How do you make a large industry seem small? Well that’s exactly what we’re all about. There are times when this industry feels so large and overwhelming. This group was designed to help make this growing industry feel small and approachable. Women in Industry is a place to meet people, build competencies and relationships, and share information in a safe and comfortable space.
Background: Founded in 2017 following the NAED Women in Industry Forum by a woman who wanted to extend her networking experience, build deeper connections, and foster personal and professional growth beyond the annual forum meeting. She took that desire and started inviting women she admired or wanted to get to know better. This group started with about 20 women and has since grown to more than 50.
Mission: In 2019, the group collaborated to formulate our mission statement:
To connect, inspire and advance the professional development of women in industry in an authentic community to make a difference.
There are 2 ways to participate:
Join the LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12204519/
This is a private group on LinkedIn that you can request to join. When you join, we encourage you to be an active member of the group. What does that mean?
- Make your first post an introduction of yourself.
- Check in regularly to read about what’s happening.
- Post relevant information on a regular basis (once or twice a month). Use the following popular hashtags to make your material searchable for other members of the group: #diversity #communication #leadership #EQ, #PersonalDevelopment #ProfessionalDevelopment #Mentoring #GoalSetting #Networking
- Comment on posts, provide your insight and experience – start the conversation.
- Join the monthly conference calls
- The 3rd Monday of each month we conduct a 60-minute call at Noon Central Time.
- The call is a great way to connect with the group over the phone to hear about successes, challenges and insights. Based on our mission statement, each month we tackle one of the key topics our members are interested in learning about.
- Some of the topics we’ve covered include:
- Mentoring – why and how to find a mentor
- Personal Brand – how to build and manage your brand
- Getting Things Done – simple tools to organize your life and work
- Creating your elevator pitch
- Knowing your worth and negotiating salary or asking for a raise
- If you join the call, we ask that you commit to a few things:
- Participate in at least 3 of the 12 monthly calls
- Offer to share your strengths and insights around one of the relevant topics. Either offer to present on a topic or be willing to collaborate with others to present.
- Be an active participant during the call. Don’t kid yourself about multi-tasking. Be on the call 100%. Listen. Ask questions. Share your experience, ideas, opinions, and / or concerns.
- If you want to join the monthly call, send an email to Stacy Cook requesting the calendar invite and conference number.
We also encourage you to leverage this platform to build your personal and business network. This is YOUR network and when women help other women, we all win. Feel free to reach out to any member of the group by asking for our directory to connect on a deeper level, ask for their advice, share ideas, challenges and insights.
Why Join a Networking Group?
“Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities.”
Stacy Cook,
Michele Jennae
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
Brene Brown
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want”
Zig Ziglar
Wii Networking Group 