The Innovation Fund is a four-week crowdfunding competition that gives VFA Fellows the opportunity to launch their business ideas and projects. Eleven Fellow-led teams are off to the races sharing their new ventures with the world and hustling to raise as much money as possible on Indiegogo between now and March 16th. Between now and August 4th, the team that raises the most money will receive additional funding to launch their venture.
Kate Catlin is a Business Development Analyst at Detroit Labs, where she works to sell their unique Apprenticeship programs to large enterprises. She herself graduated their program and spent a short time as an Android Developer. She now lives in Boulder, CO and spends all her post-work hours on a bicycle, a mountain or (preferably) both at the same time.
Late fall of 2014, I found myself feeling absolutely lost.
I would soon be switching career tracks for the 3rd time in the 18 months since I had graduated from college (I began in community management, transitioned to a software development role, and then landed in tech sales). I had no idea who I was, what I wanted, or if I’d ever find what I was good at.
Hitting such a “breaking point” seems to be a universal truth among women at some point in our lives. These are usually followed by terrible decisions, especially if early in our careers. In my case, these poor choices included leaving a job before having another one lined up, a completely botched raise ultimatum and stress-eating many fish tacos from a sketchy taco joint.
However, while the ramifications from bad taco decisions may pass, outcomes from bad career decisions may not. It’s at these such breaking points that 56% of women in tech leave the industry.
It would have been helpful to see someone who looked or talked like me blazing the way for a career path I wanted to follow. Yet they rarely are: A 2011 report by McKinsey found that women claim only 37% of mid-manager roles and 26% for VP roles and up.
Like 82% of women in America, I wanted a mentor. If you do the math, that means 64 million professional women in America are seeking a mentor. Compare that to the number of single women in America, 53 million, and there are more women in America seeking a mentor than seeking a date. And yet –only half of millennial women say they have a mentor at work.
Why is this happening? Mostly because we don’t ask each other!
A Levo League survey found:
- 95% of women had never sought out a mentor at work.
- And yet, 67% of women who said that they have never been a mentor said it’s because no one ever asked
It’s like we’re a nation of women who can’t work up the courage to ask each other out on a date.
That’s where Women Rising came in.
If sociogenic factors prevent us from making our own connections, I decided I would create a platform to do it for us.
Women Rising is like online dating for career-empowering connections. It’s free to join, and anyone from any career level is welcome. Each month you can choose to opt into mentorship, peer meetups, or both.
Peer meet-ups are meetings between women of the same career goal, level, industry and extracurricular interests. Our code sends out an intro email to local women in groups of three, and they find a time amongst themselves to meet up for coffee or a beer. If there’s chemistry or friendship, they meet again. In either case, they can meet two more women next month.
Mentor meet-ups can happen between women anywhere start with only a 30 minute Skype call. Mentees can ONLY request a mentor if they have a specific question. If the question can be resolved in 30 minutes that’s perfect. Otherwise, it once again depends on chemistry. If both the mentor and the mentee resolve to meet again, that’s great. If not, there’s always next month!
In one member’s words:
“I’ve been more on the giving end than receiving for advice and mentorship with Women Rising. From the peer mentoring part of the platform, I’ve met four new ladies. I continue meeting with one, Jessica, who I was matched with in December. She is working toward a degree and a career in Information Security. We have a lot in common and I saw a lot of my younger self in her. Because our career paths are similar, we decided to keep meeting. It will definitely be a long-term relationship created by the Women Rising peer mentorship program! It also inspires me to keep myself moving forward. I love that I’ve been able to share my experiences and feel like I’ve helped ladies to further their careers!”
Here’s our dream: What if we could help all 82% of women seeking mentorship, to actually have a meaningful mentor? Would we have more women in leadership? What would Silicon Valley look like if more women were encouraged to start companies? What would our economy look like? Yes, we’re just making connections, but those small interactions are the ones that comprise the entire world.