Jaime-Alexis Fowler
“What do you do for people in that moment? Because you have to change that trajectory. If you're going to say that you want to support the opportunity for everyone to thrive, then one of the key pieces of that is helping get over that barrier when people experience it.” —Jaime-Alexis Fowler
Jaime-Alexis Fowler (@jaimealexis) is the founder and Executive Director of Empower Work (@empowerwork), a non-profit organization that provides confidential, free, immediate support for work issues. Empower Work envisions a world where everyone can thrive at work. They support each person to think through the situation, provide larger context, and consider options for how to take action. Empower Work’s goal is for every person to leave feeling empowered with a next step that works for them.
Empower Work leverages technology to meet people where they are. And their peer counseling model draws on best practices in coaching and strengths-based management focused on active listening, reflection, and positive inquiry. They also connect people to vetted information and resources if needed.
Jaime-Alexis is a seasoned leader with a track record of building agile, high-performing, healthy teams. She has developed a reputation for being a go-to resource for people management.
Jaime-Alexis has led marketing at a $100M international NGO, run operations for a national post-abortion counseling nonprofit, overseen marketing at Code for America, and most recently before Empower Work, launched a nonprofit investigative newsroom.
Her work has been featured in NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Tech Crunch, Slate, Fast Company, and Forbes. Jaime-Alexis frequently speaks about building collaborative, healthy teams, career pathways and pivots, social entrepreneurship, and marketing for social change.
Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Jaime-Alexis Fowler (@jaimealexis) and Founded By Women host, Margie Chuang (@margiechuang)!
Subscribe to the show & listen to Episode #004 on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can find the transcript for Episode #004 here (coming soon!). Transcripts for all episodes can be found here.
Show Notes
Jaime-Alexis’s journey from PhD candidate to building her nonprofit organization [3:13]
Opening up doors and taking chances on people [6:22]
The origin story of Empower Work [7:55]
Market research: Should this service exist? Is there an actual need? [10:30]
Changing the trajectory and meeting people where they are [11:45]
Hardcopy fliers and testing a theory [15:33]
Build something and break it first [18:46]
Jaime-Alexis and Margie share their past experiences with workplace adversity [21:40]
The Empower Work experience [28:10]
Creating space and not solving: reconnecting with a sense of confidence and agency [33:30]
Empower Work trends and themes [38:16]
Being a mission-based organization and building healthier, more equitable workplaces [40:51]
Volunteering at Empower Work [43:25]
Deciding on the business model: non-profit vs. B corp vs. for-profit [50:29]
Building a diverse and inclusive workplace [55:48]
Jaime-Alexis’s take on empathy [58:51]
Being a founder and an intra-preneur [1:02:16]
Entrepreneurship: lessons learned [1:03:50]
Work-life optimization [1:05:44]
Preparing for pitches and public speaking engagements [1:08:19]
What’s next for Empower Work? [1:11:42]
Empowering yourself and creating ripple effects [1:10:23]
Rapid Fire Questions [1:13:03]
What have other women said or done to empower you? [1:15:11]
Parting thoughts and encouraging words [1:16:31]
What was your favorite takeaway or quote from this episode? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Jaime-Alexis:
Empower Work:
It Started With a Question and 60 Fliers | by Jaime-Alexis Fowler
me too | founded by Tarana Burke
Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber | by Susan Fowler
Pride and Predjudice | by Jane Austen
Strengths Finder 2.0 | by Gallup and Tom Rath
Empower Work helps with work issues | Text 510-674-1414 or start a web chat.
Subscribe to the show & listen to Episode #004 on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you have a moment, please consider leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. It helps us to get more amazing guests on the show and grow the podcast. Thank you so much!
Notable Quotes— with Jaime-Alexis Fowler
“Let’s build something and break it first, before we get worried about whether or not it’s going to break.”
“What do you do for people in that moment? You have to change that trajectory. If you’re going to say that you want to support the opportunity for everyone to thrive, then one of the key pieces of that is helping get over that barrier when people experience it. ”
“As a manager, when you think about all these different variables of: How do you build a successful team? How do you build a results driven team? What does it look like to have a really fast-moving, impact-driven organization? Everyone is human. And so, starting with that human connection piece, I think is really important. Empathy, in my mind, doesn’t mean lack of accountability or not being results-driven, but it’s acknowledging, ‘Hey, we’re human.’ ”
“What’s really important for us is investing in the volunteer experience. People are so wonderfully giving of their time and energy and skills to give back to others. And just as we provide support for folks who connect with us, we want to provide support for volunteers too. And so, when we think about our work, it’s really investing in both sides. ”
“We may not be able to fully embrace what someone else’s experiences are like, but to be able to at least spend time listening and understanding where that comes from, to the best extent possible, I think is really important.”
“There has to be a need for a thing that’s getting built. What is it going to improve? What is it going to tackle? Why is someone going to buy it? Why is someone going to use it? What’s the impact that is going to come out of it? And that for me, is what motivates me and drives me.”
“Just because something doesn’t exist, doesn’t mean it needs to.”
“I love empathy. I embrace it. I lead with it. It’s such an important value to me. When I was thinking about creating Empower Work, I was like, ‘I don’t know how to teach it to others, but I believe deeply that it’s possible.’
But when you’re thinking about how do you build that and scale it, you do have to systematize it in a way.
And one of our earlier supporters was like, ‘Why didn’t you hire an engineer first?’ Because we can figure out all kinds of tech stuff, but fundamentally, if we can’t figure out how to train and build the skills of our support, we’re not going to be successful.”