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Attention Gen Y Women: Join The Levo League and Find Your Dream Job

What happened when two young, smart and ambitious ladies got together to discuss the future success of women in the workplace? An idea was born. A community was formed. And, a league was created.

 

Founded in 2011 by Caroline Ghosn & Amanda Pouchot, Levo (Latin for “polish” and “elevate”) League is on a mission to help young professional women thrive in the workplace without compromising their identities as women.

 

 

According to Ghosn, Levo League is:

“A generation-defining community that connects exceptional women with opportunities.”

 

Here’s how it all began…

 

The Introduction

When Ghosn and Pouchot graduated from university in 2008 (Stanford and UC Berkeley, respectively) and started their first job at McKinsey, a global management consulting firm, they found a male-dominated workplace with a major deficit in potential older and experienced women mentors.

 

Motivated and bonded by the idea of creating an online community for professional Gen Y women to connect, share and inspire, the two women launched Levo League in 2011 and now have over 100 companies on board including AOL, Pfizer and Gilt
Groupe
.

 

 

The Investors

When Ghosn and Pouchot raised $1 million from angel investors—80% of which were women, including Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, Gilt Groupe Chairman Susan Lyne and tech entrepreneur Gina Bianchini—they were looking for much
more than money.

 

Ghosn says:

“When we were courting investors, we asked for thought partners, not just money. “We didn’t really have to explain the need for Levo [investors] just wanted to know what we’re doing to fix it, because the problem is clear.”

 

 

The problem that Ghosn is referring to is gender differences in the workplace. The solution, or at least improvement, lies in the ability for women to have access to a community of other professional women to find resources, mentors and inspiration in order to elevate to their full career potential. This, according to the founders, is the essence of Levo League.

 

The Inspiration

The word inspiration, and it’s meaning, is featured heavily in Levo League’s philosophy. The company wants “women to dream bigger” and “reach their full potential.”

 

So, how exactly does Levo League create inspiration and career advantage for women?

 

The website combines community-building features with a company-facing recruitment platform, allowing companies (for a fee) to search for the best job candidates among Levo League’s 10,000 (with a goal of 1 million by the end of the summer) young, talented and ambitious members. A unique job-searching feature of the website allows users to “hide” a “dream job” so when a recruiter searches for candidates, you will be the first on their list, essentially giving you the “personal connection” HR advantage.

 

 

Building on Ghosn and Pouchot emphasis on mentorship and inspired by their own experiences with open and dynamic discussions in college. Office Hours is another platform of the website which features weekly discussions with women including New York Senator Kristin Gillbrand and Banters.com founder Lauren Leto, to open up the forum for questions, career advice, etc., allowing Levo members to benefit from and be inspired by the insight of high-power women.

 

According to Ghosn, the purpose of Levo is to encourage women to band together to elevate everyone’s potential:

It’s ok to stand on a mountaintop and say, I’m awesome!

So, all you awesome, smart, professional Gen Y women, it’s time to join the Levo League to connect with fellow inspiring women and realize your true career potential!

 

Photo Credits

LevoLeague.com

Flickr.com

FortuneAskAnnie.files.wordpress.com

CrunchBase.com

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