Category: Work Life Issues

Interview with Founder of Hiring Platform, We Are Rosie

This piece in Inc. is a conversation with We Are Rosie‘s CEO Stephanie Nadi Olson. She shares how the challenges of trying to juggle a family and the demands of a high powered corporate job – and then a startup job – led her to launch her own business focused on finding “good work for everyone who needs it in a way that aligns with their life and treats them with dignity and respect”. Her company now has over 15,000 contractors in the marketing and advertising space – whose contracts are capped at 40 hours per week. She states, “For culture to be truly compassionate, it cannot be prescriptive. Leadership decisions cannot happen in a vacuum.” Click the link above to read more about this incredible leader.

Women Entrepreneurs of Color Share Their Biggest Business Hurdles

This recent piece in Inc. shares three tips for overcoming some of the biggest challenges women of color face in entrepreneurship. These tips include the importance of getting your finances in order so you can establish good credit, looking after your mental health and developing a success-oriented mindset. Check out the link to read the full piece.

Having a Baby While Running a Company

This piece from Fortune shares thoughts from 11 female CEOs and Founders as they navigated running their companies while also managing pregnancy, birth and post-partum. Given that more than half of the female-founded companies to achieve valuations of at least $1 billion this past year have founders younger than 40, it is likely that this topic will become increasingly relevant. Click the link above to read more!

Expert Money Advice For Women From Women

Studies have found that women tend to have less financial literacy than men. Given the number of resources available, this statistic can truly become a thing of the past. This article in GO Banking Rates highlights advice from female money experts and is worth scrolling through even if you think your finances are in great shape.

One expert shared that all women need to have control of “the big three” – being consumer debt free (no credit cards or auto loans); having an emergency reserve fund; and be contributing to a retirement plan. Other experts share advice including the importance of paying yourself first, having a handle on your cash flow and max-ing out any savings plans with tax advantages. The best piece of advice though is that there are no more excuses. Use the resources you can find and take the time and make sure your financial literacy is strong!

Avoiding the “Motherhood Penalty”

There is an ongoing stigma that once a woman becomes a mother, she will stop caring about her professional responsibilities and be a less valuable employee. Interestingly, the same rules don’t apply to men – in fact, while women see their earnings drop by 4% for each child they have, men’s incomes increase by 6% per child that they have.  So what can be done? This piece in GoBankingRates discusses the issue in greater detail and shares recommendations on how to avoid this penalty.

Becoming Helpable

Caroline Kim Oh is an executive and leadership coach with a focus on BIPOC and women leaders in diverse fields, including social impact, marketing, creativity, entrepreneurship, and technology. (She also served as a facilitator in the pilot program of the Women’s Entrepreneurship program) Caroline is especially energized by supporting her clients to become confident and high-performing leaders while enjoying the right mix of work-life-fulfillment ratios.

In this video (under three minutes long), Caroline shares some important messages about selfcare. (We love her phone analogy – so true!)

“The Giving Tree” Gets a Refresh

Shel Silverstein’s classic parenting allegory, The Giving Tree, is a story where the tree (referenced as she/her) gives up every piece of herself to help a young boy.

The story was always a bit disturbing – as if the badge of parenting – and more specifically, motherhood, was to give away all of oneself until one had nothing left. We recently came across this re-write that was imagined by playwright and screenwriter Topher Payne. Payne re-titled it “The Tree Who Set Healthy Boundaries” and you can read the newly edited version here.

Our favorite part is that the tree “took courses online and got her certification in small business management”….and went on to operate a profitable bakery (selling apple pies!) with the boy.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving – with healthy boundaries and successful business operations!

Flexible Workplaces and Impact on Women

Woman working from home

This article from Politico entitled “You Are Mommy Tracked to the Billionth Degree” explores how the concept of the flexible workplace has been shifted due to the pandemic. Women, who were more likely than men to request flex/hybrid schedules in the past, used to face a penalty since they weren’t considered to be “real” members of the work team. But after 18+ months of many people working at least in part from home due to COVID restrictions, businesses are now re-evaluating how hybrid work my now be the future of a lot of white collar jobs. Whether or not there will still be a penalty for working remotely – or whether it will become a new norm – is yet to be seen.

Offering Free Childcare Slashes Turnover At Small Business

Headshot of Starr Edwards, founder of Bitchin' Sauce

In this article from Fast Company, Starr Edwards, founder of Bitchin’ Sauce, shares how offering free childcare augmented retention and hiring, especially during the worst of the pandemic. Edwards shares, ” Everyone touts work-life balance—and this is one of the most essential forms of that. Can you care for your family and work at the same time? If people can find ways of doing that, whether it’s subsidizing outside care or doing it internally like we have, I think ultimately it’s in the company’s best interest.”