When asked about her career, Gillian Meek simply responds that she works for Keds, the women’s footwear giant founded over 100 years ago. But Meek doesn’t just work for Keds. In fact, there’s one monumental detail she often elects to leave out of passing conversation, unless one of her friends offers a slight jab in the arm to remind her. Gillian Meek is the president of Keds, and she’s still working on the confidence to speak up about her leadership position in the Massachusetts-based footwear company.
The Council for Women of Boston College (CWBC) hosted “Running Toward Success” on Monday, inviting Meek as the keynote speaker. Beginning at 6:30 p.m. with a brief dinner, participants were invited to sit at tables based on their academic interests—labels included marketing, education, and law—where BC alumni sat based on their designated field of work. The relatively small crowd, comprised mostly of women and a lone male attendee, then listened to Meek deliver a speech about her life lessons. But first, she started with an ice breaker.
“Stand up if you’ve ever heard of Keds,” Meek began as almost everyone in the room stood from their seats.
“Stand up if you own a pair of Keds,” she continued, and many people sat down. “This is where I see how much work I have to do.”
While almost everyone in the room knew of Keds, Meek was self-aware enough to know that the brand—which recently nixed its entire men’s line of shoes—still has some room to grow. Her goal is to make Keds the most coveted sneaker brand in the business, empowering women along the way. And as a woman in a high leadership position, Meek said that empowering women starts with herself.
The first life lesson: confidence. Meek said she still struggles to take ownership of her title as Keds president, even after over two years in the position. But she’s working on it.
Meek continued to note that her career path wasn’t always linear, even though she described herself as a straightforward and direct person. When she graduated with her M.B.A. from Babson College, all of the salaries of her fellow graduates were published for everyone to read at commencement. Marking the lowest of all of the salaries was Meek’s.
Meek’s professors thought she was crazy for not going into a more reliable form of business, but she wanted to work in footwear. Taking an enormous monetary risk, she refused to give up her dream for more a higher paying job.
This kind of endurance manifested itself during Meek’s childhood. She said she used to deliver papers in the snowy, Canadian terrain where she grew up. Meek found herself in a snowy environment again later in life—this time, she was working the front desk at a mountainside resort in Colorado.
It was in Colorado that Meek learned about serving others, a lesson she then passed on to those attending “Running Toward Success.” She recalled one night where she greeted a tired, distressed family looking forward to a room that her hotel had already given away.
“This is my opportunity to take them from a negative to a positive,” she said.
Meek remembered immediately giving the family free desserts and wine to make up for not having the room that they were expecting. But this lesson, as early on in her career as it was, still translates to her leadership role as Keds president, she said.
Now a busy business woman, Meek said she finds herself striving to find balance.
“What does it mean to do all of these things?” she asked.
For her, the ability to do it all gets talked about too much. Instead, she finds herself advising self-care. In her life, self-care looks like a 5:15 a.m. wake-up time to get to the gym before the rest of her home wakes up, Meek said. She also advocated for finding a career in something you love—even if it means receiving the class’s lowest salary upon graduation.
Following Meek’s keynote address, attendees were invited to participate in two 15-minute sessions of roundtable networking, taking the time to speak with women in various professions—including everything from chemistry to education. In the crowd was Kate Banosian, the director of corporate marketing of LogMeIn and CGSOM ’12. Banosian said she finds organizations like CWBC one-of-a-kind, providing a kind of experience she didn’t receive as an undergraduate at Bentley University.
“The CWBC is a phenomenal organization that brings together women from the part-time, full-time, undergrad, graduate programs at Boston College, and is a really unique and phenomenal group of women that support current students as well as alumni,” Banosian said.
A night of networking and advising, CWBC’s “Running Toward Success” provided undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni with career and life advice. Banosian said that, for her, engaging in conversations like the ones that followed Meek’s speech aided her career—a favor she tries to return by partaking in events such as this one.
“I have always felt that the people in my career that have taken the time to have a conversation with me have made all the difference,” Banosian said. “So I try to pay that forward, and [CWBC] allows you to really do that.”
Featured Image by Ikram Ali / Heights Editor
