Maritz is in the business of motivating people to be their best, has been since it was founded in 1894 as the E. Maritz Jewelry Manufacturing Company. In 2019, a group formed at the St. Louis-based company to support the emerging female leaders among the more than 2,600 employees.
After lifting each other up through a pandemic and the hybrid shift that followed, Smart Meetings sat down with the co-chairs of Amplify Women’s Network, Beck Kjar (third from right in the photo above) and Cindy Allen (far right in the photo) and leadership member Deborah Cohen (far left in the photo), and asked about what women need today to realize their personal and professional best.
Growing a Voice
In 2020, the 200 women in the group quickly shifted to virtual events such as a “Watch It Amplify” video series to maintain a sense of community. The presentations tackle intergenerational topics and include leadership along with robust chat and breakouts into small groups to discuss. It’s a networking opportunity, often tag teaming with the DEI committee, where any Maritz employee can have conversations with people they may have only emailed before.
Through all the changes, the focus remained on developing leaders with an inspiring example in Holly Francois, who was promoted to chief financial officer at Maritz in 2024.
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“I know I’ve found myself in a room many times when and I’m the only female and you have to represent differently as somebody you don’t want people messing with,” said Kjar, director of corporate insurance with Maritz. Her hope is that all women know they are not alone in their struggles.
Paying it Female
One way the group helps people follow their passions and gives back is through charitable activations, mainly to help women. They have supported Dress for Success, Teach for America Supply Drives and anti-human trafficking organizations. During Maritz Days of Caring promotions, the group has tapped into member passion projects and reached out to local charities, doing things like raking leaves at a women’s shelter.
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“My passion is connecting people who can help lift them up to make the load lighter,” said Allen, who is director of event accounting at Maritz. “We all have problems. We all need help sometimes. Women are tasked with handling so many things and we need some kind of sponsor in in the workplace.”
Just because they address serious topics, doesn’t mean this group doesn’t know how to have fun. For Mental Health Awareness Month, they sent people knit “emotional support vegetables,” to lift their spirits with a note to keep it as long as they needed and then send to someone else who might like a huggy vegetable on their desk to bring a smile.
That is how you amplify women’s leadership.
