Lisbeth Lyons of the Women in Print Alliance on Promoting Female Leadership

SCREEN PRINTING AND Big Picture magazines are dedicated to ensuring women in the industry achieve the recognition they deserve with our Women in Wide Format and Women in Screen Printing Awards, which will be presented next week at the Printing United Expo. In addition to that, the Women in Print Alliance has created many initiatives to promote females in the business. I recently had the privilege of talking one-on-one with Lisbeth Lyons, the director of the organization. Here, she shares the mission of the Alliance and how you can get involved.

“It started as a grassroots initiative by a small group of very dedicated females who were committed to the idea of women empowering women in the industry,” says Lyons. “They came together to form the Women in Print Alliance and, from their work, it led to an annual gathering of women around the PRINTING United Expo or a major trade show. As we grew, it took the form of an annual networking breakfast or luncheon at the big show. And, at the time, that was the extent of the programming.”

A passionate group of women dedicated themselves to growing the initiative so that it was more than just a once-a-year to get together. They wanted to see a year-round program that would do more than just provide networking. It would offer educational support, mentorship, and highlight career paths for women. About a year ago, the official Women in Print Alliance took form, and a website was created along with the launch of a monthly newsletter, which has increased its frequency to be twice monthly. A social media channel also was created to help aid in more community and networking.

Soon, many women wanted to know how to join, be more involved, and how to become a member. “That led to us seeing the demand for a formal membership program for the women in the print community,” says Lyons. “Our mission statement is straightforward. It is to attract, advance, and advocate for women in the printing industries. And one of the things that is important is that this initiative is not just about C-suite women, or women in the apparel decoration segment or the commercial print segment. This is a program that is a very big tent. It’s for women at all stages of their career journeys, within all segments of the industry, and who perform all functions within a printing industry company.”

“So, whether you’re a female CFO for a printing company, a VP of sales, or someone starting out her career as a designer or on the press floor, this is the organization for all women,” she adds. “When we designed our recent membership program, we specifically included students, individuals, and corporations to be part of the membership structure.”

Membership Has Its Perks

Why join? It is a twin-pillar program according to Lyons. It’s community building as well as a workforce development initiative. That’s because whether the organization talks to women or men in the industry, one of the key challenges for any printing company is finding qualified workers.

“We’re an industry that has legacy,” says Lyons. “It has an aging workforce, and there’s a lot of question about how to diversify and attract the next generation of workers to the printing industry. One way we can do this is to reach out to women who are in the education and their career decision phase and bring them into the industry by giving them support. This shows them pathways of women who have succeeded before them in different aspects of the printing industry. Ours an industry where women can thrive, succeed, and grow.”

The benefits of membership fall into three key categories: Events both in person and virtual, educational programming, and networking opportunities. These benefits support the idea of community building and workforce development.

The Alliance hosts a mix of webinars, workshops, and in-person events such as continuing the annual large-scale event in conjunction with PRINTING United Expo’s networking luncheon. Webinar and educational topics focus on career development, executive leadership, and work/life balance.

“Many women don’t have a large group of other females in their company,” says Lyons. “Particularly if these ladies are part of a small printing company, such as the only woman on the sales team, the only woman on the production floor or management team, etc. We provide year-round networking opportunities for women to find one another and be able to connect by having offline conversations and be supportive of each other.”

Also, the Women in Print Alliance’s LinkedIn channel has a members-only networking directory so women can reach out to women. Whether that’s someone to find in their regional area that they may be able to develop a relationship with where they can meet face-to-face, or it’s someone they can meet with and have a virtual, supportive relationship.

Lyons says the goal is to jump-start these relationships to happen organically, through both memberships as well as programming that is complimentary, including the newsletter and a lots of website content.

There’s also a student category. If you’re a student who feels like you would like to learn a bit more about the printing industry, you can become a member and see if it’s right for you.

An Easy Way to Bring Women Together

“I think our organization creates a safe space for women to be able to come together and have candid conversations, particularly if it’s a conversation about career tracks,” adds Lyons. “You can ask other women things like, ‘How did you get from position A to position B?’ Or ‘How did you get your promotion?’ ‘What did you do to get to that next level?’ Those aren’t conversations that you easily can have inside your own company. You might feel more comfortable speaking with someone who has been on a parallel track and those connections are important because we want women to come into and stay in the industry.”

When you consider women in the workplace and the idea of building confidence and knowing that you belong on a board, whether that be in a C-suite position, printer, or along with a male colleague in an equal position. Women tend to suffer from imposter syndrome more than men, and particularly in industries where they are outnumbered gender wise.

The Alliance also is holding a welcome reception at Azul Las Vegas, which will be the first networking event it’s hosted since launching membership program at the end of July. For a woman attending Expo who hasn’t joined yet, the inaugural early bird rate is good through the end of December for just $59. By joining during the show, it allows you to go to the cocktail party. It’s a unique, first-come, first-serve sign up as members and you will get your invitation after you enroll.

The Women in Print Alliance staff will be in the Expo’s membership booth, meeting and greeting people, and attendees can sign up for membership. Lyons encourages them to join in advance so they receive the invitation to the exclusive cocktail party. Additional events after the show can be found on the website under the Events tab at www.womeninprintalliance.org. Virtual events are scheduled once a month through the end of the year. Anyone who is a member automatically will be invited to those members-only events throughout the year.

“This is a year-round effort, and the Expo happens to be our signature, largest, in-person gathering because it is co-located with this major industry trade show,” says Lyons. “But if you’re not going to Expo, there’s still a lot of great benefits and opportunities for you if you become a member. We have an advisory council that’s listed on our website, and they will help others get to the point where they can talk to women who are members and share how they’re benefiting from it. I always think peer-to-peer marketing for these types of programs is gold. People need to hear from their peers as to why they think joining an organization such as this is valuable.”

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