We Gathered
What happens when all the females at a startup don’t work for one day.
A tale from the early #girlboss days
It’s 2017, and Reese Witherspoon is in the massive town hall area of the branded content startup I work for. She’s taken the stage at our inaugural We Gather conference, where all female employees meet at our headquarters for a day of connection, shared experience, and learning.
For a room of about 150 mostly white ladies, seeing Reese in the flesh is akin to a glimpse of the Messiah. As someone who dressed up as Elle Woods on multiple separate Halloween occasions, I am comfortable being labeled a fangirl in this setting. A few of us try to touch her dress as she walks up to the stage.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is there too, but most eyes don’t stray from Reese. One of my colleagues asked if it’s common to cry when frustrated or angry while in male-dominated fields like tech or Hollywood. There is no hesitation in the panelists’ answers - a resounding “yes” along with anecdotes of the weirdest places they’ve cried at work.
Reese explains why she started Hello Sunshine, her nascent media company: “If someone won’t give you the ball, if the coach won’t put you in, you’ve got to make up your own game.” We are breathless with inspiration as we skip to breakout sessions or get a free professional headshot.
We Gather is the one time a year that we aren’t talked over, our ideas are not repackaged by our male colleagues as their own, and we aren’t asked to organize a happy hour event on behalf of the team “because you’re just so good at that” despite it not being part of our job scope. We congregate with ourselves, and it is delicious.
It’s not even a full day of programming, but many male managers grumble about a potential lack of responsiveness to clients. Considering that the company had an above-average female:male ratio, women contribute overwhelmingly to every aspect of the business. Leading up to We Gather, we worked a few late nights to ensure balls weren’t dropped during the ~6 hour event.
Not surprisingly, the bathrooms downstairs by the town hall area are packed, so I walk upstairs to the second floor to the open-office layout that is usually buzzing with so much energy and chatter that it’s hard to concentrate.
Today the floor is almost empty at 11:13 AM. The male colleagues who remain in the office sit in a loose group of office chairs, day drinking from someone’s whiskey cabinet.
They ask me, “When is HE gather?” and all I can say is, “Bros, every day is he gather.”
That’s how We Gather became a day off—unofficially of course—for everyone at the company.
About me: Hi, I’m Meg and this is my little corner of the internet where I share tales and observations across the tech and parenting “industries,” with the Goliaths of consumerism and individualism dominating my cultural zeitgeist.
I advise and consult with startups as a fractional product marketing leader, primarily for B2B SaaS companies. Check out my post about why I went fractional here.
Message me with feedback, stories you want me to tell, or a good knock-knock joke (I’ve got a kindergartener) at strategicpivotery@gmail.com
We Gather was awesome. Glad it continues to shine in your memory. I did make jokes about starting a competing event across the street called "We'd Rather" but that was only to push peoples' buttons and hide my jealousy of not getting to be in Reese's orbit for the day.