Sharon Leite is one of two women on the eight-person Lovesac board of directors, and one of approximately 30.7 percent of women who serve on the boards of the top 3,000 U.S. publicly traded companies, according to an analysis done earlier this year by the organization 50 Women on 50 Boards. That same report found that 41 percent of those 3,000 companies have boards that have two or fewer women.

Meanwhile, Mary Fox, the president and chief operating officer of the direct-to-consumer specialty furniture brand Lovesac, is one of very few females leading publicly traded companies. In fact, only 7.4 percent of the Fortune 1000 have a female CEO.

So it’s safe to say a conversation — and a working relationship — between a female president and a female board member at a publicly traded company is rare.

Yet that’s exactly what happened during the inaugural CEO Experience, a premier, invitation-only gathering for CEOs and presidents at enterprise retailers and brands, hosted by Women in Retail Leadership Circle. Fifty female CEOs and presidents gathered at the Resident Chelsea, a converted artist’s loft in a pre-war, industrial building in New York, to participate in unrivaled networking and thought-provoking discussions.

Along with Elaine Rubin, a board director at Destination XL who served as the session moderator, Fox and Leite walked the audience through what it takes to have a successful partnership within a public company between the executive team and corporate board members.

Lovesac sells high-quality bean bag chairs, sectionals and accessories through its 300 store locations and website. Fox served on the company’s board of directors from 2020 to November 2021, when Leite took her place. Fox was named Lovesac’s president at that time.

“If you have a transactional relationship and you think, ‘How do I just provide this board … how do I not have them ask questions, how will I just get things through in the way I want?’ then you’re not using the board,” Fox said.

Instead, Fox said the key to having a successful relationship with your board is to be transparent and share everything with them.

“In the end, it’s just a lot less exhausting to be very authentic,” Fox said. “There will be some ugliness in what you share, always. That’s life, and there’s going to be mistakes. But if the transparency is there, then equally, the trust is built.”

Leite said something else that has worked well to cultivate a successful relationship between Lovesac’s board and leadership team is making sure there’s a very clear understanding of role clarity.

“There’s a really good understanding of the board’s role and management’s role,” Leite noted, adding that “it has allowed us to have honest conversations.”

Fox added that when hiring for your board, it’s important to make sure that the values of sincerity, honesty and authenticity are aligned, and that the board candidates demonstrate that they believe in the mission of the company.

Lovesac Founder and CEO Shawn Nelson will be the opening keynote at Total Retail Tech; Total Retail is the sister brand of Women in Retail Leadership Circle. Learn more about the all-inclusive event for qualified retail and brand attendees here.