Women of Flexo convenes ‘sisterhood’ of professionals

The Flexographic Technical Association’s Women of Flexo (WoF) committee held its third annual conference at the Bobst Competence Center in Cumming, Georgia, from March 4-5.

The conference theme was ‘Art and Science’, and the agenda sought to balance ‘interpersonal artistry and technical mastery’. Sessions covered practical tips for networking, leadership and negotiation as well as technical topics such as AI.

‘We wanted all women to come out of this conference with these skills, things that they can all really apply to their careers,’ says Kiersten Borden, sales specialist at Xsys and chair of Women of Flexo’s recruitment and engagement committee, which put on the conference.

“We wanted all women to come out of this conference with these skills, things that they can all really apply to their careers”

This year’s iteration was the largest yet, with 75 attendees. It attracted participants from a wide range of roles in the labeling industry, including those in customer service and finance roles, in addition to sales, marketing and technical positions.

‘Coming here, you see that a lot of us are dealing with a lot of the same things, and we can learn from each other on how to overcome and surpass either the challenges or the opportunities for women in the industry,’ says Rachel Acevedo, founder and CEO of Ace Media and Marketing and co-chair of WoF’s recruitment and engagement committee.

Beyond the speaker sessions and a tour of the Bobst facility, the conference also offered attendees opportunities to get to know each other.

For example, the first day culminated with an Art and Science Fair, featuring vendors who put on activities. Participants could create a customizable perfume, find out the results of a personality quiz, decorate cannolis, have their headshots taken and get caricatures done.

Career development

Most of the conference focused on developing skills for the workplace.

Jennye Scott, vice president of global creative services at Amcor, held the first talk of the conference on networking. 

Networking, she emphasized, should be a two-way street.

‘Look to help others,’ Scott said. ‘Consider offering your knowledge and skills. Offer advice, share experience. Develop your help fluency and find ways to be helpful to others. But find people you can learn from as well.’

Scott also had advice for networking at an in-person event like the Women of Flexo conference, specifically, how to approach someone and start a conversation. Scott suggested various open-ended questions, such as ‘How did you hear about this event?’ or ‘Have you come to this thing before?’

Maggie Reed, sales manager at Edale, spoke to the audience about ‘turning up the volume’. This talk covered public speaking and being heard in meetings.

‘There are real consequences if we’re silent or silenced. It definitely can slow our career progress,’ Reed said. ‘If you’re in a room in a meeting, that is really your time to shine. That is when upper management is going to witness how you think and how you work with other people. If you are sitting there quietly, it’s not telling them much, and maybe they’ll pass you by for somebody who was participating more.’

Her advice included using assertive language and not phrasing comments as questions. For public speaking, Reed recommended finding friendly faces in the audience.

Sarah Groves, vice president of sales at Amcor, spoke about negotiation. Contrary to popular opinion, she said, research shows that women nowadays negotiate just as much as men do. Women are also just as successful as men at negotiating, except when negotiating their own salaries, suggesting the obstacle lies in societal expectations, not in women’s negotiating skills.

‘What the research tells us is that women do ask, and that women negotiating in every circumstance have equal or greater success compared to men, except when negotiating their own salaries,’ she said. ‘Wage gaps are not a function of poor negotiating skills, and they never have been.’

The good news, Groves said, is that the situation is improving. Women entering the workforce today are the least likely to face bias when negotiating their salary.

‘What do world-class negotiators do differently from everyone else? It’s four things,’ Groves said. ‘They prepare exceptionally and consistently, they lead with curiosity, they use radical empathy, and they create thoughtfully framed proposals.’

Tara Halpin, CEO and fourth-generation owner of Steinhauser, shared her personal story to illustrate leadership and resiliency.

Halpin was named president of Steinhauser in 2005, after working at the company for 10 years. Her father became board chair, and she expected to have him by her side as the company transitioned into its fourth generation of leadership.

That didn’t happen. A week later, her father, Robert Steinhauser, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

‘We were absolutely devastated,’ Halpin said. ‘He was unable to work from that moment on. Here I was, 31 years old, president of our 100-year-old family business, a young mother of a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, and my mom needed help caring for my dad, and I was struggling to grasp all that was necessary to run this business.’

Her father died 15 months later.

‘I didn’t have all the answers when it came to running the company, but I was certain of a few things,’ Halpin said. ‘I could and would learn whatever I didn’t know. I was surrounded by the love and support of my family and friends. The board of directors were there by my side to offer guidance, and as my dad often said, onward and upward, a mantra that fueled my determination to move forward with a positive outlook on our future. And most importantly, I knew I had to carry forward my family’s legacy.’

Technical skills

The conference also featured sessions focused on technical skills.

On the first day of the event, a panel highlighted some of the different technical roles in the industry. The panelists: Amira Jyawook, technical sales manager at Coim USA; Allie Ayers, technical application specialist at DuPont; Jennifer Amaral, director of project management at Fortis Solutions Group; and Viviane Ramsey, market manager at Sun Chemical, spoke about their work.

“Wage gaps are not a function of poor negotiating skills, and they never have been”

Acevedo gave a presentation on AI, which she described as ‘your best assistance ever’. She spoke of different ways to use AI and suggested providing ChatGPT with data to enhance its capabilities. For example, when prompting ChatGPT to write an email, first give it a few emails that you’ve written in the past, and then ask it to write an email in your writing style.

‘It’s really something that we can use every day,’ Acevedo said of AI. ‘The great thing is that it’s thousands of times faster than any human.’

Women of Flexo

FTA’s Women of Flexo committee emerged from a women’s networking event at the 2019 FTA conference. The event drew more than 100 attendees, surpassing expectations.

Women of Flexo held its first conference in 2023. Participants returned to the conference in subsequent years, bringing their colleagues with them and growing the conference through word of mouth.

The Women of Flexo group offers other ways for participants to get involved, such as webinars and a mentorship program. It also has committees for leadership development, recruitment and engagement, marketing and mentoring. It had its first program at Labelexpo Americas last year.

‘It’s really a sisterhood that we’ve created,’ Acevedo says.