A Media Founder's Pivot to Stories With a Social Impact
BY sagelazzaro November 12, 2020Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. At only 11 years old, Erin Ralph began freelance writing for fashion and lifestyle magazines. At 13, she launched her own, LuxuryFashion.com. She went on to help found Zink magazine, the Serene Social wellness community, and Bullett magazine, an indie fashion favorite. Ralph was working her way through the fashion media world, but she didn’t like what she was seeing. “I had been in media for so long and seen the game. Back in the magazine days, I wanted to write an article about how there are toxic ingredients in makeup. But it was like, ‘No, you can't do that because then we'll lose our biggest advertiser, L'Oreal,’” she told From Day One. Ralph also cited advertiser conflicts as a factor in leaving Bullett, which she co-founded with five partners. “It started to feel like a straw that broke the camel's back, where it's like, we have to do the right thing.” Ralph was disillusioned by the industry, but she was feeling stronger than ever about the power of media itself. Not long after leaving Bullett, she started thinking about how media could be used for good, and last year, she officially launched CoCre. The New York City-based company, mostly bootstrapped in its financing, facilitates collaborative action between organizations, companies, and individuals. It also acts as a production company, capturing stories about the work to inspire people and make a social impact. On the CoCre site, articles and videos tell stories about initiatives like refugee relief, urban farming, and work with organizations like the Trevor Project. CoCre also provides readers with simple ways they can get involved. One story, for example, spotlights an education initiative called Yoga Foster and invites readers to donate a used yoga mat or $20 to sponsor a student. Podcast and docuseries content was in the works for major streaming services too, though production was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, CoCre oversees dozens of initiatives with companies and organizations through its Giving Facilitation program, including those mentioned above. Recently, the company launched a new version of the program directed at Fortune 200 companies, the Impact Facilitation Program, in which CoCre is advising not just on their giving, but their operations’ own footprints on the world. We talked to Erin about CoCre, her entrepreneurial journey, and how to jump into something new. Excerpts: What inspired you to start CoCre? The basis of the idea is that media and stories move people. We've seen it with this whole range of [craft] beers. We’ve seen this story of controlling the diamond supply, inflating their value and putting them out in the media as a girl's best friend. The whole entire concept of the engagement ring is a media tactic, you know what I mean? With all the ways people are being moved and influenced by media, it’s like, what matters right now? The only thing that matters to me personally is that we should all be living well together. The inspiration is definitely wanting to see the world be a greater place. The other big part was knowing that so many of our problems are because of how we cultivate natural resources and the big business behind the things we need. So the idea was, can we just start exchanging resources differently? A lot of people think support has to be money, but your giving assets can be time, scale, network, overstock of goods, anything. You can give extra airline miles. If you're a graphic designer, you can give 15 hours work. There are so many ways we can all make an impact. So let's have a centralized location where people can make an impact and take action on the things that they care about. You say CoCre aims to “gamify giving.” What does that mean, and why did you go with that approach? It's almost like if you're playing a video game and you get really into it, interacting, trying to level up and solve problems, and you're working with people you don't even know. I was inspired by this true story of two engineers who read about a girl in need of a prosthetic arm. They were in different parts of the world, but online, on this little scientist forum message board, the two of them felt the story, collaborated, and virtually co-created an arm for her and sent it to her. Never having met, they came together and created a solution that changed that girl's life. It's just stories like that, and how we can have fun doing stuff like that. If people can get excited and motivated to get some extra points in a video game, imagine if they were actually making a real impact. Of course, you’re also a serial entrepreneur and have been at this since you were 11. How did getting so much experience at such a young age teach you to hold your own in business, and as a woman in business? I was a teenager, so a lot of people in the industry would just be like, ‘Oh, you're so cute. Come. I'll take you through.’ I was ushered in and taken under people's wings because I was so young. I definitely see the struggle women in business have, specifically in the corporate environments. In my experience, I've definitely been in rooms where I've been looked at like I was probably not going to say the brightest thing. I just think that if you walk in the room and you know what you have to offer, if you truly know you have something good and valuable to offer, you just walk in with that energy. I believe in the work that I'm doing, and I believe in what I'm offering to this world. I was always able to walk in rooms and be like, ‘I have something. Let's talk.’ I'm friendly. I've had different experiences where if someone has ever doubted me, I'll smile right through them, and then I'll intellectually override them. One of your endeavours, Serene Social, was about bringing women together for experiences that would empower them socially and financially, from yoga to mentoring. What inspired you to launch that, and how did you carry that mission of supporting women into your companies that followed? That was a pivot in my life where I was doing the fashion thing and then I started to question everything, and I just cracked, like, ‘Oh my god, life is not this.’ I wanted to grow and went into my own self-care. I had always been into wellness, but it had been on the back burner. My friend was holding these rooftop yoga classes in New York City, and she was gathering quite a great group of women. I was there for about three years as a partner with her developing it. We had chapters in London and Los Angeles and different events in all three places. We built up this really incredible beautiful community, and in that community is where I had a lot of the conversations where I started to learn how it was for other women. You were also a co-founder of Bullett magazine, which was an impactful but quick project for you. What advice would you give to women about bouncing back and diving into something new? Just think it through. So you want this dream to come true? Okay. So what does that look like? Why do you want it? Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. In the beginning after Bullett, it was abrupt. It felt like I had birthed something and then it was just ... wild. I was in conflict with advertisers and wanting to speak the truth, again. There was a lot going on there. I think if you just trust in the process and detach, and you learn to let go, even if it's a dream that you birthed, just learn to let go and learn that it's a step in the process. Because I let that go, the idea of CoCre came to me. Sage Lazzaro is a New York City-based journalist covering tech, business, culture, women and diversity & inclusion. Her work has appeared in WIRED, Refinery29, VICE, One Zero, Bustle, the New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.
Amid a Childcare Crisis, These Founders Offer a Solution
BY sagelazzaro May 22, 2020Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. Sara Mauskopf didn’t know she'd be launching a data-powered childcare platform when she left the tech giants for good. All she knew was that she, along with millions of other parents, had a big problem, and no one was trying to fix it. “I had worked at a bunch of really awesome tech companies with great engineers,” said Mauskopf, who spent time at Google, YouTube, Twitter, and Postmates. “And I just saw that the amazing engineers I had worked with weren't really working on solutions for parents. Actually, no one was working on solutions for parents at the time.” So Mauskopf, along with her Postmates coworker Anne Halsall, took matters into their own hands and launched Winnie in 2016. Mauskopf serves as CEO and Halsall as chief product officer. To date, they’ve raised $15.5 million to fund their venture. (And they now have two children each.) Childcare providers use their platform to fill their open spaces, build their wait lists, and get support and resources to run their businesses efficiently. Parents benefit from the platform’s detailed listings, which include descriptions, photos, tuition information, licensing status, availability, and more. The founders’ belief is that childcare needs to be more accessible, and technology is the way to make it happen. Their mission is especially critical in the midst of the pandemic, when the chronic problem of unequal access to childcare in the U.S. has become a full-blown emergency. Mauskopf’s message is now front and center: childcare is vital to the economy, it’s an incredible amount of work, and it’s disproportionately put on women. We chatted with her about the origins of her company, the blind spots of venture capitalists around women-led companies, and what the pandemic tells us about the state of childcare. Excerpts: From Day One: The world still sees childcare as women’s work, including much of Silicon Valley. In my years of interviewing female founders, one thing I’ve heard time and time again is that VCs often question the ability of mothers to both run a company and have children, but never fathers. Have investors viewed Winnie as a company only relevant to women? Mauskopf: Everything you said has absolutely been my experience. A lot of investors said things like, "I'm already invested in the space." So we'd ask which company, and my favorite was an investor who said he just invested in a tampon company. I was like, "Well, that's not the space we're talking about. We're pitching a childcare company." Oh my gosh. I’m speechless. In their minds, that company was the same because it was founded by two women like us. Tampons and childcare have nothing to do with each other. They’re as different as you can get, but I think that was the perfect example of how investors view a company in the parenting space started by two women. They were like, "This is a company for women. This is a company for moms," when really what we're doing is solving problems for all parents. We don't want women to take on the majority of the childcare burden. It's really important to us that this is accessible to both men and women, because childcare should be the responsibility of everyone. I can't lie—my jaw is still slightly on the floor from that tampon comment, though I'm not surprised. Just yesterday I was just talking with someone about how investors often group companies that involve women together and consider them a niche. But women are diverse and they aren’t a small, specialized category; they’re half the population and drive 70% to 80% of purchases. Another surprising thing was that a lot of investors would ask, "Have you talked to X female investor?" Everyone wanted us to talk to Aileen Lee, who is a really prominent early-stage investor who started Cowboy Ventures and coined the term unicorn. She's an amazing person and we did talk to her, but she doesn't particularly invest in parenting companies. She wants to pick the most successful startups, whether they're founded by women or men. This was even way before she started All Raise [her non-profit dedicated to diversity in funders and founders]. Yet every investor was like, "You must pitch this woman because you're women." After working at tech giants where diversity is lacking and the bro culture runs strong, how has becoming your own boss empowered you as a woman in tech? When we started Winnie, it was very important to us that we started a company with a really different kind of culture. We wanted this to be a place where parents could work, where people of all backgrounds would feel comfortable, and most importantly, where we had work-life balance for not just us, but also our employees. We made it a priority from day one, and it's just been really helpful in a number of ways. We've been able to recruit really top talent who maybe didn't want that traditional work-all-hours-at-this-startup-and-give-your-life-to-this-company environment. Recently, it's also made us pretty adaptable to this pandemic, because we already have a remote-friendly culture that enables people to work from home when they want to. What do you think this current moment in time with the pandemic says about our society's larger issues surrounding childcare? And can you tell me a little bit about what Winnie is doing to help? Childcare is essential to a functioning economy, and I think we're all really feeling that firsthand now. This is the message I've been preaching for over four years, and finally, everyone is getting it because they can't work if they don't have childcare. And for the people who need to perform essential work, they can't work from home in the odd hours when their kids are napping. They just can't go into work at all. We've responded by launching a portal to connect families who need childcare, either to perform essential work or because their state allows them to seek childcare with providers who have open spaces. Over half of the providers on Winnie are continuing to operate either to serve essential workers or to serve any families, and they need to fill their open spaces to continue to stay in business. It's really tricky to navigate, and so we've been spending a lot of time helping open providers operate safely and connecting them with the people who do need their services right now. Do you think this will lead to a shift in the conversation about work-life balance, childcare, and the disproportionate role women take on? On an optimistic note, there is definitely a conversation now about the importance of childcare. I'm glad that we're finally really talking about it in the media. There was just an op-ed in the New York Times that went viral and was about the toll it's taking on parents to not have access to childcare in this moment. But on a pessimistic note, I'm very fearful that when there's not easy access to childcare, it's women who take the hit. We’re already seeing that. Women are dropping out of the workforce, taking a step back in their careers, or taking leave from their jobs. How long will it take for their careers to recover from that? That worries me. Is there anything else you want to add, or advice you’d want to give to other women looking to start their own company? This is a great time to start a company. It feels like a terrible time, but I think it's actually a really good time. People who’ve had ideas but haven’t wanted to take the leap have now maybe lost their jobs. And the talent that they might recruit is now looking for opportunities. There may not be the same amount of venture funding, but there's certainly enough to get started. The world is changing, and people are rethinking companies that were successful without a second thought. Everyone is starting fresh. It's a good time to start something. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Sage Lazzaro is a New York City-based journalist covering tech, business, culture, women and diversity & inclusion. Her work has appeared in Refinery29, VICE, Medium, the New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.
How a Founder Transformed the Beauty Industry and Made Space for Women of Color
BY sagelazzaro February 28, 2020Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. Miko Branch didn’t just have to build a business in order to get her products for curly and textured hair in the hands of women everywhere. She had to expand a category. She had to break down stereotypes. And she had to educate consumers not just about her product, but also about their own hair and the lies they’d been told about it. When Branch, along with her sister Titi, launched Miss Jessie’s at their kitchen table 15 years ago, the beauty industry was a long way from inclusive. There were products for women of color to relax their hair, but not embrace its natural beauty. Miss Jessie’s helped changed this with fresh solutions that celebrate women of color for who they really are, bringing diversity and inclusivity to a category that was failing to serve everyone. We chatted with Branch to learn more about Miss Jessie’s, as well as educating your customers and making space for women of color. You started Miss Jessie’s because the market didn’t have the product you needed. This is a founding story I hear a lot from women and especially women of color. Why do you think it didn't exist already? Why did you need to fill that gap? Media and the beauty ideals weren’t accepting of texture and embracing what God gave you naturally. It was about straight hair and the European ideas of what beauty was. But I had started to embrace my natural texture, and when my salon clients started to take notice, it didn't take me long to see the opportunity. I was always good at hair and quickly became an expert at styling curly hair, but there were no products like Miss Jessie's on the market. So my sister Titi and I took to our kitchen table and literally whipped up our first product, which was Curly Pudding. We created the niche and supplied the market we built by using the internet to show the possibilities. We showed before and after photos that were really, really key. Now, more than a decade later, you can't look at a magazine, turn on your TV, or walk down the street without seeing textured hair. We saw an opportunity, we jumped on it, and we helped to build that niche brick by brick. I'm sure the women who use your products were quick to embrace them, but with such an emphasis on European beauty standards, did you find resistance anywhere else? The resistance actually came from the people we were marketing to. They didn't believe that these outcomes and possibilities were real. We got a lot of backlash and people thought that we were tying weaves into the hair. Why do you think your potential customers didn't believe it worked? For generations, women of color were told that their hair was bad, both from people who loved them and disliked them. Could you imagine? Your grandmother might have told you your hair was not great in the same way your enemy did. That really had an effect on what we all believed beauty looks like. But we showed you could wear a middle part or a side part. We showed you could define your curls. Once they were able to see that it was a desirable look and could be styled beautifully, I think that's when the interest started. We showed the possibilities beyond afros, braids, or dreadlocks, which were the only categories of natural hair at the time. Many women, primarily women with the tighter coiled curl, didn't even know that they had curly hair because for many years, they'd straightened it to emulate a European beauty standard. It sounds like as much as you are in the hair-product business, you were also in the business of breaking down stereotypes and negative ideas about textured hair. Would you say you had to do some education? Yes, I definitely see it that way now. Although at the time, we were 360 degrees in the development, production, distribution, and marketing. We didn't realize that we were also helping restore esteem that may have been destroyed over the years. We found ourselves reinforcing and reminding women how beautiful they are and how unique and beautiful their hair is. Miss Jessie's is available in nearly every big-box and beauty-supply store across the country. How did you get that distribution? Sales had been down around 30% in the sections of big-box retailers where they marketed to women with a tighter coil texture and [stocked] the relaxers. I imagine many of these retailers wanted to know why, and it was actually Target that made the first move by reaching out via a third party. When they called, we didn't think that it was really them. We blew it off, but they were persistent and they wanted us to be at this meeting. We got our plane tickets, went, and they ordered everything on our list. With the handshake and signing a lot of our contracts without a lawyer, we became multimillionaires. Then we started getting calls from everyone. Why were sales down 30% with those products? We think women stopped using relaxers and became more interested in natural hair. And at the time, that section of the store that was marketed to primarily women of color was very dimly lit, dusty, and not a lot of attention was paid to it. But in the other sections, it was brightly lit with big, bold pictures, and it looked like the retailer cared about that customer. Now, when you go into the section where Miss Jessie's is sold, we have lights, we have multiple images, we have variety. What Miss Jessie’s proved is that this customer is willing to try new products and spend a bit more for products that work. Now when you go into that aisle, it’s extremely crowded. Not only did we give women beauty options and solutions, but we changed the beauty industry. We showed other minority women that they can do it too. Miss Jessie’s has always been a bit of a family affair, having been inspired and named after your grandmother and co-founded with your sister, who has since passed. How did that family support help you build Miss Jessie’s as a woman in business, and how did it help you to succeed now that you’re the driving force behind the company? Titi and I didn't go to business school. We didn't have any mentors or special skills. We had to tap what we learned, whether it be at the kitchen table or an old saying that my grandmother passed on to us. The work ethic that my dad, Jimmy Branch, put in us was also really key. There would be no Miss Jessie’s without the support of Titi. We had a big sister-little sister dynamic, and she often made a lot of the decisions and handled business while I worked on the creative side. We weren't just business partners, but also roommates, best friends, and sisters. We were co-parenting. Could you imagine when we got into a fight and didn't agree on what color Curly Pudding should be? We would have to get in the same car and drive all the way home and then walk into the same house and then come back to work and do it again. We had the good fortune of being able to support one another in business. I know love was the key with Titi and I. And I think love really was the key ingredient to the success of Miss Jessie's. What advice would you give to other women founders? It's really important that you're confident in your womanhood, meaning knowing that your voice does count. Women are strong and women can be leaders. When a woman says no, her no is equally as solid and forceful as a man’s. I found that as a woman, just being taken seriously is important. You need the confidence to be able to sit at a table as the only woman and not second-guess yourself. We also tend to be hard on ourselves. So if we do make a mistake, which many of us do, I really encourage women to forgive themselves and try again. Next time you'll do much better. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Read about an earlier hair-care pioneer here. Sage Lazzaro is a New York City-based journalist covering tech, business, culture, women and diversity & inclusion. Her work has appeared in Refinery29, VICE, Medium, the New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.
With a Community of 50,000 Women, This Founder Is Taking on Sexism in Tech
BY sagelazzaro July 22, 2019Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we’ll chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. When Allison Esposito Medina gathered 20 women working in tech to chat about their experiences in the industry, she had no idea the group would quickly grow to 100, then 1,000, then in just three years 50,000. Revelations from that first meeting make clear why it did. “I started to realize that the same things I was experiencing were happening to all of them, too,” she told From Day One. “And that was really validating and really useful, so we naturally just kept growing out of that meet up.” It turned out they’d all experienced workplace sexism, harassment, gendered microaggressions, and the like. They’d all wondered, “Am I making this up?” And working in a male-dominated industry, they’d all been without a place to turn for support, guidance, and camaraderie. Esposito Medina eventually stopped working for tech companies to start her own — one dedicated to supporting women (trans and non-binary included) in the industry and making the infamously male-dominated field not just more diverse, but more inclusive as well. In 2016, she officially launched Tech Ladies, which operates both as a global community for women in tech and a job board matching some of the world’s biggest tech companies to diverse hires. Members have landed jobs at Samsung, PayPal, Slack, Square, Adobe, Trello, and Etsy, among others. They have access to Tech Ladies resources and events, like webinars and workshops co-hosted with companies like BuzzFeed. And on the daily, Tech Ladies provides women a community platform for discussing issues, asking for advice, celebrating achievements, and navigating their careers for success. We chatted with Esposito Medina to learn more about Tech Ladies, community building, and how companies can be more inclusive: What experiences did you find were common among those first women you met up with that inspired you to grow this community? Everything from the big issues you hear about (like being paid less than men) to workplace microaggressions—everyone was struggling with the same things. It became clear that gathering everybody together is one way of solving these issues. Being able to read about what other people are going through and having that sense of camaraderie is a huge step. "You can hire in a very diverse way, fill up a room, and just expect it to take care of itself, but it will not. You have to make sure that people are protected and that their contributions are taken seriously," Esposito Medina said. What’s an example of how Tech Ladies members swap information and support? One thing we do is our anonymous #HELPASISTEROUT hashtag, which invites people to email us so we can anonymize their question and share it with the group. That’s been really great because if you’re having issues with your boss, for example, you’d never want to put it out publicly. The comments on those threads contain so much wisdom and help from everybody that it’s been really surprising to me to see how willing strangers are to give their time and expertise. It really gives you faith in humanity. People write us back saying, ‘Reading the responses gave me the strength and skills I needed to ask for more money at work and I got it.’ Or in a really toxic situation, ‘I realized it wasn’t just me. It was toxic, and I left and I found a new job.’ It’s actually having an impact on people’s lives. And why do women need a community like this? What we hear so often is ‘I’m the only woman,’ ‘I’m the only person of color,’ or ‘I’m the only non-binary person,” either on a team or at an entire company. It’s just really nice to have a place where you’re not the only one. A place where you can bounce questions and ideas off people who come across the same issues you do. Just having that kind of connection is really powerful. It’s been really cool to see it grow because the more people who join, the more voices and perspectives we have. Some people say that women-only groups and environments are counterproductive to inclusion. What are your thoughts on that? I think that’s one of those things where I hope it will be true someday. And it will be true when things are more equal. But the reason I don’t think it’s true now is because the reality is that we see so many people who don’t have any camaraderie because they’re the only woman at work — especially at tech companies and in engineering roles. I think you also need a network with men in it, too. But I feel it’s easier for that to happen naturally, because most of the people you’re going to work with and forge relationships with—your bosses, mentors, and mentees—are probably going to be men in this industry anyways. I have tons of men in my circle who help me with so much. But I also think it’s nice to have a space for women and non-binary people because it can feel a little bit safer, especially around in-person events and networking. Or if you’re going to be vulnerable in an online community and post, you might feel more comfortable doing that with people who understand where you’re coming from. That’s why I think it’s still really valuable. What steps can companies take to create work environments that are not just more diverse, but also more inclusive? That’s such a good question because you can hire in a very diverse way, fill up a room, and just expect it to take care of itself, but it will not. You have to make sure that people are protected and that their contributions are taken seriously. You need to look at whether you’re structuring meetings so that everybody’s voice is heard. You need to truly take action to make pay and raises fair. You need to be transparent about your growth, so people don’t feel like they’re the outliers and the only one for too long. Do you have a great maternity and paternity policy? Do you have policies that help people who are trans? Even if you’ve never had a trans person on your team, start thinking about it. If you don’t have a pregnant person on your team yet, what happens when you do? It’s very easy for companies to just wait until these issues pop up and then try to figure them out, but that’s where a lot of people get into trouble. Figure it out as early as you can. The one thing we tell companies that seems so common sense to us, but always seems to blow their minds, is to just sit down and have one meeting to talk about ways to be inclusive. I’m not talking about having one meeting and never implementing any of it, but there are so many simple things. Make the bathroom for all genders. Hire an HR person, even freelance if you’re not making much money yet. There are online tools for anonymous feedback. Every company can do that for free. Just set yourself up to be receptive to change in small ways, build up a culture of inclusion, and stay committed to it. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Sage Lazzaro is a NYC-based journalist covering diversity, inclusion, and social justice across tech, business, and politics. Her work has appeared in Refinery29, VICE, Medium, The New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.
Are There Times When Gender Role Playing Is OK? This Founder Thinks So
BY sagelazzaro May 22, 2019Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we’ll chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. There’s a lot of talk about female founders, but what happens to their experiences when you throw a man into the mix? Despite how supportive a male-female founding dynamic may be, it’s not always possible to shake the gendered differences in how the partners are received by others. Chiara Adin is a founder who shares her role with a man — one she truly respects and loves working with. She’s the chief creative officer, and he’s the go-to for all things technical. Together, they founded N/A Collective, an NYC-based experiential marketing firm that works with companies like Twitter, SoundCloud, Casper, Tommy Hilfiger, and Revlon. But when it comes to having certain conversations with the team or presenting to clients, the duo will often strategize who does what, aware they may be received differently. Adin doesn’t quite see this as a bad thing and is happy to play to her strengths. A positive person by default, she feels society has come far in the last few years and that discussions — like this one — are what’s made it possible. We chatted with Adin to learn more about her experiences and advice for other female founders: You have a male co-founder, Aaron Mason. Do you ever find that certain conversations with investors, partners, teams, or clients go differently when led by you versus him? Yeah, I definitely find that there are really interesting differences. We try to use the fact that one of us is female and the other male to our benefit; for better or worse it works, but it is sad that we know there are certain circumstances where one of is better suited to communicate something. There are certain instances where a female has the ability to speak more openly, especially with female employees. We don’t necessarily have to be as concerned with tone because generally speaking, we’re fairly calm and level-headed. So I’m able to have some of the more stern conversations with the team, but at the same time, clients sometimes will be more receptive to him because I’m a female sitting in a room with all males. So it really depends, but I think the greatest part about having a male partner is having the ability to play with whichever situation makes the most sense. He’s a wonderful partner and we know and play to our strengths. I haven’t necessarily had any issues with gender in the workplace. It’s more just about playing to the audience, what makes the most sense, and who it’s going to be better received coming from. A still from "Cocktails and Cons," a SXSW event N/A Collective created to launch the show's second season on Bravo. This was a topic that got a lot of attention in 2017 when two women entrepreneurs made up a fake third co-founder, Keith, to further avoid discrimination. It worked — replies emailed to Keith were much more timely and respectful. Did you hear about this at the time? What do you think of it? I didn’t hear about that particularly, but I have a friend, a good friend of mine actually, who created a fake employee as well. She was the sole owner and basically created a Head of Accounting named Stewart. She found that people wouldn’t respond to her request to pay invoices, but they would respond to his, which I think in general is really interesting and really disappointing. Like why would you assume that just because somebody’s name is Stewart that he would be more suited to collect checks? It doesn’t make any sense. I can understand it given some of the panels and discussions I’ve been a part of and experienced at events like SXSW and others. I definitely believe that happened, and it’s a shame that they would have to create a fake employee or a fake partner just to get their funding. There are definitely circumstances where people unfortunately come up against that wall, but I personally have to say that I would never create a fake employee. I would just be loud and proud of who we are and what we do and who I am as a female. Even though you haven’t experienced a lot of it yourself, do you feel like some people are still quick to either intentionally or subconsciously see the man as the authority figure? Not so much anymore, but I definitely think that two years ago, the world was a different place. If anything, we get a lot of interest because we have a female founder. I actually just got a few emails the other day from people hoping we were more than 50 percent female-owned. Unfortunately we’re not, but I think it’s becoming more and more of a positive than it is a negative. But I also think it’s taking all of these discussions and articles to get there. We were not there two years ago, but I think we will get there and that we’re almost there. I mean, maybe not almost, but we’re on the right path. What advice would you give to other women founders? I’m not a super cocky person and am sometimes a little uncomfortable talking really proudly about everything that we do, but if you’re not your biggest cheerleader, nobody else will be. You can’t assume that anybody else will be as excited, dedicated, and passionate as you are about your business. And you don’t have to put your blood, sweat, tears and not do anything but work 24 hours a day to get off the ground, but you have to be smart and efficient and make sure that you’re talking about it. You should talk to anyone and everyone you know. Be vocal, talk to people you trust, and do whatever you can to make it a reality. Have a devil’s advocate to force you to think through your ideas. Find the people you respect who have a proven track record and ask them to mentor you through the process. Hone in on those people, and especially people from different backgrounds or different walks who can give you really well rounded opinions. Don’t be too humble, don’t keep it to yourself. Don’t think ‘Oh, I could never do this.’ If you have a brilliant idea, it’s worth at least investigating. But don’t just talk about it—you gotta make some action happen. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Sage Lazzaro is a NYC-based journalist covering diversity, inclusion, and social justice across tech, business, and politics. Her work has appeared in Refinery29, VICE, Medium, The New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.
As One of the First Women CEOs, This Serial Exec Has Experienced It All
BY sagelazzaro April 08, 2019Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we’ll chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. Gwen Manto has spent most of her career as not just the only woman at the table, but the only woman employed across the top four levels of management. When she first walked into a boardroom, she did so in a skirt-suit and pantyhose — pants were still a non-option for women (which, again, was really just her). Years later in another boardroom (still all men), she went into labor and stayed in the meeting for the remaining hour and a half through sweat and labor pains. “So it was…I would say it was a choice. It wasn’t forced on me,” she told From Day One. “I could have gotten up probably at any time. People were very accommodating to me when I was pregnant — I think, of course, because it was a novelty.” All this and then some went down during her long string of executive roles at some of America’s most popular retailers. After serving as VP and SVP of Macy’s and Toys ‘R’ Us, respectively, Manto became CEO of Kids Footlocker, and with it, one of the first women to hold the title at a major cooperation. From there she went on to hold EVP and CMO positions at Sear’s, Stein Mart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Sports Authority. After 45 years in retail, Manto’s business history can best be encapsulated by her favorite drink – the Cosmopolitan, a working woman’s cocktail of liberation and independence. The drink is one of the top offerings of her company mixallogy, which sells organic cocktail mixers made from "ugly fruit" to reduce waste. For the first time, she’s not just an executive, but a founder too. We chatted with Manto to learn more about being a glass ceiling-breaker and how she’s bringing her experiences into her founder role: Gwen Manto has helped run some of the biggest retailers in the country. Now she has a brand new role: founder. When you became CEO of Kids Footlocker in 1998, women executives were a true rarity — practically non-existent (even today, women account for only 4.8% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies). In that role and your subsequent executive positions, I’m sure you were the only woman in the room more often than not. What was that like for you? Not only was it 1998 and women weren’t executives, but I was also in an exclusively male-dominated field. It was originally challenging because I would go through entire days without contact with any other women. My peers were male, the people that worked for me were male, and all of our suppliers — Nike, Adidas — were all male. It was interesting to build relationships as a woman in this scenario because you were different, and obviously people treated you differently. I felt the need to fit in and be one of the guys. Even though I wasn’t really interested, I’d watch all the games and read Sports Illustrated cover to cover so I could stand my ground with them. This went on until our CEO at the time, my mentor, took me aside one day and said, “It’s great that you probably know more than they know about what happened in yesterday’s game, but the fact is it’s not really authentic for you. You’re here for a reason — because of your business acumen.” It was really a moment of realization for me, and it kind of released me from feeling like the foreign person in the room. So from then on, I stayed authentic to myself, and I think authenticity allowed me to build relationships, stay in the industry, and go on to similar roles. I’m glad you had someone looking out for you who stepped in to say “you don’t have to do this,” because it sounds like you felt pressured to fit in socially. And do you feel like you had to work harder to prove yourself, too? Were you held to a different standard by your male peers? I believe I was held to a male standard. When you ask, ‘Was it a higher standard?’ I think it was just a different standard. A great example is when I got to Dick’s, I was really looking to build relationships with our executive team and suggested having dinner with one of them. He said to me, ‘well I don’t think my wife would like that.’ And I really almost had to smile because I didn’t have any eyes on him or anything, but I think his wife would be sitting at home thinking ‘why would he go out with that new woman executive?’ You’re not typically invited to golf on Saturday with the guys because in most country clubs, women can’t tee off until 3 in the afternoon. These are givens, but there are other ways to build business relationships — by being a good partner in the business. I learned that through time. What’s a memorable experience you had in business that would only happen to a women? I can think of an example of something I did that a guy would never do. When I was CEO of Kids Footlocker, it was my dream job. For the first time, I could run the whole company, and I had a vision. But I worked in Manhattan, lived in New Jersey, and had three kids including a baby and a special needs child at home. I said I can’t go to work at 5:30 in the morning, get on the train and come back at 7 at night. I decided to find another job back down south where I could live closer to work and have a better balance. When I resigned they said, ‘Well, you know, there are no women here. We’ve given you the chance to do this job and blah blah blah. I don’t want to say you’re the token woman but you’re the only one and why would you do that?’ I think they were totally mystified why I would step off the track. Because at that point I think they considered me one of the guys, and I wasn’t acting like one of the guys. It’s not a typical thing a man would do. Typically they would get support from whoever was at home, so this was was hard for them to understand. I was worried this was going to derail me, but in the end it didn’t, and it gave me the confidence to move to the next thing. After 40 years in retail — specifically the male-dominated world of sports — Manto is ready for a new challenge. So- And as an aside, I did actually go into labor during a board meeting. Oh really? I sat there for an hour and a half in labor. And then I gave birth six hours later. So yeah, I think most guys haven’t done that either. Why didn’t you say anything or excuse yourself from the meeting? Do you think you would have if it were a different work environment — one with more women? Immediately upon seeing me perspiring, I suspect that if it had been a group of women, they would have said, ‘do you want a glass of water? Are you okay?’ At the time, everybody was in the moment, managing the business. And for me, I wanted to be there. So it was…I would say it was a choice. It wasn’t forced on me. I could have gotten up probably at any time. People were very accommodating to me when I was pregnant — I think, of course, because it was a novelty. Because there weren’t many women in business in general and I was 40 having a baby. So it was quite a thing. I think I was looked upon as ‘Wow, that’s a woman and she’s pregnant!’ And remember in those days, we didn’t even wear pants to work. We wore skirt-suits and pantyhose. How have your experiences as an executive and a woman in a male-dominated field influenced your approach to running your new company? When you start a company, it takes 100 percent of your business acumen to make it work. Being an entrepreneur calls upon all of my experience, all of my sense of people, all of my commitment, every day. I mean literally — whatever your experience is, you bring it there when you start a business. As a woman, I think I had a further advantage because we juggle a lot of different things that have different priorities. For me, I’m a female entrepreneur, but I’m also a female entrepreneur who’s 64. I started this business 18 months ago when many people would be retiring. When I walk into a room to raise money, they’re looking at me saying ‘she’s not even the typical female entrepreneur.’ There are positives (‘She has a lot of experience. She’s run a lot of big businesses’) and negatives (‘Hmm, how long is her runway?’) I’ve had a wonderful retail career of over 40 years and have created a lot of businesses. But nothing has been as rewarding as this because it addresses a need, and when I’m not solving problems, we’re just making people happy. Have a cocktail, shake it up. It’s fun. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Sage Lazzaro is a NYC-based journalist covering diversity, inclusion, and social justice across tech, business, and politics. Her work has appeared in Refinery29, VICE, Medium, The New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.
This Founder Insists You Take Time Off After Having a Baby (Even Though She Didn’t)
BY sagelazzaro March 21, 2019Welcome to She Leads, a series digging into the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a woman in business. In each piece, we’ll chat with a different founder about her experiences, the issues women face in business, and how they’re powering through in the face of adversity. Though vitamin company Ritual is all about women’s self-care, founder and CEO Katerina Schneider now admits she neglected her own during one of the most important times of her life, right after giving birth, in favor of the business. “I went back to work because we had some important launches coming up, but I actually wish I hadn’t,” she told From Day One. Schneider’s decision at the time was heavily driven by the business culture around her. In the male-dominated worlds of tech and venture capital, the pressure is on and the tolerance for family planning is low to none. In fact, most of the hurdles she has faced while building her company have been around her pregnancy, from a VC blatantly discriminating against her to a demeaning experience at one of the industry’s most renowned conferences. But despite all of this, Schneider has powered through and has learned from her negative experiences how to better the lives of her own employees and the landscape around business and family planning. At Ritual, which she founded in 2015, employees enjoy pregnancy accommodations that go far beyond what companies usually offer. We chatted with Schneider to learn more about starting a family while in business. Excerpts: You raised $40.5 million to date. The vast majority of VCs are men, so as a woman pitching a female-targeted company while also being pregnant, I’m sure that was no walk in the park. What was that experience like for you? Ritual offers a monthly subscription service, so you can get your daily nutrients delivered right to your door I was four months pregnant when we raised our first round, so my journey was a little bit different than than most. It was both kind of empowering and disempowering at the same time. The empowering part was that I quickly raised $1.3 million from really incredible VCs. With them, I was able to be really direct that I was pregnant from the initial conversation. It didn’t matter to them; they just believed in the vision. But in one not-so-empowering conversation, the male VC paused and said, "You know, you have two choices. You can either start a company or you can have a family, but you can’t do both." And that was not so fun. That was disheartening. But it actually served as a catalyst for me to really take someone’s "no," get more aggressive, and propel forward. A lot of women founders I’ve talked to say they have better experiences pitching and connecting with women investors. You’ve also partnered with a lot of women, so I was wondering if this has been your experience? Yes and no, because I did feel that from the men who backed me as well. Brian Singerman from Founders Fund gave us our first check, and he’s definitely not a female. In my seed and also angel rounds, it was a good mix of both male and female investors. Today, our board is 75% women. I think the industry is really changing in terms of female VCs and the attitudes and everything, and I think I was part of that early, early wave. I got to see that, which is really inspiring. Schneider (left of center) with some of her colleagues from Ritual That’s great—I love to see that happening. The last time we chatted was following TechCrunch Disrupt New York in 2016, where you were a finalist in the pitch competition but weren’t treated well as a new mom. The organizers wouldn’t provide a decent place for you to pump and ultimately stuck you on top of a broken escalator. A lot of time has passed and your company is flourishing, so how would you reflect on that experience today? We’ve had employees who’ve had kids since then, and I’ve made it a really big part of my job and vision to create a work environment that is conducive to having families. We had a pump room in our office even when we were smaller, which is very important to me. We have really good paid maternity and paternity leave for our size, offering three months paid and one month unpaid with fully covered health benefits throughout. And now that we’re closer to 50 people, we’re reevaluating this policy to see what else we can offer. (Editor’s note: California mandates six weeks of paid leave for new parents). And we even have babies in the office at times. Going through that really helped me realize the importance of that for employers, and I don’t know if I would’ve felt it as much had I not personally gone through it. (Twice now actually now; I’ve had two kids since launching Ritual). It changes your lens on what companies should offer their employees, what maternity leave should look like, and what people are actually going through during those times. Additionally, we recently launched a prenatal vitamin, and this has influenced the marketing, messaging, and sensitivities around it. Most companies in our space are run by men, and it’s different when you’re really building a company and product for yourself and around experiences you already had. I’m so dedicated to creating the best possible product and the best ingredients but also the messaging and everything around it. What advice would you give to other women founders, especially those navigating starting a family? Ritual touts its "no-nausea capsule design," which is intended to be gentle on an empty stomach with a delayed release formula I encourage my team members to take time off after giving birth. We have good policies, but I personally as the CEO and founder have taken no time off. I went back to work after a week of having my second child and, in hindsight, I kind of regret it to be quite honest. I want women who have companies and families to take time with their new babies and bond, because you’re kind of in it for the long haul when it comes to your company. I think it’s important. Also, I want them to know that you can do it all. I guess I’m a good example of that: we’ve raised over $40 million, I have a growing company, and I’m obsessed with my family, both my kids and my husband. It’s not easy and it takes work, but we women are capable of it all if that’s what we want. What made you come to regret going back to work so soon after giving birth? You know, I’ll never have the first couple weeks of giving birth back. I’ll never have that moment again. It’s something I thought I could prioritize the company over, but the company is still here and it will always be. I totally trust my team, and with a couple of weeks or even a month away, everything would’ve been fine. I’ve realized this as we scale, and I’ve grown to understand that self-care is important. So while I missed that, I now prioritize self-care in other ways and work out almost every single day even if it means taking time away from my kids and the company. You’re in it for the long haul. It’s not like some short stint. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Sage Lazzaro is a NYC-based journalist covering diversity, inclusion, and social justice across tech, business, and politics. Her work has appeared in Refinery29, VICE, Medium, The New York Observer, and more. Follow her on Twitter here.