Amy Armstrong Smith, national account manager at Brown-Forman, says she knows what it’s like to be the only woman in the room.
“I’m in an industry that’s male-dominated,” Armstrong Smith says. “I’m the only woman nine times out of 10.”
When Armstrong Smith first attended an event for the Cincinnati chapter of the
Network of Executive Women nearly three years ago, that all changed.
“Never had I been in a room with that many professional women,” Armstrong Smith says. “It reinvigorated me.”
Since Armstrong Smith became involved with NEW—whose mission, she says, “is to attract, retain and develop women for the field of consumer products from a manufacturer and retail perspective”—she’s engaged in a variety of outreach activities for high school and college students. She's also served as a mentor, both for women interested in pursuing a career in the field, and for those already immersed in it.
“I’m mentoring a woman at NEW who just told me she got the promotion that we’ve been talking about and working on with how to position it,” Armstrong Smith says. “And it was so great because when she told me—her success is my success.”
According to Armstrong Smith, the mentorships work both ways because the college students she assists reenergize her.
“They look at the world in a whole different perspective,” she says. “And they’re giving me a new perspective too—a new way to look at the business—a new way to approach it through technology.”
Armstrong Smith says she’s appreciative of the networking opportunities NEW offers because when she graduated from college in the ‘80s, you had to do it on your own.
“I’m with other professional women," Armstrong Smith says. "I’m stimulated—we’re talking about the industry. But the number one reason I do this is because I have a daughter, and I want her to be able to walk into a room when she starts her first career in 20 years as Rosie Smith, just like Tom Smith would walk in the room.”
That’s what Armstrong Smith says drives her.
“I’m so appreciative of the women who went before me, and if I don’t turn around and help Rosie and the generations behind me, women are never going to move the needle,” she says. “We won’t get to our full potential that we know we all can get to.”
Writer: Brittany York