Scholarship Spotlight: Laura Foti

CMO, Specright

Personal bio:

Laura is the Chief Marketing Officer at Specright, the first cloud-based platform for Specification Management. Specright has been recognized by Fast Company’s prestigious Most Innovative Companies list, named a Gartner Cool Vendor, and as one of the Top Places to Work by the OC Register and Built in LA. She hosts “Beyond the Shelf: the Product and Packaging Podcast,” where she interviews the industry leaders behind the products we love and use everyday. Prior to Specright, she led advertising and analytics at GE Digital, GE’s Industrial Internet software business. Before that, she was a consultant at Deloitte Digital working in enterprise digital transformation. Laura was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for marketing and advertising and Brand Innovators 40 Under 40 and 100 Women to Watch lists. She graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She resides in Newport Beach, CA.

What year did you win your NYWICI Scholarship?

2012

What did receiving a NYWICI scholarship mean to you?

Receiving a NYWICI scholarship put me into a new league of peers and mentors who showed me what was possible. It was the ultimate “if you can see it, you can be it” moment and had a huge impact on my career advancement.

How do you plan to give back to the NYWICI community or pay it forward?

My goal is to repay my entire scholarship over time so I can pay it forward to the next generation of women leaders.

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for future scholarship applicants?

You can achieve more than you think and there’s no timeline for success, so go after your dreams! You might get there faster than you think and uncover new goals along the way.