We’re becoming Women Who Contract

Here’s an early view on what’s to come for our growing and brilliant community.

Hello you,

I wanted to give you an exciting update as well as a first look at what’s evolving for the community. I’m not planning a big reveal on social media, but as a comms professional it would be remiss of me not to tell you brilliant lot first.

So. Six things, plus a P.S. (of course there’s a P.S.)

One. The name is changing. Women in IT Contracting is becoming Women Who Contract. I started this because I was tired of the wealth and opportunity gap in tech. Then we grew, and I kept meeting women outside tech telling me exactly the same story. It is an IT and digital problem, absolutely. It is also much bigger than that. The door felt too closed on women who would get just as much out of this as we do. And given how many of you are generalists, multi-passionate and have portfolio careers, this felt like the right move.

Two. The WhatsApp group stays, but it becomes invitation only. Going forward that means people I have actually spoken to, or anyone currently in the WhatsApp group can recommend other women are able to join. Your safety matters more to me than the headcount.

Three. The mailing list and community are moving to Substack. And here’s the first one. You don’t need to do anything, I’ve exported your email across from Kit. I will be decommissioning the Kit newsletter this month. There’s a resource hub over here too, so come and check it out. I’d like to use the chat feature for community conversation outside of the WhatsApp group, and I’ll record a quick how-to video next week for anyone who hasn’t used the platform before.

Four. Events. Monthly roundtables continue. I’m always open to someone else leading a session, and Rina Gohel and I have something coming very soon. Eek. As for in person events - I would like the community to grow in the UK. I’m equally keen to grow the platform to have more a global reach - this will come with time. I’ve already mentioned that I would organise an event in say Manchester or Leeds. Equally if we have a volunteer to host a Scotland event or Australia Event or Dubai event - I’m happy for that person to represent the community and lead it. Unfortunately, if you’re unable to get to the events in person at the moment there is not much I can do about that. This is why the virtual events are still the priority and are organised around different time zones.

A quick reminder that the next round table is this coming Friday at 12:30. You can grab your free seat here. I’m also running a session for Women in Tech Week: The Glass Ceiling Called, Have You Considered Contracting? It would be brilliant if you could join me and/or share the details.

Five. There’s a new email address: community@womenwhocontract.com. The community gets its own front door instead of being tangled up with my business.

And last but not least, thank you. A huge one to Saira, Jill, Dave and David, who were my mini steerco this week and helped me cement what this next phase looks like. And to all of you, for backing me and the mission. I might have got us in a room together, but you are the ones who made it a thing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Six: For those who like to see things visually. I pulled together a vision board to give you a bit of glimpse inside the Women Who Contract (my) mind.

Next message will be with you this week with ‘How To’s’ and where you can find the previous coaching content from the previous Newsletters.

Lucy x

P.S. The name change goes live across socials this coming week, so keep an eye out. The website is now just a landing page pointing to Substack, the rest will get updated soon. I’ll sort the LinkedIn group. If you spot something I’ve missed by the end of September, drop me a personal message. I think I’ve got it covered, but I is only hu(wo)man.