TRESemmé Launches #WomenLeadTheWay Pledge at NYFW to Advance Women in Leadership

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TRESemmé Invites Fashion Industry to Accelerate the Pace of Change

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Sep 05, 2019, 09:04 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This season at New York Fashion Week, TRESemmé, the official haircare sponsor of NYFW for 23 seasons, is launching its #WomenLeadTheWay Pledge, a commitment to advance women into leadership. Only 6.6% of leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies are held by women.¹ The gender leadership gap is especially problematic in fashion, where women make up more than 70 percent of the total workforce yet hold less than 25 percent of leadership positions in top fashion companies.²

Together with Vital Voices Global Partnership, Girlboss, as well as designer partners, Cushnie, Jason Wu, Jonathan Simkhai, Rebecca Minkoff, and Studio One Eighty Nine, TRESemmé invites the fashion industry and beyond to join in helping #WomenLeadTheWay.

The #WomenLeadTheWay Pledge is a commitment to not only advance women into leadership, but to accelerate it in two tangible ways:

Strive for gender balance across their organization through balanced slates with respect to recruiting and promotion
Establish formal development and mentorship opportunities for women at all levels of their organization

"We know that women have the drive and experience to lead but their opportunities for leadership continue to lag, and we see a need for change," said Esi Eggleston Bracey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Beauty and Personal Care at Unilever North America. "Women should have access to training, mentorship and resources that can help support and propel them forward and we as companies and organizations in the industry should be accountable for providing those. It's time we come together and take bold action to accelerate the pace of change."

For 70 years TRESemmé has helped women express themselves with confidence, ensuring they look good and feel good as they make their mark on the world. But confidence only gets you so far in a broken system. TRESemmé believes that when women lead the way, everyone benefits.

TRESemmé will help companies and organizations that sign onto the pledge by supporting them in the following ways:

Providing pledge participants with access to subject matter experts working in the women's empowerment and leadership spaces to support development of customized programs.
Holding one-on-one conversations with pledge participants to understand their unique needs in delivering on their commitment.
Facilitating closed door meetings among pledge participants for open and honest conversations around gender equality, shared challenges and best practices.
Actioning progress reporting among pledge participants to ensure accountability and progress.

In addition to supporting the partners of the #WomenLeadtheWay pledge, TRESemmé remains committed to providing women with investment, resources and networking they need to become the leaders our world needs. Earlier this year, TRESemmé helped to provide the Girlboss community of nearly 4 million women with access to resources and community building content to help them achieve their goals. More recently, TRESemmé introduced a Leadership Incubator program with Vital Voices to support women on their leadership journey. Looking ahead, TRESemmé will establish and fund a formal mentorship program within Unilever as it continues to strive for opportunities to accelerate women into leadership roles through hiring and recruiting practices.

For individuals interested in supporting the pledge, visit tresemme.com/pledge for more information and to access a letter template that can be filled out and issued to employers, encouraging them to take action to support all women leaders – current and future.

For more information on the pledge, how to join in, and TRESemmé's various initiatives to support women leaders, visit tresemme.com/pledge and follow TRESemmé on Instagram.

About Unilever United States, Inc.

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day. In the United States, the portfolio includes brand icons such as Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Caress, Degree, Dollar Shave Club, Dove, Good Humor, Hellmann's, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Love Beauty and Planet, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Pure Leaf, Q-tips, Schmidt's Naturals, Seventh Generation, Simple, Sir Kensington's, St. Ives, Suave, Sundial Brands, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TAZO, TIGI, TONI&GUY, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan underpins the company's strategy and commits to:

Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020.
Halving the environmental impact of our products by 2030.
Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

For more information on Unilever U.S., its brands, and the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan visit: www.unileverusa.com

¹Rockefeller Foundation 2019 report
² Business of Fashion 2015 survey

MEDIA CONTACT
Caitlin Gronski
Edelman
[email protected]

SOURCE TRESemmé