Whenever I look back at how I got to where I am now in my career, I can’t help but think about who’s helped me along the way. There’s been plenty of people who have given me tips or suggestions on what to do, and a lot of it really was useful. But there’s also the people who opened doors for me and put their name on the line. They were willing to stand by me and invest in me.

The Female Founders Alliance (FFA) is a community of women startup founders and CEOs, and the community that supports them. The FFA’s mission is to help female-founded, female-led startups succeed, and connect every female founder in North America together to build a strong community of support. I’ve been impressed by how quickly the FFA has grown-since they started last year, they now have chapters in the Pacific Northwest and New York City, with hundreds of members.

Just last month, I attended the FFA’s first-ever Champion Awards (disclaimer: WTIA was a major sponsor). Awards were also given out to women who exemplify what the FFA truly represents.

At the ceremony, FFA founder Leslie Feinzaig shared:

“My dad has been going to the same poker group for 40 years. In that poker group they not only have fun – they also facilitate deals for each other. Men give each other deals. Women give each other advice and a shoulder to cry on. Those things are important, but they are also insufficient, and I have the data to prove it.  The things that women offer each other are all the “soft” types of help: peer support, mentoring, and business expertise. All of these are important but none of them move your business forward. What does move your business forward are access and amplification: introductions to investors, to partners, customers, media and speaking opportunities. That’s what FFA does. We provide access and amplification for our members.”

Leslie was spot on. I still see the same things happening today; men provide “deals” to help their friends and colleagues advance. Women usually will give advice and counsel, but that’s about where it ends. What Leslie said made me reflect on who in my career went past just giving advice, and really stuck their neck out for me to continue to move up the ladder.

A fellow graduate of the Executive Development Institute, Lorraine Yu, convinced a hiring manager at Microsoft to give me my first job in tech, even though my previous work experience had been limited to running a Vietnamese newspaper and training to become a historian. When Janet Levinger was board chair of the influential nonprofit, Social Venture Partners (SVP) Seattle, she advocated for me to get a seat on the Board of Directors. Diem Ly of Comcast and Amy Hirotaka of Facebook invested in WTIA’s vision for civic collaboration by providing the seed funding for the WTIA Ion program. Elizabeth Scallon offered space at UW CoMotion to make a home for Ion. All of these people went above and beyond what they had to do to give me a better chance at succeeding.

But what about me? Have I been able to advocate deals for others, and not just tell someone what I think they should do with their career? When my friend Maia Segura started Penniless Projects in 2010, I was one of her first customers and have been ever since. I constantly refer business to Stacy Nguyen, who has her own creative agency. Last year, I donated more money than ever to political campaigns to women running for public office. After I heard Sarah Daniels, CEO of Blue Canoe Learning, ask for investors at an Alley to the Valley event, I introduced her to Gary Rubens, who ended up becoming one of her first investors. Inspired by Leslie, I recently told a first-time entrepreneur I would invest in the friends & family round of her startup.

I also asked a few other attendees of the FFA Champion Awards (and also WTIA members) their thoughts on those who helped them get to where they are now:

Sarah Bird, CEO of Moz, winner of the “Role Model” FFA Champion Award

“I began my career in tech with no background in startups or technology. If it wasn’t for Moz Founders Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig taking a chance on me, I’d probably still be practicing law. Moz Board Member and FFA “Unsung Hero” award recipient Michelle Goldberg championed me and encouraged expanding my role to Chief Operating Officer. She connected me with bankers, legal support, HR support. On a day-to-day basis, I don’t think of myself as highly networked. But when I stop and think about it, my access to difference-making gatekeepers has grown considerably. I am happy to help other women get connected, and I hope to do more and more of that in the years ahead. I owe a debt to the many women who have helped me get where I am now. ”

Rebekah Bastian, Vice President of Community & Culture, Zillow, winner of the “Unsung Hero” FFA Champion Award

“I’ve been lucky to be on both sides of many “deals” with other amazing women. These can range from the softer, unspoken deals – like making room for someone’s voice to get heard or highlighting someone’s accomplishments in front of the right audience – to more explicit opportunities like invitations to speaking engagements, intros to meaningful connections and recommendations to hiring managers. For example, I was an Advisor for Siren, where I was able to help with their strategy and organizational development. When that went under due to funding issues, the CEO (and now close friend) Susie Lee recommended me to Hannah Freeman, CEO of Ganaz, who I am now working with as an advisor. This was one of many great introductions that Susie has made for me. In another example, I started a program at Zillow Group to train non-technical employees for technical roles, in order to get more women and underrepresented minorities into our tech org. As a first test of this idea, I reached out to a woman in our Customer Care department, Heather Palmer, who had told me she aspired to be a developer someday. We sent her through coding bootcamp, provided her with mentorship, and she is now working as a Front End Developer on our UX team.

Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co Founder & CMO of Meylah, winner of the “Sponsor” FFA Champion Award

“I am very passionate about digital equity and access. I proposed an idea to develop an ecosystem for women business leaders whose focus is cloud and cloud technologies. When I proposed this “Women In Cloud Initiative” idea, my opportunity circle spent time in helping architect a game plan to pitch and bring a lot of important stakeholders together. In less than four months, we built partnerships with Microsoft, HPE and 20+ organizations together. We were able to bring several other leaders in the community to endorse and support this vision.”

When a person receives advice on what they should do to get what they’re trying to achieve, they still need to put in the hard work. When you make a “deal” for someone, you put yourself on the line for that person. WTIA is proud to sponsor an organization that advocates for women like the Female Founders Alliance. We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership and advocate for women to reach leadership roles within their organizations.

For a list of winners at the Female Founders Alliance’s Champions Awards, head over to their website: https://www.femalefounders.org/champion-awards