WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Serious, successful businesswomen banding together as “girlie girls” to help end gender inequality in the workplace?
The notion makes some professional women recoil. But Shelley Zalis, the former chief executive of a Hollywood research firm, who is leading an effort to advance corporate women, says pour on the pink.
“I’ve always been told to hold back my feminine characteristics, that there’s no room for that in the boardroom,” Ms. Zalis said recently over coffee at Cecconi’s here. “I totally disagree. A woman who tries to be a man is a waste of a woman.” She added, giving my arm several hard taps for emphasis: “It’s not about leaning in. It’s about standing out — as women.”
