CBIZ Women’s Advantage making a difference

What does hitting your stride mean to you? To me, it means coming into your own -- bringing what you have to offer to the table and having that truly make a difference in the world, including your professional life, community, and personal life. CBIZ Women’s Advantage (CWA) is hitting its stride. Our associates have come to understand that CWA is a powerful way to differentiate us from our competition.

Reflecting on this past year, CWA continues to work hard to meet the goals of our program. Aiming to increase CBIZ’s market share, in the past year CWA has generated new business revenue of approximately $1.2 million. We accomplished this by supporting our internal Women’s Lead Groups, CBIZ women who meet regularly to cross-serve each other, and also via the exposure that we have brought to CBIZ with powerful business networking events across the country.

Nancy Mellard (left), Connie Chiara (CBIZ),
Joi Gordon (CEO of DFS Worldwide);
Photo courtesy of JoAnn Cancro Photography

In addition, we are working to achieve greater recognition for the advancement of women in business through media exposure that showcases our mission and impact. Recently, I was featured in a “Voice of Experience” column on The Glass Hammer, an online community dedicated to women executives. Some of the advice I shared was on networking, strategically building relationships, and leveraging
strengths; three skills that have helped me excel in my own career.

Last, but not least, when it comes to giving back to our communities, we have partnered with dozens of community efforts and are now in our fifth year of partnering with Dress for Success (DFS). Not only have we impacted DFS with over $217,000 in revenue and in excess of 32,000 donated items, we are engaging more of our own associates in these efforts with each passing year.

What initiatives would you like to see us focus on? Please feel free to leave your comments on the internal or external work you think would make a difference.