fbpx

Episode 75: How to get paid what you’re worth with Claire Wasserman

Welcome to The Career Clarity Show, where we help you find a lucrative, soulful, and joyful career path for you!

Today on the Career Clarity Show we are talking about helping women get paid what they’re worth. Claire Wasserman, founder of Ladies Get Paid, is here to share her expertise, strategies, advice, and how she got to where she is today. 

This is for you if you have been thinking about how to make sure that you are making what you’re worth, knowing how to advocate and negotiate powerfully. We discuss how to navigate some of the complex terrain that comes with wanting to make sure that you’re getting the right value for your work product and for who you are even when you’re in the midst of considering a career transition or a career change. 

Want to learn more about our strategic framework for successful career change? Download The Roadmap to Career Fulfillment ebook right here!

SHOW NOTES:

 

Subscribe to The Career Clarity Show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Play.

And, follow The Career Clarity Show on Facebook and Instagram — and sign up below to receive emails when new episodes come out!

Transcript:

Lisa Lewis Miller  0:04  

Welcome to the Career Clarity Show. If you want to create a career path you’ll love, you’re in the right place. I’m Lisa Lewis Miller, career change coach, published author and your host, and each week we’ll bring you personal transformation stories, advice and insights from experts about how you can find a more fulfilling, soulful and joyful career. Hello, and welcome, clarity seekers. It is Lisa Lewis Miller. And I’m so excited for today’s episode of the Career Clarity Show, we are talking to a woman who has made her name and her brand, all about helping women get paid what they’re worth, and I am so excited to hear about her expertise, strategies, advice, and how she got to where she is today. So today’s conversation is going to be for you if you have been thinking about making sure that you are making what you’re worth knowing how to advocate and negotiate powerfully, and understanding how to navigate some of the complex terrain that comes with wanting to make sure that you’re getting the right value for your work product and for who you are even when you’re in the midst of considering a career transition or a career change. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  1:19  

So, my guest today is the delightful Claire Wasserman. Claire is an educator, author, and founder of Ladies Get Paid, a global community that champions the professional and financial advancement of women. She is also the producer and host of John Hancock’s podcast, “Friends Who Talk About Money”. Claire has traveled the country teaching thousands of women how to negotiate millions of dollars in raises, start businesses, and advocate for themselves in the workplace.   Claire was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women and is a highly-sought-after expert for Fortune 500 companies working to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within their organizations. If that doesn’t get you excited about hearing this interview with Claire. I don’t know what well, Claire, welcome to the Career Clarity Show. 

Claire Wasserman  2:06  

Thank you so much for having me. I just want to say I love that my name is sort of in the name of your title on the podcast. So this is great. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  2:16  

The Career Clarity show with Claire today seems very appropriate. I love it. Well, let’s start today’s conversation with talking a little bit about how you got so passionate and got so interested about Ladies Getting Paid, and how you got to where you are today. 

Claire Wasserman  2:33  

So how did I get started here? Sexism discrimination, entrenched inequalities? No, I, I actually have to admit, I didn’t really consider myself a feminist. A couple years ago, I you know, I didn’t know what it was, I had a complete misunderstanding. I just wasn’t aware, I didn’t quite understand, you know, the systemic inequalities that that women face. And I had a general sense, but it wasn’t until I had a kind of blatant experience that really woke me up to this. And I walked into a party, I, you know, we’re good things happen today, it actually was a very fancy advertising festival. And most of the people there were men, you know, there was already that kind of power, imbalance. And I walk into this party and this guy, this older guy comes up to me smiles, sticks out his hand, and he says, Hi, who’s white for you.

Claire Wasserman  3:25  

And long story short, that kind of set off a whole journey for me of just researching women in the workplace, and trying to understand, you know, all these experiences I’d had in my career, that felt weird, that felt bad. But I didn’t quite have a vocabulary to be able to say, this is, for example, a micro aggression, or this is emotional labor or invisible labor. I also didn’t realize statistics, like the fact that Hispanic women make 55 cents to the dollar, right? We think of the wage gap is closer to 78 cents to the dollar. No, which doesn’t aggregate it is but if you break this down by race and ethnicity, and whether you’re married or not, you know that when you start reading these things, you go down a deep rabbit hole, or at least I did and just felt like as an individual, what can you possibly do? You know, you want I got overwhelmed, right? I felt terrible. And for the better part of a year, I just sat with these statistics. And it wasn’t until a friend of mine came to me and said, Claire, I just realized I’m not charging as much as my male counterparts. She was a freelance art director. She said, I have no idea what to charge. And for her, it didn’t feel so much like sexism. Other than, you know, these men were comfortable commanding their worth. And she had some insecurity about that. And I brought a bunch of women together. I at the time, by the way, I was working for an organization that helps people get jobs, particularly people in communications, right. 

Claire Wasserman  4:52  

So advertising and design and tech. And so I was in this fortunate position where I happen to know a lot of people I got 100 women together, I hosted what I called a town hall. I wanted them to talk about money, and I wanted them to talk about it freely. I wanted it to be based on their stories, right. So how they feel about money, what money represents to them, because it really reflected so much of the research I’ve been doing, which was about women’s power, or lack of power. And it was out of that town hall that I realized there was something I could actually do to make a change. And it was helping women negotiate their salaries, that was a tangible way that we could close our own wage gap, that could start the conversation, I could find career coaches to teach, I could split the profits, right. So I saw not only you know what the need was and how to fill it, but that there was, you know, a business model here. And that this didn’t have to be a side project, like maybe I could make this a business. And long story, I guess, long out of that event, I created a slack group. And in that Slack group, there were different channels based on a lot of the things that have been talked about at the town hall, there was a LEED Gold channel, people had questions about that, there was obviously a jobs, channel, articles, resources. 

Claire Wasserman  6:06  

I mean, you kind of named the frustration or the anxiety that women were having at work and, and there was a channel for it. And it was seeing those women and what they were talking about, and their man, they had a lot to talk about. And it was also clear, there were so many other things that they needed to learn. And that education would be at the core of how I moved forward. So that was that was the beginning of everything, although, of course, you know, we could go back way back in my career and in childhood to see how I got here. But, you know, this was this, I started researching maybe about five years ago, and began, ladies get paid end of 2016. And we are still in business, we actually now have over 75,000 women in our community from more than 50 states, more than 120 countries. Of course, you know, I take credit for it. But man, it’s really the community that spread the word. You know, they’re they’re the ones who’ve kept this moving forward. They’re the reason that we are still here, and we are what we are today. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  7:04  

That’s amazing. And it’s incredible to see the scale that you’ve accomplished over a fairly short period of time, which so validates that there’s so much education, so much community, so much need, that has an opportunity to be filled. And I’m curious knowing that there are 75,000 people who are a part of this movement as a part of this world. What are some of the personal stories that have really resonated with you the most about folks who have been able to ask for really ambitious things or make changes in their career?

Claire Wasserman  7:37  

Great question, God, there are so many stories. So it’s hard to pick my favorites. But one woman I particularly love is that she realized she wasn’t getting paid what she deserved. So usually, a woman comes to Ladies Get Paid, because there’s something in her life that she wants to change. Usually, there’s an experience at work that is unsettling for her in some way. When she comes, she realizes, wow, it’s not just that one experience that she maybe wants to change, but there is so much more in her life, if you’re going to command your value, what are all the different ways you can do that. And for her, you know, she was able to negotiate, negotiate that raise. And that was amazing. And we’ve seen women make so much more money through education. But she also realized she was in the wrong romantic relationship. Although I don’t want to take credit for her breaking up with him. Because, you know, that’s a personal responsibility I do not want to have. But part of her reason for moving on from this relationship was actually realizing that they didn’t share the same values around money around how they wanted to save for their future. And then she realized, you know, she wanted to buy a house. And she kept thinking about all the different ways that she could level up. And it began because she came to Ladies Get Paid, took a negotiation class, connected with women on Slack, and and realize that she wasn’t alone in all of this and that there was a larger support system here for her in in taking these risks. No, because all of these choices, she was stepping into the unknown a little bit. So she she’s one of my favorite stories, though, again, there are just so many. 

Claire Wasserman  9:07  

And that’s the reason I keep going, you know, for as difficult as all of this is. It’s very emotionally draining, financially draining. But I always get that email when I’m on the verge of you know, having my own little burnout or breakdown. And that email says, Wow, this has changed my life. And it might even just be a small thing. Maybe it’s somebody who heard me on a podcast, they said, you said this thing, it really opened my eyes, I’m gonna keep going. You know, so for everybody listening, you can have a huge impact on people and have no idea. And oftentimes it just comes from, you know, beating yourself. And and I just, I really, I’m just so honored to do the work that I do. It’s amazing. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  9:45  

And I wonder, it feels like there’s one piece of this, which is women taking more responsibility for asking for and creating the kinds of things they want to have in their lives. But it feels like there was another piece of this that you sort of hinted at in your origin story around noticing some of the systemic issues that women in particular are facing. And what are you finding are some of the biggest challenges or barriers that women in the workplace may be facing that maybe they’ve coded in their brains as normal, or the way that things are? That they should be questioning and not necessarily accepting?

Claire Wasserman  10:25 

Yeah, I mean, one, one thing I want to mention in terms of stories that have really resonated with me, because I think this this is applicable to the question you just asked, there was a woman who came to our first or second workshop, I can’t remember, and I knew her in college. And she reached out and she said, Listen, I’m unhappy in my career, I see that you’re hosting a workshop called get unstuck. She took the workshop ended up hiring the Career Coach, really worked on figuring out her path, she wanted to be more civically engaged, she realized that, you know, making progress in the workplace is so much more than just advocating for yourself, you know, we’re up against systemic issues. And so figuring out ways, you know, can you advocate for better paid family leave policies at work, and for her, she was interested in the community, and interested in maybe getting into politics. 

Claire Wasserman  11:13  

A year later, she comes to one of my events, she stands up, because we always encourage people to share and she says, I have always wanted to run for office, and you know, people who look like me, don’t run for office, but I’m going to do it. And she did. And she ended up winning. And it’s Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, she became the youngest Congresswoman ever. So that’s the kind of woman that is in our community that blows me away. And the kind of woman that recognizes that she needs to both do work to improve her own situation. But if you just stop there, you know, it’s kind of like swimming upstream, you’ll always be sort of gasping for breath here. 

Claire Wasserman  11:52  

So I think everybody needs to really take a look at what are ways that we can close the wage and the leadership gap. And in my book, at the end of the book, in the appendix, it lists out a number of policies that can help that one being paid family leave another one being on minimum wage, flex time, and how do you advocate for that? And and really, it comes from making the business case, right, companies are not going to do things unless it improves their bottom line. And so working backwards, how can you show that if you implement this policy, that it will improve the productivity, it will improve people’s morale people are, you know, going to be more likely to stay at the company, and retention helps save the company money. And that also means galvanizing other people you work with, you know, especially men, you know, to come in with you and make the case, so that you’re not the only one. 

Claire Wasserman  12:42  

So that’s something you know, I want women to recognize that. Yes, there are internal barriers here, which, you know, is absolutely true, I teach a lot of classes on perfectionism and imposter syndrome, right? The ways that we might keep ourselves small. But it’s not just that it’s not just about having more confidence. It’s also recognizing that there are larger dynamics at play here, men are more likely to, you know, take up more space at a meeting, right? They’re going to speak more than women, women are more likely to be interrupted by both men and women. Right? So knowing that this is something that happens and has nothing to do with you, how can you be prepared for it? So that’s really the journey that we want to bring women on is recognizing how to take the first steps in improving you know, their own life, removing those internal obstacles, and then seeing that this is larger than them. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  13:33  

I love that. And Claire, I’ll I’ll add on to that. To that there. I think it was a study done by McKinsey, I want to say in the last year, where they went into a company who had done a lot of implementation of these, these woman friendly mom friendly policies, family friendly policies, and they were still seeing a higher level of attrition in the female part of the workforce than they were expecting. And they essentially were throwing up their hands and saying, Listen, like we’ve done everything like this is just this is not our responsibility. It’s not our problem anymore. And McKinsey came in to do a study to see like, well, what’s what’s actually going on here. And a layer and a nuance to some of the systemic questions and issues that arise is that if you have all these policies in place, but you judge or punish the people who use them, it’s as if you don’t have them in place, you’re still not going to be retaining talent, you’re still not going to be promoting and advancing talent, you’re still not going to have the kind of diversity in your workforce that you’re intending to have by putting these policies in place in the first place. So there’s a certain level of changing the way that we conceptualize and relate to people who choose options in their careers and in their lives as not being a drawback right not being a liability to their commitment or their capability to contribute as a worker bee. But actually as a really normal and natural part of life. That might be actually uniquely prepare them to be able to contribute better and differently in the future.

Claire Wasserman  15:08  

Absolutely. And that’s why I said paid family leave and not maternity leave. One thing I want to mention is is beyond those kind of easily identical, sorry, beyond those sort of easily identifiable policies. I think this really starts with hiring people. And in terms of, you know, the promotional pipeline, like how do we imagine what a leader looks like making sure that we’re fairly assigning, you know, work tasks, right. So making sure that the plum assignments, you know, they get the most exposure, don’t just go to men, and even incentivizing managers, right, giving goals of, you know, being able to promote women and people of color, and that’s a good thing, and holding them accountable to it. Maybe even giving bonuses, right, oftentimes, companies will give bonuses for referrals. But oftentimes, we refer people who remind us of ourselves, right? What happens if we refer people who bring diversity and diversity in all different ways, right, maybe that’s when you get the bonus. And being transparent about it. Also, these don’t need to be things that we, you know, hide in the background, I mean, companies should be proud of the work that they’re doing, they need to show the work that they’re doing, they need to empower their managers to join that work. 

Claire Wasserman  16:20  

And again, to give her word for it. So this all requires an ongoing conversation. And for anybody who’s worried that this would somehow make them look like an agitator, or you know, jeopardize the relationship. Blame it on us, I say that you listen to this podcast, you join ladies get paid, you read the McKinsey report, you’re concerned about, you know, the imbalance of, you know, women and diversity in leadership, and you want to be a leader at the company, you want to help support the company, right? This is in their benefit. So it’s making this you know, putting it in context about why you’re going to them, you don’t need to point fingers, you can say this is generally, you know, an issue that we’ve seen in the workplace, I want to help this company do better. I want to be the leader here. And then when it’s time for your annual review, or if you end up getting a new job, and you’re interviewing, please bring that work up, because that does show that you’re a leader, this should help you make your case about why you’re valuable to the company that you have been involved. But again, for everybody listening, just make sure you’re not the only one doing this, make sure that you have you know, men who are allies, particularly men who are in positions of power, because you are already probably underpaid and over exhausted. So it should not be on us to have to do this work. But unfortunately, know if it’s not happening, we can’t just sit around and wait for it. So hopefully you remember, people like us are cheering you on? 

Lisa Lewis Miller  17:42  

Absolutely well. And since you brought up in your views, and making sure that you’re positioning yourself as a leader, let’s talk a little bit more about getting paid what you’re worth, and what you can be doing to make sure that you’re making the case as powerfully as possible. So if somebody comes to you and says, Claire, I’m really concerned that I being underpaid, I don’t want to leave my job. I just want to be able to make more money and and feel like I’m getting what I deserve here. What are some of the initial things that you recommend folks think about? or start looking at? 

Claire Wasserman  18:15  

Absolutely. But first, do your market research. Do your market research. Ask real people you know, if you’re not comfortable asking folks straight up? How much do you make? Tell them the research you did? Right? between x and y, you’ve seen that somebody in your position would make this you know, are you off base. You can also again, contextualize it blame but I’m not say you’ve been listening to podcasts like these, you want to make sure you’re not being underpaid, right? That helps all women, if each of us at you know gets paid more, then ask the people that you work for ask HR, you want to better understand how compensation works. Right? So why are you getting paid the amount? Like how did they determine that? How do they structure pay? Is it you know, a annual bump and it’s always the same? Can you make the case that the work that you’ve done has gone above and beyond? really quantify it? So you know, the work that you did? Did it save time, right? Because time is money, maybe you saved resources? You You know you were there doing the work of multiple people. So it’s not just here’s what the market bears, but really being able to make your specific case, bring in testimonials. So it’s not just you know, take my word for it. 

Claire Wasserman  19:23  

But hey, listen, I got this email from this client. They said that this was one of the best experiences they’ve ever had. Don’t have this conversation on the fly, really, you know, make it formal, ask HR, if you can have a conversation, to try to better understand compensation, your path for growth. So it’s not you know, you’re not springing it on them. You also don’t feel like you have to make your case right then and there. You can collect more information from them, and then schedule another meeting to say, I’d love to make my case but don’t make my case. And if the answer is no, ask why. Ask when you can revisit And if they say, let’s revisit it in six months, you say, great, I’m going to put something on our calendar for three months from now, I’m going to share with you my work, and I’m going to make sure that I’m on track. So oftentimes, we just sit and stew and and get frustrated, because we’re actually working off of a lack of information. So don’t put it on you to have to have all the answers. In fact, get it from them. So you can use their language, their measures of success, and then present back to them about how you’re fulfilling it. Also, if you don’t get the money, what’s your alternative here? You know, what does the company give you? That’s a value? is it helping you learn new skills? Or is the company you know, a fancy name, right? having it on your resume is going to make you look good. I mean, everything that you do today is really about positioning yourself for tomorrow. are you growing, right? If you don’t feel challenged, we need to get you another job, make sure you have savings, right? Those who are able, you know, to walk away are really those two have the financial stability to do that. So you know, do you have a backup plan, on the off chance that they say they cannot give you a raise, or they at least can’t give you a raise now. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  21:08  

Love that. And let’s look at the other side of the coin too, then. So imagine that somebody has gone after any opportunities for growth and advancement, be it in projects, be it in compensation, and they’re just hitting a wall and they realize all right, I gotta go, I got to make a shift, I got to move into a different organization, apply for new jobs, what are some of the things that you recommend people do differently when they’re thinking about setting a negotiation stage with a new company who doesn’t know anything about them, or any of their, their previous history?

Claire Wasserman  21:41  

Well, that’s, that’s on you to demonstrate it. I mean, I’ve had a woman in our community, she actually brought in a PowerPoint about why she should get this raise. I mean, that was for her current company. Don’t be afraid to make this formal. Don’t be afraid to print out your notes and say, Hey, this is really important to me, I want to make sure that you are fully aware of my potential of my capacity to do great work. I think when you talk about the work that you’ve done, beyond, you know, quantifying the impact that it’s had talked about what you learned, what you learned about yourself, how you grew, you know, especially if you were a fast learner, right? Or resilient, took risks. I mean, these are all qualities that anybody would be looking for here. So it’s not just about you know, the skills that you bring, but also who you are. And I know this might sound a bit silly, but no, even saying, I’m a really positive person, then tie it to how you saw that it impacted your team, by being really positive, where you the team cheerleader, and did that improve morale. And by improving morale, they were more dedicated. And by being more dedicated, they were more productive, right. And that saving time and time is money. 

Claire Wasserman  22:49  

So even though you might think these things are obvious, you really need to spell it out, whether again, it’s at a current job, and you’re going for promotion, or at a new job, and have specific examples, specifically examples that demonstrate the work you want to do moving forward. So for example, let’s say you created some kind of project management tool, you know, or workflow that helps your team communicate better. And it worked. It was great, but you hated it, doing it hated doing it. Don’t bring that up. Because whatever you bring up, you’re effectively raising your hand and saying to that higher, you know, hiring manager, I want to do more of this. So be strategic about the accomplishments that you talk about. And no detail is too small. Assume that you are not bragging, right? Assume that you are being way too humble, because that’s how women are socialized. And if you need help figuring this stuff out, go find friends who are in marketing, or sales or PR, because they’re going to be able to help you spin a compelling story and, and really sell yourself. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  23:48  

Mm hmm. That’s such an awesome way to make sure that you’re a member, you’re not by yourself, you don’t have to do this alone. There are lots of people who love you who are willing to help support you in this journey, and who may be able to help you not just with the the way that you’re packaging your message, but also with seeing things that are valuable in yourself that you might not be bringing forward that could be really valuable to an organization. You know, I loved your example of how positivity can have a qualitative measure that then can come back to ultimately having a financial measure to a team into a company. Because one of my favorite TED Talks is from this gal, Susan glendo. And she talks about this commercial mindset idea of how women and the way that we’re we are oftentimes socialized by society, is to really think about the connective value of our work instead of the the, the commercial bottom line value of our work, and that when we start to learn how to connect the two in our language, we are so much more able to advocate for ourselves within organizations when oftentimes the most important language that they speak is about dollar bills.

Claire Wasserman  24:58  

Yep, absolutely. Absolutely.

Lisa Lewis Miller  25:01  

So Claire, let me ask you this, it sounds like you are a huge proponent for gathering information, presenting your case, making it as unemotional as possible, making it very sort of black and white printed, easy to understand, easy to talk about. But there’s a real emotional piece to this for a lot of individuals of thinking about, can I ask for that? Is this being greedy? Am I overstepping my balance? And my bragging? You know, there’s so much to the psychology piece beyond the education and the skill development piece? Is that something that you see a lot with the individuals that that you’ve gotten to connect with and support over the years? 

Claire Wasserman  25:45  

It’s so wild, I mean, two things I’ve heard one, women feel like they’re greedy to want more money. Or it feels icky. A lot of baggage there. I mean, listen, money is a taboo topic in our society in general. And then, you know, putting women and how we’re socialized on top of it. I mean, I often say to women, anytime that you have self doubt, put yourself in the shoes of a mediocre white man, you know, would he feel that way? So, you know, and that always makes people laugh. And they realize, ah, you’re right, you’re right. This is how I’ve been socialized. So that’s one thing. The other thing that I hear is that women are afraid that if they ask for more money, and they get it, that they’re not going to live up to the now expectations, they may have set. I mean, it’s really wild, I’ve had women who have a ton of fear that they’ve maybe oversold themselves in their interview, right, so that they’re not as good or smart or competent, that, you know, as they presented themselves to be, and asking for more money feels like added pressure. So there is just so much to unpack there. And that’s why the work that we do, you know, it’s part about the internal, it’s a little bit more of the therapy part. 

Claire Wasserman  26:52  

And then the other part is the logistics, because I could teach you how to invest. But if you don’t feel good about it, you may not even try it. So I do think, you know, there’s there’s really setting the foundation to believe that you are truly worthy of advocacy, that this is how the world works. If men are making a bunch of money, who are you to not participate, right. And also think ahead. This is about generational wealth. So today’s paycheck, you know, things compound over time, especially if you’re putting your money in high yield savings, which you should, right, if the money is just sitting in your checking account, it’s not accruing interest. And for example, you know, the money that you make, hopefully, you’re putting it into a high yield savings account, right? Because if you just leave it all in your checking, that’s not accruing interest. And with inflation, you know, that means you’re losing money over time. So we got to get savvy about this. Because money’s there for you. I mean, if you’re not going to take it, somebody else will. And again, if this feels ever greedy to you, I mean, project forward, think about your family, think about the money that’s going to be passed down to them. And if you’re having trouble advocating for yourself, you know, at least advocate on behalf of them. I love that reframe. And so much of the research about women as negotiators says that oftentimes women are more effective negotiators when they are negotiating for someone else besides themselves. So pulling that in to have that sort of external piece that you can be negotiating for when you are negotiating for yourself is a beautiful mind hack. So, Claire, I love that. Now, absolutely.

Lisa Lewis Miller  28:25  

Now, let me ask you this. I know that you have a brand new book comes out today, January 12, which is fabulous. So yeah, tell folks are listening about what they could expect if they picked up a copy of that. What’s the what’s the meat and potatoes in there? 

Claire Wasserman  28:41  

Now you got me hungry. So the book follows the lives of nine real women. And each of them are facing different professional challenges, you know, from negotiating their salaries or combating imposter syndrome, navigating office politics. And as I tell their stories, I stop along the way. And I give advice, almost like I’m career coaching them. But you know, of course, I’m career coaching the reader. And it’s very actionable. Lots of bullet points, numbers, right. So it’s a really, it’s kind of part narrative part toolkit. And it begins at the beginning, it begins with believing in yourself, aligning your values with the kind of work you want to do, right, making sure going in a direction of fulfillment all the way up to getting you into the C suite, if that’s what you want, right. 

Claire Wasserman  29:25  

So, you know, it’s really kind of the whole trajectory of your career, maybe, you know, before retire, Ved, so it’s for any woman, any level, any industry. It’s also for somebody who’s concerned about the bigger picture. So the end of the book, I provide two case studies of women who made changes at their company, right, who were able to create employee resource groups, change paid family leave policy, right, change, pay transparency. I also have an appendix of a bunch of laws. What are the laws that can support women in the workplace? And then how do you lobby elected officials? Literally, what how do you call them what’s the script messaging them even tweeting at them what can help get them to pay attention. So in a way, I kind of see this as, I don’t know, lean in 2.0 I, and I believe it is. I mean, I know I’m biased. But I think it’s a fantastic book, I feel competent enough to say that it will change people’s lives. And note, it’s not just my mother, who told me that you could check out ladiesgetpaid.com/book and see some of the praise that I’ve gotten. 

Claire Wasserman  30:24  

There’s also an excerpt of the author’s Note that you can listen to. It’s been two years in the making. And I’m just again, thank you so much for having me on this podcast that I get to talk about it. You know, I had to basically keep it a secret for two years as I worked on it. So yay, I could talk about it now. And it’s out, it’s it’s my babies in the world. So by my baby. I love that. Well, as a fellow person who has put a book out into the world, I completely appreciate that process of having to sit on it Be quiet, not be sure you can share anything about it want to give some teasers and sneak previews, and then actually getting to release it into the world is a beautiful, lovely, wonderful thing. So congratulations on that big accomplishment. And so I’m curious, you know, now that your book is out into the world, tell me a little bit about what’s next for ladies get paid 2.0? Yes, so what’s next is expanding our video library, our Institute of Higher earning, which has 60 plus hours of videos, everything ranging from investing in the stock market, to advocating for promotion, effective communication, public speaking. So it’s really, you know, professionally leveling up and financially leveling up. So beyond expanding the video library, we want to keep doing our conference bigger and bigger. It’s called get money get paid. And it is basically a full day of thought leadership, you know, around supporting women in the workplace, featuring women who are super interesting and have done really unique things. 

Claire Wasserman  31:59  

We had a woman who was one of the youngest CIA, people, she talked about what that was like, and also workshops, of course, around money in and around your career. We had 1300 women come to it this past year. And so you know, we’d love to maybe get 2000 women next year, we always did it in person. But of course, you know, with the pandemic, we’ve had to pivot it online, I thought it worked even better, right? Because it was limitless, right? People from everywhere could join, it was less expensive, right? So we could have more inclusive ticket pricing. You know, there were no restraints, the terms of coming into a room and being able to see the speaker, right. So I think we’ll always do this online, moving forward. But of course, once we’re able to come back together, you know, we’ll do other things like, you know, retreats, or boot camps, and you know, all that good stuff. So everybody listening, you know, don’t worry, we’re still going to be able to hug you. We’re just, we’re just not going to do that for a little while, because now that’s the safe thing to do.

Lisa Lewis Miller  32:54  

Awesome. I love that. And I’ve gotten to be involved with ladies get paid events in the Denver area in the past, and it has been wonderful. So if you need a Denver advocate or champion here, you let me know I’m all about it. I mean, you’ve now publicly stated that so yes, I will hold you accountable to it. And I, by the way, I don’t remember where I read this. But I heard, I think Colorado was rated maybe like the one or two best states to live in, in the US. I just moved to LA so I’m not going to move anytime soon. But is that true? Do you find that where you live is one of the best places to live? Well, you know, it’s a really interesting question. And I think it becomes a philosophical question kind of for anybody listening, because it’s a question of what you value and what matters most to you in terms of your lifestyle. So I spent the first eras of my career in New York City and then in DC respectively. And so there are things that I loved about those cities and access to opportunity, access to fabulous restaurants and entertainment, you know, some of the the buzz and the loveliness of city life. And while I will say that Denver has more than doubled in its population in the last eight years, thanks to the legalization of weed, it’s still not the same kind of city as DC or New York or LA. So it really depends on what contributes to your personal sense of well being and happiness. You know, it is beautiful to be in a state that has 300 days of sunshine every year. So that is a big, big plus. And I feel like Seattle will never be able to hold a candle to that piece of things. But yeah, there are there are trade offs that you make, you know, we are pretty far away from an ocean are pretty far away from a lot of the big, you know, notable metropolitan areas across the country. So, it depends on what matters to you, but it is certainly not a bad place to live, that I can say with certainty. 

Claire Wasserman  34:43  

And I think, you know, to your point of what’s important to you, I mean, that’s how we should be evaluating our jobs, right? Because you can’t have it all there’s no dream job. Right. It’s just about what feels good to you and and projecting forward and how you You know you want to grow and the challenges you want to have in your life the good kind of challenges and in Are you in a place where that is happening happen? So I totally hear you. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  35:13  

Yeah, I think that everything you said is so spot on Claire. And for people who’ve been listening to this who’ve been loving everything you’ve been saying and want to hear more about the Institute and the conference and all the different pieces that you have been mentioning along the way, in today’s conversation, where do they find out more about you the book and ladies get paid. 

Claire Wasserman  35:32  

Very easy. Just go to LadiesGetPaid.com, you will see on the top of the website, all of the tabs, you need the conference, the book, the video library, join, it’s totally free. So you know, no excuses. And when you join, you’ll get added to that slack group that I talked about. just recognizing that there is a larger support system out there for you is is a beautiful thing. So go check that out. I want to hear from you all, so get in touch with me. So follow me on Instagram. It’s Claire Wasserman, xo DM me. If you email me probably won’t get a response my inboxes insane. But I do I do try to respond to all of the messages, messages I received on Instagram. So that’s really honestly the best way to stay up to date with me. And I’m hoping to connect with you all. Love that. Awesome. 

Lisa Lewis Miller  36:17  

Well, Claire, thank you so much for coming on the Career Clarity Show today. And we will have all of those things linked to in the show notes from today. So if you’re listening and you want to find out more about how to keep in touch with Claire, go to GetCareer Clarity.com/podcast and you will be able to get everything that you need a player. Thanks again for being a fabulous guest. 

Claire Wasserman  36:36  

Thank you so much for having me, Lisa. I really appreciate it. And especially that you coming out with this podcast on the day that I’m publishing I feel like it’s my birthday. So this just made it even sweeter.

Lisa Lewis Miller  36:53  

And that’s a wrap. Let us know what you thought about today’s episode. leave us a review on Apple podcasts. Because not only can your stars and words help us find great guests and topics to feature on future episodes. Your input also helps other people find the resources they need to discover the work that lights them up. And make sure to check out my book Career Clarity: Finally Find The Work That Fits Your Values and Lifestyle. For the link to order it go to GetCareer Clarity.com/book. And don’t forget to get your other tools resources and helpful goodies at GetCareer Clarity.com/podcast. Thanks again for joining us for the Career Clarity Show today. And remember, if you don’t love your work, we should talk because life is too short to be doing work that doesn’t light you up. Talk to you next time.

About the Author Lisa Lewis

Lisa is a career change coach helping individuals feeling stuck to find work that fits. She helps people clarify who they are, what they want most, and what a great job for them looks like so they can make their transition as easily as possible. Lisa completed coaching training in Jenny Blake’s Pivot Method, Danielle LaPorte’s Fire Starter Sessions, Kate Swoboda's Courageous Living Coaching Certification, and the World Coaches Institute. In addition to that, she apprenticed with the top career coaches in the country so she can do the best possible work with — and for — you. She's helped more than 500 individuals move into more fulfilling, yummy careers and would be honored to get to serve you next!

follow me on: