More than 50 women sat in a circle inside the entrance hall of the St. Petersburg City Theater on Friday morning for a meeting of the Girl St. Bosses. Pete.
The networking group’s director of communications, Taylor Adams, entered the ring with a microphone in hand, wearing pink earrings that read “Screw it. Let’s do it.” She started the meeting.
“We are the largest, fastest growing, sexiest female entrepreneurship group in the Tampa Bay area,” she said of the group. The women around her cheered.
The theater hall was a step up from The Crislip Cafe on Central Avenue where the San Pete Girl Bosses started meeting almost a year ago. The networking organization outgrew space as word of mouth spread – female business owners were coming together to be cheerleaders for each other in their ventures.
The Facebook group St. Pete Girl Bosses has grown to over 3,100 members since launch. About 160 people are part of a paid membership program that debuted last summer. The group also launched its own podcast called “Bosscast” at the end of the year.
As they do every week, the San Pete Girl Bosses meet in the theater hall on Friday morning to discuss a specific topic. In early December, they focused on the themes of using social media and other online tools. The meeting began with leaders advertising its first wellness passport, members could buy access to nearly a dozen life coaches, energy readers or psychics – all of whom are women.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/BSK4REDC4FELFFF47OA27GVVEE.jpg "Kimberly Clark leads attendees in a group discussion at a St. Louis networking event. Pete Girl Boss on December 9th.")
They then split into smaller groups — which brought together women from a variety of industries, such as real estate, coffee bean distribution, CBD retail, yoga and more — to jot down advice on pink sticky notes. They shared their notes anonymously with a random person in the room. They went on to discuss their wins of the week, what online tools have helped them run their businesses and how chasing money can distract from their missions.
While many women came for the networking, several members said they stayed because they found people who understood what they were dealing with. The group’s sense of community made it a safe space to make friends and get feedback on their work.
Founder Sandy Bean, 45, said she started the group after going from teacher to owner of an academic enrichment center for gifted students — realizing she was missing out on community in the process.
While psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs prioritizes security and consistency, Bean said, new entrepreneurs typically flip the pyramid to focus on self-actualization and sacrifice security in order to achieve business goals. business. Having a community to lean on is key to rebuilding those safety nets, she said.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/RGP65367YREWVNXN6JWDUDTIBI.jpg "Follow trends affecting the local economy")
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Bean said she tried other networking groups but struggled to form real friendships. She noticed that some women were not being heard.
“Going to these networking groups, the women, are so brilliant. But they don’t always have to talk,” Bean said. “It’s just different when you’re in a mixed crowd. I’m not trying to throw men under the bus or anything, but it’s just different.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/PEZZMT5WYZDCXOZFBUQDXNMLO4.jpg "From left, team members Sandy Bean, Taylor Adams, Kimberly Clark and Jennifer Schultz talk to attendees at a networking event in St. Pete Girl Boss.")
So Bean invited five other women she already knew to meet at the coffee shop and created a Facebook group, choosing the name St. Pete Girl Bosses “ironically.” She hopes that maybe 20 people will sign up. In a few days, she said there were a few hundred in the group, then a thousand. Now, there are women from Dunedin, Sarasota and even Lakeland who come to the meetings.
“We started doing in-person workshops and volunteer events, and (St. Pete Girl Bosses) quickly turned into a business that wasn’t what I expected to happen so quickly,” Bean said.
For Clara Clayton, a 57-year-old wellness coach, she said many of the networking groups she was a part of were closed during COVID-19 and never started again.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/UPOGH5TO5ZGO5KMMERFRTRKY6Q.jpg "Name tags are on a table for those attending a Bosses Girl St. Pete event.")
At first, Clayton joined the Facebook group and began attending Zoom co-working sessions. Then she started going to the happy hour events before joining the larger weekly gatherings.
The group helped her get new clients and also advice when she needed it. She enjoyed St. Pete Girl Bosses so much that she became a brand ambassador for them.
“It’s not just about exchanging business cards. It’s about forming deep relationships.” said Clayton. “Passing cold leads, not for me.”
Many local women entrepreneurs struggle with a lack of education in business practices outside their expertise – in areas such as selling, marketing or pricing their products – or gaining access to investors and resources in -community, said Jennifer Schultz, St. Pete Girl Bosses. vice president and owner of The Crislip and the gift shop attached to the cafe, The Merchant.
“The magic of this group allows me to find others who are experts in areas that can help educate me and other women in areas that may not be our strong suit,” Schultz said. “I never want to be the smartest person in the room, I want to meet other people who can help me learn and help other women learn.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/D34ALDHADJBQBCOL454GKXYVVI.jpg "While many women sought out the Girl Bosses St. Pete for networking, several members said they stayed because they found people who understood what they were dealing with.")
Many women also collaborate and visit each other’s stores or book sessions with each other.
One health insurance agent shared with her small group that the highlight of her week was that every appointment she had in the last seven days was booked by a girl boss.
When Central Avenue home decor and gift shop The Canary opened in November, owner Allie Padin credited the group with helping her connect with a commercial real estate agent, business attorney juniors and a general contractor — all of which helped to get her business off the ground quickly. land
Schultz hosted a pop-up at her shop during the holiday season to support fellow “girl boss” flower arranging business, The Roaming Petal.
Roaming Petal’s Erica Holland, 29, said the group helped her triple her network in a short time and opened up new opportunities to collaborate with other local businesses.
“I run my business alone, just me,” said Holland, 29 years old. “Having that support system of other people to ask questions when I need to bounce ideas off or when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the craziness of everything in entrepreneurship has been really helpful to have.”
