Importance of support networks stressed at Women of Color conference.

Byline: Bari Faye Siegel

In today's highly competitive work environment where everyone is constantly vying for their own piece of the pie, attendees of Color Magazine's Women of Color Leadership & Empowerment Conference learned the best way to truly succeed is to "do your best while inspiring colleagues of color to do the same."In today's highly competitive work environment where everyone is constantly vying for their own piece of the pie, attendees of Color Magazine's Women of Color Leadership & Empowerment Conference learned the best way to truly succeed is to "do your best while inspiring colleagues of color to do the same."

Moderating an executive panel discussion on diversity and inclusion in the workplace was Sunita Holzer, executive vice president and chief human resources officer for Realogy Holdings Corp., a real estate and relocation services company headquartered in Madison.

Read more about Color Magazine's Women of Color conference:

Stay 'relevant, supportive, in fight,' Merck's Warren tells Women of Color conference"Women of color need to be free to think about themselves and their own careers but also encouraged to stand up for their colleagues," Holzer said, adding D&I conferences like the one Monday shine a spotlight on an important, often-shadowed part of corporate culture.

Holzer said companies too often encourage women to assimilate to established business cultural norms.

"When this happens, women of color often wind up leaving their own ethnic identities behind in an effort to fit in," she said.

The conference, organized by Color Magazine and held at Merck & Co. Inc. headquarters in Kenilworth, is the first of its kind in New Jersey, according to Josefina Bonilla, president of the magazine and chief diversity officer at BridgeTower Media, parent company of NJBIZ. The magazine has held similar conferences in Boston, Pennsylvania and New York.

"There is a lot being done in the diversity and inclusion space and there is a need for women of color to find a network of women who are going through similar things," Bonilla said. "It's important for women to support other women. Women of color are looking for inspiration and success stories and they are looking to network with other successful leaders like themselves."

Tiffani Scott, global inclusion and diversity leader at Becton Dickinson & Co., the Franklin Lakes-based medical technology company, said all women need to look beyond their own viewpoint in the workplace to make...