Resources for Professional Women: Professional Development and Education

At Ellevate Network, we believe that networking and education are the keys to long term career success. It’s no secret that mentorship and sponsorship can accelerate your career exponentially, but women have historically had less opportunity and access to people who advocate for their career advancement.

One of the biggest issues Ellevate women face in taking their next career step is finding the right people in their network who will help them accelerate by acting as a mentor or sponsor. Below you’ll find some of the best organizations out there, all doing different things, to help connect professional women with these people.

Mentoring/Sponsorship

• Center for Talent Innovation: A nonprofit committed to researching information to utilize and leverage talent across categories such as gender, generation, geography and culture.
  • Sponsor Ready is a five-week interactive program they offer with a digital platform dedicated to deliver a one-of-a-kind learning experience focusing on sponsorship, relationship capital, and more.
• iMentor: iMentor provides opportunities for students from low-income communities to build a relationship with mentors to succeed in life and reach their highest ambitions.
• American Corporate Partners: American Corporate Partners connects post 9-11 veterans with corporate professionals for a year-long process to build a path towards long-term careers. To learn more about how Ellevate works with ACP, check it out.
• Employers setting a good example include: EY, Oracle, IBM

21% of Ellevate women are looking for education and content to help advance their skills. Since there aren’t a lot of formal education systems addressing real career-life skills, many professional women find themselves turning to other resources to advance their skills to make it to the next level in their careers. And fortunately, there are many opportunities for them to do so with the following companies.

Education/Skills/Training Programs

• AAUW: advances equity for women and girls through a variety of readily available programs focused on research, STEM education, public policy, case support, educational funding, and more.
• Girls Who Code - offers club and summer programs for young women to learn about coding and become a part of the journey to closing the gender gap in technology.
• Levo League - arms millennials with the tools to develop their talent, build connections and stay inspired day in and day out as they grow and develop. They believe you can create a life you’re passionate about.
• Lean In - is a community committed to giving women a chance to learn more about leadership and communication.
• 2U - partners with colleges and universities to provide digital education on their platform, making higher education more accessible to students who can't pick up their lives to attend a great university. 
• 92Y Women inPower- is a dynamic cross-sector fellowship program designed to help high-potential women advance to the next stage of their career, the C-suite. This one-of-a-kind program provides 21 female leaders in New York City with executive mentorship, educational training and workshops, and membership in an active community of female leaders.
• BossedUp: provides programs, tools and resources are designed to help you take your power back, while keeping it real about the unjust system we’re operating in. They’re here to help you write your own come-up story with a squad of boss women supporting you every step of the way.
• Glassbreakers: helps organizations transform with scalable, smart inclusion software. Their 501(c)3 counterpart, Take The Lead Women prepares, develops, inspires, and propels women to take their fair share of leadership positions across all sectors by 2025.
• The Memo: helps women of color break the glass ceiling; with tools, courses, and a network-- to prepare them for their seat at the table.

Ellevate is proud to work with many of the companies on this list because we believe that as a community of companies committed to closing the many gender gaps that exist today, the power of shared resources, knowledge, and passion is critical. Take a look at the complete list of companies here.

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Is there a business that you'd like us to include on this list? Want to be included on this list yourself? Email us at info@ellevatenetwork.com.