This week’s episode of Fortune‘s Leadership Next podcast features three conversations from the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, held in Laguna Niguel, Calif., earlier this month. First up, we hear from Senator Laphonza Butler, who joined Fortune's Emma Hinchliffe onstage just one week after she was sworn in as a California senator, filling the seat vacated by Dianne Feinstein, who passed away in September. Senator Butler discussed being an example of economic empowerment for women and girls, and the power of coalition-building across parties—and the business sector—to affect real change.
In the second conversation of the episode, Michal Lev-Ram sits down with No. 35 on the 2023 Most Powerful Women list, Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson, who is also a chairwoman on the board of directors of Starbucks. Hobson shares how she initially became interested in strategic decision-making, and how to keep DEI a priority in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action.
