“The election felt like a slap in the face”
Burton CEO Donna Carpenter is bringing employees to the Women's March on Washington.
Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States on Friday. On Saturday, tens of thousands of protestors are expected to descend upon Washington, D.C., as part of the Women’s March on Washington, and Burton Snowboards’ top exec wants her employees to be there.
Burton CEO Donna Carpenter, who will be attending Saturday’s event in Washington, is offering to cover two nights lodging and up to $250 airfare for anyone on her team who wishes to join her.
“I knew there would be a lot of Burton women who were making the effort to get down to Washington,” Carpenter tells Cosmopolitan. “They're that type of people.”
The company is based in Vermont, home state of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“(It’s) Bernie-land. I had a lot of employees who were volunteering for Bernie (Sanders),” Carpenter says. “But it's a long way from Burlington to Washington, D.C. For me, it's all about numbers. What they need are numbers to make a point.”
Carpenter says she expects about 30 members of her staff to make the trip—some of whom are flying, others are making a road trip out of it. Equality for women isn’t a new issue for the Burton CEO, who says senior staff now features a 50-50 split of men and women.
“It's made us a better company,” she tells Cosmopolitan. “When you address women's issues, you address work-life balance and quality of life. But the election felt like a slap in the face.”
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