What I have Learned Nurturing A Community of Brilliant Women

For the last 5 years I have had the privilege of nurturing a community of brilliant, high-achieving women. This is what women – albeit busy, exhausted, overworked and underpaid  –  have taught me: 

When you are vulnerable and ask other women for help, they not only show up, they typically bring more than you ask for. Women are care-givers.

When you have a problem, women will research the answer, find the most efficient solution, and list not just one option, but several. Women do their homework.

When you mess up, and speak out of line, or hurt someone unknowingly, women will accept your apology. Women are grace-givers.

When you need emergent help (think: you are out of town and suddenly your son has medical emergency) women show up. They will drop whatever they are doing to help another woman – even if they’ve never met in real life. 

When you are criticized for being a woman, or you experience bias, women will come to your defense. Do not mess with a woman who has a gang of women behind her. Women are protectors. 

When you are shamed for a mistake you made, and you feel like a failure, women will lift you up. They will remind you that you are more than the sum of your biggest errors. Women are encouragers. 

And the biggest thing that I have learned building a community of women, is that despite not being paid the same as men (for the same work), despite being judged for the color of their skin, their femininity or being mothers, women show up. They walk through their days with immense resolve. With focus. With determination. With strength. With purpose. They care for others in their workplaces, in their communities, in their family. Over and over, they show up.

With grit. And with grace. 

This is what women have taught me. 

What have women taught you?