Why it is Great to be Women in Business, Supporting Women in Business.
There are so many articles one can read about the barriers women entrepreneurs face. This isn’t one of them.
Yes, we cosign to smashing the patriarchy. And yes, we want withholding funding, talking over us, defaulting to gendered expectations and experiences, overlooking individual contributions and achievements, and my personal favorite — the ‘personality focused performance reviews’ to end.
But the barriers, while they bond us, often obscure what it is like to be a woman in business, being supported by other women in business. After two years into our endeavor as The Hush Collaborative, our roster is biased. We have partnered almost exclusively with women in leadership positions who have been predominantly supported by women-driven marketing teams. We have hired women contractors, lawyers, business therapists, PR professionals, and CPA’s. We have supported tech-accelerators, progressive political organizations and networking events started and led by women. And it has been an incredibly fulfilling ride because of that fact.
Women-only clients was not, nor will it ever be, a mandate for our business, as we believe our skill set and output would greatly benefit the men in those same positions. But, after almost 24 months of working on brand, communications and change management projects with a group of humans that skewed highly towards our same gender/identity, we’ve learned a few things about what it means to be on the giving and receiving end of full-throated and whole-hearted support of other women in business.
There is something incredibly special about getting encouragement from a fellow woman in business. A shared determination for autonomy and amplifying impact.
There is something deeply connected and calming in the advice of those who came before and the questions of those coming after. A commitment to interdependence and mentoring that in truth is an invaluable and understated resource.
There is something beautiful about showing up with vulnerability, knowing you will be met in kind. A recognition that ambition is actually asking for help and embracing those three little words, “I don’t know.”
Each member of the Hush Collaborative team has a multitude of memories that came at the lips and hands of women, ones that are now the affirming core memories of our careers. We all have tethers to peers and leaders who acknowledged our humanity and our shared reality in moments when and where it mattered most. We all have role models that have shaped and guided our own paths forward, for how we lead independently and work collectively. Watering and cultivating our most natural states of being.
We don’t celebrate, support, and empower women simply because we are women. We support women because we must be the change we want to see, but more importantly, we must seek it out and establish as many opportunities to invest in that change through others. It is in using our talents, our networks, our expertise and our own experiences that help propel us all forward. Can you imagine the result of a truly collective effort?
It is a privilege and an honor to run a business aligned with the vision of a feminine economy. We look forward to continuing to partner, support, collaborate and solve with women in business who are just getting started, the ones who are in transition, the ones we partner with today and the ones we have yet to meet. If you are ready for an introduction or need some support right now, introduce yourself. We love connecting with women in business, if you couldn’t tell.