Each spring, The Wallace Centers of Iowa offers a leadership and civility lunch series. The theme for 2016 connects with a broader trend around the expanding awareness about the lack of women in leadership roles. For example according to an article published by Fast Company magazine:
Men and women score nearly equally in their ability to drive businesses, but fewer women are able to get beyond lower-level leadership positions.
The premise of the article is that more are more women are having access to education and lower levels of leadership opportunity yet the higher level positions remain out of reach.
The legacy of the Wallace family includes strong female leaders, like Nancy Cantwell Wallace who was the founder of the Women’s Press Club. This pioneering sense of change is what drives The Wallace Centers of Iowa to seek out and share the stories of women leaders from the Des Moines community. The goal is to highlight women who do lead as a model in a state that comes in near the bottom in terms of ranking for women owned businesses. The first lunch on April 6, 2016 from 11:30 to 1 will feature Christina Moffatt who owns Crème Cupcake + Dessert and is the regional director for the Mid Iowa Small Business Development Center.
Christina is a graduate of DMACC and Iowa State University, Moffatt also devotes her time and talents to local boards including the Women’s Reciprocity Group, Winefest Grand Cru, and the Des Moines Downtown Chamber, where she serves as 2011 President. Moffatt has won several awards for her business including DSM Top List Best Bakery, Cityview’s Best Dessert, Sweet Equality Best Dessert, runner-up for the Iowa Mixology Competition and runner-up on The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. Moffatt is also a Business Record’s 40 Under Forty, and the 2012 Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award
Prior to the lunch, The Wallace Centers of Iowa (WCI) reached out to ask Christina (CM) a few questions:
WCI: Looking at your background and talents anyone can see you are a leader because of the number of accomplishments you have achieved. Which of the eight civility practices, that are taught through Wallace Centers of Iowa programs have helped you in the work you do?
CM: Three civility practices come to mind. The first, paying attention to detail or noticing things other people might miss yet are important for results to occur, comes from my experience as an entrepreneur. Crème’s dessert lounge launched on this concept as I thought there was a lack in Des Moines in the dessert world. Thus, the dessert lounge concept was born with beautiful plated desserts that pushed the palates paired with handcrafted cocktails.
WCI: That is true, your concept is unique and if you weren’t paying attention it would have been a missed opportunity. What are the other examples?
CM: The two other examples go together: giving constructive feedback in order to improve relationships or results and being able to see and articulate the possibilities so people can dream and grow. At SBDC (Small Business Development Center) we do this daily with our clients. We discuss their business and possibilities so that they can grow. We give constructive feedback so they make wise decisions moving forward and hopefully see possibilities of what they can become.
WCI: Thank for taking time to ponder the eight civility practices. We look forward to your presentation on Wednesday, April 6th.
The Wallace Centers of Iowa shares tips, tools, and programs for leading with civility in business and the workplace.