What is the top challenge you see facing women in business today?
Having recently become a mother, I am starting to notice how challenging it is for female entrepreneurs postpartum. I run my own business and I gave myself a three-month “maternity leave,” however, that time period wasn’t paid leave. In addition, since I am still nursing my son, going back to work means I will now need to pump milk every few hours throughout the day in order to maintain my supply. It’s incredibly physically demanding and will definitely impact my ability to run my business as I did before.
What is one thing that you wish you had known when starting out your own career?
I wish I had known just how rapidly the media landscape was going to shift and change. With the rise of social and digital media, everything transformed in just a few years. Loads of career paths and job opportunities arose, and people were able to monetize in entirely new ways.
When I graduated college in 2014, I had a pretty traditional view of what a career in the media field would look like. But the space changes every year (honestly every month!) and it’s so important to be adaptable.
What is your career advice for other young professional women?
Don’t undervalue yourself. I find that when many young women go to a job interview, they tend to be very nervous because they aren’t sure if they’re the best candidate and they hope the company chooses them. However, it’s important to remember that being hired is a two-way street. Yes, a company is paying you, but you are providing services for them, and those services are valuable! At an interview, you should also be interviewing the company and seeing if THEY are good enough for YOU!
What digital tools can help women expand and improve their brand’s online social media presence?
Establishing a presence across all social media platforms is important. It’s okay to put most of your focus and attention into one primary platform, but I think it’s vital to at least have a presence on all of the key platforms. You don’t need to create original content for each platform (content can be repurposed, recut, and reused), but being on more platforms equals more eyeballs and more opportunities to reach new audiences.
What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned from building your own brand?
When it comes to building a social media presence, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Of course, it sounds magical to go viral overnight and to have your account explode with hundreds of thousands of new followers immediately, but growing a dedicated audience slowly from years and years of showing up and providing valuable content will help your audience feel strongly connected to EVERYTHING you share (not just a one-off viral video).
Why is confidence so important for women when it comes to finding business success?
Being an entrepreneur can be difficult. Particularly in the media space where you’re sharing everything publicly and receiving public feedback and criticism on everything you share. Feeling confident in who you are and what you’re doing is vital because, without that confidence, it may feel easier to just give up. It might feel safer to stop being an entrepreneur altogether and to just opt for a desk job where you don’t have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone quite as often. But to have a shot at being successful, you must keep showing up, so confidence is key.