Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / Episode 461: Championing Women in Business with Forté Foundation CEO Elissa Sangster

Transcript

Episode 461: Championing Women in Business with Forté Foundation CEO Elissa Sangster · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:16
  Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm your host, Graham Richmond, and today I'm excited to welcome someone whose work has had a profound impact on the MBA community for more than two decades. I'm joined by Alyssa Sangster. She's the CEO of the Forte foundation, an organization dedicated to expanding access to business education and empowering more women and other high potential candidates to pursue and thrive in MBA programs. If you're a regular listener, you know that we often talk about how critical community mentorship and early guidance can be on the MBA journey. And Forte has been one of the most influential organizations in that space, supporting candidates before business school, helping them lead business during their MBA experience, and continuing that support well into their careers. So without further ado, let's welcome Forte Foundation CEO Alyssa Sangster. Hi, Alyssa. Thanks for making time.
• 1:10
  Speaker B: Hi, Graham. Thanks. It's great to be here.
• 1:12
  Speaker A: I have so many questions, but let's start with just a little bit about you. So how did you first get connected to the MBA world and what ultimately led you to Forte?
• 1:20
  Speaker B: It's great. Like, I, I, I first went to get my mba, so the pursuit of the MBA is really what led me there. And I went to Texas A and M, and after graduating with my mba, I started working at A and M. And it kind of introduced me to this whole idea of MBA admissions that was out there, this career path that so many people are unaware of, but just this great community of other MBA schools that you got to know all the people that were working in this space. I was the assistant Director of admissions at A and M. And I moved about three years after taking that role to Austin to work at UT Austin as the Director of Alumni relations. And then from there, kind of seven years at ut, I moved into an assistant dean role where I took on student services, alumni relations, admissions. And that's the place where really early on, or I'm sorry, kind of later in the seven years, I was introduced to this research that Catalyst had done that was looking at the number of women in MBA programs compared to law and medicine. And it was clear that business business schools were lagging behind. And so I started volunteering with Forte. At that point, my dean asked me to be on the committee that was looking at the research. And as we did that research with about six or seven other business schools and six or seven companies, we started building a business plan for an organization that could address some of this concerns that were clear from the research about women not pursuing business leadership and also getting an mba. So that's when after a couple of years of volunteering, Forte said, we really need to hire someone because all of these wonderful volunteers can't make this into a full fledged organization. And so they asked if I would step in to be the executive director at that time. So I, I left ut. It was a hard decision, and went home to start this business. I was the first employee. And you know, it was a funny time because I got some amount of money that was in the bank from donations that companies and schools had made. But I had to figure out like how to even wr my first paycheck because I didn't even have a check that had Forte printed on it. I had temporary checks from the bank account, right. And I had to write out my salary, write, sign the check, make the check to me. And you can imagine the bank was like, I'm not sure that we're going to be able to cash this. We're going to put a 10 day hold. And I was like, okay, I have a mortgage. Please, please make sure that cash is in 10 days. You know, that was, yeah, the early beginning of Forte.
• 3:59
  Speaker A: Oh, I love that story. So, you know, there's two things you said that really jump out at me. And the first is that even though you went to business school and had applied, once you work in admissions, you're opened up to this whole other world. And I had that same experience because I, you know, before I went to business school, I had no idea got in and then I worked in admissions at Wharton and saw from the other side, I was like, whoa. That, you know, and that that's sort of what prompted me to get into this space of helping people and helping them understand, you know, how admissions kind of works. But I did want to. The other thing you talked about, which, you know, you're reminding me, is that back when were at UT Austin or, you know, really getting kind of this early, laying that groundwork with Forte, the percentage of women going off to business school was, I mean, I mean, it was kind of embarrassingly low. And you know, you reminded me of that, you know, 30% or less at many of the top programs.
• 4:45
  Speaker B: And so some of the schools were 18%. I mean, it was quite low on average. I think it was around 25, 26% if you looked across the schools. So especially in those top schools where that's the pipeline into these very senior roles business, and you want to make sure that you have representation there, access and opportunity for women to pursue that. So.
• 5:07
  Speaker A: Yeah, totally. So I have to ask you though, were there any kind of early experiences or mentors who kind of shaped your passion for expanding access. Because it's one thing to go get an MBA and to work in admissions, but. Yeah. What kind of lit the fire in you to. To really try to help create this space for. For more women to find their way and just expand access?
• 5:26
  Speaker B: Well, you know, I mean, you just mentioned, like, the beauty of that MBA admissions experience and opening up this whole network. That was what was most transformative to me is that I didn't even know about it. And then you get into it and you realize there's such a body of work surrounding it. And I. I think I, you know, at that time, really believed in the power of the MBA as much as I was concerned about women advancing, you know, just the. The nature of getting that experience, that MBA degree and the transformative experience that these MBA students go through, that was what was so meaningful to me. And I was really passionate about business education. And then as I progressed in my career about the, you know, the last three years I was at ut, we were having a women's conference. We were talking more about those issues. And so it was kind of naturally fed by this research that Catalyst did. It was clear to me that there was an opportunity here for us to do something. And for me, it was an almost an entrepreneurial opportunity to go out and pursue something, build a business, make an impact, be involved with employers and with schools. And it really expanded my opportunity just to, you know, be a thought leader in this space and have impact. Again, that was really clear. But, you know, my first boss at A and M was a woman, and she's the one that hired me, got me into this career path. And I think she really just showed me the ropes. And so she had a huge influence on my pursuit of this as a career. And then when I moved over to Forte, Edie Hunt was my board chair at the time, and she was at Goldman Sachs, and she had really leveraged her relationships with business schools to make a change in who they were recruiting in MBA programs and what their gender balance looked like at Goldman Sachs in terms of their recruiting class. So she had such vision and such already kind of the power to make change. And she knew so many people. She was super helpful in getting Forte started and really launching this very balanced approach of corporate and schools thinking about this challenge that we were facing. So I've seen just so many other women, senior business leaders who were faced with this. You know, they. They look around and there are not enough women, especially back then, in the business world. And as they rose to the top, they really saw fewer and fewer. So there was clearly something that resonated with women when we started talking about this. And I think that's why Forte has been successful is not only that it resonated, but also that we've taken this very positive approach to how can we just open up the world of business to women and give them that access, help them see their future there and be excited about those opportunities.
• 8:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, and I love hearing some of these anecdotes about those mentors, whether it's, you know, the person on the board at Forte when you first joined, or your first boss at Texas A and M that seems like, you know, very influential. And even the little. I feel like every entrepreneur has those stories about, like, oh, I had to write that first check, or, you know, that just. I mean, I even remember that with. With starting ClearAdmit too. So I totally resonate there. I do want to now kind of shift and talk a little bit more about Forte itself, you know. So for someone who's tuned into the show and is kind of discovering Forte for the first time, what's the simplest way to understand the organization's mission today?
• 8:45
  Speaker B: Well, I've mentioned the schools and companies, and that's really who we work with, those top schools, leading companies who are showing a shared commitment to cultivate that top talent for those most competitive roles in business. So we really are talking about that pathway to leadership. And originally we were founded and to address the issue of the number of women in MBA programs. And at this point, we're about 42% across all of our MBA programs. And that number of programs has expanded greatly from the early days of Forte. But we're seeing a very balanced class enter most of our business schools. And that's great for women not feeling alone and like they're the only woman in the MBA experience. But we were founded really to pursue that goal of getting more women into MBA programs. And we have widened our scope a bit to really think about accelerating their career pathways because these are high potential individuals. And if we invest all of this work in getting them into these MBA programs and having them graduate, we want to continue seeing them advance. So we don't want those barriers that exist in their careers to be the thing that sidelines them. And so as we've gotten them into these programs, we've also moved into how do we support them throughout that career kind of continuum.
• 10:06
  Speaker A: Okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And we know I've read many an article about, you know, the lack of women in, you know, kind of on public company boards and that sort of thing. So clearly there's still work to done as these folks head through school and into their professional careers. I want to, you know, going back to the original mission about, you know, kind of getting folks into, you know, the sort of MBA pipeline. Forte partner schools have awarded nearly half a billion dollars in Forte fellow scholarships since 2003, which, I mean, that's just an astonishing number. And when you reflect on that impact, like, what stands out to you?
• 10:41
  Speaker B: Well, for me, it's really the impact on the lives of the people who have received that and who may not have ever gone to business school without a scholarship like that Forte Fellowship. And we know from our research that the MBA degree impacts their salaries. And so you see that growth for women, it's between, it's around 52% and for men around 73%. That's their earning potential. And in that first MBA job, you see that kind of salary increase, and I'd say over a career that's going to add up to millions of dollars for that individual. So they've pursued this mba, they've seen their salary increase in that first MBA job, and then as they continue in that career path, millions of dollars is going to go into their bank account that they've not had access to before. And we also know it's that key pathway into business leadership. So we have, you know, women's running companies, they're starting their own businesses, they're leading teams, they're contributing to the world really in an entirely different way than they would that MBA degree. And that's speaking to that transformative, transcendent nature of that MBA experience. And we know for minority women, we also see this pathway into entrepreneurship post mba, where they are able to kind of build a business the way that works for them. And we see a lot of interest in entrepreneurship from the minority women that exit an MBA program.
• 12:05
  Speaker A: Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. And I think the value of the network, and I mean, obviously clear admit we're big, big believers in the degr and that's kind of why we exist too. So I really think it's so transformational. But I'm curious to know also. I mean, you guys support talent at many different stages. I mean, you alluded to this earlier, but undergrad before business school, even during business school and beyond, when folks are alumni, how do you think about connecting these different stages into one continuum of support? Like are people, if they're ushered into Forte as an undergrad, Are they then, you know, just kind of, how do you sort of shepherd them along and keep them engaged with your organization in these different sort of touch points?
• 12:47
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's. There's definitely a virtuous loop going on here, and that's the reason we've created this kind of continuum. And you want to. You know, when we first started working with the mba, we quickly realized that the undergrad population was perhaps like wandering around post undergrad, not quite aware of the MBA and not sure about how to access it. And, and we knew that we had to build that pipeline earlier. So we needed to dig in a few years earlier to start having these conversations. We actually did some strategic work with McKinsey back in, I think it was around 2007, where we looked at how could we better access undergraduate populations and educate them about the MBA experience. And that's really what started our undergrad efforts. And you can't go in and really just preach about the mba. You have to go in and really talk about leadership and opportunity and the different pathways into finance or into entrepreneurship and give them kind of insights. But they're not really ready their sophomore year to start talking about graduate school. That's just not going to work. So we had to build relationships with undergraduate institutions. We had to talk to the undergraduate women, where they were at the time that we were talking to them, and make sure that we were having messaging that was interesting to them and that excited them, but that also gave them a little bit of a moose bouche or appetizer or something of the MBA planting that seed and hoping that seed sprouts. Everybody's not going to get an mba, but the more women that knew about those opportunities, the better chance we had of seeing them in our early career programming or in our pre MBA programming. And so creating those relationships early. We do know we have a lot of stickiness at Forte. And so once women enter into our community, they really stick around for five, 10, 15 years. And that gives us a chance to get to kind of continue feeding this information about MBAs and business leadership so that they stick around, get those messages, have that support, and then ultimately end up pursuing an MBA or even beyond that into business leadership. So that meant, you know, that's really why we did it. But then once they get to the end of that journey, they're more mid career, senior career. They're ready to give back. Forte's had an impact on their lives. They've seen women have these amazing experiences and the MBA women want to also funnel back into Forte Be the mentors, be the role models, speak to these women, help advise them. And that really does create a community that is bolstering all women to pursue business leadership.
• 15:29
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I really, I mean, one of the things you mentioned there, in terms of, you know, how do you message to undergraduates? I think this is a universal issue where even, you know, because of the fact that the mba, unlike, say, maybe law school or medical school, you just don't do it right away. And so you have to go and work. And that's very. I feel like, you know, if you're a young person, that can be quite daunting, this idea of, like, I'm going to just go out into the workforce. And yes, some of the programs now have deferred enrollment, so you can kind of lock in a seat. And we talk a lot about that on the podcast. But still, I think that messaging is so critical, and it's hard because it's, you know, you're not saying apply now. You're saying, here's this idea of something that could be out there for you down the road.
• 16:06
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's also not. It's. There's a lot of noise in the undergraduate space. So even if you get in front of them, keeping their attention, it's. It's not easy because the world is so cluttered and. And really, thinking ahead five years is not something we do well today as a society. And so I think for those undergraduate students, giving them something that they can put in their back pocket and take with them and not forget about is really important.
• 16:31
  Speaker A: Yeah. Sometimes I think we think about as far ahead as, like, the length of a TikTok video.
• 16:35
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 16:36
  Speaker A: You know, problem. But. Yeah, but I did also want to ask you. So for women who are kind of early in their MBA exploration, so whether that's an undergrad or maybe someone who's, you know, a or two into their professional career, how does FORTE help them to sort of find clarity and build confidence and, you know, kind of begin engaging and thinking about this as an option.
• 16:56
  Speaker B: Yeah. The Forte team has a lot of really deep expertise around business education, a lot of background experience there, and also about the barriers that women have faced when they're pursuing this advanced education in business. And so we built a lot of programs that helped take that wisdom and share it with the women who were in this stage going on this journey. So we have Forte Forums, which is really that first exploration. It's giving those prospective MBA students a chance to meet companies, I mean, meet schools, ask questions about getting their MBA and what it would be like to go to their school. We have resources at those fairs, we also have workshops that we do online, we have live events. All of these things are built around this value proposition of the mba. And that can include any topics from the cost of getting an mba, what that MBA experience is like, what the outcomes might be for you if you pursued an mba, and then also a little bit about industry perspectives, like what, what is each industry post business school going to offer you? And then we also look at kind of courses of study. So the, the MBA forums give you kind of a broad, the online website gives you a broad view. But then we also have MBA Launch, which is a much more specific program that happens before you enter business school or you would get admitted to business school. And it's a journey that gives you this roadmap for creating a really top notch application to business school. So there's lots of wide opportunities and then it kind of narrows down into a very specific journey with that MBA launch.
• 18:33
  Speaker A: And that's a perfect segue because I'm really, you know, we often, I mean, this show is mostly dedicated to kind of talking about admissions and, you know, kind of, you know, the competitive admissions process at top schools. And so MBA launch definitely is something that I've always been, you know, kind of curious to learn more about. So I know, as you say, it provides this sort of structured preparation and I feel like a community as well for people, you know, embarking on this journey. But what do participants tell you about the experience they have in MBA launch as they kind of go through the process of applying to school?
• 19:06
  Speaker B: Well, honestly, the community really does help so much because what we heard early on, before we even had MBA launch, was how isolating and sometimes lonely it can feel as you pursue this admissions process. And even if you get to chat with the school admissions rep, it's not someone who's going through it with you and can tell you about their experience. So the community was at the forefront of our minds as we created mbalaunch. But clearly we had to take that deep expertise from the Forte team and use that to guide these women through that process. But creating an opportunity for them to network and to communicate with each other was critical. And we all know the Reddit threads are out there and you can go and check out all the Reddit threads and mostly you can feel like you're never going to get into business school, I think if you go too far down those Reddit threads. But we like to kind of demystify and dispel any of those myths, things like I'm an English major and I can't get an MBA or I don't have enough money to pursue a business degree. I'm not from a wealthy family. Whatever the myth is that's out there, we're kind of myth busters. But the MBA launch program, once you get them into that program, it really does build this confidence and it helps them, you know, have access to these people that have knowledge not only on the Forte team, but through our business schools. Just the advisors that we have through our test prep partners. They're all giving and sharing their own expertise and wisdom from helping many, many people get into business school and then just learning from your peers what's their experience been when they've gone on campus and talked to a different school. But it really does give structured support, connections, best practices, insider tips, everything that you need to get into business school and strategies to do so. But it also gives you this network in this community of people who are going to be your lifelong friends because you, you've kind of gone to war together and you fought through to the bitter end to get that MBA admission and, and you're, you're bonded for life after going through the MBA launch experience together.
• 21:09
  Speaker A: That, yeah, that. And it's funny, I'm now, you're now reminding me that. So one of the things that we do on clearadmit.com is we, we do this series called Real Humans where we talk to current students at, in business school and in many instances the women that we speak to have done MBA launch and almost universally they will speak to that. So we often ask them, oh, what's one thing you would do again, you know, as part of application process or what was one thing that was so vital? Almost uniformly they mentioned this and the community that they felt and yeah, I mean, I think that's, you know, it's so useful to be able to travel through this process not only with the advisors and insight that you get from best practices, but also just with people who are kind of struggling in the trenches with you as you go through it. So one thing you know that you also do is you have this MBA Women's Leadership conference and there are other events, right, that where you're just bringing together thousands of people like every year. What makes those in person events so powerful?
• 22:04
  Speaker B: Well, I do think we like being together generally and in the post pandemic world, that's one of the most powerful things you can do is bring these women together who are all starting this journey. They're very excited about business school and walking into a room with a thousand other women who are also pursuing that goal, getting to meet companies and all the other school reps and just seeing the vibrancy that's around MBA education and this MBA experience. There's no better way to start your MBA experience than attending that conference. And the attendees tell us it's inspiring, it's validating, it's career affirming, everything positive that comes out of that. The energy is amazing. And I think that that MBA experience just gives them a pat on the back and says, well done. This is an amazing journey you're about to go on. And it kicks them off with everything they need to be successful in that journey. And so we love the conference. We've been doing that since the very first summer that Forte started and it has only grown and become more impressive and more high touch, high experience for these women. So it really does, does kick everything off in the right way.
• 23:17
  Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like over the years I've seen some really great photos of people, you know, just sharing their. I don't know if it's that you guys, you know, everyone kind of posts to Instagram and everywhere they're just sharing this experience they're having. And I mean, we just love to celebrate those moments where, you know, you're about to embark on, as you say, on this amazing journey. I guess, you know, I wanted to ask a question about when folks are going to embark on an mba. There's sometimes challenges, right? I mean, I feel like even when I went to business school, I wasn't quite as ready as I probably could have been for that re. You know, kind of re. Immersion into the academic environment and quantitative coursework. All these things that just, you get hit really quick with when you start business school. And so I know you have a program, I believe it's called MBA Takeoff. And I'm wondering, what does that program do? Like, how does that help smooth the transition for these folks who are, you know, have been admitted and are about to head off to business school?
• 24:07
  Speaker B: You know, honestly, we just talked about the MBA conference and it kind of grew out of that MBA Conference experience and us not being able to address all the things that, that women needed to be thinking about as they entered business school. And we thought, let's do this virtually so more people can have access to it. And MBA Takeoff takes you through kind of all the things you need to be thinking about to be successful in your two year MBA program or one year MBA program. Sorry, it doesn't have to be a certain length. But the point of it was to not to prepare you for accounting because you are going to be hit with a lot of quantitative coursework that might overwhelm, but to not be thinking about all of the extra part of it because there's still a 50% of your MBA load that is getting a job, going to the career center, thinking about how to navigate teamwork, knowing how to lead a team, knowing how to be an effective communicator in the classroom, knowing how to participate in a case study. Those are all things that are not taught usually in orientation. They're usually or in a pre MBA kind of coursework that helps you prepare prep for the quantitative courses. But we were hearing from many of our women in our community that they were hit by a wall when they got onto those MBA campuses and the ability to kind of manage all of that efficiently was challenging and because they weren't thinking about some of those things over the summer before they got there. So we created the MBA takeoff curriculum and experience and kind of mini community to really answer those questions, get you prepared. The conference is already meant to build industry knowledge so that you can think about which industry do I want to pursue? Because the other thing I knew from being on campus was MBAs all have these varied opinions about what they're going to do with their careers. And then once they show up on campus, there's the pressure to kind of fit into one of three pathways. And so if you haven't thought about that and thought about why you're not going to do this one, you might find yourself, well, I should go over here and interview for the these 10 career paths. And it becomes overwhelming because you're not focused or haven't done the right exploration to make an educated decision. So that's just all about preparation and getting ready for that experience so that it's not overwhelming, especially the first semester.
• 26:27
  Speaker A: Yeah. And you're talking about that herd mentality. Sometimes it is really tempting. You get to business school and you had one plan, but then you see everyone interviewing for consulting jobs or whatever it might be and you get tempted off. And I think, yeah, what a great idea to get people, you know, thinking about this before so that they show up with a plan. And I also, yeah, I think, wow, the idea that, you know, that you haven't seen a business case maybe before you show up on campus and that's not typically part of, like you said, it's not typically part of orientation. So I love this idea that you're taking the load off by letting people understand all these things before they get to campus so that they can focus just on the vital, you know, the kind of coursework. And. Yeah, that's brilliant.
• 27:06
  Speaker B: Getting an A in accounting, that's the most important thing.
• 27:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, I wish I'd gotten an A in accounting.
• 27:13
  Speaker A: So I want to talk a little bit about the Alumni network, because as you pointed out earlier, you know, this organization's been around for a little while, and you talked about how women who've gone through your programs, gone off to business school, they have this desire to kind of give back and stay involved with the organization. And I just want to get some more information from you about this. Like, how do you think about supporting MBAs once they've graduated? And also, how about, how do those MBAs, how can they support Forte as well? Because it sounds like it's a virtuous circle, as you said earlier.
• 27:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, it, it really is an important part of the work we do. We, we. It's a, a very important asset that we've created here, this alumni network. And we want that strong network to continue supporting these women as they advance in their careers. And that network is, you know, it's a very strong network, and it helps you often see what are the opportunities ahead of you, what are the new doors that are going to open for you? And we also hear from women often that they get in their career path and they really focus on doing a great job, and that doing a great job is important for everyone. But if you're not looking up and thinking, where am I going to be in one, three, five years, and who's going to help me get there and who can advise me and who do I need to be communicating with now so that they can see the progress I'm making in my career? How do you continue that? And Forte is, of course, just one place that you need to be networking. Obviously, you need to do that in your company. But. But often, you know, with the Forte network, you're going to be meeting people in different industries. And One thing that MBAs often do is switch industries. They might have the same functional background, but they're going to move different industries and get different experiences. And being able to rely on your MBA network and your Forte network is critical in order to advance and make those steps. It keeps you open to change, open to moving from one company to another company, one industry to another industry. So it's a really vibrant part of your career development. I think that for us, it does bring them back into the Forte community. So that they can also be those role models, have those experiences with other MBA women. I think that's another unique feature of it, is that there's a part of networking that might be with a lot of different kinds of people, but when you come back to kind of that core MBA group, you have such commonality because you've had the same experience getting your mba and you've all gone out into kind of similar leadership pathways. Might not be exactly the same, but you're an mba and you're going to be approaching it in a similar fashion. And so I think there's some goodness in having a really strong MBA network and then also a really strong network through Forte, because women are faced with similar challenges across all of those different industries and companies.
• 29:59
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that is. It is really. So first of all, I totally agree. MBAs change industry all the time. It feels like people jump dump jobs so often. I mean, think about my classmates, and I'm one of the few, and you as well. You know, we've been in the same place for a while, but a lot of people are just constantly bouncing. Right. And I think it's harder sometimes to be intentional and think, oh, where do I want to be in three years or five or 10? So that sounds like such a valuable service that you guys can provide by having people get together and really think about that stuff. And also, I guess it's a nice touch point for you because then, then you have this touch point with the alums. And as you say, they then can come back in and help the next generation that you're working with, whether it's in MBA launch or any of the programming you're doing. So that's really great. So as you look ahead, I just wanted to ask you kind of a final question. And this is what gives you the most optimism about the next generation of MBA women and future leaders. Because we did talk earlier about the percentages of women in MBA programs have gone up over time. Time, probably in large part thanks to the work that you all have done. But what's. Yeah, what's next on the horizon? What gives you optimism as you think about this new generation of women?
• 31:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, so I, I think this. You know, first of all, I would say that this generation is really not interested in maintaining the status quo. They're not interested in conforming. They bring a new approach to business, leadership, team building, everything. They're. They're really looking for opportunities. And I think they are saying business is up for reinvention. And I think we just Read like Accenture just renamed a lot of their workforce reinventors. And I feel like MBAs are primed and ready. They're interested in seeing how business is going to transform and be shaped, especially with all of the technology that's shifting and changing the way we're approaching our work, the kind of people we're hiring to do the work. There's a lot of very diverse opportunities for innovation. And I think MBA are going to confront that challenge head on. I think they're really excited about that. And we've seen MBA women, they're leading with impact. They're building out amazing systems of mentorship and allyship. Those are going to have a ripple effect on business, I think, as women are moving into these leadership roles, and we're seeing more of them in that kind of top leadership. So all of those things are important. They're connecting. They're creating spaces where others are going to be able to thrive. And they're not just really future leaders. We're seeing them reshape the landscape of business leaders today. So I'm. I'm excited about what the women are saying in our Forte community and what they want to do and how they want to see things change and how they're showing up.
• 32:34
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I. I feel like just hearing your story and the story of Forte from, you know, the beginning to. To date, it just. It is really inspiring. I did want to ask you, you know, as we kind of wrap up here, I wanted to ask you, where can folks tuned into the show today go if they want to plug into Forte's programming or community? What's the easiest way for them to get in touch?
• 32:56
  Speaker B: The first thing they can do is just go to our community. We have about 135,000 women and allies in that community. The website is www.fortefoundation.org. join.
• 33:10
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 33:10
  Speaker B: They can hear about all the opportunities we have. That includes everything from local networking events all the way to the virtual career fairs, MBA launch, many of the things we talked about, but all of that's available on our website.
• 33:22
  Speaker A: Okay, terrific. So I want to thank you so much for all of your time today, Alyssa. It's just been a pleasure to catch up with you and to hear about everything you've done. I mean, what a life's work. I mean, it's just really impressive. And as you know, we're big fans at Clear Admit of everything that you all do. So thank you so much for your time today.
• 33:39
  Speaker B: Yeah. Thank you, Graham. It was wonderful having this discussion, and we appreciate it.
• 33:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. So again everyone, that was my conversation with Alyssa Sangster, the CEO of Forte Foundation. If you'd like to explore Forte's events, resources or pre MBA programming, you can go. I'll just give the website again, fortefoundation.org join. You can learn more there. And as always, you can find more Clear Admit podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. And if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show. Thanks again for listening everybody and we will see you next time on the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast.