Member Spotlight: How Hazel Geary and Rachel McFadden Built a Networking Group to Support, Connect, and Inspire Women Creatives
For Rachel McFadden and Hazel Greary, Co-Balt members and the respective Left Brain and Right Brain of web development and digital marketing firm Drio, networking was pivotal in their success. The ability to align themselves like-minded people was an important part of their professional journey.
So, when their original networking group closed its doors, the duo decided to cultivate their own group: Monument Women’s Creative Alliance.
We sat down with Hazel to learn about Drio, Monument Women’s Creative Alliance, and its upcoming event, Communicating with Impact.
Check out the full interview below.
Can you tell us a bit about Drio?
Drio provides design and digital strategy to help small businesses stand out online.
My partner Rachel and I founded the business and we really are a great duo: we refer to ourselves as the Left Brain and the Right Brain of the business and a lot of people really connect with that.
Rachel is Left Brain: she’s the web designer and developer. I’m the Right Brain: the marketing strategist and project manager. We complement each other really well and that balance helps us deliver outstanding results for our clients.
What is Monument Women’s Creative Alliance and how did it come to be?
Monument Women’s Creative Alliance is a 300-member networking group that Rachel and I cultivated to support women creatives.
It ultimately came to be when our original networking group closed its doors.
Back when we first started Drio, Rachel and I wanted to align ourselves with likeminded people. So, we joined a women’s networking group.
We absolutely loved that group. It was amazing connecting with women in other creative fields.
Rachel and I started as members and eventually became board members. Then, a few years later, our group sadly closed its doors.
But we really believed in the value that these kinds of groups offered, so we decided to start our own group under a new name and with a similar mission.
Monument Women’s Creative Alliance was founded to support women creatives by cultivating a community that enables connection, inspiration, and education.
And these days, we do four events each year based on our pillars: education, wellness, socialization, and giving back.
Why are these types of networking groups so powerful?
We learned early on just how important these kinds of networking groups are. They help empower women in creative professions and allow us to exchange ideas and inspiration in a private forum.
And, most importantly, we found that you could only learn from somebody else’s journey–this community of women we have, they really cheer each other on, help each other with questions, and share about cool events in Baltimore.
There’s a saying that we love: “you’ve got to grow through what you’re going through.” All of our members get that and support each other in doing so.
We’re really excited to have partnered with you for your upcoming event, Communicating with Impact. What should people know about it?
Our next event is called Communicating with Impact and it’s taking place on May 13.
This event is rooted in the recognition that the majority of your day is spent in some form of communication.
And while our members are similar in that they’re all from a creative background, they’re not all from the same industry. We’ve got members who are engineers, architects, artists, graphic designers, decorators, and more.
But communication is something that’s consistent across all industries and professions and that makes it really important.
So, this is a great event in that it can help all of our members learn something. It’s going to be focused on why it’s so pivotal to be a great communicator in business, and it’ll also dive into some tips and tricks you can use to sharpen your communication skills,
We’re also really excited to have Co-Balt Workspace as a partner for this event. It felt like a perfect fit because lots of us need workspaces and, now that the pandemic is slowly going back to normal, Co-Balt is a collaborative space that would be a great fit for our audience.
How can people attend Communicating with Impact?
We would love to invite anybody who’s interested in becoming even stronger communicators to attend Communicating with Impact. If they’re interested in learning more about Monument Women’s Creative Alliance, they can visit us online. And if they’d like to join the event, they can register anytime between now and May 13.
Looking for a creative and flexible workspace?
If you’d like to learn more about Co-Balt Workspace or if you’d like to book a tour of our space, get in touch today. Our team is here to help.
