Our Journey to Empower Women
Here at Rhode*, we have explored every opportunity to make sure this company is doing whatever it takes to stand out among other competitors. What do we mean by that? We mean, we want our employees to be proud of working at Rhode. You could be working anywhere else, yet you choose to work here with all of your talent and experience. We have spent the past couple of years making sure that our products are well received with the public. We have worked tirelessly to guarantee customer satisfaction. In the same way, we want our employees satisfied with Rhode in more than one aspect.
Most of the employees here at Rhode are women, *https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhodeskin/people/, and most of the influencers we have partnered up with are also women.
So, we would be foolish to ignore how much of Rhode’s success is due to all of the women that contribute to it.
Back when it was time to decide what we wanted Rhode’s future to look like, all we were certain of was, that it had to involve empowering women.
In 2023, with the help of some of our partners, Accion Opportunity Fund and New Voices Foundation, these were some of our accomplishments:
· $400K in loans and grants were provided to 118 women-owned businesses.
· 165 women-owned businesses were provided with ongoing support, including mentorship, business development, and technical assistance.
*https://2023futuresreport.rhodeskin.com/3/
So many talented women don’t have the means to start up a business or wait it out while it turns a profit. Which is why some of our partners work with women and offer financial assistance to give their businesses a fighting chance.
In an article for Forbes, author Melissa Houston (2024), wrote about the importance of women having financial equality in business. One of the reasons listed discuss the importance of empowering women. “Women entrepreneurs face numerous challenges, including a lack of access to funding and limited access to business networks” (Houston, 2024).
In order for us to properly empower women, we needed to find partners willing to invest resources. As Houston (2024) suggested, “By creating more opportunities for women to access funding and establish business networks, women entrepreneurs will be better able to grow their businesses and achieve financial independence.”
The inequality between genders cannot be ignored, therefore we must work twice as hard to prove that women should have access to the same resources and funding as men.
Aside from providing financial assistance and resources, we had to consider the health and education of women. We committed to providing women with access to health care.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, many women were left without access to abortion care.
Rhode provided wellness stipends to 20 staff and volunteers who were supporting women in need of abortion care. This was accomplished, of course, with the support of the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Empowering women is more than just sharing words of encouragement. It takes investing resources, providing access to essential care, and offer women an equal opportunity to succeed.
At Rhode, we want everyone to have a fair shot at success. We just know it’s harder for women to achieve certain levels of success due to gender inequality. As we move forward to break down barriers and offer fair opportunities, we are exploring ideas that will push in the right direction. We want to welcome every employee at Rhode to share their ideas for how we can move forward to accomplish our next set of goals; we are still focusing on ways to empower women. Are there any organizations, nonprofits, or partners that you believe would be a good fit to team up with Rhode? Or do you have any ideas on how we improve how we empower all of the women here at Rhode?
Please share your ideas, we welcome them all!
https://www.rhodeskin.com/pages/philanthropy
*Disclaimer, this is a mock blog post created for Rhode Skin for a college course.
