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I recently had the pleasure of experiencing the type of woman who just genuinely wants to help other women succeed. Honestly, at first I didn’t trust it. I am so used to watching my back and questioning others’ intentions: I couldn’t believe that she just wanted to help me. Not only did she send a personal and complimentary referral letter to somebody for me, but she also sent me a list of other similar contact she had worked long and hard to research and scrounge up, and her tips on how to best get in touch with them. In a second, she just gave me the information that it must have taken her days to gather. She passed on her progress, to me, asking nothing in return. I eventually learned why she did this: other women, like her, helped her get to where she is. I suppose she was paying it forward (or back?) Either way, it got me thinking about all of the ways women could collaborate more.
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Notify each other of opportunities
If you become aware of a great opportunity that several women you know would be viable candidates for, send it to them all. Don’t look at them as competition. Think of it this way: the person giving out the opportunity needs more female applicants. So help there be more female applicants, and you’ll help push women forward.