We recently connected with Lily Zani and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lily, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

The idea started back on 2014 when I felt the call to create a community to connect women in the DFW Metroplex. The next step was to use social media as a tool to make it happen. My next step was to create an instagram account with a name that identified all women and made them feel like they belonged. That’s how DFWomen got started.

Lily, 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?

We started in the Media industry with the goal to love, connect and support all DFWomen and our followers started identifying their posts with our names. We then hosted EXPOS for small businesses and continued supporting them with free features. Since our community is mainly connected through Instagram we have been evolving with the changes of the app. Nowadays our page is used daily to keep all DFWomen connected and informed about events, services, brands and other fun things happening in the Metroplex.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Building a community through a social media platform hasn’t always been easy. We have adapted constantly to the needs of our supporters and Instagram algorithm. The pandemic also made us pause our events and changed the way everyone was connecting. We decided to stop charging for advertisements and just offer free services for all to really support everyone during the difficult times. We only monetize with our events so we are glad to have a main full time job that allows us to continue serving the community. Our founder created this page when she was diagnosed with a chronic illness. The love and care other women showed her inspired her to create a space where other women could do the same.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Building a community is hard. Especially when the community is created through social media. Our values have been the number one reason why our followers keep growing and have been loyal. We truly believe in loving, supporting and connecting all. We also believe is very important to show the beautiful diversity our DFWomen represent with their backgrounds, cultures and talents.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dfwomen
• Twitter: @dfwomenews

Image Credits
@lily.zani