GREENSBORO – Women with a side hustle or an idea yet to launch need not apply.

SheWolf Collaborative is a new global online network for women founders and CEOs with businesses ready to scale.

“There are plenty of boss lady groups out there for that,” said owner and cofounder of BrandBoss Creative, Jordan Lacenski, who is based out of Greensboro and officially launched the group this week.

“SheWolf is for women making moves, women who are challenged with the day-to-day operations of being the boss.”

SheWolf founder and BrandBoss Creative CEO Jordan Lacenski.

Next Thursday, December 13, the group will hold its “Ladies’ Night HOWLiday Celebration” at HQ Greensboro. Throughout the year, it will also conduct a 12-course webinar series covering everything from social media and brand identity to blogging, SEO and contracts.

The group’s rise comes out of necessity, Lancenski says.

Initially, Lacenski started SheWolf as a collaboration of women marketing, advertising and public relations professionals. But after spending the past year traveling the country for conferences and talking to other female entrepreneurs, she realized there was a “networking vacuum” for women at the CEO and founder level.

“There really wasn’t anything out there on a national or global scale for women CEOs and founders to learn from each other and support each other,” she said.

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“We have been missing out on vital conversations like how to seek investors, negotiate a term sheet, grow and scale our businesses. These are the things we need to be talking about to take our businesses to the next level.”

She also found that high-powered women, such as female venture capitalists or board members at major corporations, are interested in giving back, but have a hard time finding a place to do it.

“While women in business have come a long way, it’s still few and far between to find female ‘unicorns,’ women with small businesses that grew to reach over $1 billion in revenue,” she said.

“But they are out there and these alpha females see growth for all women as a top priority. There’s just not a great place for them to meet the women they could help most. We hope SheWolf will fill that void.”

Being your own boss

Lacenski knows firsthand the trials of being a CEO of your own business. A few years ago, she founded Brandboss but it hasn’t always been easy.

“I’m married and I love my spouse, but his job has moved us quite a bit. And as an owner, it’s caused my business to suffer quite a bit, relocating and finding a new community and networking all over again and getting to know that culture of a place that you now live.

“For me, finding those women was like survival. Every place that we’ve lived – Florida, Montana, now here – it was vital to the success of me, my sanity and my business. The network of women has helped me grow.”

The new SheWolf Collaborative will be a “tighter, highly vetted and diverse group of women CEOs and founders”. It will also focus less on self-care and finding balance, and more on growing revenue, employees and success.

“I know I need self-care, but what I want first are clients coming into my business to help me double revenue and impact,” said Jodee Ruppel, Integration, Strategic Planning and Event Lead at SheWolf Collaborative and founder of 5×5 Consulting.

SheWolf currently has six founding members across the country.

Lacenski said the company is seeking women with similar core values to “join the pack”, become a part of the ecosystem and help build the network. An early access membership can be locked in at $100 per month for life for a limited time.

“This isn’t just about networking,” she said. “This is about business and when women come together, when we collaborate, share our experiences and support each other, the results are legendary.”

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