The female founders of three Milwaukee-based companies have launched a new organization that will offer peer-to-peer mentorship for Milwaukee area women professionals.
Founders of the new company, called Rev Collective, include: Angela Damiani, co-founder of NEWaukee; Nydia Maurás-Jones and Dena Nord, co-founders of Odvant Creative; and Kate Pociask, founder of Patron Sainte.
The group is designed to address what Damiani said is a lack of resources available to women who want to advance their careers or launch their own company in Milwaukee.
Existing professional women’s groups typically require new members to receive nominations or to have reached a certain tenure in their career. Rev Collective requires neither, Damiani said.
“Given the disparities we still have with gender parity in the workplace and in civic representation, we need to be doing something that’s more inclusive and progressive,” she said.
Professional women’s groups also tend to be oriented toward corporate settings, rather than startups or small businesses, she said.
“Oftentimes the conversation about workplace dynamics are in the framework of a corporate mentality, but there are plenty of challenges for female founders,” Damiani said.
Rev Collective members will be placed into curated groups of six to eight individuals with similar professional goals. Those groups will meet regularly to share “real, tactical advice to help one another scale their businesses, nurture their side hustles, or work toward their desired promotion,” the group said.
Damiani expects about 100 members at the group’s launch.
“Study after study shows that women who routinely support other women are more successful themselves,” Pociask said. “They land leadership roles with higher paychecks and greater responsibility.”
Damiani stressed that it’s more than a networking group.
“It’s much more proactive,” she said.
A small existing group of women have been engaging in this kind of career coaching for the past three years, which served as inspiration for the new group, Damiani said.
“Being a part of an accountability group like this has been invaluable to the growth of my business,” Maurás-Jones said. “I’m excited to give more women the opportunity to have their own collective.”
Damiani envisions Rev Collective eventually expanding into other markets outside of Milwaukee.
Revenue will come from memberships and sponsorships. The annual price of membership is $275.
The organization is targeted at female and non-binary professionals.
Rev Collective is now accepting applications through Oct. 22. Programming is set to begin in November.
