5 Ways to Support Women Around You

Parenting is tough. Navigating a career is challenging. Keeping up with the curated lives on social media is exhausting. Making others feel loved, appreciated, and supported is so, so good for this world and just too easy to do. Here are a few ways to do some good for the women in your professional and personal life:

1. Pay for 2 tickets to a professional development event and invite a colleague. Maybe it’s an intern or an employee of yours, or maybe it’s a friend in a similar industry. Any opportunity to grow professionally is great, and doing it for someone else is even better. Added bonus: having a wing woman for the networking event at the end of a seminar makes the whole thing a little less intimidating.
2. Send a random gift of support. A friend of mine was having a difficult time with work schedules and two little kids, so I sent her a little gift to her office with a note reminding her what a badass working mom she was. It took so little effort on my part but can go a long way to remind someone they are heard, and you empathize with the struggle. 
   

   The working mom struggle is real. Send champagne. And candy.

3. Give a SAHM an afternoon off. Many of my girlfriends are stay-at-home moms. Despite having very different challenges than me, I know one thing: they are some of the most selfless, creative, energetic, wonderful moms. They are on duty 24/7. After a long, difficult weekend of kids who skip naps, teething babies, and loads of laundry, they don’t get the respite of escaping to the office. Take a load off for a SAHM friend and grab her kids for a play date while she goes on a date with her spouse, catches up with a friend, or even takes a nap. Showing her you appreciate all she does and giving her a break is a simple act of friendship. It’s also a great opportunity to “babysitter swap” with friends. They’ll get you back next month when you want to catch a movie and can’t find a sitter.
4. Review a resume/do a mock interview. Offer to do a once over for a friend’s resume (if that’s your strength), go to lunch and do a mock interview, or connect her with someone in your network who can help her get to the next level. We need all the support we can get, and I firmly believe that women who build up other women will find continued success for themselves as well.
5. Treat your mom. Are you lucky enough to have your mom around? Maybe it’s your mother-in-law or a family friend who is a “second mom.” Show some appreciation to the one(s) in your life with a dinner date, a spa day, or a homemade brunch and a sweet thank you card. If finances allow, maybe even send her on a little getaway because, holy crap, it is SO HARD being a mom.

It takes a friggin’ village, and if we all did a little something small for the women in our lives, the world would be that much brighter.