Women Supporting Women: Sticking Together at Work with Genna Garver

Have you ever asked yourself, “How as a woman, can I help other women in supporting one another in the workplace?” Have you ever wondered how as a mom or even a single mom, balance the role of motherhood and a successful working woman? If you are screaming, “Hell yeah,” then you are in the right place. I have the beautiful, Ms. Genna Garver with me. I can’t wait for you to meet her. Let me tell you a little bit about Genna. She offers targeted practical advice to investment advisers, hedge funds, and other private investment funds implementing various investment strategies. If this is not your world, I know it does not sound sexy, but rest assured, Genna is amazing and dynamic.

Her clients appreciate that close personal attention she provides and I can back that up. I would say that’s one of her number one strength is because I have felt cared for in the process of her coming into my world for this interview. What’s even more amazing is for her clients, she provides help to them to navigate the complexities of investment regulation. Genna routinely advises clients on things like formation and offering matters for both domestic and offshore funds, SEC and state investment adviser, broker-dealer and private fund regulation. I hope I’m saying all this right because clearly, this is not my world either. Investment advisers, act compliance programs, annual reviews and ongoing compliance matters.

She also has extensive experience representing financial institutions in all transactional and regulatory matters. You should be laughing at me as I’m laying out there for you her wide breadth of expertise in this area. If you are in this world, then it is resonating but clearly, I don’t say this stuff often. Here’s what you do want to know about her is she’s much more than that. She’s a sought-after speaker and author and is well-known to be presenting at many different industry events on aspects of securities law. She’s actively involved in several women’s and diversity initiatives in the financial services industry. She is an active participant in 100 Women in Finance, the Investment Adviser Association and the National Association of Compliance Professionals.

She is fun and she is down to Earth. She is a huge supporter of women building women, supporting one another at work and sharing her ideas at the grassroots level of what you can do to do the same. I’m sitting here smiling to myself because those of you who have been hanging out with me for a while know I like to sing and that’s not going away. It’s been amplifying itself on its own. That’s a side note I’m popping back in before we hear from Genna because I want to raise your awareness, heighten your awareness to tune into some key areas that are where Genna lays it out there for you, gives you some ideas and she shines.

First and foremost, what I believe is her platform, if you will. Even if she’s not feeling that way, what stands out and oozes out of Genna is supporting one another as women. You and I are not about grand gestures and you’re going to hear Genna talk about this. She believes that grassroots level support is what she calls it and has coined it and I love it is where it’s at. She offers some tips around this. Tune in for that because I 100% agree with Genna that it doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking. It’s in the little things. It’s in the daily support of one another. It is in tapping into a connection that can be powerful and meaningful for the other person.

Here’s what I can tell you, to do that sounds simple but it takes a lot of presence, being present with other people and going deep in your relationship. If there is a zinger in here that I can quote, I put multiple stars next to this. I take notes when I’m doing the interview and I starred and circled and scribbled all over this. This is Genna’s words and I want to call it out, so you don’t miss it in the interview. She says, “If I’m trying my best, that’s enough for me.” That is powerful and you’re going to read that in this interview.

Don’t miss that because you’ll get the context around it in the interview. It’s powerful to me when she says that. It’s almost like I can feel her roots of confidence go deeper into the soil.

Finally, something that resonated with me and was a great reminder. I want to say thank you to Genna for being a teacher to me or someone who was reflecting on me. We talk about asking for help. If you think about supporting one another you and me as women, it’s not on the other person to figure out where I need a hug, love, support, and connection, fill in the blank. It’s on me to ask for help. When asking for help, Genna says the number one thing, the most important thing, the key to getting what you need is specificity. Those are the gold nuggets that I didn’t want you to miss. Instead of holding on a little bit further, let’s get right to it. Let’s hear from the beautiful, Ms. Genna Garver.

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Is there anything you want in your heart that you want to make sure we get out? 

There’s always much pressure to say something impactful.

I don’t think that. You being authentically you is impactful because when people can see women in leadership that they admire saying things that are the truth, that is impactful.

Ironically, one of the big takeaways is there’s probably nothing all that spectacular about me. I always joke, “Why would somebody bother speaking to me? What do I have that’s interesting to say?” The truth is what makes me the same as everyone else is what’s interesting. There’s no secret sauce to me that help me get to where I am, wherever that is. A lot of it is the passage of time and the journey and cliché, it’s not the destination. It’s the journey that’s true. At this stage of my life. I have a birthday coming up in and it’s making me reflect. The takeaway is there isn’t anything all that spectacular about what I’ve done or what I’ve come to know other than we’re all in the same struggle. We all have to get up each day, get out of bed and get to it. I hope that it’s enough. I hope that our best is enough each day. I’m coming to appreciate that more.

What gets you out of bed each day?

I hope everybody has a drive, something to strive for. I don’t like to sit still. I need a sense of purpose like everybody does. I have a reason to get out of bed every day. From day-to-day, that reason may change. If it’s a Saturday, it’s going to be different than what that is on a Wednesday. Every day is a gift. When I wake up I want to get to it and milk the most out of the day. I do. I’m thinking, “Where did the weekend go?” There’s always much going on. I feel like I live in tornadoes sometimes.

You’re not saying it, but it sounds like you’re a big action taker.

I’m action-oriented and not just in my career, even in my downtime we’re always moving and on the go as a family. I’m excited about life and what we’re going to do next. You need to get excited about your life. If you’re not excited, if you don’t have a good reason to get out of bed, you need to change things up because time is precious. It’s a true gift and you’ve got to make the most of it.

You’re on to something important here. If you’re not connected to what that is, that’s when that doom and gloom sets in. It can be a downward spiral. I’ve been in that situation. Can you think of a time for yourself where you had to pull yourself out?

Many times. The truth is I used to ask other women, “What do you think about when you first wake up in the morning?” I wanted to know that they were thinking the same thing I was thinking, which is “How the heck am I going to do this?” Usually, we wake up some days thinking part of it is, “Where’s everyone going?” When we reconvene at the end of the day, back at the house, is everyone going to be accounted for? Taking stock in the morning and figuring out how we are going to get from morning to evening and have everyone back at the house. Monkey mind to-do list constantly going on in my head like everybody else for sure.

There are days where not every day is a vacation day where you get to go do fun things. No matter where you are in your career, in your personal life, some days are harder than others. A lot of people use the term work-life balance. That’s maybe coming a bit more passé these days and it used to be on constant replay. I always thought that was amusing to me because there is no actual balance at any given point. It’s over a period of time. That means that you’re going to have some days that are out of balance. You’ve got to do the things and deal with the people that may not be exactly how you want to spend your time.

I always say disappoint all areas equally. I don’t know if I’m doing that well, but what the heck.

At least you’re striving to be good at something, that’s what counts. Consistency of nothing else.

You get everybody moving in the right direction in the morning. They all have 10 fingers and 10 toes at the end of the day. Let’s talk about what happens in between because one of the things that stood out when I was getting to know a little bit more about you is some of your story of being raised a woman in your family. I’m stretching this to my conclusion, but how that’s fueled your passion for grassroots support of women helping women? That idea of helping one another in the community of women.

I got back with one of my female partners and we were talking exactly about that, how it’s important not to have a village to help you deal with what you need to do? Women historically have come together to support each other in a way that’s different than the men support each other. That is a huge part of what’s made me who I am and something that I treasure and try to pay forward. I do think that my family shaped a lot of who I am. I had some amazing role models in my family. My parents met because my mom taught my father at Georgetown Medical School, where she was a fellow. She was a bit of a child prodigy.

That was always an interesting dynamic in my house that I was fortunate enough to have two intelligent parents. Growing up when I did, it was interesting that was the story of how they met. It released the tone for the opportunity to have equal funding in our relationship. I also have an interesting lineage. My bright Aunt Mary was the Chairwoman of the League of Women’s Suffrage. She was also one of the first two women admitted to the American Bar Association. I never had issues of not being able to see what I could be and that made a huge difference for me in shaping who I am.

You’ve been out in the workforce building a career. I’m sure you’ve seen in other women that they don’t necessarily feel that way. That’s why you talk about wanting to pay it forward?

Definitely. Even though I may have had certain advantages, I certainly had some struggles along the way and I would not have become who I am without that support. I feel like there have been some pivotal moments in my career where it’s made all the difference. I have a sincere sense of gratitude. I also think it’s a bit contagious when somebody helps you out. It is vital to me. It energizes me to keep going, to keep striving. I have a daughter and that too gives me an incentive to want to keep kicking the can further down the road.

By the way, you may have had some advantages, but it’s what you do with it. People can have all the advantages in the world and not show up for themselves. I want to give you a shout out for that. 

Sometimes you also have to do what you’ve got to do. I certainly had certain advantages, but for a good part of my career for nearly 7 or 8 years, I was a single mom. There have been some difficult times in my career and at the end of the day, it’s a job and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to take care of yourself for most of us and your family. It’s not always a choice. You’ve got to make a career for yourself.

You’ve got to show up. I was thinking, I didn’t want to breeze over the fact talking about some of these things. If I was a fly on the wall, what else would I have heard happening in this discussion between two amazing women at a company that is passionate about supporting each other? I’m curious what you’re talking about that you could share? We don’t need the water cooler talk. People would be curious. You’re talking about women supporting women. People are curious about the fact that’s going on. What more might be talked about?

Without breaching any confidence, it’s a typical lunch for me with my colleagues and my friends. I’m focused on what we can do for each other and what I call a grassroots level. It’s not always about the grand gestures of getting a new flex-time policy implemented or the new formal mentorship program headliners. It’s not always about that. It’s more about how you can be the best colleague you can be. It’s not just being kind to yourself, but also what can you do for those women who are within your organization or your network? Some things are basic and simple and checking in and listening to each other. It is massive. It helps validate how we feel with our daily struggles. Some inherent differences make things more difficult for women. A lot of women chat with me about maternity leave or finding a nanny those normal challenges that women have regardless of where they’re at professionally.

We were trying to brainstorm how we can help jam up work for each other. We were also candid and some of the things that we find to be typical. For me, I always say my biggest weakness is turning contacts into clients. That’s the end game. I can play the game well right up until the end and sometimes it is. I can probably walk into a bar and make friends with everyone, but walking into an event and walking away with a client, that’s the golden ticket for being successful. We were talking a little bit about that and how we can team up and try to drum up some work together. In addition to talking about the best places to find a nanny or how to solve those issues when you’re traveling. What we think is normal to that.

That’s one of the things I love about you is you’re like, “This is normal. This is the way it goes.” I know that there’s somebody reading who’s thinking, “I would love to have that.” They have a fear of being vulnerable in that way with somebody else they work with. That would conjure up and stir up some things inside of me. Do you have any advice there?

All companies are different. I met a large law firm to operate differently than perhaps some other company is out there. You have to be willing to show up for the game if do you want to get the marrow out of a relationship. You have to be willing to contribute to it. You have to be willing to be open. I know that’s difficult for some. Some people are rightfully private and perhaps shy. There are plenty of reasons why people may struggle to make meaningful connections with their colleagues. If you find yourself surrounded by good people, which you should and if you don’t, you should change the situation.

Hopefully, you find yourself surrounded by good people that are willing to support you and have you be successful. I do believe that a company is only as successful as its people. You should want your company, you should want your colleagues to invest in you and fully support you and have you be happy and successful. I don’t know how vulnerable you need to feel to have some of these conversations. Some topics are far more sensitive than others. I can understand if a woman we’re thinking about getting pregnant. Those types of conversations might be difficult to have and maybe not appropriate given the situation. That is a reality that we’re all still dealing with.

Even exposing like you were saying, “My strength is maybe making the connections not good at turning that into business in one swoop.” What it gets to is your self-confidence. The inside out game of where you’re at. Maybe to you, it doesn’t feel like exposing something. Don’t you think a lot of people struggle in their workplace or with their colleagues? Maybe I’m off here, but being vulnerable about where they’re not showing up the way they’d like to or where they’re not getting results. 

A couple of things, I have been practicing for several years. The passage of time has this amazing way of curing some things. Confidence does come with time. I’m not even sure if it’s much confidence. It’s acknowledging that I’m trying my best and it’s enough for me. It should be enough for my colleagues, my company, and my friends. If it’s not enough for them, that’s not my burden because I’m doing my best. It’s a lot easier to say that at my age than it was to say that at 25. There’s much learning that happens I’d say between 25 and 35, like practicing your craft if you will. It’s only when you get older that you become more senior and you can be practicing at your best.

It takes time. A lot of the problems and challenges women face in their careers early on have a way of resolving themselves over time. I wish I had a better secret sauce. There is some relief in that it’s okay for things to suck for a while. Some of those problems were temporary. If I can deliver good news to younger women, it’s that some of these problems are temporary. Deciding when to have kids is a temporary problem. Dealing with maternity leave, it’s a temporary problem. There are only many times you go on maternity leave. At a large law firm, there are only many times you have to deal with, “Can I make a partner? How do I make a partner?” Time does cure a lot one way or another.

Even the fear of failure or taking risks, you get better at it somehow.

A lot of these points have to do with fear. Fear of being vulnerable, fear of failure and fear of taking risks. At some point in life, I don’t want to make it sound like I’m 80 years old. I feel like I do have some road under my tires at this stage. At a certain stage in life for everyone you realize, I’ve gone through some real things in my life and I’m fine. This happened, that happened, I’m still fine. I’m still getting up and going to work every day. You build up that resilience and it’s okay if people see my flaws. It’s okay if I fail because I’m still standing. What’s the worst thing that’s going to happen? Every time in life where I’ve had a challenge and I wasn’t sure how things were going to play out, it’s always played out for the best. Even when at the moment I may have felt like it was the worst, do I feel like bearing my soul to everybody? No, because I don’t also don’t think I need to. You need to have good boundaries. It’s important to be vulnerable and be open. That doesn’t mean you have to overshare to make a connection or to make a point. Everybody has ups and downs in life. It’s a matter of how you get through them. It’s a matter of getting through them and getting up the next day. That is the secret. The secret is there’s little you can do to screw up your life. That’s the truth of it.

That’s an interesting point. It comes back full circle to some of the things we were chatting about at the beginning, which is like, “Get up every day and do something. Make the most of it is where we started.” You get up, you make the most of it. You can’t screw it up. 

You can and you also can’t control it. As much you can’t make things the way that you want them to be, you’re not powerful enough to screw them up badly that you can’t get up the next day.

Here’s the thing. Here’s what people want to know. Is there a time where you would go back? You did doubt yourself and you would go back being the greater sage that you are and take a bigger risk or do something differently?

There are things that I wish I had done differently, but I do think that one thing leads to the next in this wacky road, long, strange trip it’s been, has led me here and I’m perfectly at peace with that. I still have moments of doubt. I called one of my besties who are in the industry and I started to double-check the tone of an email. It’s fine to doubt yourself, but if you surround yourself with a good circle of friends that you can depend on to help you, those moments of doubt are temporary as well. You shouldn’t go it alone. It’s okay to doubt yourself that friends are there to back you up.

One of the things I also see in you, Genna, is the power of community. Women are wired for community. Whether you’ve intentionally done it or not, you’re surrounded yourself with people, even on an email, you reach out, you don’t hesitate. I know that’s not the norm for everybody. Do you have anything more to say about the power of community in the workplace and maybe even as it relates because men aren’t wired that way? That’s one of the big differentiators, I believe.

I was a single mom for many years. I did have a lot of help, but I had to learn to ask for specific things. That was in my personal life, but it’s spilled over nicely into my professional life. I learned that people want to help, especially women. It makes people feel good about themselves. There was a time where I needed to ask for more help than usual. I was struggling with that because I tried to be independent and do things on my own. It was difficult for me to keep asking people for help, going back to the well. Someone said to me once, “Please, you are allowing me to feel good about myself and what I’m doing that I wouldn’t have if you don’t ask me for help.”

It changes the way about asking for help and helping other people. It was a valuable lesson to learn because I also got better on how I ask for help. Specificity is key not just in asking for help, but asking how you can help other people. This plays out professionally not in terms of career advice, but also going towards my biggest weakness, which is landing a contact as a client. It all comes down to, “What can I do for you? Will you hire me because I can do X, Y, Z for you?” That’s true regardless of what industry you’re in anytime you make a connection. To make that connection meaningful, you need to be able to communicate how you can be helpful to somebody else or how they can be helpful to you? You need to be specific in your requests, either to be helpful or to receive help. It was interesting how that lesson that I learned in my personal life, ended up helping me most in my professional life. Whenever I have lunch with someone or I’m meeting a new contact, I always say, “What is it that I could do to help you achieve X, Y, Z?” If it’s a client, I can say, “This is what I could do for you.” That’s made a big difference for me.

If you’re reading this, go back and replay because that is simple in a way that I don’t want anyone to breeze over it because it is powerful. I can’t tell you how many times I get on the phone with somebody to connect or whatever it is. They never either offer how they can help or ask me what I need.

To put some meat on the bone for that. I do talk a lot about grassroots, what we can do for each other. You don’t need these grand formal gatherings or policies or events. Women can help each other by providing meaningful opportunities. If you want a meaningful opportunity. The types of things that you can ask for are things that are going to give you introductions, everyone wants introductions and access. Another thing you can ask for is street cred. How can you get street cred internally, externally? We want to be visible and you want to show your stuff, showcase your skills, so people see the awesomeness that you bring to the table. That’s important for women because that way you can overcome any unconscious bias someone may have with you as a woman. They’ll see through whatever it is that they’re seeing.

They’ll be like, “She knows her stuff. I’m going to hire her. I’m going to have her be on my project.” The way that you can develop that street cred, this is going to being vulnerable. You need to put yourself out there. You can ask someone to help you get your name out in the press by writing an article, by speaking, by hosting an event. These are the things that I do all the time. Someone needs to give you the opportunity to have a voice and to have a platform to showcase your skills. The things that I often offer to women write an article with them to share a byline. By hosting an event together, that way we can introduce our contacts to make email introductions. That’s an easy thing. That’s what works for me and what I enjoy. Those are some examples of the asks that I get and some of the things that I can offer on a grassroots level for people that I’m working on.

Those were great tactical ways. Anybody can do this for one another. It sounds, “Yeah.” It’s easy to hear it and go, “I’ve heard that before or I’ve thought of doing that.” It’s the actual doing for one another that gets it done.

Everybody has some value to bring. No matter how early you are in your career, it was always something you can bring to the table. One of the mistakes people generally make not specific to women is that they don’t realize their value. They don’t realize what they have to offer someone. When they’re asking for help, they’re asking for help to figure that out. You have to be willing to take risks and to figure out what’s going to work best for you so you shine. You have that moment where people see how great you are or how great you can become.

Don’t you think that it’s more difficult? This is a conversation that goes on and I’m curious about it that it’s more difficult for women to make the ask than men? Do you have any thoughts about the differences? 

I struggle with it and I’m a woman, I don’t know statistically what that means. I could tell you what that means to me is I don’t care what the statistics are because it’s hard for me.

It’s hard for me. That’s a great point. I love that. I adore you. 

I would say that be careful with statistics because I’m sure there’s this statistic out there that says it’s harder for women to speak in public, but that’s where I’m most comfortable. You’d be true to yourself and not worry about much what other people are doing. When we’re having a struggle, it’s nice to know that it’s okay to be struggling at something. It’s okay for me to be struggling turning contacts into a client because I know that’s hard for others. It’s nice to have the struggle validated. You don’t have to be good at everything. You have to find what it is that you’re good at or what you enjoy doing and usually, those two are the same because no one enjoys being bad at something.

Why draw the line? Why worry about the statistic? We all have strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes they can be validated. Here’s the thing, we’re all human and there’s probably another human out there who struggles with this. Some humans are women and humans that are men. Is that basically what you’re saying? 

Exactly. Statistics matter because I do feel we are trying to level the playing field in terms of access to opportunities. It has opportunities to learn that makes a huge difference. Women make up more than half of the workforce. If you look at the top ranks, we’re struggling. Statistics matter. I do pay attention to those, but some statistics, they’re helpful for validation, but they can also be hurtful. There are men out there that have problems too. Those should not be ignored. The goal is to have everyone receive the support and help they need to have a successful career.

We as a society are still struggling, especially with stereotypes that feed these. I do think that women are adversely affected. Women are luckily are progressing and looking at inclusion more holistically and not as a gender issue. It’s an exciting time in that regard. The world has changed much since I’ve practiced. When I think about how far we’ve come in a short period, there’s still much to do and there will always be work to be done to once we achieve a point of greater equilibrium to maintain it. There should be more opportunities to support people generally with the ways that they struggle to find success.

I haven’t heard anybody say this, I’m going to give you the kudos. The first person that said it. It’s an exciting time. Much emphasis is put on this is the challenge and this is what where we need to get to but it is an exciting time.

More than ever, companies are embracing the opportunity to support women and all diverse persons and for people to bring their whole self to work. Clients are demanding it. That’s been great. We’ve seen several examples where Corporate America is leading social change, which is quite a flip from my youth. It’s great because many resources could be put to use. We’re looking beyond what were the traditional models of mentor programs and focusing on flexible schedules. What more can we do to have a better quality of life and have better wellbeing for employees generally? Being a part of that conversation and things that we can do differently. What could be better than that?

I haven’t heard anybody say that. I give you a shout out for that. What’s next for you? What are we going to see from Genna in the next few years? What do you want to hang your hat on?

I’ve got to come up with something good.

Here’s what I’m getting at and I’ll ask it differently. We’ve talked about a lot of interesting things. I feel like what I’m sensing from you besides that of your family and besides developing your career, maybe you don’t know this yet, but I feel like the strong drive above the conversation, for example of grassroots support. I can feel that energy is coming out of you. What I’m asking is, are we going to see you on the stage more often talking about this? What are some of the seeds in there being planted? I feel like they’re seeds. 

I’m always up to something. I love conspiring with people. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. What’s next is I hope, whatever it is next isn’t about me and what I’m thinking. I love starting the conversation, but it doesn’t have to be me up on stage. I love when I can have a chat with someone and they go off and do something awesome. That’s truly what grassroots means. It’s not about the limelight. There are many things that I keep coming back to. It’s this one thought, watch out world. My daughter is fifteen and she is on a mission. Genna 2.0 is around the corner.

Everybody has a fifteen-year-old who is like, “Yeah, sister.” 

I brought my practice over to Troutman. I feel like I’m still settling in here. Part of the push for the move was because I do think that we’ve got some good things to look forward to in 2020. There are a few projects that I am working on that I hope to share with everyone soon because the conversation keeps growing and developing. Can I say that there are not necessarily specific goals because the conversation keeps evolving and work keeps going? My mom always says, “The reward for a good job done is more work.” That’s the truth about it. Many words of wisdom from that woman, but non-surer than that.

There’s always work to do. I welcome the opportunity to speak with you and your viewers because I’m always open to ideas and how we could do things differently. I will say that we’re going to have and see a much bigger push to have men more involved. I had a few experiences where men have been approaching me on what they can do at a grassroots level and getting them involved because the reality is that men have been some of my biggest sponsors. They play an important role in this. I do think that probably if I had to pinpoint my next big move, it is going to be focusing on that.

Do you want to say a little bit more about that? That’s fascinating and quite different from some other perspectives.

What I would say is I want to give kudos to a man whose name I won’t mention it. I was at a conference and the conference wasn’t just on women, it was more on my industry, which is asset management and compliance. There was a panel on women in compliance and there were a few men in the audience, which is fantastic. They were actively listening while the women were participating. It was a great session. Afterward, we had a little fifteen-minute networking session. This man came up to me and my friend who was a panelist and said that he worked on a small team, the woman above him was the Chief Compliance Officer. He also had a female associate who worked for him. He was sandwiched between these two women in the hierarchy. He was amazing.

He said, “Do you have any suggestions for me? What can I do to make sure that the associate beneath him had all this support that she needed to be successful? Also to support the women above him. I was in awe like, “Aren’t you amazing? Who would want you on their team?” He was looking to see any tidbits he could take back with him and implement. I appreciated his willingness to come up. He didn’t raise his hand during the panel to ask these questions. He wasn’t doing it for the limelight. He wasn’t doing it for the kudos. He was trying to do whatever he could. Harnessing his power, realizing that there are things that he could do was massive. I loved him. I get enough of that. Do we have a ton of ideas for him?

You are lightened up. I know you are one to watch. Where can people follow you? Are you on LinkedIn? 

I am on LinkedIn, Genna Garver. I’m also on Twitter, @Genna_Garver. You can also find me on my webpage. You could get my B card off of our page at Troutman.com.

Thank you so much. 

That was a pleasure. Thank you.

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Genna is amazing and I became a raving fan through the opportunity to connect with her, meet with her, interview her and continue that conversation. I love that she believes in building up the women around her because it’s aligned with my belief as a leader. It’s what I want for you. If you’re interested in conspiring with the people around you because that’s what it is, I want you to go back and read it. I’ll tease it out for you here again to the tactical and tangible ideas that Genna offered around grassroots support for one another. I’d love for you to add your comments and ideas as well because I’m sure you’ve come up with some things or you have an idea trickling that wants to trickle out. That’s being held inside of you that could help me or could help Genna or could help whoever else is a part of our community here.

I want you to think about asking for help. I want to encourage you and challenge you to reach out to your community and ask for that grassroots support from another woman. Remember how you ask being specific as to what you need is the key. I know I’m not a mind reader and I’m going to make the extension that nobody else is, although there are a few chosen few out there about that. Specificity is key. Ideas that Genna offered. Making the right introduction, a powerful introduction, asking for that. Sharing street cred, I love that. Co-writing an article, hosting an event together. These are a few things that I teased out when talking with Genna. I want to hear what your ideas are because as you rise and provide that grassroots support to another woman, she rises and we all rise together. That’s what I believe. I’ll talk to you soon.