Women in the spotlight: Mika Brzezinski (optional, but inspirational)

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Mika Brzenzinski

"Gender Wage Gap Legend"

(1967 - )

https://www.instyle.com/news/morning-joe-mika-brzezinski-know-your-value-wage-gap

Mika's activism for women's equality in the workplace captured my attention at the perfect moment. I was watching her and Joe banter on MSNBC's Morning Joe, per the usual, and she shifted gears to discuss the Know Your Value initiative. After a quick Google, I immediately became interested in her story, her fights, and her successes. This quote below spoke to me because I can personally relate to this everyday.

"Women are so good at knowing when their value is down. We're great at articulating our deficiencies. We're great at articulating our vulnerability. We're so self-deprecating and concerned about what people think of us personally that we miss out on moments to leverage our value." -Mika Brzenzinski

-Mika's contributions to gender equality started during her early days on Morning Joe. She was a co-host to Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist, a co-host meaning they created their news program together, jointly, and equally. She discovered that she was the lowest paid of the three and was earning 14 TIMES LESS than Joe! That was the moment she decided to never undervalue herself again¹.

-She immediately went to her boss's office and demanded that her salary be raised otherwise she would not do the show the next day. Although the issue was eventually resolved, it took her FIVE appeals to get equality. She realized that she did not get it the first time because she was too busy apologizing for asking¹. <<Yes, she apologized to them! Shouldn't this have been the other way around? Isn't this what we do as women? I often find myself apologizing for every little thing, but I have made a personal goal to only apologize when necessary.>>

"Don't apologize for asking for what you deserve." -Mika

-Mika has taken these experiences and turned them into a platform to help women world wide. She released her first book in 2011 called Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth and in 2015, her book Grow Your Value - in this book she speaks frankly about the dirty tricks employers can play on women. For example, one female employer straight up confessed to hiring women as part time because she knew she would get full time work out of them anyways¹. UGH.

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-In 2015, Mika started the Know Your Value initiative. This platform provides women with resources and information to help them flourish in the workplace.

Click here for more: https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value Links to an external site.
Watch her offer success tips for your first day: https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/video/mika-how-to-find-your-voice-practice-the-message-you-want-to-send-109096005602 Links to an external site.
And this interview: https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/mika-brzezinski-s-tips-for-success-at-a-first-job-112342597920 Links to an external site.

Mika is also familiar voice every Equal Pay Day - a symbolic day dedicated to raising awareness of the gender wage gap, the date symbolizes how far into the year the average woman must work in order to have earned what the average man had earned the year prior² - listen here: https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/video/mika-s-equal-pay-day-challenge-show-women-their-value-1469685315661 Links to an external site.

Additionally, Mika speaks to women everywhere on International Women's Day - a global holiday celebrated on March 8th to celebrate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women everywhere³.

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