Networks connect area women

Networking isn’t always about having a stash of business cards and an elevator speech seeking a sale — it can be about building relationships and finding a supportive community.

The options for networking are multiple from well-known outlets such as chambers of commerce, Rotary Clubs and the Business Network International.

Some women, however, find these large, mixed-gender settings to not be a fit to network, build relationships and find business prospects. They prefer women-specific networking membership organizations that are focused on particular industries or are more general across many business types.

One such organization is CREW Northern Colorado, part of the national Commercial Real Estate Women Network, a professional association for women in the real estate profession. The Northern Colorado chapter, founded in 2006, meets monthly over lunch for networking and an educational or inspirational presentation at the Ptarmigan Golf Course near Windsor. The chapter also organizes six to seven social gatherings each year, such as tours of construction projects or wine and cheese events. Currently, the chapter has more than 45 members including a few men.

“We are breaking barriers, but we want support across the board. We can’t get far without men in a male-dominated industry,” said Jennifer Peters, a commercial real estate attorney in Loveland and a board member of CREW Northern Colorado.

Peters met several of her business contacts through CREW and, like many business professionals working in relationship-based businesses, works with those she knows, likes and trusts. She’s found that CREW has given her a support network and a place to exchange information, ask questions and bounce ideas.

“To really focus on the business you’re in, you have to meet the people who are in that business,” Peters said. “There are other real estate networking groups … focused on sales, as opposed to building relationships and increasing leadership skills. These are really fascinating women and men, and they are really supportive of each other.”

To provide that needed support for businesswomen, Whitedove Gannon founded the Female Entrepreneur Movement in Longmont in 2018. FEM helps female entrepreneurs start and scale their businesses using networking and community support.

Gannon, who has been part of traditional networking groups with a pitching, speed dating and sales-oriented approach, wanted something different for members of her group. She wanted women to be able to connect with one another and build relationships, she said.

“Basically what FEM is, it’s network and business-related opportunities to empower women to create the business and life they desire,” Gannon said. “It’s community-based, not coach-specific.”

FEM holds two networking events the third week of the month, a connect-and-learn on Wednesday and a social hour on Thursday, each of which generates an attendance of 15 to 25 women. During the connect-and-learns, held at a Longmont coffee shop, members take turns giving the group a brief description about their businesses and talking about one of their accomplishments in the past 30 days and what they want to achieve in the next 30 days. In turn, the other members offer feedback and advice.

At the social hour at a Longmont distillery, the women pass out their business cards and engage in lighter conversation, Gannon said.

The networking events are free, but those who want to be part of the FEMProject to financially support businesswomen can pay monthly dues to join the FEM Members Club, a national online platform and networking community. The dues support grants for businesswomen who want to start or grow a business — Gannon hopes to give out the first grant in May or June and to help 12 women this year.

“Networking has turned a corner to where it is much more relationship- and community-based than it has been,” Gannon said. “That’s why I focus on community building, where women feel like they have a place to be heard and a place to be understood.”

Another networking group, Fort Collins Housewives in the City, founded in 2017 and one of 50 city-based chapters, provides networking events for women in business in Northern Colorado, though a few men attend. The events are primarily free, and the chapter is inclusive without memberships and dues.

“Our goal is to bridge that gap between social media marketing and interpersonal communication and providing an inclusive way for networking and connection,” said Lisa Downer, director of marketing and events for Fort Collins Housewives in the City.

The chapter hosts a monthly event, Our Ladies Night Out Networking Social, to highlight a few Northern Colorado businesses, which are invited to set up booths and promote what they have to offer. Before the event, the chapter promotes the businesses on its social media outlets and provides swag bags at the event for additional advertising.

“It’s not a vendor event. I consider it a networking event,” Downer said. “I really want to help other women find a support system and still be able to do what we like to do.”

The businesses have an opportunity to connect with the 50 to 100 attendees at the event, Downer said. They aren’t there simply to sell but to create relationships and to build a network of support, which can extend beyond the event through sharing and promotion on social media, she said.

“Nobody is in a different mind space when they’re there. They want to know about you, and you’re connecting with them at the same time,” Downer said. “It’s a well-rounded event where everybody connects. You’re not just walking by a booth.”

Northern Colorado Community is another membership-based networking group geared to both men and women, though the group offers an annual women’s conference in April called WOW, or Wonderful Outstanding Women. The conference, which is in its third year this year, features female speakers and attendees and includes presentations on operating and growing a business, opportunities for networking and vendor booths.

NCC, which has 90 members, was founded in 2017 as a regional business networking group for business professionals and nonprofits. It offers three to four events a month, including after-hours, lunch-and-learns, business before hours and master minds, which include opportunities for networking.

“Networking is relational,” said Ann Baron, chief executive officer and organizer of NCC. “Women are good at communicating, sensing how people are feeling. They know how to be aware of other people and interact in a positive way. … It’s not about you, but it’s about them and how you can help them.”

Baron calls herself a connector in her role as leader of NCC.

“I like to connect people together who might not connect otherwise,” Baron said, adding that she meets with members for one hour once a month to help them with their business needs or to offer referrals if she doesn’t have an answer.

WomenGive, a program of United Way of Larimer County founded in 2006, provides networking opportunities around its main mission of bringing together local government entities and nonprofits to help single mothers achieve self-sufficiency. The membership group provides child care scholarships for women who are seeking a two- or four-year advanced degree.

WomenGive holds several events throughout the year, including an annual luncheon in February that brings together local leaders, donors and scholarship recipients; two social events in the spring and fall; and various engagement events, such as in the past a wine tasting, yoga in the park and a cake decorating class.

The group has 500 members, including 70 business members who pay higher dues for more membership benefits, including a listing in the business member directory and an opportunity to attend quarterly business happy hours. The happy hours, which typically have an attendance of 10 to 20 members, are hosted by one of the WomenGive business members.

“Networking is a really powerful tool for connecting to others in the community who perhaps share the same values,” said Madisen Golden, membership manager of WomenGive. “We encourage people to connect and have conversations and meet outside the event. It’s not about business cards; it’s about making connections. It’s fostering real connections and conversations. We like to keep it a little bit more personal.”

Making those connections and offering women a place to share ideas and resources is why Ann Clarke of Masonville founded a master mind group called Colorado Women of Influence in 2008, followed by the Women of Vision Gala in 2010. The group, which has 96 members and another 130 Women of Vision honoraries, holds social events and quarterly breakfast and quarterly luncheon networking events, plus monthly master minds focused on business-related topics.

“Networking is not the primary focus but networking happens because you do business with people you know,” Clark said, adding that women don’t want their business interactions to focus solely on sales pitches and trading business cards. “When you’re handed a business card, you don’t know anything about that person. … When we do business, we want to know about your family, your kids and your dog, where you go to school, where you volunteer. Are we compatible?”

The LoCo GoCos in Longmont started out as an informal gathering of women at members’ homes and local restaurants that later added in networking and business advice.

Sharon Lake, a consultant for MedTech, formed the group in December 2018 shortly after moving to Longmont to be able to connect with other women and establish some friendships.

The group, which has 15 members, meets once a month without a set agenda, but members end up asking each other for business advice and feedback, Lake said. They seek help with problem solving or on projects and come up with ideas for working together in business, she said.

“When we get together, it’s mostly lighthearted, but there’s connection where people follow up with each other,” Lake said, adding that the members are supportive of one another and want to see each other be successful. “They find an outlet and support system for their business endeavors as well.”

There are several other networking groups in Northern Colorado geared to women, including Launch Ladies NoCo, the Business Women’s Network of Fort Collins, Women&, the Northern Colorado committee of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, the Junior League of Fort Collins, and UCHealth’s WISH, or Women Investing in Strategies for Health.

In the Boulder area, businesswomen can find a Boulder chapter of the national networking group Ellevate; Women in Leadership Development (WILD), an outgrowth of The Women’s Council at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado; and the Boulder Chamber’s Business Women’s Leadership Group.

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