Ep. 40 - Patzetta Trice gives important advice to organizations who are looking for donors. She advises us to move from focusing on funding to focusing on outcomes - what's most important to the donors? Patzetta Trice has been breaking glass ceilings and showing future generations that women are as powerful as men for many years. As a business woman at General Motors, she was able to see the company go full circle from an organization with very few women and minorities in top level positions to a firm that embraced and supported diversity at every level. She has shaped public policy to the benefit of women and girls, focusing on bipartisan support as a member of the State Commission for Women and Girls.
Key Takeaways:
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- How to remain your authentic self within an environment where there are not many people like you
- How funding impactful organizations help empower young women to be productive citizens
- How to structure your organization to receive corporate funding and support by focusing on what's important to the donor
"You need to know how to be on a path to success and not lose yourself. There is a balance that has to happen without becoming someone you're not." -Patzetta Trice
In this episode you'll discover:
She cites her father as her biggest influence in teaching her values that led her in life [1:01]
Patzetta's experience in an integrated school and how it helped her navigate Corporate America [7:42]
How she stood firm against discrimination at the workplace when she first started [9:57]
The positions she held at General Motors and her commitment to black initiatives [11:21]
Why she funded organizations that empower the community through General Motors [17:12]
The strategy of focusing on the outcome when seeking funding from corporations [20:13]
She talks about her role in the Indiana Commission for Women and how they helped others [22:44]
The many women issues Patzetta learned about while with the Indiana Commission for Women [24:28]
She talks about the mentoring and volunteering programs she's involved with, in her retirement [28:27]
CAREER
Following retirement from corporate America, Patzetta established a consulting practice, Trice Strategic Consulting, facilitating strategic communications, public relations, and marketing for nonprofit and for-profit businesses to "Make Every Move Matter". A seasoned communications strategist with a strong reputation for professionalism, with proficiency in every aspect of the corporate communications.
With 20 years of experience providing advanced leadership, managing multi-million dollar budgets, and driving the development of strategic communications strategies has contributed to the success of leading organizations by orchestrating expert positioning of resources aligned with business mission and goals.
Her former careers included executive-level positions with the Indianapolis Airport Authority as Chief Communications and Marketing Officer and General Motors as the Director of Communications and Public Affairs.
INDIANA COMMISSION FOR WOMEN
Patzetta has served as a commissioner for the Indiana Commission for Women since 2005. She believes that the commission is a "way to garner the energies of women in this state. I'm not sure of another organization that's born of state government that is doing that, that is empowered to do that, that has the tools and resources to do that. For wherever we are today, we have an opportunity ahead to really make something of that existence." She feels that is it is important to serve as an advocate for women because "there are still inequalities, there is still work to do and if I can in some small way, help to change things for some little girl, I want to do that."