Taste testing cookies as a career is a dream job for most of us. For Beth Shelton, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa, this is reality. Tasting cookies is just another day in the office. Listen to the episode to find out more about what exactly that entails. That’s only a very small part of her job, however. Shelton spends her days leading the charge setting up women for success.
Beth Shelton, CEO, Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa
Working for Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa, she strives to teach young girls “courage, confidence, leadership, character, and entrepreneurship.” This goes much deeper than just cookie taste testing. According to Shelton, there is clear data that proves girls who participated in Girls Scouts during their youth go on to better careers and are paid more than those who did not.
As a working single mother of three kids, Shelton knows the challenges women in the workplace face. There are things that are systematically in place that in some ways deter women from working and also make it more challenging for men. As a leader her goal is to treat her employees as human beings and find a way to be more accommodating than other workplaces. Whether it be guaranteed paid parental leave or unconventional ways for them to reach success. Shelton and her team know creating a better work culture gives them their pick of the best employees available.
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Closing the gender gap in the workforce is one of Shelton’s main goals. She is passionate about teaching women to advocate for themselves in a professional environment and preparing them with skills to compete for a promotion or negate a raise. The platform Girl Scouts provides, and the skills it focuses on teaching young girls, are aligned with the drive Shelton has to continue to find gender equity are a breath of fresh air for a lot of women trying to make an impact in the professional world. Listen to this episode to find out more about Shelton’s goals and send it to a woman you know who is trying to break down barriers in the professional world for some mid week inspiration.
Links
Connect with her on LinkedIn
Check out her website