Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are changing the world. Our leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, and are all doing their part to have an impact in their communities and at their workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their background and path to success.

What is your name and title?

Erin Michelson, Founder & CEO, Summery.

Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe your current role.

As a sole, female founder, I oversee every aspect of our business—product development & delivery, sales, marketing, & customer success, operations. Of course, I’m simply the point person representing the hard work and dedication of our amazing team at Summery. We’ve been able to build and expand so quickly because of our culture of shared values that enables us to operate at the highest level.

What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?

My best decision was to truly believe that we could help individuals be more personally and professionally fulfilled by providing the tools to measure, assess, and activate individual values. By taking this risk and recruiting an incredible team of behavioral, cognitive and data scientists, we are now working with startups and Fortune 500 companies like Salesforce, global foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and higher education organizations around the world.

What’s the number one challenge you face as a woman in your industry?

There are countless studies showing that despite out-performance, women business owners only receive about 2% of all venture capital.

In our case, this lack of available funding translated into a determination to prove product-market fit and an early focus on generating revenue. Not taking capital early on turned out to be the best way to prove our model and grow our client base.

When did your company join Pledge 1%? How long have you been working on your impact program?

Summery joined Pledge 1% within months of launching because the framework—donating 1% of our time-product-profit—is so easy to implement and aligned with our mission. The primary way we meet our commitment is to open our flagship product to the public: The Kind Quiz, which enables individuals to better understand and activate their social impact values. Upon completing the 5-minute quiz, you receive a 3-page Kind profile and are matched with like-minded celebrities. Summery then makes a donation to a nonprofit organization that reflects your collective values.

What is something coming up that excites you?

We are launching The Kind CoLab, a global community designed to engage, educate, and empower individuals who seek to discover and activate our unique kindness through curated content, activities & events. Join the fun at www.summery.ai.

Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are changing the world. Our leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, and are all doing their part to have an impact in their communities and at their workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their background and path to success.

What is your name and title?

Lauren Duffield, Strategic Partnerships & CSR at xocial.

Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe your current role.

I am the CSR leader at xocial, and spend my days forming strategic partnerships for world-changing campaigns!

What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?

Attending Tony Robbins Business Mastery!

What’s the number one challenge you face as a woman in your industry?

Being told to take the emotion out of it.

Emotion and empathy is our competitive advantage as women!

Do you have any mentors? What does mentorship mean to you?

Yes. I have had 2 mentors in the past and continue to keep in touch with them both. Mentorship has been, and always will be, a major part of my career. I love learning from people have already experienced what I am going through. I also follow Tony Robbins and Rachel Hollis closely. They will always be my digital mentors. 

What advice do you have for women who are just starting their career?

This statement is becoming cliche for a reason; fail to learn. Just do it. You can only plan so much. A-B test. There is no one way of doing anything!

What woman inspires you the most? Why?

Rachel Hollis. She is the most authentic, public facing female leader I know. She built her business from the ground up and was an average Jane. One of my favorite quotes of hers is, “Don’t play small to make others feel comfortable.”

Are you reading/listening to anything interesting at the moment? Please share your most recent favorite book or podcast!

I am currently listening to Dean Graziosi’s Millionaire Success Habits. 

Written by Terry Windell. Originally published on Massachusetts Newswire.

The Law Office of Edward A. Smith, dba AutoAccident.com, is providing food assistance to present and former clients of the firm by delivering groceries to their homes, free of charge.

Beginning May 1, clients can contact the firm and order up to $100 worth of groceries from their choice of either Whole Foods or Raley’s.

Each order will be inputted to the nearest grocery store available and delivered directly to the client’s doorstep.

Edward Smith, who has considered the plight of many during the Sacramento quarantine, especially those who are presently out of work, recovering from an injury or at elevated risk and who cannot shop without worry.

“We want our clients to know that we are all in this together,” says Smith. Disasters lead us to a deeper knowledge that at some level we all are kin.

The firm will provide this service to clients upon request until dedicated funds are depleted.

“We wish we could offer this service to everyone, of course, but our resources are limited,” says Smith.

But we’ll provide for as many as we can.

As of May 1, there are 1,077 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 43 deaths in Sacramento County, making this area among those most deeply affected by the pandemic.

An inability to afford or be able to personally shop for groceries has become a challenge for many.

The staff of AutoAccident.com continues to handle personal injury cases remotely via video consultation, and in-office by appointment.

Some clients have revealed that the added difficulty of dealing with formerly simple tasks such as grocery shopping makes their lives almost unbearable.

“During this stressful time, the last thing we would want is for them and their families to worry about hunger.”

For further information, visit AutoAccident.com.

For more information, contact:

Bella Wilson
Bella@autoaccident.com
916-921-6400
AutoAccident.com
Law Office of Edward A. Smith
1900 Point West Way #200
Sacramento, CA 95815

About AutoAccident.com:

Established in 1982, AutoAccident.com is a Sacramento, California based Personal Injury law firm providing legal assistance with cases involving auto accident and personal injury, motorcycle accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, consumer product liability and railroad injury. It is a top-rated member of Avvo, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, the Better Business Bureau and National Association of Distinguished Counsel. They are also proud members of Pledge 1%.

Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are changing the world. Our leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, and are all doing their part to have an impact in their communities and at their workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their background and path to success.

What is your name and title?

Neha Sampat, Founder and CEO at Contentstack.

Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe your current role.

The main focus of my role as CEO is to represent the company and our interests, facilitate sustainable growth and unblock things to help my team and organization move the ball forward towards our vision and mission.

Vision: Our vision is to pursue equality and use technology to break down barriers for better human connection.

Mission: Our mission is to make Contentstack indispensable for organizations to tell their stories and to connect with the people they care about through inspiring, modern experiences.

What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?

Hire smart people who give a damn, and learn from them everyday.

What’s the number one challenge you face as a woman in your industry?

I thought it would be appropriate to call out a few key challenges that women CEOs in tech often face.

1. Access to funds: For example, males are 63% more likely to raise capital than women, with all other things equal. Research also shows that 95% of venture deals and dollars are going to companies without a single woman in the top management suite.


2. Subconscious bias: We live in a society that has been trained subconsciously to think about the capabilities of men and women differently. There are organizations making real change and taking action by analyzing and correcting salary inequities or removing names from resumes to prevent gender bias in screenings. With awareness, this is slowly changing but there’s more work to be done.


3. Uneven playing field: According to Center for American Progress, women hold almost 52% of all management and professional-level jobs, yet they lag substantially behind men in terms of their representation in leadership positions. I strive to help the technology industry overall become a more level playing field. There are organizations like the Girl Scouts that help to train girls into leaders, and organizations like Springboard that turn women into incredible CEOs.

Do you have any mentors? What does mentorship mean to you?

I’m fortunate to have great mentors throughout my career, including many of the women of Springboard, an organization that supports entrepreneurial companies led by women.

Mentorship is about taking what you have learned and paying it forward. I try to pay it forward by helping budding female entrepreneurs get to the next level in their businesses. I help guide entrepreneurs with investor decks, customer relations programs, customer growth, hiring strategies, and more.

What advice do you have for women who are just starting their career?

The best life advice I’ve ever received came from an entrepreneur I truly admire. I only wish it had sunk in even earlier in my career. This individual has impacted his entire community and literally millions of people with his work. He once said, “Don’t think about what you can get from someone or something. Think about what you can give.”

He gave several examples of how he has given back selflessly and relentlessly in his world. This mentality has shaped how I think about building my career, my companies, my home and all of my relationships. It has not only made me a better entrepreneur, but a better citizen of the world.

What woman inspires you the most? Why?

None other than the Notorious R.B.G. Ruth Bader Ginsburg dedicated her life to fighting for women’s rights, LGBT and racial equality. Her role as a justice in the Supreme Court has shaped history and she will always be known as a woman who beat the odds to make her mark. Regardless of her health and personal struggles, she shows up and continues to be a force to be reckoned with — and in my opinion — one of the most admirable people alive today.

When did your company join Pledge 1%? How long have you been working on your impact program?

We took the Pledge in 2018. Our impact program has taken several forms since we started our series of companies, most regularly in the community in India where our engineering office sits.

Today, we are focused on COVID-19 relief for that region in India, supporting a local trust that has committed to feeding over one million people in this region. The Trust is also committed to providing PPE and additional facilities for overrun health institutions for the isolation and care of COVID-19 patients.

Are you reading/listening to anything interesting at the moment? Please share your most recent favorite book or podcast!

I’m currently reading Shoe Dog a memoir by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The book chronicles the history of Nike from its early struggles to its evolution into one of the world’s most recognized and profitable companies.

I’m also watching various Masterclass lessons these days and am especially loving the authentic tutorials from some of the most talented chefs in the world!

What’s something coming up that excites you?

Besides pandemic relief and the ability to start interacting with people again, I am looking forward to launching my new project, Dreammakers.

This podcast will feature interviews with change-makers, visionaries and interesting people who happen to enjoy drinking wine together. In addition to conversations with inspiring people, the podcast aims to broadcast unique dreams of individuals around the world and potentially connect them with someone who can help make that dream come true. The combination of #Dreammakers and #MakeItHappen will be used to share these dreams in the Dreammaker community.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

As the realities of COVID-19 began to unfold, the first action Unbounce leadership took was to prioritize the health and safety of its people and their families. From the outset, Leslie Collin, VP of People & Culture, was transparent about her team’s commitment to receiving and sharing advice only from reputable sources and committed to a regular cadence of internal communications so that employees knew exactly when to expect updates from P&C. 

The company, most commonly known for its AI-powered landing page software, transitioned to a work-from-home environment early on and created channels to keep the team feeling connected- like virtual cafes, #fitbounce workouts via Zoom, and trivia events. Each employee was offered a $500 WFH allowance to spend on whatever they needed to transition to their new environment, including covering unexpected caregiving costs for children or other family members. Unbouncers were also assured that time taken due to illness during this period would not be deducted from their usual sick day balance. 

Most importantly, leadership asked that the team support one another and help each other to navigate this uncertain time. The following quote is a snippet of an email from Leslie Collin, VP of People & Culture, sent to the Unbounce team on March 17, 2020. 

“Unbounce is first and foremost a people-first, family-first company…we have fellow Unbouncers navigating unique circumstances as a result of this situation. Let’s help each other navigate …and consider how we can operate with a strong sense of flexibility and creativity around getting work done as we seek to accommodate what is new and uncharted territory for all of us.

It’s ok if you’re not as productive – that might happen, and we are ok with that. Perhaps you get a few hours of work done throughout the day, and hop on to do a few hours later in the evening – that’s ok. You might miss some important meetings due to juggling childcare – that’s ok. Deadlines and deliverable dates might have to change – that’s ok. To our people leaders, please be curious, assume positive intent, and ask how you can help.” (Leslie Collin, VP of People & Culture)

Next, Unbounce looked to support their customers, many of which are small businesses. These customers were experiencing a range of challenges – some were running into a complete lack of incoming revenue. Others, like those in ecommerce, were experiencing a surge in traffic they weren’t prepared for. Regardless of their situation, Unbounce didn’t want campaigns and software subscriptions to be piling stress onto an already stressful situation. They offered to set up one-on-one calls to work with each customer to determine how Unbounce could help them in their unique situation. You can learn more about their full approach here.

Unbounce has also been offering their Essential Plan for free to all not-for-profit, healthcare, education, and government organizations as their mission-critical services are needed now more than ever. 

Lastly, they built and curated a set of resources to help small businesses pivot online and ramp up their digital marketing:

 

• This Small Business Care Package is a landing page of curated initiatives, credits, and funding opportunities from tools and platforms aiming to help small businesses get online quickly and optimize their marketing. 


• This blog post that outlines tips for traditionally brick and mortar small businesses to transition online in a manageable way. 


• “20 Best B2B Landing Page Examples” for best practices/page inspiration for those new to this, and “13 Best Landing Page Examples of 2019” for even more ideas. 


• This introduction to what a landing page is for PPC, and how to use one.


• This list of best practices for those trying to figure out how to write copy for their first Google Ad.

In the spirit of giving what they’re good at, Unbounce will be donating time and expertise on May 5th to its nonprofit customers by offering free one-on-one strategy sessions for their landing pages. Nonprofits are being hit especially hard during this crisis, and Unbounce’s expertise in conversion optimization will help these organizations to ensure their pages are as effective as possible in converting donor/volunteer traffic on their pages.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

The Makers to the Rescue documentary project captures the spirit and shares the stories of the open source medical supplies movement. By highlighting the efforts of organizations and individuals’ response to supply critical personal protective equipment (PPE) to first-line defenders in the COVID-19 pandemic we hope to inspire others to take action, to celebrate the work already done and remember we’re all in this together.  

As COVID-19 gained a foothold in the U.S., we found our healthcare systems, and society, woefully underprepared to prevent the spread using vital personal protective equipment.

An intrepid network of volunteers and small-business owners mobilized, almost overnight, to pivot their studios, shops and community spaces into a crowd-sourced supply chain to rapidly develop, produce and distribute vital equipment for the Americans on the front lines of this epidemic.

Despite the hardships the pandemic has placed upon their personal lives and livelihoods, the artists, the makers, and the misfits answered the call. 

Small businesses abandoned their lucrative primary-business models and joined forces with their competitors to ramp up PPE production. Non-profit makerspaces developed hygienic, volunteer-powered assembly lines. Regular people volunteered their own homes, vehicles, and hands, to manufacture and deliver face shields, masks, head coverings and other PPE. 

Their stories will be told in Makers to the Rescue.

And, just as the production of the PPE is being crowdsourced, this documentary is too. Using a variety of self-shot and remotely shot footage, we follow this motley crew’s journey to deliver life-saving supplies to healthcare workers around the country. 

Whether you donate to this film or to an open source PPE project, this #GivingTuesdayNow we encourage you to get involved in efforts to support the medical community. 

Follow us and the Makers on our social media channels:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

At MK Partners, commitment to community is one of our core values. Whether it’s our local communities of North Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Long Beach, our business community of staff, clients, and partners, or the Salesforce community of admins, developers, and Trailblazers – our community’s success enables our success, and giving back is an organization wide priority.

Giving Tuesday is an annual opportunity to celebrate the strides we’ve made over the last twelve months and to inspire and reinvigorate our efforts for the next twelve. It’s a chance to recognize the cumulative effects of small, but impactful action. To take stock and be grateful that we have the means and opportunity to give back.

This year, as we’ve watched our lives, businesses, communities, and families be dramatically reshaped in the face of global pandemic, Giving Tuesday is more important than ever. Not just as a chance to speak, but as an opportunity to listen. As more people need help than perhaps ever before, and still others with the means, opportunity, and desire to help, might feel overwhelmed or lost, unsure how to contribute meaningfully against what feels like a faceless, unstoppable force. Giving Tuesday represents an opportunity to align our ideals with action. To give voice to those in need and ensure their words land on the ears of those desperate to help ease their burdens.

At the start of April we announced a grant program, offering over $1.5 million in support and services to Los Angeles-based small businesses, and US-based nonprofits to help them transition to remote work, maintain effectiveness and keep their businesses afloat while protecting their employees. The program has already had positive effects, both to those we’ve been able to help, and also internally as it reaffirmed the fact that we can make a difference and that together, we’ll make it through this.

There are still grants available through the program so we’d encourage you, and anyone you know who qualifies, to enroll. Help us find those who need help the most, amplify their voices this Giving Tuesday, and let’s get through this, together.

We’re listening. We’re here for you. We’re going to be ok.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

We are so proud of the work we’re doing at Trust & Will. 

From Day 1, we made the commitment to Pledge 1% as it not only aligned with our personal values, but also with our ambitions to build a wildly successful company with philanthropy ingrained in our team’s DNA. The current pandemic put us all in an uncomfortable and vulnerable position — with regards to our lives, health, and family.

As a husband to a sonographer, and having many close friends and family members in healthcare, I see and feel the stress and anxiety hitting healthcare professionals during this time. With the added pressure hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals are facing, the last thing they should be worried about is if they and their families are at risk without having an estate plan in place.

Beginning April 1st, any healthcare professional working in a public health setting in the US, can apply to receive a free Will-based estate plan for themselves including health care documents, HIPAA Authorization and Medical Power of Attorney. Healthcare professionals can submit verification of credentials in the US here. 

Many members of Team Trust & Will have friends and family that are directly impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. It was a team decision to come together to bring this initiative to reality. Our mission is to protect families and provide them a better way to plan for life.

Trust & Will is disrupting the trust and estate planning industry with an easy, fast, and secure way to set up your estate plan online. We’ve modernized estate planning with a design-first approach, layered on top of incredible customer support to help people throughout the process — making estate planning simple, affordable, & accessible. Since starting the company in October of 2017, we’ve raised $8M in capital, went through the Techstars accelerator, lined up partnerships with MassMutual, Policygenius, and more, completed the first electronic Will in history, and have helped over 90,000+ Americans kickstart their estate plan.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

Horizon Therapeutics has been an active supporter of the community since its founding, a little more than 10 years ago. Horizon’s CEO, Tim Walbert, invested in corporate social responsibility even before the company was profitable.  When the repercussions of COVID-19 started to become clear, Horizon immediately sought out how to best lend support. We landed with a $1.5 million+ donation, split amongst community nonprofits and foundations in Illinois, the City of Chicago, Lake County, San Francisco, Washington D.C, Canada and Dublin, Ireland.  

Additionally, we helped seed two new funds with the Governor in Illinois.  The first is focused on supporting our communities throughout Illinois and the second is focused on the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) for our frontline healthcare workers.  More information on the PPE fund can be found here. 

As a community, we must address the immediate need to support our healthcare workers and first responders.  These unsung heroes are working directly with patients; and in these unprecedented times, they are doing so with a lack of critical protective medical products and equipment.

Donations will help provide increased access to medical PPE for healthcare providers and first responders throughout Illinois.  As of 4/20, the following PPE has been donated: 3,080 goggles; 13,740 protective clothing; 93,100 cleanroom gloves; 3,620 N95 masks; 14,930 surgical masks; 101,750 testing swabs.

Each of us as individuals, and collectively as part of our workplaces, can lend support to someone, somewhere in need.  If donating to the PPE fund speaks to you, please do so here.  Any amount helps.  

Other ideas include ordering from your favorite neighborhood restaurant and having it delivered to your local domestic violence shelter, tipping your grocery delivery driver double, donating to your local food pantry, or calling a loved one to check in. Do something.