Women Leaders Share Success Stories at Annual Women’s Leadership Summit

By Amy Drozdiak

Three renowned female leaders formed a panel at the annual Women's Leadership Summit, held at Trinity University on Saturday, to share their experiences of achieving success being successful in prominent positions of leadership.

At the panel were State Representative Ina Minjarez, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of CST Brands, Kim Lubel, and president of H-E-B San Antonio/West Division, Suzanne Wade. The discussion was moderated by Trinity alum Trish DeBerry, CEO of The DeBerry Group.

All three women leading the panel discussion work in traditionally male-dominated industries: oil & gas, politics, and retail operations management. 

The panelists shared their challenges under such circumstances, and reminded the attendees to embrace fear, and be open to taking risks the same way their male colleagues would.

“Women tend to be so hard on [them]selves,” Rep. Ina Minjarez said of risk-taking. “I think we tend to want to be perfect – and it’s ok not to be.”

H-E-B’s Wade chimed in: “You have to trust yourself and the people who are encouraging you and wanting to see you move forward… and if it doesn’t work out? Failure is not fatal, you know. Failure, to me, is one of the greatest learning experiences you can have.”

Women in attendance of the panel meeting were eager to ask questions of the panel leaders. Trinity University student, Bria Woods, asked the panel: “How can I, in my social circle, empower other women around me?”

Wade jumped in with an answer: “I think we need to actively help each other, especially those early in their career, giving them advice, and making sure their name is considered for an opportunity, if they’re ready for those opportunities.”

This was the second time that Trinity hosted the Women’s Leadership Summit. “We put six months of planning and hard work into making this happen,” said Monica Martinez, Trinity’s director of major gifts, corporations & foundations, who was on the planning committee for the event. “We’re very pleased with the turnout.”

The event, presented by H-E-B, also featured keynote speaker Amy Cuddy, the well-known body language research specialist. Many other notable speakers were featured as well, including Mt. Everest climber and West Point adjunct professor Alison Levine, and Academy Director of the Houston Ballet, Shelly Power.