and in honor of women's history month,
we are taking the time here at cheddar to shine a light on women that empower us.
Whether it's growing up around strong female figures or
looking up to other throughout our career journeys,
we want to say thank you.
Our very own kristen shoulder took the time to tell us when
very important woman that inspires her and why take a look.
A woman who inspires me is Ruth Bader Ginsburg as
the second woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court.
Ruth pursued an advocacy of women's rights
and gender equality have a lasting impact.
In fact,
the fearless girl who stands tall in front of the new york stock
Exchange has worn a jab it collar before in honor of Ruth's legacy.
RBG as she's known in pop culture,
became a mother before starting law school and went on to graduate first in her class
at Columbia law at a time when few women joined her in the classroom,
Even though RBG is no longer with us passing in 2020,
the future that she paid for women across the country remains empowering every day
and the stories of inspiring women don't stop there,
scan the QR code on your screen to check out Cheddars series highlighting,
trailblazing women across industries.
You can expect to produce profiles each week of
the month featuring women in a range of roles,
including business leaders in media tech and healthcare.
This week,
you can check out how Microsoft's US President Deb Cup
is leveling the playing field for women in the workplace,
let's switch gears here,
we are entering yet another new era of work
across corporate America with the endemic in sight,
The workplace is shifting once again.
So what does this mean for working mothers who have been bearing
the brunt of this pandemic and getting women back into the workforce
joining us now lissy hu Ceo and founder of Care Report lissy welcome to the show.
What can women expect in this new era of employment?
What does this mean for all those working mothers out there?
Well, good morning. It's great to be on the show with you this morning.
And that's such a great question because we are entering this new era
And uh, you know, I think there are many things that are positive for women.
The pandemic certainly has made us all shift
towards more hybrid work environments the 9-5,
40 hours a week.
Uh, one size fits all model of work I think is is less common than it used to be.
And you know, that's not in every industry.
We and my company,
we serve a lot of healthcare clients who
frontline working moms don't have that same flexibility.
But I think on balance across the board,
their new models and they're more diverse models and more flex models And I
think what I'm hopeful for is is that with a lot more flexibility.
Women will be able to find a workplace
that meets their needs and their family's needs.
What has your personal experience been like Lissie
raising a child while leading a company,
what have been some of the highs and of course I
want to ask you about some of your lows as well,
you know, to be honest, um when,
when I became pregnant right before the pandemic actually,
um and and and and had a baby, I I really didn't know what to expect.
I think
for me, I had always seen myself as a Ceo, as an entrepreneur
and what many ceos and entrepreneurs will tell you
is that their their company is their first baby
and uh and I hadn't been one of, hadn't grown up,
always thinking that I'd be a mom and so I think
in many ways I wasn't sure what to expect mother,
who was a bit of a mystery to me,
Uh now I have a two year old and I actually can't see on the camera,
but I actually am 37 weeks pregnant and I have another baby coming shortly
and I would say that motherhood has been one of the
most fulfilling experiences in my life and the extent to which
I've taken to motherhood has surprised me and probably surprised um
many of the folks that knew me sort of pre baby
um that being said, I'm still me, you know, I still love being at work,
I still love being a Ceo, I still love being an entrepreneur,
I'm still very passionate about what I do day to day at work and so
the high for me has been, you know,
just taking a step back has been to be able to be both,
to be able to be a mother and a Ceo and uh,
and to live in a time in a country and work at a company that allows me to both be both.
That's been incredibly fulfilling
so many women out there,
a lot of my friends certainly suffer from what they call mom guilt.
How do you define that Lissie, how can women resist these
guilty feelings?
Oh gosh, that is such a great question.
I don't know a single mom that has not experienced mom guilt to some extent,
you know that pole that inevitable pole between your
commitments at work and your commitment to your family
and I don't know if there's a way to completely resist mom Jill,
I think there's always going to be a little bit
there and this might be a bit controversial to say,
but, but but I think practically speaking the,
the only way to really try to minimize and resist it is to recognize that
you can't do it all that, that you can't have it all that it really takes a village
for, for me that has meant having a nanny who I, who I trust and who my kid loves,
so that any time I have to take a business trip,
I don't feel guilty because I know my kid is in good hands, It has meant
finding a workplace that is truly supportive of
women that goes a long way towards alleviating
mom guilt.
I think that where it gets really hard is for a lot of the women who don't,
who aren't in that situation, who don't have the resources.
And that's why I think it's really important that
you and I are having this conversation today,
because it's all about how can we enable more women to make those choices
and and and see progress that we need to see in the workplace?
What kind of impact can child related stress
have on relationships with teammates and clients?
It's it's it's a real issue in the workplace.
I think never before have we seen child related stress, you know,
as much as during the last two years,
even as we're talking right now,
I have a two year old downstairs and any minute
he could probably storm in and join our interview.
So, um, so I think, you know,
one of the things that we've been encouraging our our company has been
encouraging our teams and our our managers to do now more than ever
as we enter into this new sort of endemic phase is
to have open dialogue with your team members in terms of
what child related stresses that they may have and really try to
get ahead of it and be proactive before it it gets,
you know,
to a point where it's impacting not just the employee but the teammates and,
and then the clients and like I said, it's always been important,
but I think never is it has been more important
than now as we're transitioning from pandemic to endemic.
Let's see as you know,
we are celebrating women's history month all month long here on cheddar.
How do you define empowerment?
I think about um empowerment as in terms of choice,
really enabling women to have um choice in terms of where they work, how they work um,
to be in a company that supports them as, as, as I, as I've been supported at well Sky,
which is what the airports now a part of.
And you know, I think about my two year old son and,
and and and the and another boy that I have on the way
and I think about all the progress that has been made since, you know,
I was a two year old and you're a two year old and I'm really excited for the future.
I think that there's a lot more progress to come and um, and you know,
we hopefully in the future we'll see women across
the board have the ability to choose how they work
where they work in a way that allows them to be moms and to be um executives and,
and, and businesswoman.
So you have another on the way.
I do. Yeah.
Oh my God, congratulations,
thank you so much for making time for us lissi who's Ceo and founder of care report.
We really appreciate your time. Let's see
coming up we're joined by the female founder of the grocery startup.
That's backed by the one and only Lance Bass. That's next.
Welcome back to chat her. Everyone brought to you by Jpmorgan Chase.
The future of grocery shopping has arrived.
Grocery shopping is an innovative women
led retail tech company that seamlessly allows
for personalized meal planning and recipes into a grocer's e commerce platform.
The founder appeared on the reality business series
Unicorn Hunters where she was chosen by the one
the only Lance Bass to invest in
joining us. Now, Katie Holmes founder and Ceo of grocery shopping.
Katie, welcome to the show.
Your background is in digital marketing, marketing an I. T. Consulting.
What led you to launch grocery shopping.
Hi thank you for having me.
Um so I happened to spend 18 years in tech consulting and I'm a digital marketer.
Um but I'm also a mother of two Children and I
was a frustrated consumer uh and I just happened to have that
unique skill set to be able to solve for a problem
that really should have been solved for a long time ago.
Um Expediting online grocery shopping with recipes.
Women are typically the ones that go grocery
shopping or meal planning for their family.
Certainly in my house, how does this platform work to make our life so much easier,
Katie.
Sure.
So we're actually a saS based offering and we work directly with the grocery stores.
So when they add us to their website,
we integrate directly with our cart and we flood the shopping journey
with fresh recipe content from top food bloggers and top food brands.
So you're always getting fresh recipes every time you go to your groceries website,
which is unique, right?
Because everyone's going to Pinterest and facebook and
instagram to get that sort of content.
And so then we let you add the recipes to your card and
a single click and we personalize the entire experience with machine learning.
So it only gets better as you use it more and more.
And then those who use our platform actually have a 500%,, um,
increased checkout rate,
which is very, very exciting for grocers. That is very exciting.
Lance Bass, by the way, chose your business to invest in on this show.
Unicorn Hunters actually loved that show.
What did you learn from this experience and from artist and entrepreneur?
Lance Bass.
Sure.
So very savvy investor and business person, Lances and on the other judges as well,
I was really, really impressive.
Um, I learned, I'll tell you, you can't have fear, um, when you do a show like that.
It um, it changed me,
but I also learned just a lot about raising money and we're actively raising,
we're crowdfunding right now
and it's um,
it's just a behavior to learn how to raise money and it's
a behavior to learn how to pitch to very savvy investors like Lance
grocery shopping is a woman led tech company in a male dominated tech industry.
I'm sure that's not the first time you face that.
What have been some of your biggest accomplishments,
accomplishments throughout this journey, Katie,
You know what? This is a passion fueled journey for me.
I mean this is an opportunity for me to be able to build for the future of grocery.
I am the target persona.
I'm a 43 year old tech consultant with two kids and so when you look
at who I am being able to build for women like me who are busy,
The data is agnostic whether you stay at home or if you work,
you are busy and you need support and figuring out what's for dinner every night.
Um,
and so I think that just really getting close to
the customer is the best lesson that you know,
we grew the company from the ground up with over 1000
surveys from,
and phone calls from busy parents and customer discovery is just essential.
And so just understanding how to stay really,
really close to your customer is our secret sauce.
You have been named the top 10 women in grocery Tech. Congratulations.
What does the future of grocery look like?
The future of grocery looks like never getting out of your car.
So a busy
parents particularly is coming in hot.
You don't have a plan for dinner,
You need a plan for dinner and the future is not getting out of your car.
Um,
the industry is evolving with micro fulfillment and
a variety of different rapid grocery delivery solutions and
so we are not just solving for the problem today of helping the brick and mortar um,
increase their digital sales, but we are building for the future,
which is very mobile focused.
What's next for grocery shopping, Katie,
Well, we're penetrating just us groceries today,
particularly the small and midsized grocers who need our technology the most
to compete with jumbo retailers and will be global by the summer.
What are some of the biggest obstacles that you face?
We talked about your accomplishments, but I'm sure there are so many viewers,
So many women out there, so inspired by you, What advice would you give them?
Oh gosh, go get resources. Don't do it alone.
I can't tell you how many women and just unrepresented founders do it alone.
You wait too long to raise money
and, and you feel like an island.
Um, there are university systems associations, um,
so many free solutions out there to get coaching, free legal services,
free accounting services.
Um, you've got to go find those solutions,
you need to knock on those doors and you just keep banging
on the door until they listen to you and they help you?
I think that's such great advice before I let
you go only because I'm so intrigued by this.
Was there something you were so surprised by on your climb to the top here?
Something that blocked you? You're like, I wasn't expecting this.
It's all men behind that curtain.
Okay, All right. It is.
And it's when you're a woman,
you come in there and you pull that curtain back and we start building for ourselves
and in grocery we are the dominant consumer.
I'm so glad I asked that question, Katie Holmes,
founder and Ceo of grocery shopping.
I'm gonna check this platform out. Thank you so much. Katie for your time
coming up.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend,
we hear from the founder of Ring Concierge is
the company designing luxury jewelry for women by women.
That's next
Welcome back to check her brought to you by Jpmorgan Chase.
We all know the saying diamonds are a girl's best friend,
but did you know that the diamond
and jewelry industries are heavily male dominated?
Our next guest is on a mission to put women first in this industry,
looking to become the Tiffany's
of our generation joining us Now.
Nicole Wegman founder and Ceo of ring concierge a luxury jeweler,
committed to designing for women
by women. Welcome to the show.
Nicole,
You got me when it came to women by women and
of course Tiffany's So what's the story behind ring card concierge.
What's gaps did you see in this industry?
Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
But yeah,
I started ring concierge nine years ago after I myself had gone
through the engagement ring in purchasing process with my now husband.
We walked up and down the diamond district and we just didn't know who we could trust.
It's so opaque where they're ripping us off. Did they have good quality?
You know, it's all men. Do they even understand what I want?
At the time I was a 25 year old woman
and we looked at some of the beautiful stores like Tiffany Cartier,
Harry Winston couldn't afford anything and the
online options were just so impersonal.
The settings didn't seem like they were my style and I
realized there was this incredible avoid in this really old industry
for a female focused millennial focused company.
A company that really created beautiful products had excellent customer service
but really knew how millennials wanted to shop
your designs are for women by women. I absolutely love that.
Tell us more about what's trending right now. Why have having women
leading your team help your business?
Well, it's so important because we actually wear our pieces, you know,
we're designing pieces that we love because we are the
end user and a big trend we're seeing right now,
which I think is really fun and exciting
is a trend towards these diamond heavy pieces,
like a tennis necklace or a tennis bracelet that
traditionally would just be worn for special occasions,
like a wedding or a black tie event.
I think people are so excited to be out of their sweatpants and back
in the real world post Covid and they are wearing these pieces every day.
They're layering them with their other gold pieces,
wearing them casually wearing them to the office to dinner.
And so it's just this trend towards
feeling glam all day long without a special occasion.
The jewelry industry surprisingly historically dominated by men,
which was a little surprising to me, I'm not gonna lie.
Did you face any challenges because of
this when launching and growing your business?
Have you noticed any changes in this dynamic over the last decade?
Absolutely faced challenges. Not only is it male dominated, it's very family run.
You know, men are passing them down from generation to generation.
I have no family in this industry and when I came into it, I had no connection
and so men really didn't take me seriously.
They looked at me as this young girl who must just think, you know,
diamonds are pretty and didn't really understand what I was trying to do.
So it was very challenging to find people to work with.
You know, now it's very different. We're a very large company.
We've taken a lot of market share and you know, with that,
I think we've inspired a lot of other women to enter the space.
We are, you know,
our team is predominantly women and we're trying to empower women to enter this
industry because it used to seem like it wasn't an option for women.
March is women's history month and this year is all about breaking that bias.
Katie, how do you break the bias?
We are focusing on empowering women to shop for themselves.
If you got a promotion or you just want to treat yourself,
go buy yourself a piece of jewelry, it doesn't need to be a gift.
You know, there's this old school minds that the jewelry should be gifted
by a man to a woman and a woman and we just don't believe in that here, treat yourself,
you know, enjoy it, wear it.
And even with engagement rings,
we're really seeing women are the driver in the decision,
even though it might be their partner who makes the purchase,
they're the ones that do the research and figure out what
design they like and what brand they want to work with.
And then they really leave their partner to say, you know, hey here,
please contact ring concierge because they are going to create my dream range.
So really we want women to feel empowered in this space since they are the end user,
You launch your business business in 2013,
consistently scaled growth year over year by utilizing social media.
Congratulations on that.
Why is social media been so important when it comes to the growth of your company.
It's well, first of all,
we were really at the forefront of using social because you know,
it is such an old school industry, no one else was on social media at the time.
And you know, not only is that this beautiful platform to showcase our pieces,
it's also a way for me to really connect
one on one with our followers with our community
and I'm constantly on stories were constantly getting feedback. We're in the D. M.
S all day and we know what they want, we know what they like,
we're creating products based on their direct feedback,
so it's not a guessing game, we're so in touch with our customer and that also,
you know, creates trust,
they feel like they know who's behind the brand and they really can
believe in it and they can trust the quality of the products,
what's next for ring concierge?
We have big plans and this is a big industry,
it's about $100 billion industry in the US, but it's extremely fragmented
and we really believe we can become the Tiffany's for millennials for gen
Z for our generation and be that brand that everybody thinks of when,
you know, you're going to purchase a piece of jewelry, you know, that the brand,
everyone wants their engagement ring to be from,
and we have,
we have a plan to get there in the next five years
to be possibly the largest privately held jewelry company in America,
You know, this includes expanding our retail presidents throughout the country.
This includes creating a funnel for gen z because in
a few years they're going to be getting engaged.
So we're really excited about the future and we're quite bullish.
I love the jewelry you're wearing. Currently, I have to check out your platform.
Nicole Wegman, founder and ceo of ring concierge. Thank you so much for your time.
Jpmorgan Chase is committed to supporting women owned and women
run businesses at all stages of the business journey.
To learn more, visit Jpmorgan Chase dot com slash W O T M.
And that's gonna do it for today's check her brought
to you by Jpmorgan Chase will be back next friday,
10:30 a.m. Stay with us though.
More cheddar news coming up next.
Mhm,
mm hmm,
mm hmm.