I want to see in my lifetime - that's a huge goal for me, is more women holding the purse strings, not having to ask for more money or ask for permission, but doing it ourselves. If there's a thread through my work, it's the worth of the individual, but particularly women, because to quote Hildegard, "Women have been shamed enough," throughout history. How do we eradicate that shame? It's the recognition of our value that eradicates that shame. I think this is our time, really. I think this is the era of the woman. I think we have so much that we can accomplish now.

Gender-fair income and equal pay are fundamental to everything we do - we were the first corporation to make part of our mission statement that we would uphold gender-fair income without exception, which we have done since our inception. This was even before equal pay for equal work during the Clinton administration. The worth and dignity of women is central to my work. To quote Hildegard von Bingen,"Women have been shamed enough," throughout history, and I believe it's the recognition of our value that eradicates that shame. We wouldn't do anything that would indignify women or their families on our platform. Helping the poor, whether within the United States or outside, is very important to me right now - it's critical, in fact. We need to really step that up. I also believe strongly in community - we're independent, but we're also interdependent. Women understand that very well. We don't function as lone wolves. We thrive in community. Without each other, we would be in so much trouble. We need each other.