Allison Wallace is the VP of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility across The Americas. She has worked for FCTG for 15 years, originally putting her journalism/comms background to good use in the PR field. Her role has now expanded, along with the growth of the Americas and our focus on charitable initiatives, to include Corporate Social Responsibility.
We asked Allison a few questions on why she wanted to be part of the Womenwise movement.
We are a female dominant company that has an incredible number of strong, capable women – all of who would make excellent leaders. In many cases it’s women stopping themselves and I feel that the Womenwise initiative will build a strong network of support to make women feel confident in their aspirations and career development.
My mother is my biggest inspiration. She grew up in a very male-dominated society (Buenos Aires in the 40’s/50’s) under a dictatorship. She was in a very traditional marriage where despite raising 5 kids and moving across three continents and giving up her own career to stay at home, her “work” as a mother and head of the household was never valued. When my parents divorced, she was in her 50’s, hadn’t worked in the corporate world for over 20 years and was in a foreign country. She returned to school, got a certification, returned to the workforce and re-invented herself despite being terrified of what the future would hold. I never truly appreciated all that she went through until I myself became an adult and she continues to inspire me every day. She’s now retired, in her early 80’s and is living her best life.