Elizabeth Morales is the marketing and communications director at Applied Business Software, Inc. (The Mortgage Office). Morales has a proven record in senior operational roles and is known as an inspirational, forward-thinking approach leader and a data-driven marketer. She has created full-scale marketing platforms, handles media, public relations and brand management for ABS; she is a strategic planner and a female leader in a male dominated industry. Before joining ABS, Morales managed an Educational Program for the State of California that became a national model through the United States Department of Education. As a vice president for VanKirk Media, a Closed Captioning and Subtitling Company, she managed the most complex scheduling for subtitling and closed captioning films that have gone around the world. The most notable film she ever worked on was a documentary that was nominated for an Oscar: ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
A former Business Adjunct Faculty, Elizabeth has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature and a master’s in business administration. AAPL asked Morales about being a successful woman in business.
AAPL: What female leader do you try to emulate or look up to for strength and guidance?
Elizabeth Morales: I admire Condoleezza Rice for her strength and professionalism. I look up to Sheryl Sandberg for her positivism, leadership and the way she mentors and inspires.
AAPL: Do you have daily practices that lend to your strengths?
EM: Plan the important stuff, read and breathe; listen more than you talk. Something smarter would sound like get up at 4 a.m., work out, have a healthy breakfast and take the day in chunks: an hour for emails, an hour for meetings, an hour for returning phone calls, and hour for planning, etc. I do some of that. Not saying which parts.
AAPL: What characteristics are necessary for women to be in such a male dominated industry?
EM: Risk taking, strength, courage, craft knowledge and big picture vision.
AAPL: What motivates you to get out of bed and face your industry on a daily basis?
EM: The ever-changing landscape in technology. The need our customers have for us to deliver a great product is a great motivator.
AAPL: What do you think women, as a whole, bring to the finance industry?
EM: The same thing that men bring: insight, knowledge and expertise. But women also bring a sixth sense. Men know that.
AAPL: Now that you have been in the industry for a while, what would you tell your younger self about going into this sector of finance?
EM: I would have started it in my 20s to begin with. But regardless of age, whatever you do, do with all your heart. Be passionate about what you do and dive into it. Don’t just do enough to get by. Become the expert and voice people want to hear, not just the face they want to see.
AAPL: What advice would you give other women searching for their industry voice?
EM: Follow your gut. Do a lot of listening before you do any of the talking. Find your niche. Your time will come. Be prepared.
AAPL: What characteristics are necessary for a woman to have to be a good leader?
EM: Figure out people’s strengths and leverage them, be compassionate, be a good listener, observe from afar and remember everyone wants to matter. Give your people the time they need. Guide them and you will see them flourish.
AAPL: Do you define yourself as an industry disrupter? If so, how and why?
EM: I work for an industry disrupter and I am a contributor to it. Our company started in 1978 when software wasn’t even called software. ABS has been disrupting the industry for 40 years.
AAPL: Do you think the gender gap still exists?
EM: Yes. Any research before Google or any Google search you make these days will give you data from reliable sources: Department of Labor, U.S. Census, Independent Research. Anyone who wants to deny it needs to look at the data. One easy way to see that: there are more women college graduates, yet less women in leadership positions; and only 6 percent of Fortune 500 companies are run by female CEOs.
AAPL: What changes do you think should be made to create a balance between men and women in the finance industry?
EM: How about we start with the toy companies? We tell them to stop marketing the cool tech toys to boys, and the vacuum cleaners, blenders and stoves to girls? That’s where the messages start to little boys and girls. Movements like teaching all children to code is what we need to move forward. Make sure we expose our children to music, books, technology, science, different languages, arts. Our boys and girls can then choose the path they want, and not the one society has subliminally told them they need to follow and comply with.
AAPL: Do you have any groundbreaking ideas on how the gender gap can be closed? If so, what are they, please explain.
EM: Having a company salary chart is a start. It’s not groundbreaking
AAPL: Is the company you work for doing anything to help close the gap?
EM: Our company pays people based on experience and what they bring to the table regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.
AAPL: What do others need to be aware of when it comes to the gender gap in the finance industry?
EM: That it exists and that turning a blind eye won’t help.
AAPL: Have you witnessed change since you started in the industry?
EM: Slowly.
AAPL: Is your company making waves in the industry through corporate responsibility?
EM: Sure. Our company creates a product that allows our customers to grow their business and contribute to the bottom line of the country. To do this it creates jobs and employs folks who are able to provide for their families, therefore positively affecting the communities they live in. Our company also recycles electronics that get donated to a nonprofit who in turn finds a way to use these products for their benefit.
AAPL: How can companies improve their own responsibility to their stakeholders and community?
EM: Companies can be transparent about their doings and identify how their own particular business can move the needle forward for their communities.
AAPL: Where do you see a company’s responsibility falling as far as the gender gap?
EM: A company fails at this when it promotes and supports the ‘Good Old Boys Club.’
AAPL: Is the Equal Opportunity Act enough?
EM: No. Believing it and practicing it, is.
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