Kiko Davis Snoddy, a trustee and Donald Davis Living Trust and a majority stockholder at First Independence Bank, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Sibile Marcellus to discuss gender and racial disparities in the work place, and what are some ways for women to ‘shatter the glass ceiling’ in corporate fields.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

KRISTIN MYERS: Welcome to "A Time for Change." I'm Kristin Myers here with Sibile Marcellus. Now, it took until yesterday-- Monday, March 1, 2021-- for a woman to take the helm at one of Wall Street's major banks. Now, I'm talking about Jane Fraser, who officially began her reign as CEO of Citibank. And I cannot believe, Sibile, that I want everyone to remember that was not a typo. We really meant that-- yesterday, 2021, to get to this milestone.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: That's right, Kristin. It's a major milestone for women, another glass ceiling shattered in an industry notoriously difficult for women. Now, our next guest has been blazing her own trail. Joining us is Kiko Davis Snoddy. Now, she's the majority stockholder of the Black-owned First Independence Bank. Now, Kiko, you're often the only woman in the room, and it feels dominated by men. How can women seek to address the gender wage gap while also continuing to struggle to shatter the glass ceiling?

KIKO DAVIS SNODDY: Well, I believe that women-- it has to start from the corporate side and business side. I believe businesses have to even the playing field by making sure that women have equal opportunities for mentorship, sponsorship. A lot of times, women don't have the access to executive leaders the same way that men do simply because the culture is different. Men oftentimes-- they get to build relationships with those executives at higher levels because they're going to the golf range with them. They are going for after-dinner drinks. They're going to sporting events.

And so many times, I have men that have said that they feel at odds because they don't know how to socialize with women. I tell them, you have to make the effort. And you have to include women in those opportunities. And then women also, sometimes they don't feel comfortable stepping outside of their comfort zone. But you have to-- even if you're not into sports, you still need to go because those are opportunities-- you may not be into sports, but those are opportunities for you to network with men that are in the positions to make sure that you get those opportunities for promotions and to make sure that you get those pay raises. Because there are men that are our allies. But sometimes I believe the culture is such that we don't step outside of our comfort zone to embrace women in those positions.

KRISTIN MYERS: Now, Kiko, you're touching on this just a little bit, overcoming some of these biases. And as a trustee of the Don Davis Trust-- that's your late husband-- you are, as we mentioned, the majority shareholder of the First Independence Bank. Now, banking and finance are typically dominated by white men. And as we heard in that introduction, it took until just yesterday for a woman to take the helm at a major bank. So when you show up to work, how do you overcome some of the biases that are placed on you before you've ever even sat down at the table or walked through the door?

KIKO DAVIS SNODDY: Well, I realize that gender and racial biases exist. However, I personally don't allow anyone to limit my abilities based upon their limited thinking. And I learned this at a very early age as a young girl growing up with brothers-- that you have to face gender biases by ignoring the perception that you're not capable.

My brothers used to climb trees, and I always wanted to go and climb with them. And I would always say, well, can I climb with you? And they would say no. And I'd say, why not? And they'd say, because you are a girl, and girls can't climb.

Well, I took that as a challenge. And I climbed everything I could for the next few weeks-- walls, trees, whatever-- until one day my brothers were out climbing, and I didn't ask permission. I scaled the opposite side of the tree, and I beat them to the top. And then I learned at that point that you don't need permission to prove that you're capable.

And if you happen to be better, you just might sway or change the person's perception of what you're capable of. So I used that same theme throughout my life and when I'm faced with challenges. A lot of times, people are not comfortable because of stepping outside of their own comfort zone. So you have to get comfortable with making people uncomfortable, but also with proving that you are capable beyond what they perceive you to be.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Kiko, I absolutely love that. You don't have to ask permission to do what you're able to do. That should be in the ears of every woman listening to our conversation right now. But what are some other strategies for women trying to climb the corporate ladder? So you know you can do it, but you still need someone to give you that opportunity. So how do you surpass that hurdle?

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Well, one of the greatest things that we have in business is networking. So you have to find networks of individuals that you are aspiring to be like and network with those individuals. And sometimes, specifically if you're an industry that is white male-dominated, you have to get out of your comfort zone. I can't stress that enough. You have to reach out to these individuals because they are the ones in the position of power that can make that promotion or to hire you into a program or a mentorship. So you have to step outside of your comfort zone.

You have to also make sure that you continually improve yourself, read everything you can, and just find like-minded individuals. And if you are in a position where you don't see that you're advancing or there's a lack of opportunity, sometimes you have to go above your immediate supervisor or your immediate support system and make it known. Because a lot of times, companies will have diversity programs, but they don't actually track the progress of those programs. And they need to make sure that those programs are actually tracking progress by gender and race. Because a lot of times when they do the hiring or they do the promotions, they don't take those things in consideration. And they don't take into consideration that biases exist that affect women at a greater percent of the time.

KRISTIN MYERS: Kiko, I have about a minute left with you here. I wish we had more time to chat. But a lot of what we're talking about is really on an individual level, advocating for yourself to your boss or to your manager. But when we look at this at scale, how can we as a society, whether it's through laws or other public policies, really address these gaps that women face because of their gender, but also then the racial gaps that we see women of color facing as well?

KIKO DAVIS SNODDY: Well, on the corporate side, again, I think companies need to be held accountable. As you know, women probably are going to control about 70% of the great wealth transfer in the next two decades. And so by the year 2030, they will be in control about 2/3 of the nation's wealth.

So that is a lot of power. We need to, as women, take that power, hold companies accountable that we do business with or that have our dollars, and making sure that their executive leadership have women in those positions. And if they don't, we need to hold them accountable by taking our dollars and our voice and using it, and the threat of taking our dollars elsewhere, to make sure that there is an even playing field.

KRISTIN MYERS: Kiko Davis Snoddy, thank you so much for joining us for this conversation, majority shareholder of the Black-owned First Independence Bank.