SJU's Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Center for Business Ethics to Host Mary Lou Quinlan ’75

The Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Center for Business Ethics of the Haub School of Business (HSB) will host Mary Lou Quinlan ’75 on April 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mandeville Hall Teletorium, who will speak on women in the workplace. A reception will follow at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and registration is required.

Quinlan’s talk, “Women Woke,” will draw on her career as an author, actor, marketer, speaker and women’s rights advocate, and will focus on her notable contributions to business, entrepreneurship and modern feminism.  

“Mary Lou Quinlan is one of the leading authorities on women’s issues," HSB Dean Joseph A. DiAngelo Jr., Ed.D., ’70 says, “Her insights are sought by the leading corporations in the United States. Saint Joseph’s students and alumni will be enlightened and mesmerized by her comments.”

Quinlin’s career began at Avon Products, where she would eventually rise to director of advertising. Later, she was named the first female CEO of advertising agency N.W. Ayer & Partners. As an entrepreneur, she founded her own women’s marketing company, Just Ask a Woman, advising dozens of major brands, including Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, Wells Fargo and General Motors.

Quinlan has written magazine feature articles for Real Simple and O and a monthly career column for MORE.  She has appeared as a correspondent on the CBS-TV “EARLY Show” and co-starred on the Simon Cowell-produced ABC-TV series “American Inventor.” She has been the keynote speaker for over 500 conferences as an authority on women and is currently at work on a new solo show about women’s careers called “Work.”

“Through her tenacity and steadfast hopes for women, Mary Lou Quinlan offers a real perspective on feminism, one that does not shy away from the proverbial glass ceiling, and in the midst of the #MeToo movement, one that addresses the painful and consequential events of sexual oppression and harassment,” says Associate Dean for HSB Vana Zervanos ’07, MBA.

Quinlan is the author of four books, including What She’s Not Telling You, Time Off for Good Behavior, and Just Ask a Woman. Her latest, The God Box, a memoir of her mother, quickly became a New York Times bestseller and inspired another career evolution. She co-wrote, produced and for the past six years, has performed her companion solo show “The God Box, A Daughter’s Story” across the U.S., including off-Broadway, the Edinburgh Fringe and 12 cities in Ireland. The God Box Project has raised nearly $500,000 for local hospice, cancer care and education causes. More information about Mary Lou Quinlan’s work can be found at http://www.marylouq.com.