Stay strong. Stay current. Stay connected.

“Life begins on the other side of despair.” I am an eternal optimist – sometimes annoyingly so – but these words from Jean-Paul Sartre capture this moment for me. We are a nation in despair. Fighting a terrible pandemic, protesting for equality and an end to pervasive racism, seeking to help 43 million Americans unemployed.

No one can do everything. But everyone can do something to create change. And while our not-for-profit organization is not rich financially, we are rich in spirit and passion for women (and men) who make our industry vibrant and strong enough to put thousands of people back to work.

Our mission has been to pave the way for more women to lead at every level of marketing, media, and tech. In the wake of the current crises, we are pivoting to focus more on helping women stay strong, current, and connected across the marketing, media and tech industries.

• We are shaping our content sessions and events to provide practical advice and inspiration to our community members who are currently unemployed.
• We are programming a monthly “Coach’s Corner”, enlisting the help of coaches and experts to provide group and break-out sessions on resume writing, personal narrative development, virtual interview do’s and don’ts, networking best practices, and other topics vital to today’s job seekers.
• We are encouraging currently employed She Runs It members to sponsor unemployed women as members.
• We have been energizing our job bank by proactively reaching out to companies for open job postings and descriptions.
• We are accelerating our mentoring program to include group mentoring so that we can accommodate more women who are seeking connections, advice, and sponsorship.
• We are expanding our #Inclusive100 roundtable conversations to include more individual and corporate participants from the industries we serve. Our intention is to help companies use data to create more inclusive and diverse workforces.
• We will continue to host our virtual Water Cooler Convos and C-Suite Meets at low (for non-members) to no (for members) cost so that the community can gather for inspiration and to stay current with industry conversations.

Delivering these programs will require us to be more creative and ambitious in our fundraising efforts, and we welcome any and all donations as we work to keep our events affordable (and viable). We may not have the resources to change the world, but we will do everything we can to support the women in our community as we move beyond despair to a new tomorrow.