Ally’s Beginning…
Ally grew up in Los Angeles, California and attended a private all girls school before going to Emory University to study business. After graduating college, she moved to New York where she worked on Wall Street in sales and trading. Working crazy hours and nonstop, Ally found herself facing underestimation and skepticism from male co-workers. She realized that people default assumed she was less intelligent or capable than her male counterparts. After six years of working in New York’s corporate world, Ally shared that “growing into my own in my 20s, I realized there were so many things I was interested in that I wasn’t doing in my day to day so it forced me to look internally and shift.” Despite the stability and high salary of this role, she decided it was time to switch paths and pursue her passions. So, she moved back to LA and joined Lindsey, the founder of Set Active to run operations, corporate finance, business strategy, legal, and HR as Lindsey’s first full time employee. At the time, it was just the two of them and one intern. Over the past three years, they have grown very successful and have expanded into a team of 20 employees, almost all of which are women.
Remaining confident as a woman in a male dominated workplace
Despite facing doubts from men in the business world as a woman, Ally has learned the importance of an unapologetic confidence and believing in yourself. Working in finance, a male dominated industry, Ally felt that she wasn’t taken seriously and had to work harder just to prove herself and to be heard. She reflected that “you have to overcome this hurdle before anyone listens to anything you say compared to a man who they'll listen to off the bat. But it came with the territory and it made me a better person in the end, so at the end of the day you kind of have to just look at everything as a blessing.” Despite these setbacks, Ally learned to embrace how her gender came with its own superpowers. She believes that women are able to look at things holistically and compartmentalize rather than zero in on things and only deal with the issue right in front of them. Ally saw this in her own experience; she shared “I run a company with another female founder and I feel like we do a good job at taking a step back and looking at the scale of an issue.” And they do so without compromising creativity and attention to the style that sets Set Active apart!
Upon reflection, Ally is able to unpack how she gained her unfettered resilience through the environment she grew up in and key role models in her life. Ally shared that attending an all girls school positively shaped her confidence. She explained “I think it gave me a really great foundation to have the confidence to walk into any room and really give my opinions on any subject matter from a young age. Not having the pressure of boys in the classroom was really great for my development and I think I have a really great sense of confidence from that.” She shared that an all girls environment was critical in allowing her to develop into her own person and gain the sense of confidence that would later be necessary to succeed in the workplace. Ally also touched on the importance of female role models, telling us about her mom, who is also dominating a conventionally male led industry— real estate. After shifting careers in her late 40s, she became one of the top real estate agents in LA. Ally described that while “she competes with men all day long, she outpaces them because she thinks outside the box. I really look up to her because she’s super driven and everything she does has pure determination and gusto. It doesn’t matter if it’s closing a piece of real estate or putting together a dinner party, she just has enthusiasm for everything she does.”
Ally’s Three Guiding Principles:
As a high-school girl also at an all-girls school, Ally’s story is both relatable and aspirational. Having moved from a co-ed to an all-girls school, I’ve felt how empowering it can be to find your voice and emerge as a leader in an all-female environment. I left the call feeling especially inspired to carve my own path and wanted to share the final gems of wisdom she shared with me that emboldened this sentiment.
Ally encourages other women to find the intersection of your strengths and your passions to find fulfillment.
“I think it’s really important to find out what you’re passionate about and what professional skills you have - that will make you successful in the workplace. So finding a job that really excites you everyday is critical so like I did in my late 20s, I took a step back, I encourage people to take a step back and determine what are your strengths. Do you like working in groups? Are you quantitative? Are you a good writer? Just figuring out how you can use your strengths and your passions and how that aligns with your job would definitely be my first piece of advice and not just go to the job that makes you the most money because at the end of the day you're not going to be fulfilled and you’re not going to be happy.”
Ally advocates for joining a work team that has a culture that aligns with your personal values.
“At SET ACTIVE, we are really resisting norms because we are an athleisure company and the premise of the company is really to set women up for their day to feel confident in clothing that fits them well, is comfortable and makes them look put together, but we don’t market ourselves as a “working out” company. So we never market at the gym or anything like that because we don’t want to put the pressure on to actually work out. The idea is really to have women do what makes them feel best, whether that’s going to pilates, great, or if it’s meeting your friends for coffee, that’s awesome too. We just want women to feel empowered to do what they want during their day and feel their best doing it.”
Ally emphasizes the value of coming over prepared. Rather than let skeptics bring you down, she encourages young girls to work that much harder to get ahead.
“My general advice for women in a male dominated industry is to always come prepared. I think there are certainly people I have interacted with that have underestimated me because I am a woman but going into meetings fully prepared really helps to overcome this barrier. People will take advantage of you if you are disorganized or not prepared. I really make it a point every Sunday to go through what exactly I have in store for the week, what I have to do to get my mind right, any prep I have to do, so if something comes up or a plan changes I always have a strategy in place so I can feel really confident walking into every room I walk into.”
Bình luận