The following is an excerpt from LegalExecutiveInstitute.com:

At Thomson Reuters’ recent 3rd Annual Women’s Transformative Leadership Forum, several of the women panelists noted how important branding had been to successfully embarking on different trajectories in their careers.

Carolyn Leonard, founder/CEO of DyMynd, discussed how she combatted the sexist and hostile reception she got as one of the first women traders on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade — by using her being a woman and her femininity to her advantage. “I chose to be a first-rate woman because I was always going to be a 2nd-rate man.” Leonard also used her clothing as a weapon, dressing in beautiful bright suits and 3- or 4-inch steel heel stilettos every day. “I considered clothes more than clothing, but what I needed to go to war. I needed power to survive in the environment the men created for me in profession I chose.”