Female Disruptors: Aubrie Fennecken of Women in Innovation On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
Generally, people are too worried about what’s going on in their own lives to be thinking about you. Since we are all the hero of our own stories, it’s easy to ruminate over something we said or did. Nine times out of ten though, you’re more worried about it than anyone else. That said, if someone gives you feedback and lets you know that your behavior impacted them negatively, hear that with an open mind and an open heart.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Aubrie Fennecken.
Aubrie Fennecken is an experienced and entrepreneurial nonprofit leader with a track record of successfully setting, managing-to, and meeting ambitious revenue goals for nonprofit organizations across diverse fields. As the Global Executive Director of WIN: Women in Innovation, her passions lie in connecting excellent organizations with the resources they need to increase their impact. Aubrie holds an MFA in Performing Arts Management from CUNY Brooklyn College and a BA in Psychology & Performing Arts — Musical Theatre from American University.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I never had a 5-year game plan of working at a nonprofit. When I moved to New York City the goal was to work in theatre as a Broadway producer. This trajectory began with working at a small children’s theatre but while I was there, I realized that these incredibly talented artists and the organization behind them were in a very financially precarious position. They were literally duct-taping sets together to get the shows up and running. That’s when I became interested in fundraising and how it works. Through this process, I fell in love with connecting passionate people and meaningful organizations with the resources that would unlock the ability to create impact.
Today, I work with WIN: Women in Innovation, a global non-profit organization that aims to close the gender gap in the innovation industries: innovation roles at Fortune 500 companies, innovation consultancies, and the start-up ecosystem (both within the start-ups as well as venture capital companies, etc). I came across WIN through the programming that the organization does right when COVID broke out. I was very impressed with how quickly this global, decentralized, volunteer-based organization was able to go from hosting innovation programming in-person to a digital offering and completely enticed by the quality of what they put out. Coincidentally, there was an executive director job posting around the same time and I was eager to apply.
I’m most passionate about seeing the impact that we make, whether that is on a junior woman who is just starting out in her innovation career, seeing a mid-level manager go to a Fortune 500 VP, or a senior woman who already “made it” continue rising up (and rising the wave with her!).
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
At its core, I believe that my work enables disruption, versus having me at the center of the disruption. Innovation is inherently the practice of disruption, the practice of creating something novel and new. Yet what we are seeing is that innovation consultancies, innovation departments, and venture-backed start-ups are primarily led by men. Less than 2% of all funding to VC’s went to women last year. There isn’t a single Top 25 innovation bestseller written by a woman in the Amazon Innovation category.
I work with a team of more than 40 volunteers — professional innovators who are literally creating the future in their day to day work. And yet, none of them is satisfied to stop where they are. They bring their time and talents to WIN because they know that a better future is created when more voices and perspectives are part of the innovation process. My role is to make sure they have the tools and resources they need to make that happen.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I was first starting out, I was so averse to making mistakes that I never found much humor in them. I would agonize over my failure or get defensive. It took me years to see failures as opportunities for growth, and not indication of my fundamental incompetence. I heavily credit one of my managers for helping me to flip that script. She ran a very successful department and had very high expectations, but she also created an environment where it was safe to make mistakes. She made me want to do my best work, but was always compassionate and constructive when something went wrong. It’s a good thing too, because at one point I sent out a merged email to hundreds of our patrons with tracked changes on. Our internal editing process was on display in the inboxes of the people who donated to our organization! As soon as I realized it, I was mortified, but I wasn’t paralyzed. Instead, I jumped into action, alerted my manager to the mistake, took steps to remedy it, and we moved on. I have made MANY mistakes since that day — but you can bet I haven’t sent another mass merge email with tracked changes.
More importantly, today, I’m very comfortable owning my mistakes, and confident that I can course correct when I make them.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I have been so lucky to have amazing mentors, sponsors, and role models throughout my career! It’s hard to pick a single example: the manager in my last story, the graduate school dean who worked tirelessly to connect all of her students (myself included) with professional opportunities, the colleagues who collaborated on big projects that seemed insurmountable at first. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to forge a career path.
Today, I am surrounded by a community that exists to give women the opportunity to be role models, sponsors, and mentors to one another. I am learning every single day. Something I’ve learned this year is the importance of Sponsorship (as opposed to mentorship) in closing the gender gap. Through interviews with leading women in innovation as part of WIN: Pioneers, a thought leadership report we created with EY, a team of WIN volunteer leaders surfaced themes that have a significant impact on a woman’s success in innovation. Sponsorship was a key component. A sponsor is someone who spends their political and social capital on you. Women tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
For disruption, context is everything. There were times that the world got disrupted, such as in the Industrial Revolution, which brought about immensely positive change but also didn’t account for or benefit a range of marginalized groups. This truly raises the question of progress (and disruption) being positive and for whom? That’s why our mission is and will always remain critical: innovate, disrupt, but make sure that you are doing so in a way that includes the people who will be impacted to ensure that they are helping forge a future that considers everyone.
Recently, Zoia Kozakov, the host of our own “WIN/WIN: Women in Innovation” podcast, highlighted how Google is approaching its “Next Billion Users” initiative. They are thinking through what it means to acquire the next billion users as well as who these people are. For example, India has close to 700 million people who do not have access to the internet — but it is just a matter of time until they do. There are others who do not use the internet because it is built in a way that is physically inaccessible to them, as it was built for people with certain physical abilities such as the ability to see color and different sized fonts, etc. If Google (or any company, for that matter) wants to continue to disrupt, not accounting for all potential users — especially those that may already be part of a marginalized group — is simply not going to work, and is far from positive.
What I am really excited to see is a shift of focus from disruption for disruption’s sake, to instead designing futures that raise everyone with the wave. That means shifting from “imagining” your users, to actually including them in the process.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
While it helps to have advocates who are further along on their journeys, those who will be with us the longest and have the greatest impact on our careers/lives are those who come up with us. Our peers are hugely influential. Throughout my career, those colleagues who were at a similar place in their professional lives have been my greatest advocates and confidantes.
Generally, people are too worried about what’s going on in their own lives to be thinking about you. Since we are all the hero of our own stories, it’s easy to ruminate over something we said or did. Nine times out of ten though, you’re more worried about it than anyone else. That said, if someone gives you feedback and lets you know that your behavior impacted them negatively, hear that with an open mind and an open heart.
If you are lucky enough to have it, use your PTO. All of it!
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Just getting started. We just celebrated WIN’s 5-year anniversary through the “Rise to Raise” campaign. Our goal for March was all about showing the many ways you can raise the women that are innovating and collaborating with us all. Fundraising was just one of them, but we are excited to use those resources to create more and different kinds of programming, continue supporting thought leadership projects such as reports and the podcast, as well as cultivating a robust fellowship program for junior women who are looking to break into this field.
There is still so much growth to be seen — more markets and continents to bring WIN to, as well as different audiences that we are hoping to reach, specifically focusing on underrepresented groups as we positively disrupt!
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Innovation and disruption, in themselves, are genderless. It is about creating the best possible outcome to serve the needs of all. Unfortunately, we cannot ignore the fact that the outcome isn’t built for those that it ignores or includes, and that means women, women, and people of color, those that are differently-abled, and others. Once a woman makes it into the room where innovation happens, after overcoming the adversity and the inherent biases against her, she then is “an only” (the only woman, and, likely, the only person of color).
The road to promotion is steeper, the road to getting your voice heard is steeper, and the entire experience becomes a constant uphill battle, which gets in the way of getting the work done, and getting it done well. Emotionally, there is also a challenge of allocating will power and social capital in order to ensure that change actually takes place and that while you may be the first, you aren’t the last. Oh, and of course, doing the actual disrupting.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I would be doing you a disservice by not bringing up the “WIN/WIN: Women in Innovation” podcast first 🙂 Personally, I was really excited to see a project flourish and grow so quickly out of a passion that Zoia has had for this space and giving different perspectives and diverse women opportunities to share their stories. As someone who is new to the innovation space specifically, I’ve really enjoyed getting to learn from the women that are changing the world and understanding their thinking about innovation. Some past speakers have included Emily Heyward (Chief Brand Officer at Red Antler), Jenny Danzi (Sr. Direct, New Platforms at PepsiCo), and Enshalla Anderson (Head of Google Cloud Marketing) and as a sports fan, I’m very excited to see Amy Brooks, Head of Innovation at the NBA coming on Season 3!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Inspired by the learnings of the WIN Pioneers Report, I would say sponsor someone who is different from you! A sponsor has power or influence, and uses it to advocate for you. Sponsorship is hugely impactful on a person’s career. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency for leaders to sponsor those who are similar to them, perpetuating inequity. If every leader were to make a concerted effort to sponsor someone who looks different, has a different background and different life experiences, we would very quickly end up with leaders who are more reflective of the world we live in.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
This is so profound. We are all going to make mistakes. We are all going to put our proverbial foot in our mouths at some point. But, when we consistently treat one another with kindness and respect, we create trust and safety that enables great work to flourish, space for constructive feedback, and progress.
How can our readers follow you online?
WIN: Women in Innovation is on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/company/womenininnovation), Facebook, and Instagram. You can also sign up to be a member for free by going to www.womenininnovation.co and clicking on “Join Us.” We have a robust community with frequent programming and other inspirational innovation resources.
Female Disruptors: Aubrie Fennecken of Women in Innovation On The Three Things You Need To Shake… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.