Women in Business – Page 2

WOSB Recertification

We are continuing to celebrate a memorable week at Croixstone Consulting! In follow-up to our news on September 26, 2022 that we have received national recertification as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE), Croixstone is proud to announce a second achievement this week.

Our CEO, Patti Weber, announced today that Croixstone has been granted recertification as a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB). The certification was granted by the Greater Women’s Business Council (GWBC), a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), who serves as an approved third-party certifier for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s WOSB Federal Contracting Program.

This latest achievement fuels continued growth opportunities for Croixstone by allowing the firm to compete for federal contracts set aside for the WOSB Federal Contracting Program.

Read our Press Release here.

Croixstone Consulting Turns “6”

The Croixstone Consulting team is celebrating its sixth business anniversary this month! Patti Weber and Mark Weber launched Croixstone as a boutique management consultancy in 2016. Their vision was to offer the world a highly differentiated business model in management consulting that would transform careers and businesses. The two entrepreneurs powered their vision by using their superpowers in strategic networking and relationship-building to connect the brightest minds.

In honor of the firm’s sixth business anniversary, here are six fun facts about Croixstone Consulting.

#1) Our name. Rivers are a hugely important part of life that connect humans in so many ways. The inspiration for Croixstone’s name is the St. Croix River (French: Holy Cross), a tributary of the Mississippi River that forms a border between the states of Wisconsin (the home state of Patti and Mark) and Minnesota (where the firm’s founders each began their careers).

#2) One more thing about our name. The correct way to pronounce the company’s name is “kroy-stone.”

#3) Our garage was a loft. Many of the world’s best known start-up companies were launched in garages. Croixstone launched its business in 2016 in Loft 309 of the former Lance Crackers building on South Boulevard in Charlotte’s booming South End Neighborhood. Not a garage, but a very cool loft to build a very unusual company.

#4) We LOVE constructive nonconformists. Business mavericks. Rebel talent. Call them what you will. One of our core beliefs is that these are the people who drive innovation in companies.

#5) We also LOVE portfolio professionals. We believe portfolio careers are the future of work. And so do many other thought leaders and futurists.

#6) Curiosity. One of our core values. We practice intelligent exploration and intellectual humility. We apply the best of our professional life experience, but always stay focused on what’s left to learn. From space exploration companies to solar farm developers to fintech unicorns, our curiosity has fueled Croixstone’s ability to build a truly unique client portfolio over the past 6 years.

The Charlotte Ledger 40 Over 40 Awards Celebration

The Croixstone team is joining The Charlotte Ledger and U.S. Bank on Thursday evening, April 28, to celebrate this year’s honorees of local Charlotte unsung heroes aged 40+ who are doing great things in our community. We are looking forward to a fun night honoring The Charlotte Ledger’s amazing 40 Over 40 winners from 2020, 2021, and this year.

The honorees from 2021 include our very own Patti Weber, CEO and co-founder. Read more about Patti here.

Congrats to 2022’s winners! We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

We’re Celebrating our Nomination for 2022

The Croixstone team is in a celebratory mood! The firm and our CEO, Patti Weber, have been nominated for the 11th annual 2022 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Crowns of Enterprise Awards.

The Crowns of Enterprise Awards recognize and honor small businesses that demonstrate exemplary leadership and sound business strategies. Charlotte-Mecklenburg strives to acknowledge and display the hard work and resilient efforts of the community’s local small businesses, illustrating the positive footprint and economic impact they have on Croixstone’s home town.

Winners will be announced during the annual Charlotte-Mecklenburg Crowns of Enterprise Awards Ceremony taking place on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

Learn more here.

LinkedIn is Rightfully Tackling an Archaic Stigma

With the demand for labor at historically high levels and workers continuing to quit their jobs at historic rates to take advantage of that demand, there has never been a better time for employers to break free of archaic rules of hiring.

For a reason that has never made sense to us, employers have traditionally scoffed at job candidates with breaks in their employment. In fact, two of our senior female leaders, Patti Weber (CEO) and Grace Lynch (Senior Manager, Business Operations), have taken breaks during their impressive careers to raise children.

We applaud LinkedIn’s news this week that it is rolling out a new feature called “Career Breaks” to all LinkedIn users allowing professionals to provide more context around breaks in employment.

Learn more about the LinkedIn Career Breaks feature here.

The Fast Five: Croixstone CEO Patti Weber and the NAWBO Accelerated Growth Program

In January of 2021, Croixstone Consulting announced that our CEO, Patti Weber, was one of 25 women across the USA accepted into the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Accelerated Growth Program. Sponsored by Wells Fargo, the program featured a premier suite of learning modules, high-level education and mentorship to help participants increase their market competitiveness and to position them to achieve the next stage of growth and expansion. Patti completed her participation in the program in October 2021. We caught up with her to ask five fast questions pertaining to her experience.

For people who aren’t familiar with it, what is the NAWBO Accelerated Growth Program?

An opportunity to collaborate and share best practices with other women-owned businesses.

Why did you participate in the program?

At Croixstone Consulting, we are always seeking to operate with excellence and part of that is to always continuously learn. How can we do things in a different way as we seek the path to excellence?

Tell us about the other women who participated in the program.

The women who participated were from across the USA and ranged from an Alaska-based owner of a touring company (Seward Tours LLC dba Sunny Cove Kayaking) to a former broadcaster with a production company based in California (WorldWise Productions LLC) to an attorney based in Pennsylvania (ND Galli Law LLC).

What was the most unique company who participated in the program?

There was a wine club based in Portland, Oregon named Upstream Wine Club that was launched during the global pandemic. The company makes it easy to discover great Oregon wines.

What’s the best piece of advice that you received?

Trust your gut…those feelings of intuition. Following your instinct can direct you toward the best path for you and your company.

McKinsey & Company: Women in the Workplace 2021 Survey

Women in the Workplace is the largest comprehensive study on the state of women in corporate America, with data from 423 companies employing 12M people. Following are a few key take-aways from the study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org.

Women are now significantly more burned out than they were last year, and increasingly more so than men. Women are, however, rising to the challenge as stronger leaders and taking on the extra work to support the wellbeing of all employees while also advancing DE&I efforts. That being said, companies are not recognizing and rewarding their efforts, and they are at risk of losing the very leaders they need right now.

While companies are embracing flexibility and not anticipating going back to pre-pandemic norms, the one thing most are missing is clear boundaries so that employees don’t have to feel like they need to be “always on” 24/7. Only 1 in 5 employees stated that they received guidelines for responding to non-urgent requests after traditional work hours. Establishing or reinforcing boundaries will go a long way in addressing burnout.

Representation by women at all levels of leadership has increased modestly, but women of color remain underrepresented, face more challenges and get less support. Allyship is critical in the workplace, and when employees have strong allies, they are more likely to have positive work experiences and less likely to be burned out and consider leaving their company.

To learn more, read the full study: Women in the Workplace 2021

Croixstone Consulting Turns “5”

We are celebrating! Founded by Patti Weber and Mark Weber in 2016, Croixstone Consulting celebrates its fifth business anniversary this month. Launched in a loft in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood with the aspiration to provide a highly-differentiated business model in management consulting, Croixstone has grown rapidly thanks to the deep expertise, talents and support of our consulting team, internal staff and partners/supporters.

As all entrepreneurs understand, the art of the start-up is filled with times of both great exhilaration and sleepless nights (hello global pandemic)! We are fortunate in that our five-year ride at Croixstone has been one of tremendous positivity.

Here are some of our favorite special moments over the past 5 years.

Launch: Croixstone began operations in June 2016 in Loft 309 in the former Lance Crackers building on South Boulevard in Charlotte’s booming South End neighborhood.

Hello Uptown: Croixstone relocated from the start-up loft to the new Industrious Charlotte Uptown co-working community in the Bank of America Plaza tower at Trade & Tryon in December 2017.

TABL: Croixstone introduced TABL, the firm’s unique culinary team building experience, with a playful social media launch in January 2018.

New Practice Area: Croixstone announced the launch of its new human capital solutions practice and a new executive search offering in June 2019.

FORTUNE Magazine: Croixstone announced in May 2020 that Patti Weber (CEO) had been accepted as part of a competitive application process into FORTUNE magazine’s Rebuild Program that was inspired in response to the global pandemic.

Hello NoDa: Croixstone relocated into larger offices in the newly-opened Industrious Charlotte NoDa co-working community in June 2020.

Supplier Diversity Certification: Croixstone received national certification in July 2020 as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Greater Women’s Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

Accelerated Growth: Croixstone announced in January 2021 that Patti Weber (CEO) was one of 25 women across the USA accepted in the NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) Accelerated Growth Program sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Forty Over 40: Croixstone’s CEO Patti Weber was named as a “Forty Over 40” award recipient by The Charlotte Ledger in May 2021.

We Have News!

We are excited to announce that our very own CEO and Co-Founder, Patti Weber, has been named a “Forty Over 40” award recipient by The Charlotte Ledger. The awards, revealed in a special online presentation last evening, celebrate local unsung heroes aged 40+ who are doing great things in the Charlotte community.

This year’s group, representing the second-ever group of award recipients, was chosen by a distinguished panel of under-40 judges who reviewed many impressive nominations.

Patti, who has long-term passion for STEAM, was recognized for driving outcomes in business, healthcare and social innovation. In addition to serving as Croixstone’s CEO, Patti is a co-founder with the Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance (a community group that increases awareness for pancreatic cancer) and a Partner with Social Venture Partners Charlotte (a nonprofit group that passionately attacks social and economic inequality and promotes social innovation across the Charlotte region through venture philanthropy).

Learn more here.

Croixstone Welcomes Grace Lynch

Croixstone is excited to announce today that Grace Lynch has joined our team in the newly-created role of Senior Manager, Business Operations.

Grace is an operations and process expert who drives business outcomes for fast-growth and transformative organizations. Her background includes nearly two decades at Wells Fargo during the bank’s growth spree where she served in the Office of the President and provided leadership focused on problem resolution and process optimization.

Grace also performed due diligence and integration activities for mergers and acquisitions. She served as a leader in the bank’s credit risk area and worked in a number of other roles in customer service and branch operations.

Grace has supported the Charlotte region’s nonprofit and faith communities in leadership roles with the Charlotte Affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and Assurance United Methodist Church. As a social innovator, Grace is a co-founder of the Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance.

Grace holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in Finance and Economics from Augusta University.

We invite you to visit Grace’s profile on LinkedIn to learn more about her professional background and impressive accomplishments.

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