A Woman's View from the Street 8/6/18

TXWSW, Limitless

Happy Monday!
We have our tenth Anniversary Celebrations coming up in August and September. Please keep an eye out for the event postings as the Board Members and I will be attending the events and would like to meet as many of you as possible. It has been a pleasure to watch this organization grow and follow the successful career trajectory of our members over the last decade. We have some new initiatives planned and are excited for the future!
Please note that all of our events beginning in August will be on our new membership management platform, so you will see a new system when you login to register. We hope you will find the new interface more user-friendly! Please have patience with us as we make the full transition this month! As always, you can reach us on info@txwsw.com if you need help!
To begin, Pitchbook notes that female-led companies are having a very good week in VC-land. The RealReal, ClassPass, Guild Education and 23andMe have all raised substantial funding setting a record for venture funding going to female founders during the third quarter of 2018 bringing the total to 4.6% which is up from 2.9% last quarter and just about 2% for all of 2017. The full article can be found here.
In June, Barbara Humpton took the helm as CEO of Siemens. Early on in her engineering career she was counseled by a mentor that she would have to choose between children and her career after the birth of her second child. Her strong support network at home and at work helped her push past the naysayers. The full article can be found here.
Beth Ford, who takes the CEO role at Land O’Lakes on August 1st will be the third openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the first woman. She is taking over at a time when the dairy industry is dealing with Trump’s tariffs making it a challenging time for the company. The full article can be found here.
From the even more good news file, companies in the S&P 1500 index are adding women to their boards more quickly due to investor pressure. Women-held seats increased from 19% to 21% in the first half of 2018. It is amazing what a little pressure can do! The full article can be found here.
Finally, from D-Magazine, their restaurant reviewer, Eve Hill-Agnus, reflects on the misogyny and condescension she experienced during 5 weeks of meals at Dallas’s best steakhouses. The magazine’s annual cover feature on top steakhouses meant she was eating at a steakhouse 5-6 times a week for 5 weeks and what she experienced was bias, microaggressions and mistreatment. The full article can be found here.
We have some terrific events lined up for you in 2018 including our ten-year anniversary celebrations in August! We look forward to seeing you all at an event in 2018! To learn more about our 2018 events, please visit www.txwsw.com.
To help us celebrate our ten-year anniversary, I would ask each of you to consider corporate sponsorship of TXWSW. Benefits include attendance at our flagship events and recognition for your firm. To learn more, 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

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