CRG Year in Review: ChimeHers

“I’ve faced so many situations throughout my career where I wondered, ‘Oh, that was weird — was it me?’” says Sam Berg, Chime’s Head of Design and ChimeHers co-lead. ChimeHers is a Chimer Resource Group (CRG) dedicated to inspiring, educating, mentoring, and connecting women and non-binary folks at Chime and in the community so that they can achieve their highest potential.

“The more I’ve connected with other women and non-binary people, the more I’ve realized that those experiences are shared. Talking about them together has helped me overcome each experience,” Sam says. That’s what ChimeHers aims to do: give women and non-binary folks a safe space for sharing and normalizing experiences, as well as an opportunity to use their collective voices to create a better work environment for Chimers and a better product for Chime members.

Another thing the group aims to do is inspire women and non-binary folks at Chime by showcasing the different ways people can be successful in their careers and how everyone can be a leader. Finally, they work to tackle hard conversations and topics that women and non-binary Chimers face, such as fertility, motherhood, and career growth.

Why ChimeHers matters

We all know that a diverse company is more innovative and successful than one that lacks diversity, but the reason ChimeHers matters to Chime — and Chimers’ — success extends to our members themselves. “Men and women handle money and financial decisions very differently, so if we’re going to build products and experiences that serve all of our members, we need to understand how all of them think,” Sam explains. “By investing in our female Chimers, we’re creating an engaged community to represent our female members and best serve their needs.”

What’s more, ChimeHers matters for employees to be successful and engaged. After all, people want to work somewhere where they see a future for themselves and feel valued. But in order to see a future for themselves, it’s important for people to see others who have come before them who share the same values, backgrounds, and life experiences. “The more we foster, support, and help each other thrive, the more we will see those examples of success and feel like we, too, can achieve it,” says Sam.

Highlights of 2020

ChimeHers provided a ton of programming for its members and all Chimers throughout 2020. They kicked off the year with International Women’s Day, an annual brunch celebration and one of the most widely attended Chime events. “It’s a really nice event and so many Chimers showed up — and it happened a week before we were all sent to work from home,” Sam says.

Working from home didn’t stop ChimeHers from hosting events, though. They also ran a series of roundtable discussions for two cohorts who would meet once a week to talk about challenges they were facing. “Our sessions with Dr. Carol Langlois were a great way for a small group to have a safe space to sit and talk together over a sustained period of time,” Sam explains. “Because each cohort lasted for several months and we were all working from home, it provided an ongoing way for women from different parts of the company to come together and bond over their shared experiences, as well as learn from their differences.”

They hosted several “View & Reviews”, where the group would watch a movie or show and then gather to discuss it. “Our View & Review of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary was just a few weeks before her passing,” Sam says. “When she died, we had a small group who was already bonded from the event and could come together to support each other in the loss of such an icon.”

Together with AfroChime, another CRG, ChimeHers invited Cynthia Marshall, the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, for a fireside chat. During the month of October, in advance of the 2020 election, they hosted voter education sessions on the history of women’s suffrage and the female vote.

“And then we started a new series called Chime In With Her, which invites a different speaker every month for a fireside chat,” Sam says. “We welcomed two women from the venture capital world — Kirsten Green and Lauren Kolodny — to talk about their adventures in VC and shed light on their experiences in a male-dominated world.”

“We’ve been busy all year,” Sam says.

The challenges of ChimeHers

Despite a constant stream of events and great engagement from a group of women and non-binary folks at Chime, Sam has noticed a challenge that ChimeHers faces, and it’s one that many other CRGs face, too: engagement. “Everyone wants to be engaged, but everyone is also overwhelmed,” Sam explains. “Many of us are on Zoom meetings all day, so the last thing we want to do is attend another Zoom event.”

But ChimeHers has seen a consistent group of people showing up to every event, which signals to Sam and the group that the programming they’re providing is working. “We’re really proud to have created something that resonates with a small group on an ongoing basis,” says Sam. “It makes us all really excited for the opportunity to expand and create meaningful experiences for more Chimers — to scale the impact of ChimeHers.”

A look to 2021

And in 2021, that’s exactly what the group aims to do. They’ll continue hosting Chime In With Her events and gather for the annual International Women’s Day celebration (this time, it’ll happen virtually).

They’ll tackle hard topics and expand the existing safe space they’ve created to include even more ChimeHers so that women and non-binary can continue to thrive at Chime.

We can’t wait to see what 2021 has in store for ChimeHers! Watch this space for more updates.