career development

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As the owner of AJA Marketing, Amy Adams helps businesses, professionals, associations and nonprofits achieve growth, develop business, increase profitability and improve upon their marketing infrastructure.

A former paralegal and marketing executive at a prominent regional law firm, Amy has worked with several nonprofit associations, businesses, law firms, and executives across the Northeast region. In 2014, Amy launched AJA Marketing to serve the marketing and business strategy needs of her clients through personalized, comprehensive services.

I met Amy through her work with the Association of Corporate Counsel’s New York City Chapter, where she serves as Executive Director. At the time, I was an in-house law firm marketer who worked closely with Amy on sponsorships and events that the law firms at which I worked wanted to pursue with the ACC. We got to know each other through the years and I’m excited for her to share her insights and career path in the Women Who Wow series.

mean+girls

This article continues to be among my most-read articles on LinkedIn, so I wanted to republish it on the blog since I know it’s a popular topic. Together we can rise up against mean girls. I wrote this in April 2019 and little did I know that in two short months, the worst mean girl acts would be done to me personally that spilled over into my professional life. It propelled me to start the Women Who Wow initiative to support women.

Women can be really hard on each other in the workplace doing things such as backstabbing, gossiping, purposely excluding someone from a meeting, taking credit for someone’s work or helping to push someone out of a job. Maybe you’ve experienced some of these behaviors by another woman at work. I’m really sorry if that’s the case, but please know that you aren’t alone.

I call this the dark side of working with women.

Those close to me know that I have wanted to write an article on how to recognize a mean girl at work and develop strategies to effectively manage her and succeed in spite of her undermining behavior for a long time. (As an aside, I’ve also dealt with a few “mean guys” too, but that’s for a different article.)

I come into contact with mean girls from time to time – both personally and professionally just like we all do – and I carry with me the memories of working with some very toxic females, which have helped me develop a thicker skin, and learn how to navigate them. These are important skills to have throughout your career because you will inevitably run up against mean girls from time to time.

Before I delve deeper into this topic, I want to make it very clear that are plenty of amazing, supportive women in the workforce, and I’ve been very lucky to work with a number of them. They aren’t threatened by other women, and instead they go above and beyond to help others succeed. They are true role models. This article isn’t about them.

I could have written an entire series of articles about the supportive women who have mentored me throughout my career. This article is about those women in the workplace who do not have your best interests at heart, and how to protect yourself against them. It’s important to remember that while you cannot can’t change someone else, you can change your own behavior, and this article will teach you how to do just that.

Logan Tracey is the Head of Business Development and Marketing for the Real Estate practice at Herrick Feinstein, one of New York City’s largest full-service commercial real estate law and land use & zoning practices. She also leads the BD efforts for the Israel and Nordic practices, with a focus on inbound transactions to the United States.

Before beginning her career in legal marketing, Logan was a singer and an actress in New York working in theater, television, commercials and indie film. Her studio album, For Sale, can be found on iTunes, Spotify and where ever you stream your music.

I’m so glad I met her many years ago through the Legal Marketing Association and thankful for social media to help us keep in touch.

Connect with her on LinkedIn and learn more about her in this profile.

Michelle O’Driscoll has been in the legal marketing industry for more than 30 years, which means she’s pretty much seen and done it all.

As the Senior Business Development Manager at Sheppard Mullin LLP in San Francisco, Michelle is responsible for leading strategic practice group and industry team marketing initiatives to help lawyers increase their revenue and expand visibility.

In her bio, she calls herself “results-oriented, a connector and a “doer” and a critical member of any marketing SWAT team” which I think is clever and terrific.

Michelle previously worked in marketing roles for Bingham McCutchen, Sedgwick and Heller Ehrman. She is the mother of identical twin sons and co-authored the popular book “Play Around the Bay: A Guide to Bay Area Outings for Families with Young Children,” first published in 1999.

Learn more about her in this Women Who Wow profile.

The next Women Who Wows is Dallas-based Leigh Doyle. Leigh is a marketing, communications and business development leader with more than 18 years of experience in the healthcare technology, startup and legal industries.

Her passion for people and human development is evidenced both in her education and training and in her daily operations at Winstead PC, where she works closely with high growth industry groups and attorneys to design strategies and initiatives that accomplish business growth goals.

Leigh is a mom of five (!) and they range in age from 20 all the way to 5, a runner, a lifelong learner and is passionate about helping others achieve their goals.

Connect with Leigh on LinkedIn.

Laura Frederick is a commercial contracts attorney with 25 years of experience at international law firms like Morrison & Foerster and cutting edge companies like Tesla.

She is the Managing Attorney at Laura Frederick Law PLLC, a boutique law firm in Austin, Texas that helps sophisticated businesses with their vendor contracts. She also is the Founder and President of How to Contract, a training and skills platform for lawyers and professionals to learn how we draft and negotiate contracts in the real world. How to Contract features a robust community of 240+ contract enthusiasts in the How to Contract Network. Laura posts daily practical contract tips on LinkedIn (you can follow her here).

Last year, she published Practical Tips on How to Contract, a best-selling book full of practical drafting and negotiating contract techniques and tactics in her book.

I met Laura on LinkedIn (of course!) – and I love her voice on LinkedIn and her uniqueness on the platform. She really does stand out in the sea of sameness with so many lawyers. Learn more about her in this Women Who Wow profile.