Brand culture

December 22, 2020

This year’s summit was all about navigating “the way forward” – a particularly interesting focus as we close out a year marked by both incredible challenges and inspiring opportunities.

In early December, the 2020 Forbes Power Women’s Summit convened some of the leading voices on gender equity from all over the world. While this year’s summit was held virtually, the format definitely didn’t limit the energy, excitement and, at times, vulnerability shared through powerful conversations on topics like how failure can lead to success, the importance of representation, and creating solutions for dismantling barriers and accelerating equity.

For the fourth year, Audi of America was proud to sponsor the summit, an event designed to serve as a playbook for navigating change and empowering opportunities for others, specifically focused on solutions-focused dialogue around future female leadership.

This year’s theme – The Way Forward – was particularly poignant. As women are facing new realities brought on by COVID, how we tackle important issues like healthcare, childcare, work life balance, and financial security will shape how we as companies, communities, and individuals emerge from this moment with a more equitable future in mind.

Audi of America’s CMO Tara Rush addressed the more than 16,000 summit attendees with a personal message on gender equity. Noting that power can all too often be considered a gendered term or idea, she explained that even small moments can lead to great opportunity.

“There’s those moments where you have to walk into a room with big energy and huge confidence. But it’s also about the smaller moments too, and I think that’s where there’s so much magic, because it’s the one-on-one relationships that you have with people. You’re building trust and you’re building that authentic relationship,” said Tara.

“It’s those small moments that get added up into influence, and it’s that influence that creates the opportunity for progress and a true optimistic outlook, and the conditions to actually create positive change.”

Tara also focused on the next generation of leaders, saying, “At Audi of America, one of our biggest commitments is to drive progress for gender equity, and one of the most important roles that I can play as a leader is to demonstrate and role model that non-gendered view of what power and leadership can look like for the women and men that are around me now, and importantly for that next generation of leaders and changemakers that will follow.”

Changemakers and gender equity champions to speak alongside Tara included: Melinda Gates, Tracee Ellis Ross, Tory Burch, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, Misty Copeland, and many more.

You can watch the full Summit here and Tara’s spotlight here.