The Importance of Role Models With Annette Monfredini

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we interviewed Purpose-driven employees throughout Nasdaq about their roles, community engagement, and the importance of this month’s celebration. We spoke with Annette Monfredini, Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition, on how she advocates for inclusion and makes a difference in her community.

Please tell us about your role at Nasdaq and what it entails.  

In my current role I lead the Talent Sourcing Team for the Americas with a focus on attracting passive talent to Nasdaq and our open positions. I also lead our Global Campus Recruiting Program that has a focus on developing a pipeline of talent to fill our analyst level roles globally after completing a internship with Nasdaq.  

This year, the theme of Nasdaq’s WHM celebrations is female inclusion and allyship, leadership, and success. What does that mean to you?  

I have been fortunate to have had several amazing female and male leaders and mentors that have helped champion me throughout career. This has included developing my strengths, improving on weaknesses, and pushing me outside of my comfort zone, most importantly they believed in me. Through their support I have had the opportunities to change careers, challenge myself, and move into leadership roles all while welcoming two daughters. Because of this I’ve tried to pay it forward by providing similar support and guidance to those I’ve worked with whether its giving them an opportunity to step into a stretch assignment or new role or help them find their next position. Additionally as a recruiter and sourcer I find so much joy in helping women find a role that is beneficial for them professionally and personally.  

To celebrate the "history" part of Women's History Month—is there a woman from history that you find especially inspiring?  

There are two in particular. The first would be RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the adversity she overcame to achieve all that she did and to champion for equality and women’s rights. The second would be Eleanor Roosevelt, her quote, “Do one thing a day that scares you” is a reminder to step outside of your comfort zone and push yourself towards greatness.  

What concrete steps can we take to advance female inclusion and create a more equitable future?  

I think since becoming a mom I tend to look at this topic through the lens of being a mom in the workforce and seeing the roadblocks that exist and that continuously pull women out careers and prevent them from returning. The first step would be protected parental leave for more than 6 or 8 weeks, while some companies have increased their leave to 3 or 4 months and were lucky to have 5 months here in the US at Nasdaq its still significantly shorter than our global counterparts barely giving women the time to heal or bond with their children and expecting them to be fully functioning contributors on minimal hours of sleep. Secondly this is not always paid at 100% forcing families to worry about money while simply taking the time to adjust to a new normal.  

The second would be return to work programs either upon the end of leave or after leaving the workforce to take care of children. So many women struggle to reenter the workforce after taking 2-3 years off or more to raise this children simply because employers fail to see the value of these candidates. 

 Lastly equal pay for women, we know that women are only making 84 cents to every dollar a male makes and that gap is larger for women of color. Childcare is a significant expense and often times women are forced to give up their career simply because the cost of childcare would take up a significant portion of their income. If we were able to make up the wage gap or lower the costs of childcare we would probably see more women stay in the workforce after completing their leaves.  

Can you talk to us about your community involvement? What purpose-driven efforts are you passionate about?   

Prior to the pandemic I volunteered regularly with non-profits in San Francisco centered around supporting our unhoused population including St. Anthony’s and Glide Kitchen. Unfortunately, my widespread community involvement has decreased since welcoming my daughters and is mostly done through the work I do for our church. 

We will be running a shoe drive in April to support Soles4Souls and this will be the first donation drive our network has run. Soles4Souls has a few ways they support communities and the donation drive helps prevent more waste in the world but also provides economic opportunities to those in developing nations where they are able to be entrepreneurs with their own shoe resale business. I’m excited to see how our members show up to support this great organization.  

What employee networks are you a part of? How do the initiatives you’re involved in help advance economic progress for all?  

I am the Global Co-Lead for the Parents and Caregivers Network and a member of WIN and Adelante. In terms of how PCN is helping to advance economic progress something that comes to mind is a panel we recently held with WIN where we discussed the challenges of being a working mother and how companies could better support moms in the workforce. Additionally, we are working to bring visibility to the benefits and resources we offer and advocate for additional benefits that would support the members of our network. Lastly one of our goals for 2024 is to teach financial literacy to youth so that they are empowered to make smart financial decisions by having knowledge of money, budgets and the financial markets. 

If you had to choose one organization to spotlight for Women’s History Month, what would it be? 

Can I choose two? I have to mention Project Glimmer, it’s a phenomenal non profit that supports young girls in building their confidence. Also Every Mother Counts which is an organization working to make pregnancy and childbirth safe, equitable and respectful.