Month: February 2025

Tapping into different voices, perspectives, and experiences helps businesses solve problems, reveals new opportunities to grow, and encourages contributions that better support people and communities. At Henkel North America, diversity is a path to progress, innovation, and impact. Our employees and partners are united by our purpose: Pioneers at heart for the good of generations. They collaborate to tackle challenges, find solutions and open new perspectives – allowing us to deliver products, services, and innovations that enrich and improve everyday life.

We invite you to “meet” our pioneers in our series, “Pioneers for Good.”

Introducing Gowri

Gowri Narsimhamurthy, Head of Application Engineering Henkel Adhesive Technologies, prides herself on using her voice for good and leading with firm, effective communication. To Gowri, being a pioneer for good means recognizing your power to help make a positive and long-lasting impact for generations to come.

Gowri’s passion for STEM dates back as far as she can remember, reinforced by her degree in Material Science and Engineering from Rutgers University and her early work in new product research and development (R&D) at Henkel. In her 13+ years of working at the company and as a consumer of Henkel products, Gowri has seen first-hand how science and engineering lead to innovations that help improve lives.

“At the end of the day, we are consumers of our own products. Our experiences drive our innovation,” said Gowri.

Finding Your Voice

As a woman in the male-dominated field of engineering, Gowri’s outlook on her work has been shaped by personal experiences and the guidance of supportive mentors who helped her harness what she considers her ‘responsibility’ to drive positive change. 
When Gowri saw an opportunity to grow in her career, she advocated for her advancement by articulating her goals and flexing her strengths. She credits her tenacity and professional drive in part to her mentors who have helped hone her leadership style and foster essential communications skills, which supported her in taking this leap.

Through transformative relationships with her mentors, Gowri learned to elevate her career and speak up for others as a mentor.

Fostering a Collaborative and Supportive Network

As a mentee and a mentor, Gowri knows the value of surrounding yourself with a community that supports your aspirations and encourages you to raise your voice. She draws inspiration from countless women in her life, from family members to business professionals, who have advocated for their communities and defined success on their own terms.

Gowri’s first source of inspiration was her mother, who recently retired from 18 years of service with the Red Cross. Under her mother’s guidance, she found a passion for community engagement at a young age.

Gowri has carried this commitment to service throughout her adult life, working with organizations like United Way and as a former leader of the Henkel Women’s Network Employee Resource Group (ERG). Here, she led the Professional Development Committee, where she helped create impactful programs and engaged speakers to share experiences and lessons with Henkel employees, fostering growth within the organization.

“We have so much to learn from our peers and colleagues,” Gowri reflected. “I cherish any opportunity to uplift their voices and hear about their personal and professional journeys – it invites me to reflect on what I can do differently and how I can better serve my community.”

Uplifting The Next Generation of Leaders

Through the lens of her mentors, passions, and peers, Gowri has used her voice and position to help Henkel grow its STEM talent base. She has participated in Henkel’s recruitment efforts through the Henkel Ambassadors Recruitment Program and as a member of the Society for Women Engineers (SWE).

At a recent SWE conference, Gowri moderated a panel of Henkel colleagues who are leaders in STEM and shared advice on seeking mentorship and building leadership skills early in one’s career.

It’s essential that we prioritize getting women with strong technical skills and leadership qualities in front of companies like Henkel to best position the company for growth and innovation.

Gowri Narsimhamurthy, Head of Application Engineering, Henkel Adhesive Technologies

To build strong STEM leaders, Gowri also knows the value of introducing STEM at a young age. She recalls creating her first business card during a visit to her parent’s office as a child. It’s those memories that got her excited about participating in Henkel’s annual Take Your Child to Work Day, where she used s’mores to help teach employees’ children about the product supply chain.

“The steps of s’more-making are not unlike those in our product supply chain,” Gowri explained. “We talked about sourcing the right materials, assembling and quality-checking – all while making a delicious treat.”

Gowri understands that growing a diverse STEM field starts with nurturing an interest and finding creative ways to get children involved.

Bringing Out the Voice in Others

Gowri recognizes the challenges that come with being a woman in STEM, and encourages women interested in this career path not to get discouraged.

When asked for her advice, Gowri shared, “The right opportunity may be just around the corner. Find mentors who can support you both inside and outside of the organization, and trust that if you believe in something, it’s worth being firm and speaking up about it.”

As Gowri continues her work in the STEM field, she remains committed to inspiring others to harness their voice for positive change and being a pioneer for future leaders.

As an important part of Bath & Body Works’ ESG journey, we’re working to create lasting, positive impacts through sustainable sourcing practices. Beginning in 2023, we partnered with Antea Group, an international expert in sustainability, to build a tool that allows us to better understand the social and environmental implications of the materials used in the most important areas of our business (for both merchandise and non-merchandise purchasing). This tool was developed to help support our ESG commitments toward improving the sustainability profile of priority ingredients and contributing to resilient communities.

Based on this initial assessment, we embarked on our journey to pilot programs that help us make progress on our commitments, starting with Madagascan vanilla.

Madagascar is the largest source of natural vanilla for Bath & Body Works and grows the majority of the world’s Vanilla Planifolia species. Madagascar is rich in biodiversity, but the impacts of natural catastrophes, such as droughts, and economic conditions pose a risk to vanilla farmers.

Through a new partnership with the Givaudan Foundation, we’re working to improve the living conditions of Madagascan vanilla farmers. We are subsidizing 3,000 Madagascan-produced, energy-efficient cookstoves over three years for 3,000 farming households in the Sava region of Madagascar, which is where most of the natural vanilla in our products originates.

Similar projects like this in the past have shown to:

Reduce number of trees harvested to use as fuel in cooking.Reduce time spent by households to collect firewood.Reduce smoke exposure for households.Create local jobs as stove resellers in the region.

We believe that finding ways to positively impact these farmers is the right thing to do to help ensure this ingredient is available for future generations. We look forward to using learnings from our Madagascan vanilla program to learn, grow and most importantly, deepen our focus on what truly matters — our people, communities and planet.

Originally published on GoDaddy Resource Library

By Fara Howard, Chief Marketing Officer at GoDaddy

Looking back on another remarkable year of microbusiness growth, GoDaddy has been inspired by the resilience and innovation shown by entrepreneurs. Despite macroeconomic challenges like access to financial capital and inflation, GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research reveals just how much they continue to shape communities and transform local economies.

As we look ahead to 2025, AI advancements are unlocking new opportunities for small businesses. Tools like GoDaddy Airo™ not only simplify how small businesses launch and thrive online but also contribute to job creation and local economic growth. The true power lies in blending this technology with the unique strengths of entrepreneurs, particularly their personal touch and deep understanding of their customers.

This year, we believe that AI will empower small business owners to build upon what they already do best—build meaningful relationships, anticipate customer needs, and drive business growth. Here’s how:

Predictive Recommendations Will Enhance Customer Connections 
Many small businesses use basic e-commerce tools that suggest products based on past purchases, missing opportunities to truly delight customers. This year, small business owners will lean on AI to predict customer needs more naturally—like recommending a gift idea for an anniversary or a restock for a favorite product. Rather than feeling automated, these insights will amplify the personalized experiences that keep customers coming back.

Finding Hidden Customer Opportunities Will Drive Innovation 
Small businesses have always been great at recognizing customer needs through conversations and intuition based on experience. In 2025, AI will help small businesses spot specific opportunities—hidden patterns and untapped niches—that might otherwise go unnoticed. Whether it’s a growing local demand or a small but loyal customer segment, AI insights will complement the human instinct that sets small businesses apart.

Localized Content Will Deepen Community Roots 
Creating marketing content that feels authentic and local takes time—time many small business owners don’t have. Over the next year, small business owners will use AI to streamline content creation while ensuring it reflects their community’s voices, cultures, and values. Whether it’s a social media post about a local event or an email campaign tailored to seasonal trends, AI will make it easier to stay connected with customers in ways that big businesses can’t replicate.

Real-Time Monitoring Will Keep Businesses Resilient 
Small business owners juggle multiple dashboards and sometimes catch issues only after they’ve grown. This year, AI will proactively flag risks like declining sales or unusual expenses, giving small businesses time to respond before challenges escalate. By providing early insights, AI will act as an assistant that supports resilience and agility.

Smarter Data Insights Will Help Small Businesses Grow 
Many entrepreneurs struggle to turn data into actionable strategies. In 2025, small business owners will use AI to simplify decision-making and uncover clear insights, like the best times to run a promotion or which products customers are loving most. By simplifying these processes, AI will free them to focus on what matters most: serving their customers and growing their businesses.

The Power of Personal Connection + AI 
As discussed during our Microbusiness Summit, small businesses hold an unmatched ability to create personal, lasting connections. While AI continues to evolve, it will never replace relationships built through trust, community, and empathy. Instead, it will enhance the ability to deliver the personal touch that customers love, helping entrepreneurs save time, anticipate needs, and grow in ways that align with their unique strengths.

With 66% of microbusiness owners saying life is better as an entrepreneur and more than half confident in their use of AI tools, 2025 holds incredible opportunities for those willing to explore new tools.

We can’t wait to see how small business owners will use AI (like GoDaddy Airo!) to continue doing what they do best: building businesses with heart, purpose, and a personal touch that big businesses will always strive to replicate.

Here’s to a thriving, connected, and AI-empowered 2025!

SEATTLE, February 12, 2025 /3BL/ — The KeyBank Foundation has announced a grant of $450,000 to FareStart as the nonprofit seeks to extend the breadth and depth of its job training programs, with a goal of increasing overall program impact by 60% over three years.

Funds from the KeyBank grant will be used to train more of FareStart’s students—adults and young adults over 15 ½ experiencing homelessness, justice-involvement, substance use recovery and other barriers. They will gain a wider breadth of skills and opportunities in more diverse training environments, with expanded employer partners and enhanced curriculum.

FareStart, known for its focus on transforming lives, disrupting poverty and nourishing communities through food, life skills and job training, continues to rebuild after the extended temporary closure of many of its public-facing social enterprises. Training capacity had been limited while the organization has simultaneously been navigating a changing social service and employment landscape, and this grant will play a vital role in supporting continued expansion.

“At KeyBank, our mission is to help our community thrive, and we know that an important building block is helping underserved populations realize their full potential and develop the skills that will lead to successful and fulfilling careers,” said Brian Marlow, KeyBank’s Washington State Market President. “A secure job is the gateway to a solid financial future, and we are delighted to support FareStart’s programs designed to create a foundation that will help build long-term stability for those furthest from opportunity.”

“We are deeply grateful to KeyBank for their generous gift,” said Patrick D’Amelio, CEO of FareStart. “Their support will enable us to continue to expand our job training programs, equipping more individuals with the job skills and support they need to gain stability and economic mobility. KeyBank has been a longtime supporter, but this three-year investment is coming at a critical time as we deepen our impact in the post-pandemic landscape.”

About FareStart

FareStart is a social enterprise nonprofit that transforms lives, disrupts poverty and nourishes communities through food, life skills and job training so that people furthest from opportunity can realize their full potential. FareStart provides on-the-job training to students through its food-based social enterprise businesses, including cafés, box lunches and a community meals program. Since 1992, FareStart has provided opportunities for over 7,000 adults and youth, while serving 19 million meals to Seattle area schools and nonprofit organizations. For more information, visit farestart.org.

About KeyCorp 
In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at December 31, 2024. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank Member FDIC.