Happy Wednesday!

It has taken me a while to put pen to paper this week because the last months have been fraught to say the least. Between the pandemic, political tensions and the economy it has been a stressful time to find something uplifting to write about!

The thing that has been keeping me up most at night is the economic destruction that the pandemic has brought. If you look at the indices, life looks rosy. And if you are part of the pajama class who have made the transition seamlessly to working from home, congratulations, but there are many of our society who have not and it has laid bare just how wide the income gap is. Back in September 2019, that gap was at a five decade high before the pandemic struck. We see it here in Austin through the lens of a rash of car break-ins and package thefts, and a startling article from December notes that Austin food pantries are struggling to keep up with demand and expect elevated demand levels to continue through 2022.

Headlines like the recent one in Forbes, Where Have All the Women Gone? underscore the need for groups like ours where we can provide networking, job leads and support for our community. To quote from the article, “a newly released Institute for Women’s Policy Research report stated that, from February to May 2020, 11.5 million women lost their jobs (compared with 9 million men), and between August and September another 865,000 left the labor market (four times the number of men who were no longer employed or looking for work).” And for women who still have jobs, working remotely in homes with children has provided a whole new set of challenges. The full article can be found here.

If you are an employer, there are some things you can do to support your female staff including redesigning flexibility, figuring our sustainable workloads and getting male colleagues on board. The full article can be found here.

Lastly, for those of you considering your next chapter, which may include board service, Nancy Wang, the founder of OnBoarding Women wrote a helpful article on finding your way onto a board, and the upshot is that it is never too early to start planning because your career path is part of what gets you a coveted seat. The full article can be found here.

All of our events this year will be interactive and include a networking component which means a chance to interact with both our amazing speakers as well as each other! You will note below that we are starting with help for our working moms with the founder of Parents Pivot. I am also thrilled that we will be hosting Michele Smith, RYT for her coveted Resiliency Training Workshop because resilience is something we all need. We are also excited to host the founder of Downward Dog Wines who will share her entrepreneurial journey and lead us in a tasting of her delicious product. Check out our site for more details.

I would ask each of you to consider corporate sponsorship of TXWSW. Benefits include attendance at our flagship events and recognition for your firm.  And most importantly, you help us support the life-changing work of the Young Women’s Preparatory Network. To learn more about YWPN, you can find a short video here. To learn more and sponsorship, you may find our sponsor information here. Additionally, we would be happy to create a custom sponsorship for you. Please contact Bianca King at developmentdirector@txwsw.com

Kind regards

Christine