As a little girl, I dreamed of a woman president in my lifetime, and if I am honest, I dreamed it would be me. When Elizabeth Warren left the race, the statement of hers that stuck with me the most was this one: “One of the hardest parts of this is all the pinky promises and all those little girls who are going to have to wait for four more years.” It hurt.
While I am disappointed that I have no choice this election season to vote for someone like me, and I do believe that sexism played a role in the current democratic election process, I am still encouraged by the record number of women serving in our government. There are currently 25 women in the U.S. Senate, and 23% of the U.S. House of Representatives are women.
In addition, we are at a record high for women CEOs in the Fortune 500. In recent years, there have been many studies showing that companies with women in leadership positions and more diverse representation on boards perform better, which means more profits for companies.
Again, encouraging. But we have a long, long way to go.
While I likely won’t be running for president or the U.S. Senate in this lifetime, I am committed to doing what I can to support the advancement of women. So, when I received a call from Shari Johnston, founder of Women in Revenue (WIR), in late 2018 and she shared what she was building, I was thrilled and honored to join this organization as one of its founding members. Our mission is simple:
Women in Revenue is a group of leaders and up-and-coming leaders in sales, marketing, and other revenue-impacting roles. Founded in San Francisco, Women in Revenue brings together strong women who work primarily in the tech industry and who are focused on improving career opportunities for women in the following ways:
WIR is over 1,500 members strong. We have an engaging Slack channel that allows everyone to share, ask, answer, and grow personally and professionally in a way that only a group of women committed to supporting each other can do. We hold quarterly meetings that include interactive panel discussions and networking opportunities — quickly becoming known as the ‘must-attend events by the women in my circle. We publish a yearly survey, “The State of Women in Revenue,” which highlights our mentorship program as the crown jewel. While WIR is in the early stages, the impact that this program is making on women in sales and marketing roles is significant. I, myself, have a mentee who I look forward to connecting with on a monthly basis and being able to provide guidance and resources to women like my mentee feels incredibly rewarding.
The WIR mentorship program is a great opportunity that’s flexible to meet the demands of any busy schedule. Whether you’re looking to build an ongoing 1:1 mentorship relationship or share advice with various members on specific issues or goals through short, “flash mentorship” meetings, WIR mentorship is approachable and works with the needs of any career-minded professional. Our aim is to provide resources to women throughout all stages of their careers by offering peer mentors, career mentors, and life mentors. WIR is also implementing new technology to onboard members and support mentorship program management — which will help evolve WIR in exciting ways.
There are a thousand reasons why the members of Women in Revenue do what we do, but “Why we do this,” I can’t think of a better way to explain it than this story shared on our Slack channel:
“Inspired by the recent WIR post yesterday, a (male) CRO client reached out and asked for help to support and diversify his sales leadership team with more women. Being in the security space, he is finding it extra challenging to attract and retain women talent.
He was looking for support in 3 areas:
I love that we can support him in 2 of these areas. And LOVE That he is asking.”
This. This is why I have faith that gender equality will happen. Men want it just as much as women do, and there is truly a commitment to help make that happen in Women in Revenue. Please join us and be part of making it happen. Visit womeninrevenue.org to get involved.