Fiverr Celebrates National Women’s Month

On Thursday March 3rd, in celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, Fiverr held a networking event near our NYC headquarters to gain perspective from entrepreneurs and artists alike. We wanted to bring people together from various creative industries, including music, food, media and design to discuss their journeys and experiences as women in the working world.Over 100 people (men and women!) showed up, including our fantastic NYC-based Fiverr buyers and sellers.

Fiverr’s COO Vered Raviv-Schwarz kicked off the evening’s panel with some powerful statistics on the lack of female leadership in the workforce. “The gender gap is a huge focus for us. If you’ve heard the numbers, they aren’t predicting that we’ll have a 50/50 balance of men and women in leadership positions anytime soon. Needless to say, we have a big challenge ahead of us.” Our panelists then took the stage to share their insights. From a celebrity chef to a female disc jockey, their diverse backgrounds were united with one commonality: the combination of creative talent and business savvy. The panel of super women included:

• Bethany Heinrich:
Mogul VP Content & Community; Founder of Fabulous & Fighting; Award-winning Film Producer

"Don't let obstacles, such as non-supportive people or difficult circumstances, get in your way. Instead, use them as fuel and channel the negative into positive energy, thus pressing forward toward achieving your dream."

• Natalie Johnson:
Partner Paradigm; Co-Founder of Bottle Bracket

“You have the choice to do what you love. Do it and you'll never look back."

• Lauren Gerrie:
Co-Founder bigLITTLE Get Together; Personal Chef to Marc Jacobs; and Chopped 2011 Winner

"All the work you put in comes back to you. So if you keep putting in the work you will reap the benefits."

• Whitney Falk:
Founder & CEO of ZZ Driggs; Interior Designer

"I have this one mantra that got me through everything: ‘Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”

• Quiana Parks:
Celebrity DJ; Founder of DJ for a Cure; and Artist

"DJing is a male driven industry. At first, it felt like a defeat being female, but now it feels amazing. I love being a female DJ."

The Panel covered issues in gender parity, polling the women on how they remained authentic doing what they loved, and how they found success despite the odds.

Though each of the panelists journeys were unique, they all spoke of perseverance, finding strength in family and friends, and the undeniable benefits of hard work. Doing your research was another key insight. Regardless of if you’re a DJ, or chef, or cartoonist, it’s important to check out your competition. Before you call fully invest yourself, both personally and financially, you need to make sure you’ve not only done your research, but continue to stay on top of changing trends in your industry. Finally, everyone on the panel agreed that the biggest key to success lies in helping others. The path to achievement is just as much about those around you as it is about yourself. Lauren Gerrie put it best when she said,"It’s about positivity and reinforcement. If fewer people get caught up in their egos and were less competitive, we'd accomplish so much more." After the panel opened up to the audience for questions, the remainder of the evening was spent enjoying great music, wine, networking and a silent auction, of which all of the pieces were created by female artists, benefitting various charities for women. We are so proud to have been able to bring together such a talented group of women and men, and we look forward to doing our part to celebrate strong, intelligent, and independent women all year long!

Thank you Splacer for helping us secure this great venue and providing fantastic photos.Thank you to our awesome Fiverr illustrators digidoy, willnoname, echizala and conceptart09, for the stunning superhero portraits.