Thriving isn't the goal, it's the baseline
The Power of the Pack: Shelley Zalis and the Push for Real Equity
Shelley Zalis and The Female Quotient’s mission is to close the gender gap through conscious leadership, collective action, and unapologetic advocacy for women in business.
LEADERS - WOMEN
Andrea Baird
5/30/20251 min read
The Power of the Pack: Shelley Zalis and the Push for Real Equity
Women now dominate college graduation stats and make up the majority of the educated workforce. 80% of us want to move up in our careers — yet the numbers at the top haven’t caught up. High-paying roles? Still male-dominated. Only 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. And the gender pay gap? Stuck at 83.6 cents on the dollar, unmoved for two decades.
According to the World Economic Forum, it’ll take 134 years to close the global gender gap. Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of The Female Quotient, says absolutely not.
What started as a spontaneous meet-up of 50 women at CES in 2015 has grown into a 6-million-strong global movement, active in 100 countries and across 30 industries. The Female Quotient partners with powerhouses like Spotify and P&G, shows up at major conferences like Cannes and SXSW, and holds real-time conversations with Fortune 500 execs about pay equity, AI bias, and leadership accountability. This isn’t networking. It’s systemic change.
Zalis, known proudly as a “chief troublemaker,” built her career by refusing to play small. After breaking barriers in the market research industry, she created The Female Quotient as a space for women to rise — together. Her mantra? “Lead with intention. Challenge everything. Lift others as you rise.”
She believes we don’t need more time — we need more action. Closing the gender gap isn’t a pipeline problem; it’s a mindset problem. And the solution? Conscious leadership, collective power, and a lot fewer excuses from the top.
This International Women’s Day and every day after, remember: when one woman rises, we all rise. But when we rise together? That’s the power of the pack.
This summary is based on Ilyse Liffreing’s original reporting for The Current. Read the full article here.