News

An Update on The MarketHer

HI, STRANGER!

It's been a while. How've you been?

Why yes, yes, I do feel like your ex sliding into your DMs a few months after a break-up. (Only I promise my intentions are good.) I'll be the first to admit that The MarketHer has ghosted you big time. As someone who hates ghosting and prefers mature communication, I'm so sorry. I know the newsletter (and I) have fallen off the face of the earth these past six months, so I wanted to reach out with an update that's one part apology, two parts explanation, and a huge dollop of gratitude.

If we're connected on LinkedIn, you may have seen a version of this announcement back in January; I appreciate your bearing with me here. If we're not connected on LinkedIn, here's some context:

When I started The MarketHer in 2019, my goal was simple: To make job-searching less painful and leverage my network to help my former colleagues and peers find new roles they were excited about.

But then Covid hit. What began as a way to help WeWork alumni find new roles in the wake of mass layoffs turned into a website, blog, job board, and community for women in marketing and related industries. It became a way to highlight job-seekers and women who were pursuing creative side projects, founding their own companies, and effecting change through their nonprofits—women who were advocating for equality and diversity and, collectively, a better future.

I'm so grateful to everyone who's opened, read, and championed The MarketHer over these past 2.5 years. Your support means the world. I'm still committed to helping people find and create meaningful and fulfilling work, but these days, that commitment looks a little different than it did in the fall of 2019.

In January of this year, I joined a startup called Teal, which is on a mission to empower people to navigate their careers and land roles they love. Through a suite of free tools and resources, Teal brings insight, guidance, and automation to the job search and application processes, combatting many of the taboos related to careers and providing answers to the questions that it often feels there's no one but Google to ask.

It's a small but mighty team and an incredible adventure thus far. Within my scope, I'm overseeing all things brand and content: brand strategy, content marketing, social media, blog, email, newsletter, podcast, press and communications, and interactions with our community—and I'm thankful every moment that I'm able to work with a team of such intelligent, capable humans who are trusting me with the brand and giving me the space to grow, test and learn openly, and channel the ethos of The MarketHer into my daily work.

That said, I haven't carved out the space for The MarketHer the way I was once able to. The end of 2021 left me pretty burnt out, and the idea of sending the newsletter felt like too heavy a load. Now that 2022 is underway, my absence (and subsequently its absence) is a combination of wanting to give my new job my full attention and wanting to spend less of my spare time on my devices.


TL;DR:  

I still don't have perfect answers about what the future of The MarketHer looks like—but for now, here's the plan:

  • I'm going to take a step back from sending the newsletter and give myself permission to do so without guilt. The newsletter may be back eventually, but I'm not 100% sure when.

  • I've removed the password feature from the website and will continue to add open roles to it here on a rolling basis. I'm looking into switching over to a new format for the job board to make this process more seamless and will keep you posted.

  • If you or someone you know is hiring for a role within marketing, brand, comms, etc., feel free to submit it here.

  • I'll comb the job listings on the site regularly to make sure inactive roles are deleted.

  • If there's a role on the website that you're interested in, feel free to reach out and I'm glad to try to facilitate an intro. I'm also happy to connect with anyone on LinkedIn and help with intros if you want to tap into my network.

  • The MarketHer's social channels (Instagram and LinkedIn) have never been quite as active as I intended. I'll keep the pages up for now, but likely won't post too regularly.

HERE’S HOW TEAL CAN HELP:

Though The MarketHer may not be as active as it was when it first started in 2019, I'd love to continue to be of service to you throughout your search in whatever way I can. Fortunately, Teal has many more tools and resources than I had on my own—and it's 100% free to use.

If you're interested in checking it out, here are some places to get started:

Thank you, as always, for everything. For reading and sharing and liking and replying and championing. For supporting and emailing and posting and checking and understanding. I'm so very grateful.

With love,
Lia

Changes to the Format of The MarketHer

Hey friends!

Hope your summer is off to as great a start as possible. If you're anything like me, you're still figuring out how to navigate a "post"-pandemic world (with the understanding that it's still a very real threat).

Among the many changes I'm acclimating to these days: a new format for The MarketHer. Since the newsletter's inception in late 2019, the goal has been to help women find meaningful work, and to do so with a curated approach and tailored, personalized introductions. As the world's evolved—and with it my personal and professional circumstances—I've found there's a more streamlined, sustainable way to share open roles with this community. Here's what that'll look like:

  • 🆕Each edition of the newsletter will still feature new roles and opportunities, but instead of 30–75 roles per edition, there'll be a smaller amount featured in the newsletter, and the rest will live in a pretty AirTable form on The MarketHer's website. (See the video below for a sneak peek!)

  • 🚨You’ll now be able to sort the roles however you want—location, company, years of experience, and so much more.

  • 🔑 The AirTable form will be password protected so that members of the MarketHer community get access before non-members. The password will change regularly and be included in each new edition of the newsletter. Current password: NovembHER

  • 🔐Having trouble accessing the page? Let us know.

  • 👩‍💻In addition to full-time and part-time roles, we'll aim to up the number of freelance and contract opportunities listed so that independent workers who are in the market have additional support.

  • 📆When people submit new roles, they will be added directly to the site—so be sure to check back regularly for updates!

  • 👀I'll moderate the form on an ongoing basis to ensure inactive roles are taken down, but this new format will allow for greater longevity/visibility for open positions.

Have feedback about this new format? Drop me a line here.

And as always, if you know of an open role in comms, marketing, brand, social media, or related industries that you'd like featured in the next edition, please fill out this form.

Black Lives Matter

I held off on sending out The MarketHer last week. Instead, I muted. I listened. And began to learn. And un-learn. And diversify the embarrassingly homogeneous social media accounts I follow. I reflected. Read. Donated. Unfollowed. Subscribed. Signed. Researched. Emailed. Amplified. Made mistakes. Tried again. All of that is such a privilege to say—and it's only the beginning of what I want to be a lifelong commitment to anti-racism.  

As a white woman, I'll never fully comprehend the suffering that has stemmed from a long and painful history of systemic oppression, but to the Black community—and especially Black womxn—I see you. I hear you. I stand with you. And I want to be a better ally, not in a performative way, but in the truest sense. 

I'm grateful for the many amazing Black womxn who've shared their thoughts, voices, reflections, art, activism, and written work on social media, particularly over the past few weeks. There are a ton of incredible round-ups posted highlighting Black-owned businesses and brands to support; anti-racism and Black feminist books to read (and purchase from independent Black-owned bookstores); racial justice organizations to donate to; petitions to sign; educational media to consume; and Black creators to follow. The breadth of information that's at our disposal is humbling; now it's on us as allies to show up and do the work. Not all of that work will be visible to the outside eye or shouted from the rooftops on social media—and that's ok.  

This newsletter may be a tiny platform, but it's a step—and every single step counts. I want to be clear about my commitment when it comes to The MarketHer:

3 Organizations I'm donating to: 

  • The Okra Project—a New York City-based grassroots collective that aims to combat food insecurity among the Black transgender community—launched two new mental health recovery funds to provide Black trans men and women sessions with a licensed Black therapist, free of cost. Learn more here.  

  • Black Girls Code empowers girls of color ages 7–17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology. 

  • Naaya Wellness, founded by Sinikiwe Dhliwayo, is launching a new initiative called The Check-In that's designed to support BIPOC high-school students in maintaining wellness during COVID-19. The curriculum centers on yoga and meditation, and students will have access to a therapist to address and support their needs during the pandemic. 

3 Black womxn whose work I'm subscribing to on Patreon: 

  • Aja Barber is a writer, personal stylist and style consultant whose work focuses on sustainability, ethics, intersectional feminism, racism, and the ways in which systems of power impact our buying habits. 

  • Rachel Cargle is a public academic, writer, and lecturer whose activism and academic work provide intellectual discourse, tools, and resources centered on the intersection of race and womanhood. She is also the founder of The Loveland Foundation, an organization committed to bringing opportunity and healing to communities of color—especially Black womxn and girls. 

  • Nicole Cardoza is a social entrepreneur, investor, and public speaker dedicated to making wellness accessible for everyone. She founded Yoga Foster, a national nonprofit  that empowers educators with yoga and mindfulness for the classroom, and Reclamation Ventures, a fund that invests in high-potential, underestimated entrepreneurs who are making wellness more accessible. She's also the creator of the Anti-Racism Daily newsletter. 


3 promises for the future of The MarketHer: 

  • To ensure at least 15% of the roles listed each week are at companies with a Black founder and/or CEO. I promise to pay closer attention to the diversity of the companies I'm highlighting. 

  • To amplify voices of BIPOC—and especially Black— womxn through our newsletter, blog, and social channels. At least one of the recommended reads each week will be a piece written by a Black womxn.

  • To commit to anti-racism for the long-term: to continue to learn and unlearn, to donate to racial justice organizations on an ongoing basis, and to support Black-owned businesses with my dollar, not just my words.