Spotify talking parental leave at the White House

This week a team from Spotify joined in the first United State of Women Summit in Washington DC, together with thousands of experts, speakers and leading women from all corners of the world who advocate or work actively with equality and humanity.

It was a celebration of what has been achieved so far and discussions on how to move forward. Because as the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama pointed this out in her speech: “The work always continues – we are never done”.

I was on the Paid Leave panel with Rose Marcario (CEO of Patagonia) and Marilyn Strickland (Mayor of Tacoma, WA). It turned into an incredibly powerful meeting with interesting discussions around Swedish values, leadership, gender equality, and of course Spotify’s paid parental leave. This panel was a part of the Economic Empowerment track of the summit, which also covered other important issues like equal pay, paid sick leave, child care and health care. We are incredibly proud to be leading in this space and honoured to be a part of the event.

Our parental leave policy was praised and often referred to, the Spotify #LeadOnLeave team (Laurie Benson, Michael Kim and Tiffany Serra) were invited to the VIP reception hosted by US Vice President Joe Biden, and they were also asked to meet him personally. I met with the President of the United States Barack Obama, who pointed out what a good job he thinks we are doing at Spotify. He was also happy about his playlist is doing well, and when I offered him a job he said he appreciated that since he is out of one in less than five months!

All in all, the team reports back that the summit experience was fantastic and a bit surreal. The schedule was filled to the brim with inspiring and powerful speakers and you can watch it all here.