Celebrating, Reflecting and Supporting on IWD.

On IWD this year, I want to share my gratitude. It is not lost on me that a decade ago or two, the idea of an immigrant mom of 2 being a co-founder of a startup and venture partner at a SV firm was very obscure.

I know we have a long way to go, but in a world full of doom and gloom, I want to share some optimism, what I have learned that has helped me on my journey and how I think we can support more women in achieving success.

1. Who you surround yourself with and the messages you receive dictate what you believe is possible. We are living in the attention economy, so being mindful of the messages we give women and girls in our media, school and community really matters. So much of my growth has come from re-thinking limiting beliefs around what I can do with my life. I am grateful to be surrounded with a community of friends, colleagues and family who believe women can do anything.

2. Further to this point above, the single biggest shift I had to make was having the willingness to fail. Often girls are taught to be perfectionists rather than to take risks. I know personally I tortured myself on achievement and perfection for many years before I grew into the notion that failure = learnings and is par for the course for anything meaningful or different. Once I was willing to fail, I no longer limited my actions to "safe" bets.

3. Seeing other women succeed with intention. For me, success is the full package - doing meaningful and purposeful work, having financial success, having close relationships with my family and community, and being well physically and emotionally myself. Showing women succeed in this multi-dimensional context is essential. I am so grateful to women who have shared unapologetically their multi-dimensional success.

4. Designing work so that it works for women. One of the great privileges I have as a CEO is designing how I and others work and learn. At Disco, we are a remote first company where work and learning can happen virtually with far less travel than ever before for which I am so grateful.

5. Having men in my life who have advocated and championed my success. I am so grateful to the many incredible men in my life, who have believed in me, invested in me, partnered with me and advocated for me.

6. Having a community of support. One of the greatest gifts I have had on my journey is my mastermind and this community at Gamechanger. This community based learning is a great example of why I am building Disco

On this IWD, we can #breakthebias and each play a role in creating the conditions for women to succeed.

Today my support is going to the Ukranian women who are beyond brave and need as much support as possible, they face life threatening situations.

Join me in supporting 💙💛🇺🇦 👉👉👉 https://lnkd.in/e_F5eAwm & 👉👉👉

https://lnkd.in/eiGHnuk5

Small actions lead to big impacts. If these lessons / ideas resonate with you, feel free to share.

With gratitude always,

Candice