Nearly three years after COVID-19 flipped the world upside down, women remain a crucial part of the new class of entrepreneurs formed in the crisis.
More than 4 million people lost their jobs in the first two years of the pandemic, and women accounted for 57.3% of the losses, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, working women have felt more exhausted, burned out, and under pressure than their male colleagues, and many have left their corporate roles, a 2021 study by McKinsey found.
Since then, many women turned workplace frustration into determination by launching their own businesses. What's more, social media has played a major role in their success.
While we masked up, stood 6 feet apart, and closed our doors to the world, we also opened our phones. Social-media usage increased by 61% during the first wave of the pandemic, found a study by Kantar, a media-trend research platform, and that number is expected to continue climbing beyond the end of 2022. Women entrepreneurs tapped that surge, creating businesses with little more than a passion, smartphone, and social-media account. For example, as of January 2022, more than 57% of TikTok creators were women.
What's more, almost half of the people who launched companies in 2020 were women, up from 27% in previous years, found a survey of about 1,500 entrepreneurs by the human-resources platform Gusto.
"The pandemic shook up what seemed like a safe route for most people," said Meredith Meyer Grelli, an entrepreneurship professor at Carnegie Mellon. "If the thing you thought was certain — your job — no longer looks safe, the jump that looked like such a big risk doesn't seem so big anymore."
Insider found 15 women who launched companies in the pandemic to get their best tips for going viral and growing a business using social media.