To the Women Silenced at the Natural Products Expo
After a two-year pandemic-caused hiatus, the Natural Products Expo is back in Anaheim. It was always quite chaotic and exhausting to me, so I am happy to miss it. Instead, I am thinking about all the women whose voices will not be heard there, or maybe anywhere. Yesterday, to counter all the BS performance being posted for “International Women’s Day”, I took to LinkedIn to list a few examples of women’s experiences that are not exactly shining examples of women’s successes. I want to expand on that theme. While I know that New Hope (the show’s organizer) is doing more to lift up the voices of women and people of color, it’s not enough.
Over the past year, I have found myself having so many conversations with women who have been hurt by either the natural foods or the non-profit advocacy sector. These conversations paint a stark contrast to the happy celebrations of “women founders” and similar memes on social media.
Several themes emerge when I speak to women who are hurting, with some experiencing the aftermath of devastating trauma.
Work is being stolen. One woman I know started a brand, worked her butt of for ten years to make it a national success, only to have her company stolen from her by investors who pushed her out. This brand was started by a mother who was unhappy with the offerings on the market and wanted to create a cleaner product. Now, with her out of the way, the brand is already changing its formula to cheapen the product. Oh and of course, the company is now led by a white man who knows nothing about food. At a non-profit organization, a narcissist swooped in, hijacked the organization, and pushed out the founder, using the board as pawns in his scheme.
Women are being demoted. In another company, the founder and CEO was demoted and is hardly involved any more. This is an accomplished leader whose skills are being wasted, not to mention the mental health toll on her. Another company recently demoted a woman CEO and replaced her with a man. Even if this was the right decision for this particular woman, being replaced by a man is a net negative for women leaders.
Women are not getting credit. A woman helped a brand create an organic line to great success, only to be fired two months before she was vested in her stock. She experienced numerous forms of abuse. The good news is that she turned around and sued them and won. But she too was traumatized by the experience. Even if you "win" there is always a price to pay.
Women are getting randomly let go. A woman with decades of experience was fired by a crazy narcissist who just didn't like her. She is fighting to get just a few months of severance pay because she is worried that her age will make it difficult to get another job. She is right. Another young woman was so rattled by being suddenly getting laid off by the Good Food Institute that she wrote about her traumatic experience.
Of course, these are just a few experiences that won’t be shared at the Natural Products Expo this week. Women are silenced for many reasons: nobody asks them to share, people don’t want to hear negative stories, or they may be too scared. Fear can come in various forms. Some women are legally bound by an agreement. Other women may fear retaliation for speaking out. This is a huge problem because keeping these stories a secret means the abuses will continue. Also, keeping these difficult experiences to oneself can even cause health problems, as this article about the harmful impacts of NDAs explains. But women need safe spaces to share these experiences. The Natural Products Expo may not be that space. To all the women who are unable to tell your stories. I hear you and believe you.
Want to work with me to reduce sexism in the workplace? Need help leaving your job? Contact me here.