Page 12 - Winning Women 2017

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CORPORATE “There are numerous and certainly
very worthy campaigns being launched
by individuals and groups, but I
MICHELLE WILLIAMS-SWARTZ: believe that more still needs to be
Operations director for done to find a sustainable solution to
Johnson & Johnson, significantly reduce these incidents.
East London “This must include appropriate
funding, policy, education and
necessary infrastructure to support
ichelle Williams- and govern.”
Swartz has Helping and supporting other people
Movercome a is key to her leadership style.
childhood filled with “Our most important role as leaders
domestic violence and is to develop other leaders and this is
memories of financial difficulty to rise a topic I am incredibly passionate
to the top of the corporate world. about. I am energised by seeing
As operations director for Johnson & women and men with strong
Johnson East London, she is leadership potential coming through
responsible for the manufacturing the organisation.
facility producing about 60 million “It gives me a great sense of
consumer products a year. But it took being too scared to get involved.” fulfilment knowing that I had
a lot of faith, hard work, a spirit of Crimes against women and children something to do with the growth of
resilience and kind-hearted people to have made many headlines this year. others.”
get there. For Williams-Swartz, “seeing what is Williams-Swartz juggles her career
“I grew up in a home where happening in our country saddens me with raising her three daughters –
domestic violence was ‘normal’. Some immensely and I feel we are not doing Kaylee, Kassidy and Kallyn – with her
of my worst memories include enough to address this very serious husband, Rian. She has ensured that
watching as my father tried to strangle matter”. her daughters feel empowered, engaged
my mother and I thought she was She uses any opportunity she gets to and inspired.
about to die; my father trying to stab speak to women trapped in abusive “I believe that many face very
my mother in the street after hours of relationships, and to share with them similar if not worse challenges and we
fighting; my mother and I locked in the effects of “staying in the all have a story to tell, but it is about
the house while my father beat her, relationship” especially from the making a conscious decision to turn
screaming for help and neighbours perspective of the child. the mess into a message.”

J o h n s o n & J o h n s o n h a s b e e n
championing women and giving t hem
the tools, resources and opportunities
to succeed at work and at home since
our founding more than 130 years ago.
We believe women can be catalysts for
creating healthier people, healthier
communities and a h ealthier world.
Women are innovators meeting today's
challenges and inventing t omorrow's
solutions. They are scientists and
technologists. T hey are c aregivers,
mentors, mothers and innovators. T hey
are the anchors o f t he family, leaders i n
our business and drivers of the global economy.
We must champion t hem. Celebrate them. Partner with them. And give them the freedom to
pursue their passions.
Caring for women in our global community will fuel the future of human health.