Since celebrating International Women’s Day last year, we have grown our #WomenInSpine series with numerous features of our female leaders at NuVasive. This year, we are proud to keep empowering women with the launch of our first Employee Resource Group (ERG): Women in Spine (WIS). This new group is committed to building an inclusive culture to ensure that NuVasive realizes the full potential of its female talent. With our ERG and #WomenInSpine blog series, NUVA aims to continue to celebrate and highlight our female shareowners’ achievements and success.
Featuring our next #WomenInSpine feature, Michelle, Sr. Buyer/Planner, Operations
What woman inspires you and why?
My mother inspires me. She has been a pillar of strength for my family.
She has taught me to persevere in the face of adversity and her tenacity for life is infectious.
She has always been my number one cheerleader and I would not be who I am today without her.
What advice would you give to other female professionals in Operations?
Own what you do, have confidence, and advocate for your abilities. Take time to learn and grow.
What do you think is the most significant barrier to female leadership?
Gender inequality is the biggest barrier and it hinders talented women from being in and promoted into leadership roles.
There is a bias that women can only be problem solvers, but not leaders. This inequality needs to be continuously addressed until the barrier is gone and that responsibility belongs to all of us.
This is imperative because it can not only limit innovation, but it can make a company less-attractive to potential female candidates and also to potential clients as well.
How do you think the female perspective benefits our company mission of changing patient lives?
Our perspectives and experiences bring diversity and different logic to the table. Those perspectives translate into more creativity, innovation, and impact on the bottom line.
What will be the biggest challenge for the generation of women behind you?
Challenges will always exist, whether it is inequality or other issues. Learn to master to those challenges and do not view them as limitations.
Be a part of the solution and help advocate for each other.
Learn from each other—self-preservation is limiting.
To read other #WomenInSpine features, click here to browse our ‘Culture’ section.