Advancing Women in Business: Three leaders share hard-won lessons on advocacy, authenticity, and building your village

On Mar. 12, 2026, professionals from all fields and industries gathered at MSU’s Management Education Center for Advancing Women in Business, a free evening event featuring a moderated panel of three accomplished leaders: Jaclyn Sanday, director of talent management for Stellantis; Kathy Richardson, leadership coach at United Wholesale Mortgage; and Dr. Nutrena Tate, CEO of Brand Nu Consulting. What followed was a wide-ranging, refreshingly honest conversation about self-advocacy, resilience, leadership, and the support systems that make it all possible.

An open and honest casual networking session kicked off the event. Jessica Richards, senior director of MSMRA & graduate student services fostered an environment that allowed attendees to not only talk about their professional careers, but also personal lives that were just as important. Themes such as self-trust, advocacy in the workplace, and cultivating a network of people that you can count on came up again and again, and were explored with even more depth in the moderated sessions with our panelists. Each person brought a distinct lens to questions asked that deeply resonated with other professionals in the room. After the panelists session, professional portrait photographs were provided for all in-person attendees.

All three panelists have felt overlooked, and each responded differently. Sanday orchestrated her own job swap when formal support wasn’t available. “Sometimes if you don’t have the support system, you have to create it yourself, and you have to believe in yourself, and give yourself that voice of confidence,” she said.

Tate, who has navigated underestimation as a Black woman throughout her career, created an unimpeachable sense of confidence through preparation: “I continue to learn, I continue to get the experience, because that fortifies my voice. I make sure that I know policy, I know procedures, and I’m able to carry a reputation that makes people want to hear from me.”

Richardson reframed underestimation as leverage: “They have to trust you in order to understand what your value is — you acknowledge them, you appreciate them, then you show them what you can do.”

The panel’s question regarding making mistakes as a professional produced the evening’s most memorable moments. Tate described sending a reactive email after being called out publicly by a colleague: “Emails live forever.” Her lesson: sleep on it, let time pass, respond privately. “The silence is more powerful.”

Sanday expanded upon the sentiment by recalling a manager’s pointed feedback about a frayed projector string early in her career. Even though it was small, it stuck, and the incident taught her a lesson on the importance of protecting your integrity in your work. “Everyone has their own perception of their reality, and it may look very different from one person to the next,” Sanday said. “So it was a really impactful lesson to me—no matter if I’m talking about myself, how I show up to others, or how my work is to be perceived—I want to make sure that I’m doing everything in my power to ensure that the way that other people perceive it is how I want them to perceive it, as much as I can have influence or control over that.”

Richardson’s regret was a pattern, not a single incident: waiting too long to lead with her creative side. She’s an author, and she wishes she had claimed that identity sooner. “It’s never a perfect time to [pursue] a new passion. So if you have a passion for something, don’t put that off. Just do it. Don’t wait for it.”

Tate shared how she won the election of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners on her second run after losing the first time when a family emergency kept her away. Her strategy: make eye contact and smile at every single person she passed, from the elevator to the escalator. Her opponent, who was better known in the field, did not show up in the same way. “It’s all about connection. When you make that connection, that’s where the influence comes in. You keep yourself there within that influential role by showing up: being approachable, being vulnerable, and also knowing your stuff. It’s never about me as a leader. It’s always about the people who I serve.”

No topic generated more audience interest than the idea of the personal board of directors. Tate has assembled hers informally over time, with people from across her life who challenge her, encourage her, and tell her the truth. The board also extends, for her, to the people who help her manage her personal brand, from how she presents, how she dresses, to how she shows up. “These are people from far and wide, men, women, people who are going to challenge me and tell me, ‘You were wrong. You were not right when you did that.’ But they’re coming out of a place of love and they want the best for me.”

Crucially, many of them don’t know they’re on it. There’s no formal enrollment, no scheduled Tuesday meeting. Some conversations happen over breakfast. Some happen one-on-one during difficult stretches. “Much of it is one-on-one,” Tate said. 

Richardson kept her answer grounded and personal: “Half my team is here. I have a very good support system, family, friends, everybody,” she said. “It really does take a village. You should not do everything by yourself. I learned that the hard way, especially as a working mother. You can’t give to others until you actually pour into yourself first. You won’t have anything to give.”

The rapid-fire closing round included a question about how to think through a career change or industry pivot. Sanday offered a framework rooted in honest self-assessment: “Think about: ‘where do I want to be, and what are some of those career milestones?’ And also: ‘what is truly going to make me happy?’ ” She encouraged attendees to notice when they’re giving their best effort and still not clicking with their environment. “It’s okay to make pivots and have change. You’re going to learn from every single experience.”

She also offered a practical screening tip: read a company’s mission statement before you apply or interview. “Does it resonate with you? Some organizations will have this big complex vision and strategy, and other ones could be really simple, but they speak to your heart.”

Her final words on the topic were straightforward: “You also just need to bet on yourself. Put yourself first.”

Advancing Women in Business is hosted by Michigan State University and held at the MSU Management Education Center, 811 W. Square Lake Rd, Troy, MI 48098. Free and open to all. Contact Lauren Wilton wiltonle@broad.msu.edu for more information about the event.