Purpose (Why We Exist)
To lift up women who lift up the world.
Vision
Our vision is to amplify the singular power of women to create a more equitable world.
Mission
As an inclusive economic empowerment organization, we help women business owners and aspiring women entrepreneurs launch and grow their business by providing greater access to the resources, tools and support they need.
Our Values
Respect
We see the value in all voices
We show respect by
- Using language that assumes good intentions and competence
- Communicating in an open, direct and compassionate manner
- Utilizing active listening techniques to ensure people feel heard.
- Deepening individual self-awareness so we are able to identify our biases that can make the first three ways of showing respect challenging
Equity
We clear the path to the table so all voices can be heard
We show equity by:
- Boldly defining, and then practicing, transparency for our organization
- Prioritizing individual and collective staff development in the budget and
- Providing multiple means of engagement to co-create and implement our vision, mission, and strategic goals
- Keeping equity as a central consideration by examining our own relationship to inequity and constantly challenging the invisible walls of our organization & culture
Collaboration
We create connections between voices to leverage collective genius
We show collaboration by:
- Routinely sharing resources, challenges, solutions, and the success and failure of those solutions
- Including multiple perspectives in key projects by creating diverse teams
- Leveraging individual staff strengths, passions, and expertise on projects
- Partnering around our individual weaknesses enabling all of us to utilize and develop our skills fully
Innovation
We celebrate and cultivate bold ideas and curiosity from all voices
We show innovation by:
- Staying up to date on the latest trends and research in business, technology and culture
- Embracing failure as a normal part of experimentation
- Consistently creating space for both extrovert and introvert creative
- Courageously embracing and implementing a de-centralized organizational structure and clear systems of mutual accountability that meets the needs of our funders as well as the needs of our mission, our values, and our staff.
Joy
We use our voice to energize, engage and inspire each other
We show joy by:
- Collectively celebrating successes and milestones - both personal and professional - as well seeking the humor in our failures
- Bringing our “true self” to work, thereby encouraging others to do so as well
- Sharing moments of humor – “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people” – Victor Borge
- Having meaningful conversations with colleagues and clients