As two women who work in the business world, we're no strangers to the uneven balance of female presence in our office environments. That said, our day jobs afford us the privilege of working among many talented women who transcend these odds to achieve new levels of success. And when we're not experiencing their efforts first-hand, we're reading about them on The Jane Dough, our go-to site for coverage and commentary on women in business. The Jane Dough "celebrates women who have found success, dissects how powerful women are treated in the media and applauds forward-thinking companies," and the site's personal voice and conviction offer a unique edge to the content that is covered, all thanks to the strong team behind it: Publisher and Founder Dan Abrams, Managing Editor Amy Tennery, and Associate Editor (and our Question(NY)aire feature!) Hillary Reinsberg. Hillary has been involved with The Jane Dough since the site's conception, bringing her expert writing skills and extensive background in journalism to the team - her previous experience includes positions at Crushable, Daily Candy, NY1, and New York Magazine.
Male or female, we encourage you to check out The Jane Dough for your daily dose of business intrigue.
How did you get involved with The Jane Dough?
I started out by working on a site called Mogulite, which we launched last April. Mogulite was a great site and we very much enjoyed writing about powerful moguls around the world, but we recognized that our most engaging and thought-provoking stories were those about women. We ended up relaunching as The Jane Dough.
How was the concept conceived?
As I said, we were two women in our 20’s writing about powerful people in business. It's a great topic, but a broad one. Stories about women in power naturally piqued our interest -- and the stories that focused on female moguls were our best ones. After much discussion and support from our CEO, we recognized that there wasn't a blog with a strong voice covering women and business, or business through a female perspective.
What makes it unique?
There are sites that cover women in business and power, but we're doing it with a strong and defined voice -- one that's critical when it should be and funny as often as possible. We're not afraid to call out sexism, but we're also not afraid to criticize the choices of a powerful woman if we don't agree with them.
Your day-to-day responsibilities:
Writing, mostly. But a bit of everything. My editor Amy and I publish a total of about 12 posts a day, so much of the day is spent seeking out stories and publishing them. In between, I'm also seeking out women to interview for our Q&A series and promoting our stories on Twitter and Facebook. I'll sneak in a personal tweet here and there too.
The most influential businesswoman of today:
I'm going to go with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO. Not only does she run the show in Silicon Valley, she's also trying to create an honest, open, and inspiring dialogue about why there aren't more ladies in the C-suite. I'm also excited to see how Virginia Rometty does as the new CEO of I.B.M.
Your greatest indulgence:
Sushi, thin-crust pizza, and most recently, marathons of Friday Night Lights and Downtown Abbey. Also, daydreaming.
What do you like most about writing in this niche?
Many of the women I get to write about are interesting, inspiring, and becoming more important and powerful by the day. It's exciting to follow them. The other people I get to write about -- sexist pigs -- are fun to trash.
Any notable encounters?
With powerful businesspeople? I've had my fair share of sightings. For a more fun NYC encounter: I once met John Mayer at a bar on the Lower East Side. He said my watch was too masculine, and then proceeded to show me a picture of his tiny white dog on his iPhone, which had a pink case.
Your favorite post to-date:
I wrote a longer piece about the fairly bizarre world of female networking at Wall Street banks. I have a lot of friends who work in banking and the culture is so different, so it was a lot of fun to relay their stories about the mythic industry. At one point, they're ridiculously told, at a networking event, to invest in an Escada suit, which is something my grandmother used to wear.
Other blogs you read:
For news and opinion, it's the usual suspects: Daily Intel, Gawker, Jezebel, Curbed, and Media Decoder from The New York Times, as well as the other sites in the Abrams network, which include Mediaite, Styleite, SportsGrid, Geekosystem, The Mary Sue, and GossipCop. I'm also addicted to reading about food and restaurants -- Serious Eats and Eater are my go-tos. And I still read Under The Button, the blog I edited at the University of Pennsylvania, as my daily escape back to college.
What makes you laugh?
Emails from my 95-year-old German grandfather. He's also on Facebook, of course.
Greatest pet-peeve:
Screaming in shared places -- the subway, restaurants, etc. And I also hate sharing drinks out of a can (bottles and glasses are okay).
Your motto:
Live each day as if it's your last. Dance as if no one's watching. Just kidding, I'm not really the tattoo-an-inspiring-quote-on-your-back type. But I'm always saying, "Wouldn't it be cool if..?" In other words, dream big and let your imagination wander.
Best part of being a woman in business in NYC:
It's definitely the best place in the world to be a working woman. For one, women with big jobs in New York aren't called "working women." They're just women. It's the norm. Also, the accessibility of everything. As a woman in NYC, there actually is time to get everything done -- thanks to the nail salons open on every block until 10 p.m., thanks the efficacy of our subway system, and so on. I mean, Fresh Direct will deliver your groceries! "City life" is always portrayed as rushed and stressful in movies, but to me it's more efficient. And even if you work well into the night, you can walk out into a lively city with tons of restaurants happy to have you no matter the hour.
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