This is a story I really love.Back in 2011 I was working for a federal agency in Washington, DC, and I was really unhappy with my job.
Despite my perpetual unhappiness, I met an amazing colleague there – Amy – who would later become a dear friend.
She saw how unhappy I was and bent over backwards to give me new opportunities, promote me to her colleagues, and do anything she could to help me and my career. (This will be important later!)
I was floored by her generosity and kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Could one female colleague and friend really help another without claws, drama, and insecurity? I hate to admit it, but I’d never witnessed one woman helping another so genuinely and so greatly.
Fast forward to the summer of 2012. I was home on maternity leave and Amy mentioned to me that she was taking a vacation to Mexico. Amy also *happened* to own a company publishing ebooks, and *happened* to have published a book that took place in…you guessed it, Mexico.
I knew she was working hard to promote the book so I offered to call the hotel (I speak Spanish) and see if she could do a reading there while on her trip. This time she was the one who was floored, and I was so happy to be able to do something to try and repay her for all she had done for me.
(My desire to repay her kindness relates to a key Femworking principle: the Law of Reciprocity, you can read more about that at this blog post!)
Amy’s book, Spring Break, is such an important part of our story that I still keep a hard copy on my bookshelf, and you’ll often see it in the background of my videos. See if you can find it next time! 😉
Amy and I quickly realized that it felt so easy and natural for us to want to grow each other’s businesses, but that we were sometimes shy or stuck when it came to growing our own. Being an entrepreneur often felt to me like I was standing in the eye of the hurricane, with confusion and chaos swirling around me. Everyone standing outside of the hurricane could look in and pinpoint exactly what I should be doing and what the next steps were to grow my business. While I felt blinded by the chaos around me, Amy would have the clarity that I so desperately needed.
As we continued to pour on the insight and do whatever we could to help each other’s businesses, we thought to ourselves, “this should be a thing – women growing their businesses by helping each other,” …and our little organization was born.
We gave it a name and began reaching out to everyone we knew to promote our first Femworking meeting, which took place with 6 women at a coffee shop in Alexandria, Virginia on January 6, 2013.
That’s me on the far right, and Amy across from me on the left. A few months later Amy let me know she
wanted to focus on her writing and leave Femworking to me. She had the foresight to know it was right, and even though her leaving was hard at first, she was right, and we’re better friends for it.
So that’s it! That’s our story – how it all got started.
Now we’re a multi-city network of passionate entrepreneurs who love to help each other grow – and we’ve love to help you grow too. So click the link below to RSVP to your first Femworking meeting. And if there’s not a meeting near you, start one!
RSVP today to one of our events!