Watch Now: Black Women Leaders Redefine Success Through Representation And Ambition At AFROTECH™ 2024

Representation matters now more than ever — a key theme highlighted during the AFROTECH™ 2024 Conference panel discussion, “Fueling Ambition For Women On The Rise.”

The Summit Stage came alive with an inspiring conversation between two powerhouse leaders: Gabrielle Wesley, chief marketing officer of Mars Wrigley North America, and Jennifer Lynne Williams, chief development officer at the USA Basketball Foundation.

Moderated by Zuhairah Scott Washington, founder and CEO of Unlimited Ventures, the session explored bold leadership, inclusive innovation, and the fearless pursuit of impact. Through personal stories and hard-earned insights, the panelists offered attendees tangible strategies to fuel their own ambition and rise in their careers.

Both Wesley and Williams reflected on the impact of seeing Black women who looked like them in leadership roles and how mentorship shaped their own journeys, expressing a deep commitment to doing the same for the next generation — serving as mentors, role models, and sources of inspiration.

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Success, they agreed, isn’t about titles or salaries, but about impact. For Williams, it’s measured by the lives she’s helped uplift. For Wesley, it’s about defining your own game, seeking purpose, making your own rules, and learning from failure.

While it may seem so, things didn’t come together magically for either woman. While it’s easy to celebrate wins, the lessons that form you are often formed through failures or mishaps.

“I like to say that I have a graveyard of things that didn’t go right, that went wrong,” Wesley said. “But I think that what has happened over time is that I’ve learned how to fail fast because I learned as a leader that it’s not really about the failure, it’s about how you respond in failure. I often tell my teams a lot that I don’t care if it didn’t work, I care about what you learned about it didn’t work.”

Reflecting on the current landscape within their respective industries — from global brands to influential organizations — Washington posed a powerful hypothetical: “I’m giving you a magic wand. You can pick it up, you have it now. If you could use your magic wand to make radical change in your industry to help advance mid-career women, particularly African-American women, women of color, what would you do and what impact would you want to see as a result of that change five years from now?”

Williams replied, “The confidence, …I think there are steps that you can take to enhance your confidence. And so I want women to know that they belong in these rooms, they belong in these spaces, that you’re supposed to be there, your voice matters. …I would create a [mentorship] program where we are matching mid-career women with executive-level women, and we can really talk about the struggles and get real about it.”

Williams, a champion for collective success, noted that when one wins, everyone wins — and affirmed her commitment to being the support system she once needed.

As for Wesley, she would use her magic wand to abolish the career path.

“I was a good kid, I followed the career path, but I noticed that the people that were getting promoted, that were getting the opportunities, did not follow the career path,” she said. “…Freeing you from the career path allows you to explore experiences and allows you to really have and develop and challenge the passions that you have so that you can be extraordinary at what it is that you love. If you seek experiences, you’re not worried about title, you’re not worried about a career path, you’re not worried about where you go next, you are seeking what fills your cup and what you want to develop and challenge yourself to be great at.”

When the conversation turned to the “A word” — ambition — Washington asked what words of encouragement the speakers would offer to women questioning whether their efforts are worth it, especially in light of the Nov. 5, 2024, election results.

“I tell people we have to keep going,” Williams said.

Emphasizing the importance of persistence, she noted that sometimes a missed opportunity is protection preparing you for something better. She encouraged giving yourself 24 to 72 hours to process setbacks, but then moving forward because the work still needs to be done.

“I still believe in my lifetime we will have a female president. I’m saying that here at AFROTECH™ 24,” Williams said. “I do believe in my lifetime we will see it because now it’s planted in so many women of what she’s done and what she’s able to do. So keep going. Don’t let that one setback stop you or slow you down. Keep moving forward.”

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