Let’s Elevate Each Other
WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT ANYWAY?
Many times over the last 20 years I have thought, “I wish there was just one place or resource where I could find information to help navigate my career, gain inspiration from other people’s stories, and find informational resources on the business world.” I was looking for a trusted resource. Ideally all in one place! One that wasn’t pumping ads at me, trying to sell me something, and/or clearly cranking out content for advertising purposes. It has always seemed strange to me that it is so hard to find content that would help me! Why is it so difficult to find inspirational and informational content aimed at a young businesswoman?
Alas, I have looked and never found such a resource. Online or in person! The harsh reality is there is a severe lack of resources, knowledge sharing, mentorship and even sponsorship, especially for women and minorities. So now that I am well into my career, and notably no longer “young,” I have concluded that the best way to find my utopian vision of an online career mentor and resource would be to create one myself.
THE PLAN!
The goal is to create a central resource for inspiration around navigating the business world, leadership development, and career growth. All the things that I have sought out in the past! Will post articles, videos, books, podcasts that have inspired me, blog about my personal journey and share perspective from the past 20 years of my career. More importantly, I want to tell stories, the real stories of my friends, colleagues, mentors, and teachers. They have a wealth of knowledge and experience that we could all benefit from! I have always been inspired after hearing the stories of others, there is so much power in those lessons and they have such a deep impact, especially when I can see myself in their journey. My mission is to tell and share as many stories as I can. The good and the bad. The triumphs and even the failures.
Much of these efforts will focus on women and minorities with the hope it will elevate them into more career advancement, executive roles, leadership and board positions. According to McKinsey & Company’s 2019 study, “The biggest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership is at the first step up to manager. For every 100 men promoted and hired to manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired.” HR managers believed this was because women don’t receive as much sponsorship or there are not enough talented women in the pipeline. The majority of women believe it is because they are judged by different criteria.
As all of the reasons are true, to fix this gender gap requires a multi-faced approach. Companies must be dedicated to diversity, promote more women, create clear evaluation criteria and breakdown bias. Employees must also help each other by increasing awareness, education, sponsorship and focus on mentoring each other to achieve our career goals. Navigating it all is tricky, but it is worth it, as the work will have a significant effect beyond our professional lives.
There is so much talk about bringing diversity to the workplace and yet so many barriers remain intact. Sadly, in my experience, it is all talk. Where is the action? Even this year, in 2020, I am often still the only woman in the room. I am still talked over as if my voice doesn’t matter or treated as if I am a guest at the table. More often than not, I am still dismissed as not an expert in my field. Often called, “opinionated.” Blatant sexism is still a regular occurrence at work. Challenges with misogyny that I expected 20 years ago when I graduated from college and entered the workforce, are still extremely prevalent in 2020, which I find unacceptable. The bias is real. It is very clear to those of use who experience it. I can still count the diversity in the building on one hand.
Supportive ecosystems for women and minorities often don’t exist. Last year Forbes magazine shared, “Only 22% of the 7.4 million technology occupations in the U.S. are held by women and 17% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. 50% of women leave STEM careers within 12 years (vs. 20% of non-STEM.) And the stats are worse for women of color: between 2007 and 2015, the number of African-American women in tech dropped 13%, and the number of African-American women managers dropped 23%.”
These statistics are horrible. Melinda Gates’s book, “The Moment of Lift,” shares the alarming research statistics that gender equality will take about 99 years to achieve. Seriously? I can’t wait that long. These statistics are unacceptable to me. We have to do better.
WE’VE GOT THIS!
Seems to me that coming together to share our strengths, our stories, our lessons, our insider tips, our support, our mentorship and our successes, will change the game. We are stronger together.
Men have been doing this for years in their private clubs, happy hours, golf games and elite business meetings, disguised as fancy steakhouse dinners. So let’s take a play from their playbook. Let’s hack this system. Let’s pull together and help each other out.
Just imagine all the innovation and game-changing solutions that could happen if we had equal voices solving our world problems, coding our new technologies and leading our businesses? So, this is my tiny contribution. ELEVATE EACH OTHER. An online center for knowledge sharing, connections, mentorship, a place to tell our stories and inspire etc. all with the goal of empowering one another and accelerating gender equality.
The good news is that awareness is growing. Media has done a great job bringing the conversation to light over the past few years and we have strong allies in many of our male colleagues. We don’t have to do it alone. It is going to take all of us, including our male allies too. Together, I believe that we can move these statistics in the right direction by coming together to share our stories, support, and ELEVATE EACH OTHER.
I no longer want to be the only woman in the room. I want to see inclusion, to see diversity, to work in an environment where all are welcome and diversity is celebrated. It is important to me to be a part of the solution. To help advance women’s leadership. Actively work to dismantle the biases that are holding women back from their goals. I want to see our future innovations, technologies, products, and corporations influenced and guided by the female perspective. We need that! I would love to be a part of the change, to give back and help elevate others.
So, this initiative is my little way of spreading some light and love.
Together we can ELEVATE EACH OTHER to the careers, life and the successes that we are dreaming about!
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