Gender Equity and the Global Economy
Most weekdays, Kristina Ayanian ’19 can be found in her office at Nasdaq MarketSite, the iconic Times Square location where — as the youngest executive producer and host in Nasdaq history — she interviews C-suite executives and industry leaders for “Live from MarketSite,” a video series with a global audience of more than 50 million viewers.
One Monday morning in March, however, Ayanian traded Times Square for another, equally recognizable New York City location: United Nations Headquarters, where the Bentley alumna — who was recently named to the prestigious Forbes “30 Under 30” list for 2024 — participated in a panel discussion as part of the U.N.’s 68th session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68). The organization’s largest annual gathering devoted to gender equality and women’s empowerment, its participants included delegates from U.N. member nations, representatives of U.N.-sponsored agencies and entities, and members of international NGOs and civil society organizations working to improve the lives and livelihoods of women and girls.
It’s through this last category that Ayanian became involved. As the reigning Miss Universe Armenia, she works closely with nonprofits and humanitarian aid groups to amplify awareness of and support for a variety of causes important to the nearly 3 million inhabitants of the tiny nation nestled in the Caucasus Mountains, as well as the estimated 5-7 million people with Armenian ancestry living around the world. One of these groups is the Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA), which invited Ayanian to participate in a CSW68 panel discussion they hosted on the topic of “Enhancing Women’s Empowerment Through Inclusive Financing and Stronger Institutions.”
As Ayanian explains, “The panel brought together women from different backgrounds, including media, entertainment, law, traditional finance and entrepreneurship, to talk about why it’s important for women to be financially savvy and what we can do to get more women into the workforce and in positions of leadership within financial organizations.”
Although this wasn’t her first time appearing at the U.N. — in November, Ayanian served as host for the 2023 Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Summit — she was deeply moved by the experience. “I didn’t realize the magnitude of the moment until I got there,” she recalls. “Armenia was one of just seven countries that had the room, so the fact that the U.N. trusted us and gave us that visibility was incredible. Plus, while I’m usually the one interviewing other people and hearing their stories, this time I was sharing my own experiences. That made it a very special and incredibly proud moment for me.”
Among the topics Ayanian and her fellow panelists discussed was the importance of mentorship and representation in achieving gender equality in the workplace. “I’ve been very lucky in my career in that I’ve had incredible bosses — both women and men — who encouraged me to advocate for myself and pursue opportunities that interested me,” she says, noting that she began working at Nasdaq as a listings analyst shortly after graduating cum laude from Bentley with dual majors in Finance and Liberal Studies: Global Perspectives. But Ayanian soon found other positions in the company where she could parlay her considerable skills, becoming director of client experiences, where she worked closely with firms to guide them through their IPOs, and host of “Mission Driven,” a video series that highlighted companies committed to creating positive change in their communities.
Her success in these roles, coupled with continued support from mentors and colleagues, encouraged Ayanian to pitch Nasdaq her concept for a new video series; since the January 2023 debut of “Live from MarketSite,” she has recorded more than 200 episodes with corporate changemakers. “It’s been incredibly rewarding,” she says of the project, for which she oversees every aspect of production, from researching guests and developing questions to set design, filming and editing, a process that takes about 10-12 hours per episode. “It’s kind of like a start-up in a big corporation, and I’m so proud of what our team has achieved.”
The only child of a single mother who “worked two jobs to put food on the table and a roof over our heads,” Ayanian says she learned early on to “never take no for an answer. My mother taught me to believe there’s no limit to what I can do or achieve, as long as I’m willing to put in the effort.” But that’s not her only inspiration: Ayanian was also influenced by Adena Friedman, who became the first woman to lead a global stock exchange when she became president and CEO of Nasdaq in 2017.
“As a young woman fresh out of college, it was incredibly empowering to be working for a company with a woman in the top leadership role,” Ayanian shared during the CSW68 panel discussion. “Hearing Adena’s story — that she started as an intern, had positions in marketing, finance and other areas of the company, and worked her way up to CEO — was really powerful. It showed me that Nasdaq values the women in its workforce, and that here is a place where I can create my own path to success.”
Ayanian acknowledges that other women’s work experiences may be vastly different from her own — and this reality informs her advocacy. Referencing U.N. statistics shared during CSW68, she notes that, globally, women make just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men and that closing gender gaps in employment could boost global GDP per capita by 20% across all regions. And while governments and businesses can be instrumental in effecting change by committing to paying equal wages for equal work and increasing the number of women in leadership positions, Ayanian believes that individual actions can also have an impact.
“I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve had predecessors who paved the way for me, and I feel a responsibility to pay it forward and help the next generation,” she says. “With every step we climb on the corporate ladder, it’s our responsibility to reach back and help another woman rise with us.”
