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Women in leadership roles are leaving the workforce at alarming rates according to new research from McKinsey & Co — a huge step backwards in a decades-long effort to diversify corporate top ranks. Erica Alioto, global head of people at Grammarly and Maureen Calabrese, chief people officer at Modern Health share their experiences being the only women in the room and advice on how they've worked their way up the ranks.

How did your career evolve to where it is today, supporting workers and workplace culture?

Maureen Calabrese (MC): My career has definitely not been linear. I started on an analytical path but my move to the people space came when I was approached for a role created to support the learning and development of a distributed team of client service professionals. I almost missed it though when I said no, because I liked the work I was doing. I'm grateful that I had a leader in my corner who encouraged me to think more broadly about the impact I could have by taking on a role charged with elevating the performance of an entire team.