Impact That Illuminates the Way Forward
With the challenging experiences from a most unprecedented year still present in hearts and minds, for many in our global network, the HBA chose to lean in to 2021 with a tenacity, ambition, and optimistic enthusiasm to do more, say more, and be more. We made it through the previous 12 months of 2020, after all.
Yes, we were still dealing with the pandemic and its impact on our community. And we continued working through the challenges and realities of inequities in the workplace, raising awareness, and advocating for solutions. However, it was through those collective experiences — including moments of when we each individually hit some real low moments as well as some wonderful moments — that we realized there was great opportunity to leverage the many and varied lessons from 2020 to light the way forward.
Our 40-year plus mission to advance women in the workplace fueled an exceptional and renewed commitment by our members, volunteers, corporate and media partners, advocates, and staff. The impact and results…I’m certain you’ll agree they are impressive.
On behalf of HBA’s Global Board of Directors, I’m proud, honored, and grateful to spotlight here some of those key milestones and achievements, shared in greater detail in the pages of this 2021 Annual Report.
- Woman of the Year (WOTY)—our first-ever virtual WOTY convened our largest audience ever. At a time when we needed to connect, we did so with more than 7,000 registrants from 21 countries.
- Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) journey moved from talk to taking action. Our network held more than 40 DE&I events, and the HBA hosted our inaugural Women of Color Wellness Summit and launched our first Honoring Opportunities for Partnerships and Equity (HOPE) leadership coaching program.
- Industry support reached new levels of commitment with 46 new corporate partners contributing to our mission.
- HBA brand visibility grew exponentially reaching audiences familiar and new in media placements, in social networks, and with global organizations such as the World Economic Forum’s Women’s Initiative.
Even with these wins, 2021 was not exceptionally easy or worry-free. However, what we saw emerge was a glimmer of hope and brilliance that cast a bright light forward. It inspired HBA’s vision of a future to a time that when more women are in positions of influence and decision-making, we will ultimately use our seat to support greater health equity and health outcomes for all people around the globe.
That is how the United Force for Change Illuminates the Way Forward.
- Shideh Bina, HBA Global Board of Directors Chair, and Founding Partner, Insigniam
Read the 2021 HBA Annual Report
Annual Reports: