JACKSON, MI — Dawn Foods, a global leader in bakery ingredients, manufacturing and distribution, has unveiled a new leadership program to empower the women in its professional network to grow, feel supported and find community.
The Women’s Leadership Development Program (WLDP) is led by Felisa Stockwell, senior director of global people and culture, and Osvaldo Santos, LATAM senior director of people. The program is an 18-month commitment that partners with the training group Linkage to create more opportunities for development and growth for women in the baking industry. It’s structured to give women throughout leadership ranks at Dawn access and visibility and set them up with the capabilities and experiences they need to climb the ladder of success.
“We wanted a program that was going to be quite comprehensive and robust, something that was really going to help accelerate the development of women,” Stockwell said. “Linkage is a leader in development and offers programming that has identified hurdles to advancement for women, competencies to overcome them, and an individual 360-degree assessment that is used to focus development.”
One of the biggest components of the program is sponsorship, a step above traditional mentorship. A sponsor is someone at the executive level who is not only mentoring their “sponsee” but is also proactively advocating for them and helping them find opportunities within the company.
“We have both women and men sponsors working with participants to create individual development plans,” Stockwell explained. “These are really tailored based on feedback from a 360-degree assessment they take and help each woman put actions into place to deliver against capability gaps with skill-building opportunities.”
These relationships can help women at Dawn in many areas, whether that’s learning the commercial side of the business, developing negotiation skills or working on project leadership tactics. It’s supported by Linkage’s eight-module program that all of the women take, and then they come together to talk about what they are learning and how it’s impacting their experience.
“We’re really big on being intentional,” Stockwell said. “We had our regional kick-offs in January, and a lot of our participants had opportunities to be a part of the program for the first time. And we are thinking about them for other opportunities to facilitate, to speak and to have project experience across the business.”
Stockwell, who has been spearheading this program alongside Santos since its conception, said this initiative hits home for her. Throughout her years at Dawn, she has not only seen the company increase the number of women in leadership positions, but is also seeing the baking industry as a whole prioritize diversity in many ways.
“We have a CEO who is a woman which is amazing, and it’s also really nice to have higher executive-level women who can be sponsors to share their experiences,” she said.
As more and more companies are implementing initiatives to support women in their workforce, Stockwell knows it can seem overwhelming. But she cautioned that there’s no perfect pathway to prioritizing DEI, someone just has to start the conversation.
“You can start anywhere,” she said. “If you are passionate about it and you want to see something whether or not you are a decision-maker, find the right people to talk to and bring it up.”
