Female CEOs are paying up to $8,000 for executive coaching sessions in a swanky new NYC 'clubhouse' - and there's already a 3,000-person wait list
- Chief, a private network for aspiring or current women executives that focuses on mentorship, launched in NYC on Tuesday.
- There's currently a 3,000-person wait list, and membership ranges from $5,400 to $7,800 for VP levels and C-suite executives, respectively, according to a Fast Company article.
- It's the latest development in a string of women's clubs over the past few years, like The Wing in the US and AllBright in the UK.
The glass ceiling cracked a little more with the creation of Chief, a private network for aspiring or current female executives that launched on Tuesday.
"Modeled much like YPO (Young Presidents' Organization), the male-dominated global organization for CEOs, it focuses on mentorship - pairing women with powerful contemporaries across a broad range of industries," wrote Rina Raphael for Fast Company. "It's a multipronged approach that comes with a New York City 'clubhouse,' a digital network app, and monthly lectures."
Founded by Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan, both previously VP-level executives, Chief is their attempt to provide services to help solve the gender equality gap at work.
Chief currently has 200 members, some of whom hold prestigious jobs at top companies like Walmart, HBO, Spotify, PepsiCo, and Hearst, Raphael reported. And there's already a 3,000-person wait list, with membership ranging from $5,400 to $7,800 for VP levels and C-suite executives, respectively, although many members are sponsored by their companies.
It's the price to pay for access to power players, applicants' top request. Members are organized into groups of eight to 10 women from a variety of industries but at the same career and experience level. Chief operates out of a swanky Tribeca clubhouse that has accents like tan leather armchairs and a bar that serves scotch, but unlike similar companies, it is not a coworking space.
"These women who are at the top are generally alone on an island," Kaplan told Raphael. "And mentorship doesn't mean you need to find somebody a decade older than you to talk about your career with."
Building up women in the workplace
While Chief intends to include men in future services, it's just the latest in a worldwide string of efforts to build up women in the workplace.
The Wing, a coworking space and social club for women nationwide, launched in October 2016. As of March 2018, it had over 1,500 members, who pay $2,350 to $2,700 a year for membership, Business Insider previously reported. But The Wing is more than a coworking space - it also offers speaking events, community volunteer opportunities, movie screenings, and happy hours.
In London, AllBright launched a private members club for female founders in March 2018. They've also set up AllBright Academy to provide female founders with mentoring, and launched a festival for female founders called FoundHER, Business Insider's Sam Shead reported.
It seems that the founders behind these clubs are on to something - all successful leaders have a peer mentor, which helps them rise faster in their career than those who do it alone, Suzanne Bates, CEO of Bates Communications previously told Business Insider's Shana Lebowitz.
"The best mentoring relationships grow out of some mutuality," Bates said. "When it's a two-way street, the relationship is more real and valuable."