Editors’ Note

As the CEO of Rebelle Community, Shannon Siriano Greenwood’s work supports working women in creating meaningful connections that will support them both professionally and personally. Rebelle brings together women who are craving deep connection in formats including panel conversations, influencer interviews, hands-on workshops, and meetups with mentors. It offers a boutique conference experience (Rebelle Con), an online membership community (Rebelle Community), and a year-long program for professional women to connect (SWELL by Rebelle). The goal is for every woman to have a Wolf Pack, as defined by Abby Wambach, “a crew of brave and honest women to support you.”

Organization Brief

Rebelle Community (readytorebelle.com) brings together women leaders from a variety of industries to support one another through peer mentorship. Inside its programs, members have access to online and offline content, including an annual conference hosted in Richmond, Virginia. Rebelle supports leaders in developing a new level of confidence, honing their leadership style, finding clarity, and creating action to improve both their professional and personal fulfillment.

What was your vision for creating Rebelle Community and how do you define its mission?

My vision for creating Rebelle Community was to have a safe space for women to share what was really going on. In Richmond, Virginia, where we are headquartered, there are women leading in technology, entrepreneurship, consumer products, food and so many other industries, but there were not many places for them to gather outside of their own industry events. Our mission is to support women leaders in defining and creating their own version of success. We do that by providing opportunities for shared experience with a diverse group of professionals.

Will you provide an overview of the services that Rebelle Community offers?

What started as a single event has grown into so much more. The primary way we support women leaders is through our peer mentoring program, SWELL by Rebelle. We match members with a small cohort of their peers and facilitate monthly group sessions. In addition, we publish a quarterly magazine, Rebelle Magazine. What we are primarily known for is our annual boutique conference, Rebelle Con, a two-day immersive event that brings together leaders from a variety of industries to share their lessons learned.

What do you see as the importance of building a community and network for women to grow and thrive in business?

Women represent 45 percent of the S&P 500 workforce, but only 21 percent of senior leadership positions. In other words, it is lonely at the top. By providing an opportunity for women leaders to connect and share with one another, our goal is to create more fulfillment for those leaders while paving the way for the next generation to make bigger strides towards equity in the business world.

Do you feel that there are strong opportunities for women to lead in business and what more can be done to build opportunities?

We still have a long way to go to break down the barriers that are in place when it comes to women’s leadership, but I am optimistic about progress in light of pandemic inspired setbacks. What we saw in 2020 was women leaving the workforce at much higher rates than men and studies have shown they have yet to come back at the same pace. The burden of unpaid labor, as well as caring for children and family members, is still a major barrier for women aspiring to higher levels of leadership. Flexible work environments could be a great advantage for companies seeking to diversify their leadership, thus creating more opportunities for women to lead.

How do you measure success for Rebelle Community’s work?

Like any company, we look at traditional metrics of business success, year-over-year sales revenue growth and profitability. In regard to measuring our impact, we are still defining what that looks like. For now, positive feedback from our members and companies that send their leaders through our program is what we endeavor to achieve.