This subject is obviously very close to me: I’m one of the eight million business owners mentioned above, and my team is made up of mostly women (a staggering 84%). From day one, my agency has been built with women at the core—Black Sheep is female-founded and female-led. I’m committed to mentoring and developing the careers of women who want to make an impact. I feel very lucky that we have an eight-year track record of recruiting and retaining highly talented women. That is not to say I don’t recruit, retain and value top male talent as well, but this industry isn’t known for holding men back. It’s known for running women into the ground and making them choose between their personal lives and their careers. Female agency owners like myself and top-level agency staff can help change this ratio by giving women opportunities that were previously denied to them.

I believe that our flat hierarchy and the flexibility of our work attracts top talent. The fact that you can walk in on day one and have an impact—I think that this appeals to women the most. Why? The track record of agencies that marginalize women, discount their ideas and promote men over them means something is broken about traditional hierarchy. That flatness is part of our foundation. We value each person who works here equally, and each has opportunities to uniquely contribute to projects they believe in. Beyond that foundational belief that your gender or past experience shouldn’t be a barrier, we have a lot of "flexibility perks." We offer unlimited vacation, flexible schedules and have a great maternity and paternity policy. We have a structure in place that allows people to live their lives and work here. That's critically important. You hear again and again about young women burning out and about mothers leaving the workforce because of the strain traditional agencies put on their personal lives.

We empower our team to figure out how they can live and work at the same time, meaning that they get to choose how they get their work done while meeting client deadlines. Because that’s what it’s all about, right? The idea of work/life balance is wildly inaccurate—do you know anyone who has a “balanced” life? Everyone’s life is different, and Black Sheep works within that chaos, not around it. We ask a lot of our team, but we give a lot back in return. For me, the biggest part of that is flexibility and clarity of expectations coupled with a human view of HR policies. We want to be an example of how you can support women in their lives and still produce amazing work.

On American Business Women’s Day, take a moment to think about all the women that came before us. From the ones who lived that Mad Men reality and for some of us that still do, we should celebrate working women from across the U.S. Today, I’ll be taking a moment with my team to talk about how we can all support each other and lift each other up. 

Ode to Working Women: American Business Women's Day

Regular

The outpouring of help that was seen during Hurricane Harvey gave us a glimpse of what life is like when we remember each other’s humanity. Both during and after the storm, people embraced what it means to care about each other and let their heart guide them to do good work.

For those that wish to keep on helping, giving and supporting each other, there’s a lot of work to still be done, right here in our own community, to improve the lives of the people around us. We’re here to connect good doers with the organizations doing good throughout Houston with this human rights event.

At our fourth event on October 17th, you’ll have an opportunity to hear about some of the most critical human rights issues we’re facing now—directly from those doing the work, including:

– PAIR
– AvenueCDC
– Holocaust Museum Houston
– 2nd Cup
– Center for The Healing of Racism

What affects some of us, affects all of us. And this holds true more and more every single day. These organizations are fighting to bring us all back to that beautiful, complicated, heartbreakingly familiar meaning of what it truly means to be human. Especially in light of recent events, this is your chance to join a conversation to uncover the ways we can meet the challenges facing us now together, as a united community.

Join us as we take a moment to learn from and have conversations with Houston’s leaders who fight for human rights on 10/17. RSVP here.

If you’re a nonprofit and would like to be included in future events, please send us an email at info[@]theblacksheepagency.com  and we’ll be in touch.

RESCHEDULED: A Community Gathering and Human Rights Conversation

Our world today is full of daily struggle and strife. But we didn’t need to tell you that—you’re living and breathing, too.

Our world today is full of daily struggle and strife. But we didn’t need to tell you that—you’re living and breathing, too. Each week, the already long list of tragedies and injustice grows longer and longer. For things to change, we must better understand where we fit in the fight for equality, access and justice, and learn how we can join those organizations that are taking action to make a bigger impact.