[Article] Women’s Advancement: The Solution
There hasn’t been a year when we weren’t involved in advancing women. In the early years it was for ourselves and our own businesses. As we matured, we branched out to try to help all women. And now we have a practice area dedicated to personal branding for badass women (so far we’ve helped nearly a dozen women with C-suite and public board results), and helping women get funded. (Did you know that when a woman achieves a position of authority, she is six times more likely to hire other women?)
Along the way we supported women’s organizations, pushed for accountability, and spurred research to show that investing in women at every level pays dividends. Just consider how the pandemic response was handled by Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Karen Lynch at CVS Health, and Linda Rendle of Clorox – all of whom were honored in Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
But there was an enormous drop-off of women in the workforce during the pandemic, which has been dubbed the “SHEcession.” It’s clear our work isn’t done. (See “Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained” in this newsletter.)
Our founder Nicole DeMeo took action last year and spurred the development of How Women Invest, a firm and venture capital fund which brought together female investors with the aim of investing in female-founded and -led entrepreneurs. The fund invested in companies like Grey Matter Analytics, Hitch Works and Hello Alice, which has a community of 500,000 business owners around the world, and is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs of color, women, men, immigrants, LGBTQ+, veterans and owners with disabilities. How Women Invest has been so successful that they’re about to launch another fund. How Women Lead is the sister organization to How Women Invest, and there’s also a philanthropic arm, How Women Give, that supports women’s and girls’ organizations.
We need increased collaboration across the ecosystem. We have seen funds cropping up, incubators being organized, and awards being granted to women. We need to spur the momentum.
We believe in and live the How Women Lead credo:
Say yes to helping each other
Be fierce advocates for each other
Reinforce her voice
Be unabashedly visible