We recently connected with Kate Isler and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
The most notable thing that the WMarketplace does that other ecommerce marketplace businesses don’t, is deliver customer service by real people NOT bots. When was the last time you emailed, chatted or called a business and a human was on the other end of the conversation? It doesn’t happen very often.
People expect service, but we rarely get the kind of service we actually want. We want to ask for help online or on the phone and get it – immediately. These days that means the first level of response typically isn’t a human. Usually, it’s a bot that uses AI to clarify your question – and it can take several tries to get the right word combination to get the answer you need. We have all had that experience and it is frustrating. When I have that experience, often I’ll stop shopping and go elsewhere.
Efficiency is important to us but we believe that real people engaging with a customer makes a happier, more satisfied customer. And a happy customer will be a loyal customer.
Personal service is just one of the things that WMarketplace does differently than other shopping sites. We are a business with a mission at its core. We have built a nation-wide marketplace to sell and promote women-owned products and services because we know these businesses account for 40% of all small businesses, and employ over 9M people. Supporting women-owned businesses supports local communities. And we are here to help make that happen.
Kate, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a fierce gender equality advocate, entrepreneur, partner, mother, friend, sister and author. I worked for many years in technology which gave me the opportunity live and travel all of the world. This has helped to shape my world view and dedication to gender equity. It was several years ago, when I was in Eastern Europe, that I first learned about International Women’s Day (IWD). This is a day that recognizes and celebrates women’s contributions to all aspects of life. Being from the US, I had always celebrated Mother’s Day but was so inspired with this more expansive recognition of women beyond motherhood. When I returned to the United States, I cofounded a non-profit, Be Bold Now, that hosts an annual International Women’s Day celebration and promotes gender equity.
Be Bold Now had just hosted our 6th annual IWD event in early March 2020 when the pandemic hit. With the immediate and significant economic impact on women, and the world turned to online shopping, I knew that I had to do something to create opportunities for women to start and grow their own businesses online. My answer was an online marketplace, WMarketplace, that is focused on promoting and selling products and services from women-owned businesses. WMarketplace offers women business owners a national sales channel with favorable terms, and an ecosystem of other women entrepreneurs to engage with.
WMarketplace offer consumers a much-needed choice plus unique, personalized customer service along with the opportunity to shop and support communities they care about. Today we have over 500 business and 7,000 products available on the site. We are real people, delivering real products and services.
I am excited every day that I can take action to improve gender equality.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
After working in a corporate job for many years as the primary income for my family, I knew it was time for a change. But I had one kid in college, and two in high school and was responsible for financially supporting them. Like many women, I felt pressure to stay and make it work even though I was increasingly unhappy. The bottom line is that I felt trapped and as a result, I stayed two years too long. By the time I left my job, it was under conditions I wasn’t able to control and my self-esteem was at an all-time low.
I started interviewing for comparable positions and would get to a point in the interview process where I would be asked where I graduated from college, and what degree did I hold. I answered truthfully: I didn’t have a four-year college degree. I had left college just 8 credits short of my degree to follow my new husband to his new job in Asia and had moved on with a life and career and never looked back. After a twenty-plus year career as an executive with a Fortune 100 company, I didn’t think it mattered. But it did, and this ended my prospects with several companies who had been excited to have me join them at a high level.
After several months of this repeated experience, I grew increasingly depressed and felt helpless and worthless. How could my challenging, high-level career have come to a screeching halt when I still had so much ambition and enthusiasm for work? I had to look in the mirror and make some decisions. I needed a plan. If a college degree was going to stand in my way, I knew I had to get back into the classroom and finish what I started in the 1980’s. I wanted to finish college and take that issue off the table. I am happy to say that I am a 2018 college graduate.
Having crossed that major item of the list, I began to intentionally build a new professional network. I went to public events for women entrepreneurs to meet people and learn about starting a business. Please understand that I HATE networking events. They are scary and uncomfortable but I knew I needed to reinvent my network and dug deep to find the energy to meet new people. Once I got over the anxiety of being in a completely new situation, I was so inspired that I cofounded the non-profit Be Bold Now to celebrate women and support them.
Finally, I had always kept a journal. Writing is often the best way for me to process thoughts and feelings. I got a call from someone that knew a bit about my professional history of living and working in places like the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe with a husband and three children. She offered to introduce me to an editor at HarperCollins Publishing who was looking for books. Fast forward a few years and several hundred pages of write and my memoir, Breaking Borders was published in 2021.
When I think about how terrible I felt about myself, and how depleted I became after I left my corporate career, it can still makes me sad. But it also motivates me to tell women that we all struggle. So many times, women feel responsible for their family, and they have few choices to change their situation and are overwhelmed with the idea of making a big change. I like to think that my life and my story may give someone the inspiration or motivation to take the leap – or just to know that they too can come back from a hard place. There could be something even better on the other side.
I am happier today than I have ever been. The college degree didn’t get me a job, but it did give me my self-worth back. The book isn’t on the best seller list, but it was an opportunity for me to look at my life and realize that I have had amazing experiences and have a lot to offer.
Today I spend my life supporting and inspiring other women. I believe that women supporting women will change us all. I have a wonderful community of women, and men, that once I reached out to for support, were there for me. I came back from a very low, dark place and want nothing more than to inspire others to do the same.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The question above is an illustration of a life and business pivot, but more recently I have pivoted my attention from Be Bold Now to WMarketplace. My goal is the same: to support and inspire women. But when the pandemic hit and women needed support to earn a living, many turned their side hussles and hobbies into businesses. WMarketplace was founded to support them and to help make their businesses successful.
Like everyone else, I was at home reading the news in disbelief about the profound impact the pandemic was having on our world – and especially the disproportionate impact it was having on women. Not being one to sit around when I can take action, I knew I needed to get moving. I called a friend to try out my idea of starting and ecommerce site to provide women with a sales channel that was affordable for them, and was a community where they could connect, be supported and learn from one another. She was about to be one of the women effected by the pandemic by being laid off from her job. She loved the idea and Susan Gates is now my friend AND cofounder of WMarketplace.
My mission has never changed, but the way I go about fulfilling that mission has changed dramatically. I have gone from Be Bold Now’s annual International Women’s Day showcase event highlighting bold women, to building a platform that highlights and promotes their stories and their businesses every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thewmarketplace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewmarketplace/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWMarketplace
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-wmarketplace/?viewAsMember=true
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thewmarketplace
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/kate.isler.5/ https://www.instagram.com/kateisler/ https://twitter.com/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateisler/
Image Credits
a.m.j. photos