The Wise Women’s Council 2021 is now open for applications.
Join our annual leadership program for women entrepreneurs, business leaders, and senior managers — who are also navigating pregnancy, parenting, and family life.
The Wise Women’s Council is back for a fourth year!
In 2018, we launched the first Startup Parent community mastermind for a group of talented, inspiring women entrepreneurs, thinkers, and do-ers. We expanded the program in 2019, and again in 2020, leading 28 women through a nine-month leadership growth journey over the course of the year.
We’re back for our 2021 cycle and we would love to have you join us. It’s a nine-month program for women change makers to come together to think through the puzzles of what it means to be a woman, a business owner, and a parent all at the same time (or pretty close to the same time).=
Over the course of many months, we will watch each other build, plan, break, build again, and all the things that happen behind the scenes of being a human being making work (and children) in the world. No one is immune to the struggle. Instead, we come together, to be in the arena together. We’re making it work, and we’re figuring it out alongside each other.
The Wise Women’s Council, a Startup Parent leadership incubator, is now open for applications for our Class of 2021. We’ll be accepting applications until February 15th, 2021. Take a look at the program if it’s something you are interested in and want to join.
So often I see women looking around, asking for mentors, questioning, “What’s next?”
You’re next. The time is now. You are the leader that the world is looking for. The good news: if it feels like it’s confusing, overwhelming, and intimidating — you’re well on your way. We’re a group of women dedicated to doing things that have never been done before, which means it is bound to be a little messy.
So what? We’re #boss when it comes to wiping up shit, managing the motherload, and negotiating with toddlers. Even after all that, we still get to work. That’s what it’s all about.
Leadership is big. It’s a lot. We’re here for you and your growth. It you’re here, I know that you are building something big with your life and your work, and it’s time for you, me, and all of us to step into our strength. But leadership shouldn’t mean doing it alone. Nope, not here. Here at Startup Parent, we build up the next generation of female founders and business women by leaning on the strength of each other.
We can’t do things the way they’ve always been done and expect different results.
Let’s forge a new path of working, parenting, and being. Together.
We’ll go deep. Talk about the important stuff. We’ve got big things we need to discuss, and we need to be in conversation with each other. Things break down when people are separated and isolated from each other. That’s why we need to be in community. We’ll be together for much of the year, discussing the things that matter, sharing on topics that need to be discussed.
Motherhood, entrepreneurship, pregnancy: it is currently way too lonely. Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that we need at least fifty people in our lives. I agree: we need way more people in our lives. More good people. The goal here? Meet new and familiar faces as we journey together through these challenging, but so rewarding, years of our lives.
We need other women in our lives. Not after-work drinking buddies. Not light professional connections. Not fake friendships. We need people who are in the trenches with us, thinking big, tackling the challenges of our generation. Women who are changing what it looks like to be a working woman and what it means to raise children.
Come for the yearly program. Make connections to change the rest of your life.
It’s not always easy to see where you’re going — or the fullness of your own potential. We’ll help you see both.
Do you have to be a parent to join?
You do not need to be a parent (or pregnant!) to join us. You should, however, have a desire to think about what it means to raise our future generations and be in the process of figuring out how pregnancy, parenting, or children will play a role in your own life. Want to support other mothers and women in their journeys? You can still join. It’s perfectly fine to join because you want to be around other women who are thinking about these issues along side you.
Do you need to be an entrepreneur?
Nope! It’s not a requirement that you identify as a strict entrepreneur. You can be anywhere in your business journey, whether that’s as a leader at a company, or someone building a side hustle along a job you love, or thinking about taking the leap. We have female founders who have been entrepreneurs for years and we also have badass leaders in all sorts of industries who recognize how important it is to be surrounded by other women who are passionate about making great work in the world. In the words of one person who is joining this year, “I know there’s a big move coming for me this year, but I don’t know what it is yet. I want to be able to be around other women while I make these big career moves.”
I’m currently pregnant — is now a good time or should I wait?
In 2019, we had two babies born and several women got pregnant while we worked together. In 2020, we welcomed eight new babies into the world together and listened and supported numerous women through fertility challenges, surprise pregnancies, planned pregnancies, and more.
You are welcome to join if you are planning to get pregnant, if you are pregnant, if you’re thinking about adding more kiddos — the thing about being a working parent is that the parenthood journey isn’t separated from our lives. For many, the parenting journey spans lots of years, lots of decisions, and lots of hopes, dreams, and tears.
What I recommend is that if you join while pregnant, plan to take at least three soft months away from the community if that’s what you need and what will serve you best. I also find that sometimes people need community at exactly this time in their lives, and so they come back into our group channel and group to ask those late-night, 4AM panic questions that they need help with, because this digital space is one of the villages we all need.
We’re looking for wise, creative women leveling up in leadership and life
We’re looking for wise, creative women leveling up in leadership and life. We’re looking for driven, thoughtful women who are passionate about changing what it looks like to do work in this world, whether that’s within an existing company or by starting a new one. If you’re an intra-preneur, or feel entrepreneurial and creative, come join us. We’d love to see you apply.
Apply here to join us in the 2021 Wise Women’s Council.
We can’t wait to see your application.
