Equipping Herself for the Executive Level
Lisa Rodriguez has been involved with Forté since her first post-undergrad role with Capital Group Companies, a Forté partner. They encouraged women employees to participate in Forté events. One of those events, an information session about the MBA, was the catalyst for Lisa’s decision to pursue the degree. She became a Forté Fellow at Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management).
I’m at a point in my career where I’m building towards executive-level roles. I wanted insights on how I can prepare myself for when the time comes.
When Forté announced the Rise program, Lisa was immediately interested. She says, “Every interaction I've had with Forté has made a tremendous impact on me and my professional development. I hold the organization in such high regard.”
For Lisa, the program came along at the perfect time. She says, “I’m at a point in my career where I'm building towards executive-level roles. I wanted insights on how I can prepare myself for when the time comes.” She knew that at the executive level, leaders are expected to build their teams, lead through others, and drive broad organizational impact. She was intrigued by the way Rise offered coaching and training to help women navigate that transition — and her company sponsored her participation in the program.
As the leader of a small team, Lisa found a Rise session on leading through others especially valuable. She says, “It was something that I was able to apply right away. It helped me put a finger on how I could change my behaviors to show up for my team as a spanning leader.”
She found the cohort setup very effective and notes that the leadership coaches created an environment where everyone felt comfortable sharing the challenges they were facing and exchanging advice. She says, “I didn't expect the depth with which we would be able to go into a topic because of the willingness of the participants to be vulnerable with one another.”
Finding the Courage to Make a Change
Kristin Lorenzo was a Forté Fellow at Babson’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, and she has continued to engage with Forté as an alum. After earning her MBA, she moved to Santiago, Chile.
For most of her career, Kristin has worked in the financial services industry. At the end of 2021, she moved back to the United States and took some time off to explore her options. She had developed an interest in sustainability and contemplated taking her career in a new direction. She says, “I was grappling with, ‘Do I stick with what I know, or do I make a leap of faith?'”
When she received an email about Forté Rise, she recognized that it could be useful to her not only with deciding which path to take in her career, but also with reintegrating herself into U.S. corporate culture. She saw it as a way to make an investment in herself and applied to participate.
