- Girlboss has recently pivoted from a media brand for women to a professional women’s network. These are the details behind the changes.
Girlboss is a media brand for women founded by Sophia Amoruso that has pivoted to a professional women’s network. More than 54,000 people have signed up for early access including Jen Rubio (Away co-founder), Elaine Welteroth (Teen Vogue editor-in-chief), Endeavor chief marketing officer Bozoma Saint John, and celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin. The new Girlboss professional network is free and features the ability to ask and answer questions within groups.
And Girlboss users can highlight their accomplishments, “life moments,” and other unique characteristics in their profile. The Girlboss network also features daily horoscopes and Meyers-Briggs personality information. Plus the Girlboss network will feature fireside chats, community questions, and access to a member directory. The platform will also have “ask me anything” sessions with prominent figures like Arianna Huffington and Beth Comstock (former vice chair of GE).
“Women are congregating to support one another more than ever. We make less money than men, we live longer, and we have institutionally been denied ‘the keys to the castle.’ For so long, women were encouraged to shy away from discussing the topics that have the greatest impact on our livelihood — from negotiating to pricing our services, to having difficult conversations to the state of our finances,” said Amoruso in an email via TechCrunch. “Our community has shown up and proven they are hungry to connect on all of these things and more. Because real power comes through communal efforts—and through transparency at scale.”
Previously, Amoruso founded Nasty Gal in 2006 — which is a direct-to-consumer fashion brand for young women. Nasty Gal originally started out as an eBay store where Amoruso essentially flipped older pieces of clothing. By 2009, Nasty Gal opened up warehouse space in Berkeley, California followed by a 7,500-square-foot warehouse in Emeryville, California. In 2016, Amoruso made the “Richest Self-Made Women” list on Forbes with a reported worth of $280 million.
Nasty Gal ended up raising about $65 million in funding (Crunchbase) before filing for bankruptcy in 2016 and getting acquired by BooHoo group in February 2017. Amoruso’s story also inspired a show on Netflix called #Girlboss for one season that aired in June 2017. Following the sale of Nasty Gal, Amoruso set up events known as “Girlboss Rally” and launched a podcast.
The popularity of the podcast helped fuel the Girlboss.com media brand. And the launch of the free professional networking platform was announced at the fifth Girlboss Rally. And the Girlboss Rally event featured more than 1,800 attendees from 28 countries and more than 100 speakers.
Since launching Girlboss raised over $6 million from investors such as Initialized Capital, Slow Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Atom Factory, Jaws Ventures, and social media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk.
Featured image credit: Sophia Amoruso
