{"id":2007,"date":"2017-10-30T19:31:25","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T00:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/designyoursuccess.com\/?p=2007"},"modified":"2017-11-01T15:25:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T20:25:23","slug":"the-ugly-truth-about-sexual-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/the-ugly-truth-about-sexual-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ugly Truth about Sexual Harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/designyoursuccess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Dollarphotoclub_78143899-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"The Ugly Truth about Sexual Harassment\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1932 size-large\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Dollarphotoclub_78143899-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Dollarphotoclub_78143899-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Dollarphotoclub_78143899-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Dollarphotoclub_78143899-1080x719.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Progress for Women?<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>But has it been enough?<\/strong> It&#8217;s been bogged down with the oppressive ugly truth of sexual harassment&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Women are still in the shadows.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In many ways, unwillingly.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Often in the spirit of professional and personal survival.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I spent the bulk of my career with a Fortune 500 company, one who made sure that I always felt safe and accepted as a female in a male-dominated environment. <strong>I was one of the lucky ones.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">However, I spent the first half of my career in small companies, working for male entrepreneurs. It was tough.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I often reflect on this part of my career with gratitude for the experience I gained, but with anger at what I had to tolerate.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I thought it was a function of the decades in which I was working for these small companies, and that things had gotten so much better. I was wrong!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sexual Harassment is Alive and Well<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Recently, I attended a lively panel discussion with several very successful female entrepreneurs on the panel. They were passionate, with great business savvy, and I was lost in celebrating their success as young female entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Until I heard words that brought back a lot of personal pain. One of the panelists was sharing her experience in growing her business by meeting with venture capitalists. <strong>One of the venture capitalists asked her point blank, &#8220;And what will happen to your business when you get pregnant?&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WHAT?\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are we still in the dark ages?\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You&#8217;ve got to be kidding me.<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was just like a job interview I had in the early 70&#8217;s. <strong>I was told by the head of a medical practice, &#8220;I would love to hire you, but you&#8217;ll probably get pregnant and then I&#8217;ll have to start all over again.&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And a job I had in the 80&#8217;s, where my looks were referenced constantly and put front and center whenever I could be used to advance the business mission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Where I constantly had to fend off unwelcome advances.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I had to learn to politely say &#8220;no&#8221; and pray for my continued employment.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Where I was so uncomfortable each and every day that I couldn&#8217;t stand it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was wrong.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I was hurt.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I felt &#8220;less than&#8221;.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s 30-40 years later and YOU&#8217;VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sexual Harassment is Finally Seeing the Light of Day<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <strong>headlines recently covered the &#8220;apologies&#8221;<\/strong> of some highly successful male Silicon Valley founders\/executives. Then there is <strong>the statement of &#8220;no instances of anything but consensual sex&#8221;<\/strong> from Harvey Weinstein. And locally in our much-loved New Orleans, the crumbling of a solid, talented restaurant group under celebrated chef John Besh &#8211; all due to an <strong>environment of sexual harassment and unwelcome words and treatment.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">All saying<strong> &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry&#8221; for the environment of sexual harassment<\/strong> they have <strong>created and helped perpetuate.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Some activities were criminal. And they thought they were free and clear.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <strong>bully<\/strong> comes out and they continually\u00a0<strong>get away with it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We often felt we had to put up with it <strong>so we wouldn&#8217;t lose our own success.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Don&#8217;t Keep Sexual Harassment In the Shadows<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I call <strong>Bullshit<\/strong>&#8230;..<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>We aren&#8217;t going to tolerate this anymore.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We are <strong>more talented and work harder than many men.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>We are here to stay.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They&#8217;ll have to <strong>get used to it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sending Gratitude<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I want to send a big thank you to all of the <strong>courageous women who have chosen to speak up, at their own peril<\/strong>, to represent a better situation for each of us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks for <strong>giving this a voice when I couldn&#8217;t.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks for<strong> risking your own success to make things better for other women.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks for being <strong>brave AND bold<\/strong> to highlight something that should be history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m <strong>not standing by any longer.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Find Your Tribe<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m now helping women have <strong>the Forbidden Conversations that I couldn&#8217;t have when I was younger.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I want to empower women <strong>who are called to speak up for what they want and need<\/strong> by giving them <strong>the forum, the confidence, and the tools to communicate authentically.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I hope you&#8217;ll join me.<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;ve been building <strong>a closed Facebook Group called Worthy and Wise Women.<\/strong> It is filled with women who all share the desire to have the <strong>conversations we crave<\/strong>. It&#8217;s working for those who need inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It doesn&#8217;t have to be inspiration to change the world, <strong>but inspiration to change YOUR world.<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[Tweet &#8220;When you change what you give to yourself, you create a ripple effect for other women.&#8221;]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Participate in the Conversations we Crave by joining the closed Facebook Group<\/strong>. I&#8217;ll approve your request right away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a class=\"pm-snzp-btn pm-snzp-btn-bigrounded pm-snzp-btn-medium pm-snzp-gray\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/WorthyAndWiseWomen\/\"><i class=\"pm-snazzy-heart-empty\"><\/i>Join my Worthy and Wise Women Facebook Community here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/designyoursuccess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Untitled-design-300x250.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"319\" height=\"266\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-1269\" \/><span>I&#8217;m Tina Meilleur and a Leadership and Business Mentor, author and speaker. You can learn more about my story\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/designyoursuccess.com\/meet-tina\/\">here<\/a>. I am also the founder of\u00a0<strong>Design Your Success<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0<strong>Academy for Business Success<\/strong>. My mission is helping high achievers match their desires, skills and experiences with success on their terms.\u00a0My\u00a0<em><strong>\u201cIt&#8217;s My Turn\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0program and CRAVE\u2122 process are systematic approaches for making simple \u201ctweaks\u201d or orchestrating a total reinvention. I am the author of\u00a0<em>Your Next Chapter: Five Steps to Creating the Life of Your Dreams<\/em>\u00a0to help\u00a0others build anything they want into their life.\u00a0I have a CPA designation in the State of Louisiana and received my MBA from Tulane University in their Executive MBA program. I&#8217;m a highly sought-after mentor, life coach, female CEO facilitator, business strategist\/coach, and speaker. You can reach out to me at\u00a0<strong>Tina@DesignYourSuccess.com.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Progress for Women?\u00a0 &nbsp; Sure.\u00a0But has it been enough? It&#8217;s been bogged down with the oppressive ugly truth of sexual harassment&#8230; Women are still in the shadows.\u00a0In many ways, unwillingly.\u00a0Often in the spirit of professional and personal survival. I spent the bulk of my career with a Fortune 500 company, one who made sure that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,5,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-achieving-goals","category-career-advice","category-sexual-harassment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-ucs.com\/tina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}