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Second Shift Members—

After a day of sadness, too many cocktails and glass ceilings left intact we have to get on with business and do what we can to make a difference for the women in our growing community. The Second Shift is not involved in politics but we are in the female empowerment business and the idea of the 1st female President was, and remains, a goal we hope to see in our lifetimes.  That said, instead of focusing on the negative, let’s look at the positive:

• Our members continue to astound us with the sheer magnitude of their unparalleled awesomeness.  To date we have 650+ members and that grows weekly as we add more women to the network. There is a waiting list thousands long to join us. As we grow in numbers the business world is embracing our call for flexible work options.
• Every month the number of jobs coming to The Second Shift grows. Just this past month we worked with companies like Microsoft, Outbrain, CAA and XO Group.
• We are currently in San Francisco meeting with business leaders, strategizing a digital marketing campaign and on-boarding a local head of sales (both with women from our own membership obvi).

Things are moving forward quickly and we are so excited about what we have all accomplished over the past year. 2017 is going to be a major year for all of us– and that is something we should all be proud of. We are honored to have you as part of our community and we feel a huge debt of gratitude to you for putting your trust in us.  We won’t let you down.

Let’s do this!

Jenny and Gina

We recently published our first piece of thought leadership for Entrepreneur online and it was a big success for The Second Shift and brought new eyes to our business and our pool of talent. Helping to shepherd this from idea to publication was our new featured member Cori Howard. She worked with Jenny to keep focused and on deadline and then pushed it through to publication. It would not have happened without her, so thank you Cori!

Here are some tips from Cori about why the creating your own content is invaluable to any business.

1. What is thought leadership and why is it important for businesses?

Thought leadership is a relatively new and very important media strategy for business leaders, corporate executives and CEOs today. Thought leaders – innovators who drive the conversation around a particular industry – don’t wait for media to come to them. They bring their message directly to a global audience through high-profile published articles and guest blogs. it helps raise awareness, builds a brand – for a company or individual – and provides a way to share ideas important to your company or industry with a large audience.

2. How do you work with companies and individuals?

The first step is brainstorming to define goals, target the right publications and come up with a list of compelling story ideas. The stories have to be original and contribute something new to the conversation already taking place online. And they can’t be overtly self-promotional. It’s a tricky balance to find just the right combination of what’s useful for a publication’s readership and what’s useful for the CEO.

3. How did you get into this?

I spent 15 years as a journalist and another ten in PR. Thought leadership is the perfect combination of both jobs. It involves research, writing, editing, a strong story sense and media placement. It allows me to use all my skills to help other people tell their stories, which is my passion.

4. Did you enjoy working with us? I am sure it was hard to keep cracking the whip to keep me focused 🙂

As a working mom who has struggled with my own choices around full-time and part-time work, and as someone now fully embracing the gig economy, I was very passionate about this story and I’m very passionate about what you’re doing at The Second Shift. So that made all the pestering emails to get your feedback and all the edits and research worthwhile.

Catching up on old issues of the NYTimes and read Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Op-Ed from Oct 2. Truly inspirational words about the people in her life who helped her and supported her through her life from her parents to her teachers to her in-laws and husband. It can’t have been easy to enter law school in 1956 when women accounted for less than 3% of all lawyers in the U.S… and she was pregnant with her first child. Here is her father-in-law’s advice to her at the time:

“By the end of 1954, my pregnancy was confirmed. We looked forward to becoming three in July 1955, but I worried about starting law school the next year with an infant to care for. Father’s advice: “Ruth, if you don’t want to start law school, you have a good reason to resist the undertaking. No one will think the less of you if you make that choice. But if you really want to study law, you will stop worrying and find a way to manage child and school.” And so Marty and I did, by engaging a nanny on school days from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.Work-life balance was a term not yet coined in the years my children were young; it is aptly descriptive of the time distribution I experienced. My success in law school, I have no doubt, was in large measure because of baby Jane. I attended classes and studied diligently until 4 in the afternoon; the next hours were Jane’s time, spent at the park, playing silly games or singing funny songs, reading picture books and A. A. Milne poems, and bathing and feeding her. After Jane’s bedtime, I returned to the law books with renewed will. Each part of my life provided respite from the other and gave me a sense of proportion that classmates trained only on law studies lacked.”

Co-Founder Jenny Galluzzo wrote an article for Entrepreneur about how and why flexible work is changing the options for working women. Here are her four reasons why the gig economy is working for women:

1. Project-based work provides benefits.

Women who are choosing to work in the gig economy understand they won’t have an executive level salary, job security, benefits or a consistent work schedule. But they also understand that in exchange, they get freedom, flexibility, balance and ownership of their lives at a crucial moment. They also get a sense of renewed optimism about being able to step back in if and when they desire. In other words, they stay in the game, but on their own terms.

2. Part-time working moms are happier.

Recent studies show that women who work part-time are more engaged both at home and at work. The reason is balance – not feeling like their personal equilibrium is off and the stress is too much to bear. Obvious, perhaps and not possible for everyone. But the rise of the gig economy has meant part-time work is an option for more women.

3. Freelancing may make flex work the new normal.

If women stay in the game and take on leadership roles, the acceptance of freelance, contract work as a viable career path may trickle down through the corporate world, even in industries like finance and marketing that haven’t typically embraced flexibility. It may even change attitudes toward working parents in general. If the boss sees a positive result from a changing culture, it will create a friendlier place for all people looking to work on part-time and project-based jobs.

4. A more diverse workforce.

According to this recent study, only 14 percent of the top execs are women. Without women in leading roles, a female perspective on things like hiring practices, parental leave and office hours is lost.Women need to be involved in making the choices that affect them and those around them so things can start to change.

Read the whole article here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282693

One of the reasons often given for why women choose to leave the workforce is the high cost of childcare. It’s become such a hot topic that both presidential candidates have created platforms to address the issue. Why? Because, according to a new Care.com study, in some states infant care is higher than the cost of college tuition. In most of the country the cost of full-time childcare is 85% of the monthly U.S. median cost of rent.

For many families weighing the choice between paying the high cost of care vs having one parent stay home and take care of the kids is a no brainer… or is it. This same study shows that:

“the average American woman taking a five-year break from her career starting at age 26 will lose out on $467,000 in income, wage growth, and retirement assets and benefits over her lifetime. (The average American man of the same age will lose $596,000.) Considering that the average cost of care is a little under $10,000, the career break ends up being about 10 times more expensive.

With the number of women in the workforce declining to a 27 year low in 2015, it is remarkable to think about the lost earning potential. Obviously, this study doesn’t take into account many factors that face families from the cost of care for an ill child, lack of access to well paying jobs, single parents etc… but in general this is a striking example of why it is so important for women to stay in the workforce.

The Second Shift is a solution for women to be able to continue working when it is may seem like it is not worth it. We are a safety net to bridge the tough times so that you don’t have to choose one path or another. We help you make work work for you!

“Working mothers, take note: You have won the culture war.” That is the first line of a recent NY Times Op-Ed that focuses on how historic this election is for working parents: This is the first election where the topic of paid parental leave has entered the discussion. This is the first time a Republican candidate has put forward a proposal to help working parents. 

“This presidential race has become, at least in part, a debate over how best to help you balance work and home, not whether you should be working at all.” 

Regardless of how you feel about the candidates and their proposals– the very fact that we are in this dialogue is a huge step for working parents and one that we applaud! Read the article here:  

The amazing women at W By Worth featured Jenny, Gina and Kemp from The Second Shift as women who inspire them. We are so honored! Thank you! Check us out and check out W By Worth– they have such great business and casual clothing sold by stylists all over the country. They are always looking for women interested in becoming stylists in their community. Reach out if you want to learn more info@thesecondshift.com

http://www.wbyworth.com/meet-the-second-shift