Tampa Bay chef, police chief share experience being a female boss

Jeannie Pierola is one of Tampa's best-known and successful chefs. Melanie Bevan is the Bradenton Police Chief.

One of the most talked about moments after the vice presidential debate Wednesday night came when Kamala Harris said, "I'm speaking."

She used the phrase when she felt she was being cut-off. The moment struck a chord with women -- establishing yourself in a position usually held by men.

Tampa chef Jeannie Pierola knows the feeling.

"You have to be self-advocating," she said.

Pierola has been feeding people all over the world for thirty years but she calls Tampa Bay home and it's where she's most comfortable in the kitchen.

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She's the Executive Chef and Owner of Tampa restaurants -- Edison, Counter Culture, and Swigamajig but climbing the culinary ladder wasn't always female friendly.

Pierola shared a story about being the only female chef at a big-wig event at a winery not too many years ago.

"I obviously wasn't ready to understand what was happening and then I look back on this story, I was very passive about it and assumed, maybe it was me personally. The guys really bonded and they really did not bond with me," Pierola said of the four other chefs at the event.

She says times like that are few and far between but when it happens, it stings.

Another time she was asked to work alongside a corporate chef as a consultant but never felt like she was being heard adding, "This feels like this guy is constantly dismissing everything I say. Can you believe I ended up having a cocktail with his wife, I actually asked her, I said, 'does he not like me?' She goes, 'Oh, he doesn't like to work with women.'"

On the other side of Tampa Bay, you'll find Melanie Bevan, Bradenton's top cop.

Chief Bevan rattled off stats about women in law enforcement right away, 15-20 percent of officers and deputies are female. Women make up 5 percent of high level law enforcement positions.

While Bevan said she was fortunate to have support along the way and even had all male mentors encouraging her, Bevan's decision to become a mom more than 20 years ago caused her to turn down a promotion. Many in the department figured she would stop moving up after that.

"I proved them wrong, I came back. I took a hiatus. I never left the agency. Probably focused a little more on becoming a good mom and I'd like to think while moving up, I'm still a good mom," said Bevan.

According to a new study by McKinsey & Company, women make up 20 percent of executive-level positions in America.

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