Women supporting women in business and beyond
On February 24, 2020, the women of Yakkety Yak stepped out of the office to attend the Chicago Business Journal’s Bizwomen Mentoring Monday, a networking event for women in business sponsored by the Girl Scouts of the USA. The Chicago-based event was one of 43 similar events held across the country to allow female leaders in business to share their expertise in one-on-one coaching sessions. This means that Yakkety Yak was a part of nearly 10,000 influential and inspiring businesswomen from Hawaii to New York who took part in elevating female entrepreneurship.
Our very own CEO Ashley Logan served as one of the mentors and invited the other female members of the Yak Pak along as mentees. For her, being a mentor offers the opportunity to provide other businesswomen with hard-earned and meaningful advice to help them navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship.
“It’s been invaluable to my entrepreneurial journey to have other women help me answer the big and small questions about running a business, so I was excited to share this experience with my team,” says Ashley. “That’s why it’s important to have events like this to connect us with each other.”
We spent the morning connecting with a host of impressive women in all areas of business: founders, owners, CEOs, presidents and vice presidents from the Chicago area and across industries. Through speed-dating style face-to-face meetings, these leaders opened up about their roles and how they climbed the ladder and forged their own paths to reach the tops of their industries. From female CEOs like Ashley to Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia to the Chief Marketing Officer of Sprout Social Jamie Gilpin, these mentors shared expertise and insight on a wide range of topics centered around being a woman in the business world.
Another mentor at the event, Michelle Damico, founder and CEO of Michelle Damico Communications, recommends events like this for meeting young professionals, as well as looking for new talent. Her advice for anyone—and especially any women—looking to break into the business world?
“Just go for it,” says Michelle. “Don’t listen to your self-doubts and hold yourself back. We all have imposter syndrome—it never goes away—and the only way to overcome that is to ignore your own self-doubts, look at your competitors and say ‘I can do this too.’”
Sarah Kellogg, our VP of strategy, notes that events like this one are a great way to find like-minded entrepreneurs to collaborate and connect with.
“I loved listening to other women advocate for themselves—whether they’re running their own businesses, looking for new opportunities or just soaking up the chance to interact with other cool businesswomen,” says Sarah.
Yakkety Yak Associate Content Strategist Morgan Gallas found it important to ask questions about the roadblocks these women have faced in getting to where they are today.
“Women came together at this event to help raise each other up through sharing their knowledge and expertise,” says Morgan. “And although I attended as a mentee, it struck me that we all have the unique opportunity to mentor other women in our lives.”
At Yakkety Yak, we seek to dismantle the glass ceiling by empowering women to pursue opportunities for personal growth and professional development. As Sarah puts it, we’re a small but mighty team motivated to make an impact. Plus, as a woman-owned company, we’re no strangers to females excelling in leadership—in fact, most of our leadership roles are fulfilled by women! We believe that women bring essential and unique skills, traits and perspectives to the table. Learn more about the work we do here.
