As I write this, I am in the Phoenix airport about to board a red eye to Detroit that will then take me to Charlotte from which I’ll drive an hour and a half back to where I live in Greenville, SC. This was not my original plan but American Airlines and weather had alternate plans for me, so here I sit.
I am on my way home from one of my favorite events of the year. One of our investors hosts an annual gathering for all of the CEOs in their portfolio and they sure know how to put together an event. I found myself on a ranch outside of Tuscon where I spent way more time on a horse than I ever thought I would. The content is wonderful, the locations are great, and the community is so meaningful. Being a CEO is lonely, scary, and awesome all at the same time so connecting with others who are on a similar rollercoaster is huge for me. This marks year #5 that I have left these events feeling refreshed and ready to get after it.
As midnight approaches on the eve of International Women’s Day, I find myself reflecting on the learnings of the week and the continued reinforcements of what lights me up. I’m excited about a lot of things in my life right now*, and I am increasingly aware of one constant over my past decade of entrepreneurship: my desire to work with and uplift women. I get to work with my vbff**and have done so successfully and joyfully for the last 10 years. More than half of our team is made up of truly badass women and we serve a population of Executive Assistants that is made up mostly of women as well as a customer base that is increasingly female. I realize that I surround myself with powerful women everywhere except for my house (which is full of my husband and three sons).
I believe women have been and will continue to expand their presence in the world’s most powerful roles. I see trails being blazed every day. Progress is being made and yet there is more to be done. For instance, there are far fewer venture backed female founders in the world and though we are growing in number, my favorite investor event is still made up of mostly men.
But I don’t write this to talk about all of the progress that remains to be made. I write this to celebrate all of the women out there in all of our forms. The daughters, the sisters, the neices, the aunts, the mothers, those who love like mothers, the friends, the bosses, the one-day bosses, the brave ones, the shy ones, the sly ones, the funny ones….
You are what continues to light me up and what I believe will be a constant thread in anything I build.
Cheers to my fellow women on International Women’s Day (but really ever day because one day is nowhere near enough). I see you out there hustling.
*More on this later. My family is moving to Spain for a year in June!
** Very best friend forever
