Women Trade Favors, Minus the Guys

This is a press release I wrote this week... wanted to share here:

Imagine being able to share the most confidential of your professional challenges, anonymously or openly if you choose, to hundreds of peers for instant feedback and advice.

Now imagine those peers have taken a pledge promising to help you.

The idea, based entirely on the honor system, has fueled a movement within the digital industry. When she first started TogetherDigital, formerly Women in Digital, the group’s founder, Alaina Shearer would drive from city to city holding meet ups in co-working spaces, restaurants or even dive bars. Without funding or sponsors, they would take whatever space they could find to meet. “Looking back, it seems absolutely insane,” Shearer recalls. “One time I remember standing on a bar stool so everyone could hear me pitching them this wild idea of sisterhood.” That idea is now a community of nearly 2,000 women across the country and the group is enjoying venue upgrades as brands like Google offer to host them within their space.  

The organization is part social group and part professional association, and is almost entirely funded by member dues, or “investments” as Shearer calls them. These come from individual members mostly, or from corporations buying memberships for entire digital teams. “We’re essentially building and designing this for ourselves,” says Shearer.

Between membership revenue, event ticket sales and sponsorships, TogetherDigital is on pace to reach $1 million in revenue in 2019. The group is also reporting sales growth of 33% year over year.

The group’s members, all professionals in digital advertising, marketing or media, operate on the honor code stemming from a pledge taken upon joining. The pledge includes a promise to offer 12 gives to one another and to make 12 asks to one another per year, or once per month. As it turns out gives are easiest for members, while the asks serve as the most challenging, but once fulfilled by far the most rewarding.

After making Asks members have reported anywhere from 10K to 60K raises, successful maternity leave negotiations, the confidence they need to crush their next presentation or new networks filled with rewarding professional friendships.

“As women, the odds of making it into the C-Suite are stacked against us. By joining forces, together, we can make major headway in beating those odds. And at the same time, we’re creating a much needed community,” says Shearer who has plans to expand Together to additional industries as soon as the first iteration, TogetherDigital, is perfected.

A life changing network.

The idea that any product or service, let alone a membership to a professional association can change one’s life is a very tall order. But TogetherDigital promises its members they can and will experience if they engage with an ask or give.

“At first when I heard ‘life-changing’ in our member research I thought it was an outlier. But now we’ve heard it time and time again from women at all ages and stages of their careers, that it’s no longer something we can ignore. Our mission is to change our member’s lives.”

In a recent social media post, TogetherDigital asked its members to share what they have gained from membership. Comments range from “I have learned my value and gained critical knowledge for my job so that I no longer feel like I’m ‘faking it until I make it’ and instead feel and sound like an expert in my field” to “I learned that vulnerability gives way to growth, TogetherDigital has been transformative for my life.”

“This group is a true tribe. And women need that tribe,” said Gypsi Pate, a St. Louis Board Member who recently attended a meet up just two weeks after having brain surgery to remove a benign tumor, arrived escorted by her nurse and spoke from her wheelchair. “We need each other,” she said, “and when we’re here, we’re here for each other. That’s why I came today, because this is my tribe.”

TogetherDigital provides three core membership benefits: a private online community on Slack, virtual Peer Circles and continuing education through private member interviews. In addition, dozens of chapters are holding monthly meet ups and TogetherDigital holds a national conference annually in Columbus, Ohio.

The Slack platform, about to go public, gives the group the ability to create channels for conversation like the #member-wins channel or the #mansplain channel. There is also a plethora of technical channels specific to their industry. For example the #social, #paid or #webdesign channels. On average, TogetherDigital members are sharing 30,000 messages a month. Most of the messages bear favors, technical tips on digital tools and strategies or virtual hugs and words or encouragement. Depending on the ask, members have received anything from ten to sixty thousand dollar raises, paid maternity leaves or advice on how to conquer the latest iteration of Google Analytics. Ultimately, if a member is facing an issue at work she can instantly find a solution from another member.

“It’s like a full service support team on everything and anything you could imagine,” says Kelsey Grassman a Cincinnati member.

No men allowed.

With the exception of the national conference and one meet up per year, the group intentionally excludes men. Legally, a man would be permitted to become a member or attend an event, although to date none have tried. The event descriptions ask men to kindly support in other ways, via sponsorship, attending the national conference or buying memberships for female team members.

It’s a touchy subject but one Shearer and her members are willing to take head on.

“When we so much as mention allowing men in with memberships, I have potential anarchy on my hands,” says Shearer. “My members want and need a space for themselves and that’s worth fighting for and defending.

Besides, if men were in the room or the conversation, what would it be about? It wouldn’t be about us, it would be about them and how they can help us, or whether or not they behave in a sexist fashion. If a handful of men are in the room, we're in good shape. But if there were a 20/80 split or 30/70 it wouldn't be the same experience. We’re here to address ourselves, each other and what we can control. And ironically, it’s actually very productive for us to just have that freedom to be alone with one another.”

As Shearer points out to her audiences, “when are we ever alone?” The answers: baby showers, wedding showers, bachelorette parties, or the restroom. “And when are men alone?” “The boardroom,” the audience shouts out. Clearly there’s an advantage in having time to ourselves and we feel that every time we meet.

Clearly there’s a lot to catch up on.

About TogetherDigital:

TogetherDigital is an association dedicated to accelerating the advancement and growth of women in digital fields by giving women the most powerful tool in their arsenal: one another. Alaina Shearer founded the organization in 2016 with the purpose of helping women find their power. Today, TogetherDigital is nearly 2,000 members strong, with chapters in 23 cities with more on the way. Their events have attracted over 40,000 women across the U.S., growing women’s networks every day, with most members referred by each other. Today, they’re focused on connecting, but TogetherDigital has big plans for 2019 and beyond.

For more information, visit www.TogetherInDigital.com and follow TogetherDigital on Facebook, Twitter (@WomenInDigital) and Instagram (@TogetherInDigital), and on LinkedIn.