Ashley Milne-Tyte

Metro column: Get a mentor

May 13, 2013

My second column for Metro came out today. This one focuses on the importance of mentorship to a woman's career. It's important for men too, of course, but it's harder for women to find mentors, because - generally - women seek women mentors, and there aren't enough senior women around to meet demand. 

The Broad Experience 17: Female in Silicon Valley

April 29, 2013

In this episode of the show I talk to Elizabeth Yin, co-founder of technology startup LaunchBit, about some of the experiences she had while fundraising in Silicon Valley. She had to do a double take when one investor questioned whether she might be "a meek Asian woman" who couldn't head a staff of 100. Oh, and she sometimes gets mistaken for the catering staff at Valley events. In part two of the show we hear from Janne Sigurdsson of Alcoa in Iceland (below) and Kathy Waller and Charlotte Oades of Coca-Cola. Both companies have recently received awards for their progress in advancing women up the ranks.

The Broad Experience 16: Leaning in

April 16, 2013

The latest episode of The Broad Experience takes six women and more than six glasses of wine, and combines them in a debate on Sheryl Sandberg's bestselling book Lean In. It was an illuminating evening featuring many different views. For show notes and more about my guests, visit this show's episode page at TheBroadExperience.com.

My column in Metro on women and negotiating

April 2, 2013

Read here. Appears in Metro. I was recently given the opportunity to have a monthly career column in Metro, the commuter newspaper for Boston, New York and Philadelphia. It's very short, but, I hope, useful. I am a passionate advocate for women as negotiators. Too many of us don't negotiate at all, most of us not enough. I am by no means great at it myself. I dread talking about money. But if you don't ask, you have no idea if you'll get. All they can say is no. Naysayers claim that women are 'punished' if they ask for more, because by asking we're violating social norms for women. It's true that as women we have to be very careful in the *way* we ask. But that does not mean we shouldn't bother. I truly believe this is one of the reasons for the pay gap. How can it not be? Men start negotiating in greater numbers than women right at the college level. It makes a difference. Do it.

The Broad Experience 15: do we have to fit in?

April 1, 2013

Making it to 15 episodes feels like a milestone. It was just about a year ago that I started The Broad Experience while studying on CUNY's entrepreneurial journalism program. If you'd told me back then that I'd still be passionately producing episodes, and much more often than I'd thought possible, I'd have been surprised. But I'm driven. Women in the workplace has become an even bigger topic of conversation in the year since I started the show, thanks in large part to Anne-Marie Slaughter's Why Women Still Can't Have It All article in The Atlantic, and Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In'. No one else is doing what I'm doing with this show, and I'm glad to be working with the podcast network Mule Radio Syndicate. If you like what you hear, please share it on social media and tell others about it. I want to keep doing this, but I need to build my audience.

In this episode I talk to career coach Kathy Caprino about some of the things Sandberg discusses (and doesn't) in 'Lean In', specifically, what do women need to do ourselves to progress at work, and what do companies need to do to meet us on our own turf? Then, a fascinating conversation with Lina Nair of Unilever. What US-based company would think about attracting women back to work by cozying up to their parents? 

Which women-owned firms are getting funded?

February 25, 2013

Read here. Appears in Women of Influence Magazine.

There are plenty of doom-and-gloom stories about how women-owned companies are far less likely to receive outside funding than men's. And they're all true, although not for the reasons you might think. But there are also plenty of female success stories when it comes to landing venture capital or angel funding. You can read about some of them in this piece I did for the Canadian magazine Women of Influence. Among the interviewees are entrepreneur Joanne Lang of AboutOne, who first pitched her company when she could barely stand up (more about that in the story) and Stephanie Newby of Golden Seeds, the investment firm that concentrates on funding the most promising female-owned firms out there.