Beth Castle: One intriguing characteristic of working for a startup, which InHerSight is, is that every year feels remarkably different because you’re growing new facets of the business and product amid a changing economic reality. This sounds scary, and sure, it can be. Whispers of recessions and bank collapses don’t ooze stability. But for our year-end reflection, I want to focus on the other side of that coin: why change is good. Per our end-of-year tradition, assistant editor Cara Hutto is joining me in that conversation.
In 2022, our primary editorial focus was growing and deepening our coverage on the platform. We had a lot of questions about the workplace that we wanted answered, so we did just that, allowing ourselves to start the new year on firmer—and more informed—footing than we did the last.
Then 2023 invited us to shift focus again, this time toward storytelling—how we share information with you, our audience. I spent a majority of the year working with companies to tell rich stories from the perspective of their employees, my goal being to provide a realistic, inside look at what it’s like to actually work at some of the organizations hiring on our platform. Women in tech, career changers, mentees, mentors, and so many more voices all shared unique insights on their company cultures. You can find those stories here.
Cara, in what ways did you explore new types of storytelling in 2023, and why do you think repackaging information in new ways is important?
Cara Hutto: I feel like I’ve gotten to explore storytelling through so many avenues this year. First and foremost, though, through data. It’s so rewarding to see validating, or sometimes, surprising, responses to our proprietary surveys and be able to share that information in a way that naturally flows for readers. My hope is that weaving statistics about real employees into our stories can help employees feel a little less alone and a little more empowered.
This year was also the first time I dabbled in custom editorial articles for our partner companies. Like you said, I loved reading how different employees tell their stories and then figuring out how to consolidate all of their puzzle pieces into a cohesive narrative of how their company supports them or their community.
Forgive me for the holiday analogy, but repackaging information in new ways is like wrapping a present—right? It's not just about what’s inside, but how it's presented. We’ve repeatedly covered topics like remote work, how to respond to common interview questions, how to protect your mental health, etc., but each time, the content is presented with a slightly novel angle to maximize its impact. For example, how to stay focused while working from home versus how to feel more confident and secure in your remote role.
Beth: “Maximize its impact” is such an interesting turn of phrase there, because that’s the heart of what we strive to do at InHerSight. Using data, storytelling, and partnerships with employers, we aim to provide as many women as possible with the information they need to make better career decisions.
For me, the foundational value that speaks to is that I want women to know they have options. However they’re working—if they’re feeling stressed or unhappy or disempowered—I want them to learn there’s a solution or framework that could make their lives 10x better. To use your word, that’s a message we keep repackaging, and I’m moved by that because I don’t want any woman to believe things like burnout, toxicity, or hopelessness are the norm. What part of our mission resonates with you?
Cara: You said that beautifully. I love that we’re providing actionable tools and advice that actually make a difference. What resonates for me is working for a company that lives out its publicly shared mission internally. We promote transparency, accountability, honesty, and equity, for example, and I feel like we really live out those values as a team, too. We talk about the importance of treating employees like real humans with lives outside of work, and that sort of empathy, flexibility, and genuine personability is embedded within the culture at InHerSight.
Beth: That’s a high note to end on! Or begin on, rather. Below, you’ll find our favorite articles and learnings from 2023. I speak for both of us (sorry, Cara) when I say we’re so grateful for the opportunity to share these insights with you every day, all year, and next year, too. Bring on 2024.
The best of the best: 6 articles we loved in 2023
A Word-for-Word Guide to Discussing Mental Health with Direct Reports
Cara: I started off 2023 writing in-depth about mental health. An American Psychological Association study found more than a quarter of adults (27 percent) report that most days they are so stressed they can’t function. That’s more than concerning. Because our data shows women are most comfortable providing feedback during 1:1s with their manager, I wrote a guide on how managers can take advantage of 1:1s to normalize mental health check-ins with their direct reports.
Talking about mental health at work can be uncomfortable—or even taboo—so my goal was to provide lots of example language for framing or opening the mental health conversation, plus several ways to respond with both professionalism and empathy. I haven’t seen a ton of other articles out there with such a range of specific, applicable language to use, so it was cool to work on that.
The Perils of ‘Professionalism’: How Dress Codes at Work Discriminate & Exclude
Beth: It’s so hard to choose just a few articles to highlight from an entire year—we have so many wonderful contributors who cover diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) brilliantly and with care.
I’ll start with a personal favorite topic: professionalism. I’ve long felt professionalism is oppressive (and I’ve written about this, too), and there’s a fair amount of data and research to back this up. So, when we asked Jasmine Matthews to write about dress codes at work, I was thrilled by her thoughtful, history-based approach to unpacking the discrimination in how we require people dress and present themselves. A favorite quote stands out: “When I hear ‘professional’ as an adjective, I wonder, is that a proxy for something else? What standard are you really referring to?’” I think about this kind of coded language all the time.
The 3 Best Questions to Ask About Pay Equity in an Interview
Cara: We’ve covered the gender pay gap extensively on the platform, mainly diving into why it exists and how employers can help close it. While working on new pay equity content, I learned a fifth of all U.S. workers are now covered under pay transparency laws, and experts predict pay transparency laws will only continue to grow in the coming years. That means more and more employees will likely be discussing pay with coworkers and holding employers accountable for pay equity.
Alongside career strategist Brianne Latthitham, I shared specific questions about pay equity to ask in an interview and what to look out for in an employer’s response to find your match. In a world where discussing money at work is still a hush hush topic, I want to continue empowering and emboldening employees—especially women and other marginalized groups—to earn what they deserve and equipping them with direct questions to do so.
How to Sacrifice a Work ‘Must-Have’ for a Job You Need
Beth: When faced with a recession, InHerSight’s go-to job seeking message (“Find a job that meets your top-three must-haves”) includes a very important caveat: if circumstances allow. Before cool benefits and fun coworkers come things like salary and health insurance. If the job market is hyper-competitive, which it has been, you don’t always get your dream gig. You adapt in order to have your basic needs met.
Enter “How to Sacrifice a Work ‘Must-Have’ for a Job You Need” from our longtime contributor Dana Hundley, a career expert and coach. This topic is another one that’s personally important to me; finding a “dream job” is a privilege many don’t often have the luxury of exercising, yet still we all yearn for that perfect fit. Hundley, who navigated her own career turmoil during the 2008 recession, carefully reframes any grief we might feel when taking a not-so-picture-perfect role. It’s all about finding the opportunity in what you have and knowing that nothing is permanent.
Let’s Talk Menopause at Work: Why Employers Should Be Offering Menopause Benefits
Cara: I’ve gotten to write about so many topics that I’m genuinely passionate about this year. In September, I wrote about menopause and why employers should be offering menopause-specific benefits at work. It was jarring to learn that 15 percent of women have either missed work or cut back on hours because of menopause symptoms, and that productivity loss costs them around $1.8 billion each year. In this article, I explain how employers can normalize menopause in the workplace and relieve some of the stress that comes with symptoms.
My source for the article, Nathalie Bonafé, and I had scheduled a quick intro call to learn more about each other and gauge whether she’d be the right fit for the piece. The conversation started flowing, and the “10-minute intro call” quickly turned into a full on interview. That’s something else I love about this job—meeting incredibly smart people and learning more about topics that matter. Making a new connection was the cherry on top of reporting on such a pertinent topic for millions of women.
Why Some Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Crisis Responses Fail + What to Do Instead
Beth: If you thought 2023 ended too quickly, then you’ll be shocked to learn that the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement happened three-and-a-half years ago. Since then, InHerSight has continued surveying on the state of DEI in the workplace as well as whether employees feel BLM’s racial awakening made the long-term impact we’d hoped it would. One area we communicators like to zero in on? How companies, or brands, react to major DEI “moments” and whether that makes people want to stay or leave their jobs.
In “Why Some Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Crisis Responses Fail + What to Do Instead,” Kaila Kea-Lewis takes our fresh stats on brand perception after a DEI crisis and adds much-needed context to the gut feeling we all have when a brand’s black square on Instagram feels… off. I love that this article is frank about the performativity of some crisis communication while also offering clear steps to crafting a successful response.
Personal and professional milestones
Cara: All too often, it’s so easy to get stuck in a routine going through the motions at work and not really taking time to stop and think, “Is what I’m doing still serving our goals right now? Is there anything I can streamline or eliminate to make our work more effective?” That’s what I tried to do more of this year, and because of that, I corralled the team for a discussion and modified the way we promote companies on social media. Now, those posts get much more engagement and are (hopefully) making a larger impact. I’m proud I was able to take that lesson to heart and learn how to effectively re-evaluate and problem-solve.
Personally, I’m proud of the community I’ve built outside of work. New York is notoriously a busy city, and I’m glad I’ve been able to find little spaces that help ground me and slow down the pace of life. I joined a work-study program at a local yoga studio, started reading books outside of my normal genre for a book club, attended so many unique events in my neighborhood, and have built a wonderful, supportive network of friends around me. Growth and gratitude are definitely top-of-mind for me this year.
Beth: I joked with you, Cara, that this section is only in our end-of-year recap so I can talk about the fact that I bought a townhouse this year, but to be honest, that wasn’t a joke at all. Buying a house on my own was a huge milestone and a weird one, too, because “homeowner” was never on my list. (It is now, however, on a friendship bracelet, thanks to a dear friend.) Like you, I’ve also poured so much effort and time into building a community and a life in North Carolina, and leaning further into that by purchasing, well, a piece of a building has felt momentous. I was lucky through it all to have kind realtors, parents, and friends who made that learning curve bearable.
Professionally, my major achievement this year has been a collection of tiny ones. I mentioned in the introduction that I worked with companies on their storytelling, which has meant a lot of brainstorming calls with different employers and on-the-spot pitching of angles based on those conversations. That’s tricky. There are so many aspects of the story I can’t see, simply because I don’t work for these organizations, but by asking good follow-up questions, listening, and knowing when to alter course, I made things work. Creatively, I’m extremely proud of that.
And because this is my section, and I can add whatever I’d like, I’d also like to add I’m proud of the Barbie-themed newsletter I wrote for the Pipeline newsletter in July; in the year of our Time magazine covergirl Taylor Swift, that piece had meaning to me.
Looking forward: Our resolutions for 2024
Cara: Entering the world of TikTok is another thing I’m proud of this year. I started experimenting with video creation over the summer, and I’m looking forward to building that out even more in 2024 and potentially…maybe…even feel comfortable enough speaking to the camera (gasp!). It is still very much a work in progress.
That being said, I am constantly learning at InHerSight. While writing, editing, and creating social content, I’ve learned about topics like financial literacy and retirement planning, psychological safety, neurodiversity, toxic productivity, and so much more. I’m so excited to continue researching and deepening my knowledge this coming year. It’s funny to think about how I’ll probably be covering topics and buzzwords that I haven’t even heard of in this current moment. What about you?
Beth: TikTok has been such a huge step for you! I love the overall aesthetic you’ve achieved on our account. It feels peaceful, which is how I hope we make women feel overall. More peace for women in 2024.
This year, I straddled a business-facing role and public relations one for the first time, mostly because both of those areas needed new foundations. My goal for 2024 is to allow more of my own writing and reporting to reenter the chat now that those two areas have a solid structure. I’m excited to channel that energy again.
Cara: More peace, for sure. I love that writing offers both of us such solace and purpose. And speaking of solace, our team definitely found comfort and inspiration in great vacations this year. Let’s hear a little bit more on how we all found ways to reconnect with the people and world around us and come back to work a little bit more refreshed.
Finally, a look at how our team spent their time off
Beth: Celebrating how we worked this year would be incomplete without celebrating how we rested, too. A major highlight of my time off in 2023 was road tripping to visit people I love. In the spring, I spent 10-ish days driving to Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Chicago to see family and friends, then ended my trip in Nashville for a solo stay and some thrift shopping. That time on the road was so restorative. I love that driving allows me to connect with the world in a different way—while simultaneously keeping me off my phone. I repeated that experience in the summer, when I drove up to Connecticut for an annual gathering of friends on the coast. Which of your vacations were particularly memorable this year, Cara?
Cara: Two trips come to mind for me. In February of this year, I escaped the effects of New York winter to visit friends and work from Puerto Rico. We spent our days reading and playing games on the beach, learning to surf, and exploring the island’s best food and restaurants—from hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints to pizza and piña coladas in the mountains to four-course vegan dinners. A major trip highlight was getting to hold and play with baby goats on a farm. In October, my boyfriend and I traveled to Spain and spent 10 days traversing the South. It was a joy to introduce him to the places that are so special to me. I came back from both trips feeling incredibly grateful to work for a company that allows me the opportunity and time to recenter and explore.
Here’s how some of our other team members spent their vacation time:
“My favorite trips always involve my favorite people. Spending two weeks on the east coast this summer—visiting siblings, cousins, and old friends—was one of the highlights of my year. Ending that trip in Raleigh, NC, where some of my best friends live, was especially sweet. Cozy dinners, casual jaunts, tasty home brews, good barbecue. The perfect pseudo-staycation for a working mom who doesn't want to work that hard at having fun.” —Barbara
“I spent a few weeks in Marrakech in the first half of the year. I strolled through quiet gardens, wandered around chaotic souks, consumed a lot of great food and drink, took an absurd number of photos, spent a lot of time sipping coffee on rooftops, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to experience a new (to me) city.” —Daniel
“This fall, I traveled with my family and a couple of our close friends to Acadia National Park, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited in the United States. Though a damper was put on my trip due to a rebound case of Covid and not being able to hike up Cadillac Mountain like I wanted to, I enjoyed taking in all the new sights, eating tons of lobster, and experiencing the excitement of travel through the eyes of my then two-year-old.” —Grace
Thanks, again, for reading and following InHerSight's journey! More to come in 2024.
