Empowering Women to Embrace Their Ambition
I remember the first time I got a raise. I was in high school, working for a local pizza joint just down in a small Arizona town of just over 15,000 people.
I had just finished cleaning and closing down the restaurant from a busy day of racing around, taking orders, chopping red peppers, and doing all the other things one would expect from someone working at a pizza place. I was tired, sweaty, and had the distinct smell of sausage and stale tomato sauce wafting from my bleach-stained uniform — not my best, I assure you.
The owner of the restaurant walked up to me as I was finishing refilling the napkin containers on tables. He asked me to accompany him over to the cash register. I nodded, too tired to say much, and followed him behind the counter.
As we approached the register, he typed in his code to log in, went into his exclusive database, and tapped on my name. Not sure what was happening, I stood there silently, watching him tap the blue touch screen in front of me. Before my eyes, he chose the selection for “hourly pay” and increased the rate by $0.50 per hour.
I suppose I should remember what he said, but the truth is that I don’t. I was so struck by the fact that he had just given me another $0.50 per hour, and with the idea that this was the first time I’d ever been paid over minimum wage, that I don’t recall the conversation. I just know I thanked him profusely and headed home feeling like a millionaire.
50 cents may not sound like much, but remember that this is high school — a time when the only bill I can remember having was a “car payment” to my mom. She had fronted most of the money for my 2002 Chevy Cavalier, my first car, and I was paying her back with a portion of every paycheck I received.
That extra 50 cents an hour wasn’t just a way to pay my mom back faster. It also wasn’t just my way of working up a corporate ladder — after all, I was in high school and working at a local pizza shop. It was so much more than that. It was the first time I felt truly empowered; the first time I knew that if I put my mind to something, I would succeed.
This is a critical time for women. We may have gotten the right to vote decades ago, but we still haven’t reached a point of true equality with the men we work with on a daily basis. There’s a severe lack of women in traditionally male-oriented industries such as tech, science, and even advertising. Not only that, but women are also known to be underpaid compared to their male counterparts.
According to a March 2017 article in Seattle Magazine:
“Reports by several women’s advocacy groups show that women [in King County] who work full time earn 76 cents for every dollar earned by men, compared with 78 cents for the state as a whole.”
It’s important to note that this statistic is in the context of white women; for the situation is far worse for women of color.
This goes to show that although equality between men and women has come far in the last hundred years or so, we still have a long way to go. So, what can be done to continue to push this gap together? Further still, what is being done today?
The key is education, engagement, and empowerment. It’s about both men and women supporting and building up the women we interact with every day. It’s about spreading the word, having those difficult conversations with employers, and standing up for yourself as a woman who knows what she deserves.
Women who are just starting out in their career should feel empowered to ask for help, talk about money, and express their ambitions. Trust me — I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s the only way we’re going to get anywhere.
If we’re all talking about it, it’s going to start feeling less awkward and will raise all women up in the process.
If even just the idea of talking about these topics makes you want to hide under the sheets — trust me, I’m right there with you — that’s where Ladies Get Paid comes in.
This growing organization “provides education and support to help women advance in their careers.” They particularly focus on providing education in the form of workshops, webinars, and more; hosting town halls to give women a place to speak up; meetups; online communities; corporate programming; and a conference.
In fact, the first conference is kicking off their 2018 series this month in Seattle on March 31st and then go on the road to various cities across the country. The one-day conference, branded as Get Money Get Paid, is the first in a series of events designed to help women “be promoted into leadership, command your dollars, and embrace your ambition.”
If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking: OK, great, but what does that actually mean? That’s why I spoke with Ashley Louise, the co-founder of Ladies Get Paid, to find out what to expect at the conference.
The goal of the event is to not only have women feel inspired, but also come out of it with actionable steps to advance in their career and get a better of idea of what they want for themselves professionally.
To get women to that point, Louise mentions that attendees can expect “workshops on hot topics such as salary negotiation, personal finance and accountability, talks on how to rise up into leadership and create more diverse workplaces, and open forums for attendees to discuss their professional challenges and how we can solve them.”
While at the event, women will be encouraged to embrace their ambition. But, what does that actually mean? Louise explains:
“There are a lot of archetypes out there of how a woman should and shouldn’t be at work, what she should and shouldn’t want for her professional life, and what an ambitious woman looks like. When we talk about embracing your ambition, we want there to be a strong emphasis on the “your,” because your best professional life, and what you aspire to be, should only be defined by you. Some women want to run their own company one day, some want to be executives, some want a job that lets them travel, some want a job that lets them spend a ton of time with their family. We want everyone to define what their ambitions are on their own terms, and then help them get there.”
So, I implore you: how are you going to embrace your ambition?
Who’s This Chick?
I’m a Seattle-based content marketer and writer who loves exploring the topics of storytelling and community building. I help brands tell their stories and write some of my own. Outside of that, I’m an anxious introverted millennial looking to find my place in the world. :)
Learn more about me and see some of my work here: ashhmarketing.com
Find me on Twitter: @ashhmarketing
