The number of women in leadership roles in the convenience-store channel is increasing.
Women lead 6% of the largest chains in the convenience industry—up from 3% in 2023, according to an evaluation of CSP’s 2024 Top 202 list of the top U.S. c-store chains by store count.
CSP spoke to Kayla Parker (right), district manager at TravelCenters of America, about how she has put her CSW learnings to work after the inaugural event in November 2023 and how she's advanced her career and workplace for women.
bp, which owns TravelCenters of America, is No. 7 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by total number of company-owned stores.
After CSW in 2023, TravelCenters of America’s Debbie Shelton (left), vice president of retail operations support, and Parker, returned home with an idea inspired by the conference—a mentorship program for their organization.
They created a voluntary women’s resource group, called TA Win, a mentorship program to teach and educate women on business and financial acumen while also providing a safe space to talk about different issues or challenges women face in the workplace as they advance their careers.
Strategic mentoring, a concept shared by Leading NOW, the educational content partner for CSW, was a source of motivation for the TA pair.
Most women receive supportive mentoring in the workplace, which Leading NOW calls CAKE mentoring, involving “Confidence; Aptitude, Attitude and Advice; Konnections; and Encouragement.”
“We all need supportive mentoring, no question. … Traditional, conventional advice or mentoring is not getting us where we want to go in our careers,” said Julia Lazzara, Leading NOW President, at CSW 2023. “To become a better business leader, to begin to demonstrate business, strategic and financial acumen, we need something different.”
Leading NOW defines The Missing 33% (TM) of a women’s professional background as what she is perceived to be missing when it comes to business, strategic and financial acumen.
The flip side to this is strategic mentoring rather than supportive, what Leading NOW calls PIE Strategic Mentoring. It gives the mentee exposure to the "Performance" of a business; the "Image" of a leader; and "Exposure" to higher-level decision-making.
“We vividly recall the CAKE vs. PIE discussion and felt very inspired to ask for our own seat at the table and strategic mentorship to grow and develop ourselves,” said Parker. “We thought that if we felt this inspired, we need to share it with the larger TA community. If we want a seat at the table, there are so many others out there who do.”
“If we can inspire in women the confidence to ask more questions or say ‘yes’ to more opportunities, what would we be able to achieve then?”
—Kayla Parker, TravelCenters of America
The Westlake, Ohio-based convenience-store chain, which is owned by Chicago-based, 1,540-store bp America, appointed Debi Boffa as CEO in September 2023. Women make up 43% of TA’s workforce, and nearly 30% of its senior leadership positions are held by women, according to the company.
TA also has a Women’s Safety Advisory panel focused on creating safer environments for women guests and employees, and the company was named a 2024 Top Company for Women to Work in Transportation by Redefining the Road, a Women in Trucking Association.
“We were inspired more than ever now that we have our first-ever female CEO, Debi Boffa,” Parker said. “We knew this was the time. Of course, she was incredibly supportive of launching this initiative and continues to support everything we do.”
The convenience-store chain invites all employees to participate, and meetings are held virtually, which makes it easy for people across the company to join, said Parker.
“We have seen interest from all levels of the organization, from the support center to the field teams, from senior leaders to individual contributors,” she said. “I am so proud of what we’re doing.”
Sandy Rapp, TA’s senior vice president and chief information officer, is the executive sponsor of the program. There is also a committee that leads the meetings and discussions.
“As we grow and evolve, we plan to transition who leads the meetings and discussions to give others opportunities to learn and grow,” Parker said.
One of the group’s meetings was a workshop on imposter syndrome. It included a panel discussion with a moderator and leaders from TA who spoke about their experiences with imposter syndrome and how they work through it in the workplace. A physician from Cleveland Clinic also taught the group the psychology behind imposter syndrome.
“Several audience members asked questions, and it was just really inspiring to see leaders share personal stories of how they worked through the feeling of being ‘found out,’” said Parker. “We received such great feedback from this event and were told it was the most impactful event that team members have attended in a long time. Situations like this just make me know we are doing the right thing and improving lives.”
There is nothing more important than developing personally and professionally, Parker said.
“For so many women, the fear of failure is a major obstacle in the corporate world and could prohibit them from even trying something new. For example, I have heard stories about how some people do not ask questions on Teams calls in larger meetings for fear of sounding uninformed or incompetent. This is not OK. If we can inspire in women the confidence to ask more questions or say ‘yes’ to more opportunities, what would we be able to achieve then?”
Parker is grateful for her own mentor relationship and how it provides a “pass-it-forward” feeling, she said.
“It’s all about community, development and personal growth,” Parker said. “This group allows women and men to come together and share challenges they are facing. They can meet new people and learn from others who they may have never crossed paths within the organization. It’s really an incredible networking opportunity.”
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