Shelley Zalis founded The Female Quotient in 2015 with a simple mission: Work with companies to spotlight women and women’s issues.
“According to the World Economic Forum, it’ll take another 131 years to close the gender gap. For us, there’s no way that we will wait that long,” Zalis said.
Nearly ten years since its creation, The Female Quotient has grown to 1.6 million followers on Instagram, Talia Bender Small, the group’s president, noted. The organization, which has a staff count under 30, has worked with several big brands to bring attention to topics relevant to women inside and outside the workplace.
FQ’s brand package strategy
One such company is consulting firm Deloitte, which partnered with The Female Quotient to highlight women working in cybersecurity. The partnership aimed to honor women such as the chief information security officers of CVS Health and United Airlines.
Together, Deloitte and The Female Quotient coordinated an event in the fall that brought together women in the industry over cocktails in London. They also facilitated a panel on LinkedIn featuring women talking about their experiences in the industry, as well as overall overseeing the related media and social campaigns.
Another company The Female Quotient has worked with is Netflix. The streaming giant partnered with the group to help promote a recent film called Fair Play. The film, which centers on what happens to a romantic relationship between two co-workers after one is promoted, explores patriarchy among its themes. Zalis sat down with Fair Play writer and director Chloe Domont on LinkedIn Live to discuss Fair Play.
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To complement its client work, The Female Quotient is also debuting client media packages. Brands can choose from “trending” topics like “women trailblazers,” “women’s health,” and “women and money,” Bender Small said. The Female Quotient will help them educate and create content for their audiences. Content can include co-branded live virtual conversations on LinkedIn, research campaigns, influencer marketing, original illustrations by women artists, and roundtable discussions.
Outside of its client work, The Female Quotient has produced content relevant to its own audience as well. Recently it held a live event on LinkedIn about perimenopause and menopause, bringing together several experts, seeking to “unpack the taboos” surrounding both.
“We’re doing a lot around unpacking taboo topics with our community as well,” Bender Small told us.
Around the world in 80 days
Zalis told us that showing up in front of brands—physically—has been key.
“We pop up at the largest industry conferences that have predominantly been male-dominated in the past,” she said.
The company runs an “Equality Lounge” activation, which is a space that usually offers discussions around industry-specific topics important to women at these conferences. In the past The Female Quotient has shown up at the Davos World Economic Forum as well as New York Advertising Week. This year, you may spot the Equality Lounge at CES; according to Zalis, The Female Quotient also plans to show up at SXSW, Cannes Lions, and the G20 summit in Brazil, in addition to other industry conferences.