MAD WOMEN: CELEBRATING WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Tuesday night in New York City, the matriarch of freedom and opportunity, the Statue of Liberty, disappeared from sight.  In a mysterious and historically unprecedented manner, the lights that illuminate Lady Liberty in the New York Harbor turned off for nearly an hour on the eve of International Woman’s Day. 

Park officials could only speculate that the outage may have been a dwindling effect of Hurricane Sandy recovery protocol.  The event left New Yorkers baffled and begged the question of our country’s beloved symbol: ‘what do we do when that which so humbly serves as the foundation of the United States’ values, vanishes without warning?’.  Maybe today, it is a question we all should ask ourselves.

This year’s renewed focus on International Woman’s Day calls for women to take the day off from all forms of labor in ‘A Day Without A Woman’, demonstrating the prevalent role women play in the global economy and drawing attention to issues such as lower wages, sexual harassment, and discrimination.  Not only is this a call to socio-cultural change, but is a celebration of the pioneers and past achievements of previous women’s movements as well.

One hundred years later, the glass ceiling still looms large.  However, as member of the marketing and advertising industry, International Woman’s Day provides a much deserved opportunity to spotlight the achievements of female pioneers in the field. 

Building a career from a robust combination of forward-thinking and empathy, Helanye Spivak, who now directs Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter, has lead creative departments at a myriad of agencies in New York and has many times been recognized as a leader in creative and communications fields.  To push the systemic envelope is the essence of progress, especially to advertisers.  Paula Scher, whose tips on productivity paradoxically include ‘embracing boredom’, has proven this over four decades with groundbreaking, original, and often controversial design work.

At FourthIdea, we take pride in understanding the various demographic subsets that comprise our great country, and ethically respecting and appealing to a multitude of audiences.  Aware that progress cannot be made by those who fail to recognize the need for change nor those who sit by idly, we dare to be bold and challenge the norms that seem unbreakable.