Chamber Sponsors Evolution in Workplace Conference

OCEAN CITY – About 180 women heard about the need for equal opportunity in the workplace from men and women who were featured because of their non-traditional roles during the 10th annual Cape May County Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Business Conference held May 14 at the Flanders Hotel.
From ‘evolution in the workplace’ to tips to improve communication, conference attendees were provided with networking opportunities and a opportunity to enhance their personal and professional skills.
“We’ve grown in attendance, content and sponsorship over the years,” Vicki Clark, chamber president, said as she welcomed attendees to the event. “You’ve told us you want more networking opportunities, timely topics and inspirational speakers so that’s what the committee has tried to do.”
While the event is advertised “not just for women,” only a handful of men attended or participated in panel discussions.
“I want every little girl who is told she is bossy to be told she has leadership skills,” keynote speaker Cmdr. Corry Juedeman Prestidge, U. S. Navy, retired, said quoting Sheryl Sandberg. (Sandberg is chief operating officer of Facebook whose husband, David, died May 1 while on vacation in Mexico.)
“A couple of times I felt some discrimination because I was a woman,” she admitted as she recalled that one of her bosses “downplayed” her role. She was commissioned an ensign in 1993, reporting for naval pilot training. At the time, there were about 250 female pilots.
After completing her primary flight training on T-34Cs, she was selected for the E-2/C-2 pipeline. She trained on T-44As for intermediate flight training, and completed her advanced training in the T-2C Buckeye. She earned her Wings of Gold in July 1996.
One of the more rewarding missions she experienced during her tenure in the Navy was helping in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. “My brother and his family lived there, so I knew New Orleans. We helped with evacuations and rescue efforts, and even helped the police by identifying from the air where riots were breaking out. It was the most rewarding mission I had, and I had two tours in the Arabian Gulf as well.”
Prestidge told of growing up in a small town of 40 in Montana, before eventually going to college and joining the Navy with the encouragement of her parents. She retired in July 2014 with more than 2,500 flight hours and 300 carrier arrested landings. By 2012, there were 500 female pilots.
“If I could summarize some lessons I learned over my career, it would be no drama at work,” she said. “Be a mentor, and be mentored. Life is hard enough, especially in a male-dominated world, so we (women) need to help each other. You don’t need to have all the answers, but you do need to be kind.”
Evolution of the Workplace
Prestidge moderated a panel discussion focused on evolution in the workplace, which featured Kelly McClay, executive chef and dean of the Academy of Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape Community College; Dr. Anjeanette Brown, a breast surgeon with New Jersey Health Network; Michael Emens, event planner and owner of Weddings Down The Shore; and Marshall Ciccarone, a registered nurse at Cape Regional Medical Center.
McClay started in the restaurant business in Washington, D.C., before returning to her hometown of Atlantic City in 1981. Sshe eventually became the first female executive sous chef at Resorts International. As dean, she said she combines two activities that she loves – teaching and cooking – and encourages young people to attain their dreams.
“I think women are intimidated by the demands of the food services industry,” she said acknowledging it can be a “rough” environment with 70-hour workweeks, and varied shift work. “But the Food Network has really helped to change things from a trade to a profession. There are more options in food services today for females than ever before. If it’s something you love, then you should pursue it.”
Brown served a four-year stint in the Navy to fulfill her obligation as a U.S. Naval Scholarship recipient during her drive to become a surgeon. In 1999-2000, she served as general medical officer aboard the USS Seattle AOE3 (fast combat support ship) with the JFK battle group for over 600 officers and enlisted.
She was the first female officer-doctor on the ship. “I didn’t have problems because I was an African-American officer, just as a female,” she noted. “Even today, I am underestimated as a black female doctor; people still assume I am a nurse or an orderly.”
For five years, she was an associate doctor in a local practice before establishing her own practice in December 2013. “We have over 2,400 patients today on my own,” she said, “so I know I can do it!”
Emens initially studied culinary arts before a position with Macy’s in New York City provided him with a variety of experiences, including as an event planner involved with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and Flower Show. He found himself enjoying wedding planning and started what he thought was a “dream job in Miami.
“But I’m a Jersey boy,” he said, “and I wanted to be back in Jersey.” Calling Cape May County a “destination area” for weddings, he found that there were not many local vendors who would help with long-distance planning. So he opened his own business last year, and has done 10 weddings since.
“We have a dozen planned for 2016,” he remarked. He was the planner and coordinator for a beach resort in Avalon when it won “Best of Weddings 2013 and 2014” from The Knot. Now, he specializes in “chic, distinctive weddings.”
Ciccarone is a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Cape Regional Medical Center. “I was actually born here so sometimes I tell people that my parents couldn’t pay the bill, so I am working it off.”
Ciccarone became a nurse circuitously, first studying criminal justice, then managing a local bar, and eventually starting a lawn and landscape service. Realizing things weren’t working out for him, he looked at his options and decided the medical field, especially for males interested in nursing, held many opportunities.
“There are about 10 percent male nurses nationwide, and about 5-6 percent at the hospital where I work,” he said. “I think if you like helping people, have compassion, and like using your knowledge to help people, it is a good field to be in. It certainly is a good field for me.”
He began his nursing career first as an aide, finding that he loved it. He cross-trained as a unit clerk and cardio caregiver, before going back to school at Atlantic Cape Community College for nursing. Once he passed his licensing test, he found “there is a lot of opportunity if you continue your education, which I plan to do. I want to work toward my bachelor’s and master’s, but now that I have two young children and a wife, it’s a little harder to manage. But I love it.”
He noted he has not felt reverse discrimination, being a male in a typically female field. “Sometimes I get asked to help move a heavy patient, but generally, I think the nurses like to have me around. And I actually get called ‘doctor’ all the time.”
Understand How to Communicate
Dr. Joy Jones-Carmack is an assistant professor of communications at Atlantic Cape Community College and spoke about gender diversity in communication. “Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine,” she explained. “Communication power is both verbal and non-verbal. Typically, men communicate to be respected, and women communicate to be liked. There are also regional patterns that enter into how effective we are as communicators. You want to dress for the position you want, not for what you have.”
Jones-Carmack noted that often, “stereotypes about communications and leadership are keeping us from fully evolving into effective communicators. People should be valued as individuals and not evaluated based on labels.”
Linda Chambers, licensed certified social worker, conducted a final session on “channeling your inner hero” while Tom Davey, from Crime Fighters Seminars; Bill Hughes, Cooper Levenson, Attorneys at Law, and Bill McMahon, from McMahon Insurance Agency, talked about cyber liability.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.