Marketer extraordinaire Shelley Zalis’ Female Quotient is a consulting firm that works with Fortune 500 companies on what it calls “the practice of equality”—things like closing the wage gap between men and women and recruitment of female employees.
Last year, the Female Quotient launched a new campaign called “Make Equality Moves,” which challenges companies and leaders to embrace specific actions in the areas of parity, advancement, culture and leadership.
Zalis, a pioneer in online market research who sold her first company, OTX, to Ipsos, is best known for launching a network gathering space, the FQ Lounge. These pop-up spaces serve as salons for women attending such events as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where this year her company is partnering with Politico’s Women Rule summit. The lounges are also found on college campuses and at corporate events such as the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the idea first took root.
Zalis is also the cofounder of #SeeHer, a movement led by the Association of National Advertisers to increase the accurate portrayal of women and girls in advertising and media. She is on the boards of directors of Makers, ColorComm and Dress for Success.
