Aspen Public Radio presents a panel discussion with remarkable women in leadership to acknowledge the history of Equal Pay Day. These CEOs, company founders, and leaders will explore their own personal experiences around pay equity, the opportunities and challenges they’ve faced along the way, and how the pandemic has impacted the future of work.
The event will be moderated by Stacey Vanek Smith, host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money podcast. Originally hailing from rural Idaho, Smith is a broadcast journalist who covers business and economics. Prior to coming to NPR, Smith worked for Marketplace, where she was a correspondent and host. She has collaborated with The New York Timesto explore relationships, money, and marriage, and is also the author of Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition, and Win the Workplace, a 2021 publication that studies Machiavelli’s The Prince, the nearly 500-year-old political manifesto, as a blueprint to show how women can take and maintain power.
IN DISCUSSION WITH THREE POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE ROARING FORK COMMUNITY:
Susan Cross, General Manager, Snowmass Ski Area, Aspen Skiing Company. Cross is Aspen Skiing Company’s first and only female mountain manager—a unique distinction within a traditionally male-dominated industry. A native of Somerville, Mass., Cross moved to the valley and started working at Snowmass in 1991. She climbed up the corporate ladder, eventually leading the guest services department as director, before being promoted to mountain manager at Buttermilk in 2011. At Snowmass, she oversees the mountain’s winter activities, as well as its summer operations as a year-round destination resort. In a 2019 article in The Aspen Times about her role, she noted, “I think of it as I was the right person for the job who happened to be a female, versus I got the job because I’m a female.”
Mawa McQueen, Founder and Owner, Mawa’s Kitchen, The Crepe Shack, and Mawa’s Grainfreenola. McQueen is the proprietor of Aspen’s only Black-owned restaurant enterprise and is a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef, Mountain region. She was recently featured in Forbes in Feb. 2022. McQueen grew up in Africa’s Ivory Coast before beginning her formal culinary training in Paris and London; all of these experiences inform her globally-inspired cuisine. She first moved to Aspen in 2002 to join the team at The Little Nell. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McQueen utilized her entrepreneurial skills and business acumen to launch a gluten-free, vegan snack brand called Mawa’s Grainfreenola.
Beatriz Soto, Protégete Director, Conservation Colorado. Soto grew up biculturally between Chihuahua, Mexico and the United States, graduating from Basalt High School in 1999. She went on to study architecture in Chihuahua City, and is passionate about sustainable design and conservation, as well as community organizing. Prior to joining Conservation Colorado, Soto was the Latino outreach coordinator for Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop’s Defiende Nuestra Tierra program. Long interested in public service, she ran a highly-competitive campaign for Garfield County Commissioner (District 2) in 2020.