On this International Day of Women, it’s important to focus on female entrepreneurs and their achievements. Just 50 years ago, female entrepreneurship was almost unheard of. It was a male-predominated field. However, in the last 50 years, women’s entrepreneurship has grown by a whopping 114%. Today more than 35% of businesses worldwide are owned by women.
According to Reliable Sources: “of the women-owned businesses out there, it’s estimated that 1 in 3 is owned by a mom. That number is pretty amazing, as it translates to more than 4 million businesses.”
Giselle Sitdykova, the Founder and CEO of Dwellics, is one of them. She’s an entrepreneur, a mom, and a foster mom. Giselle followed in her father’s footsteps in the field of engineering. At an early age, she discovered computer science and fell in love with it. She became one of the top 20 students at her university and subsequently finished her MBA at Loyola University.
After graduation, she dove into the banking and mortgage fields. Giselle has always looked to grow and make a difference, both as a person and as a leader. She felt the typical corporate setting didn’t encourage enough growth, so she left it to start Dwellics. At Dwellics, she has maintained a comfortable work-life balance that didn’t exist in the past. In becoming an entrepreneur and running an online real estate data company, she has created something that is necessary, challenging, and engaging.
Since founding Dwellics several years ago, Giselle has focused on building a safe, supportive, and healthy environment for herself and for her employees. Because she has a more agile mindset, her company offers global employment for those who are the best at what they do. As you know, when there is no growth, support, understanding, and work-life balance, people tend to burn out – which impacts their relationships, their families, and their jobs. A true work/life balance, according to Giselle, enables you to never miss their athletic events, recitals, and even first words because you were too busy. This is one of Giselle’s core values as a leader.
While Giselle is busy both with her company and children, she found a way to make it both work by delegating many of her tasks. By putting trust and autonomy in her employees to get the job done right, she knows that they learn and grow. This autonomy also enables her to carve out additional time to manage her business and be an active participant with her children.
Giselle started her career in predominantly government-owned businesses or large corporations. Because none of the leaders in her former positions knew how to run and grow a small business, Giselle had to learn everything she could to make Dwellics the success it is today. She observed how men in leadership positions often commanded and women in the same positions motivated. Today, Giselle believes that her strongest strength is leadership through motivation and growth.
One piece of advice that she would give to every woman who wants to start a business is this: “Start earlier, do not wait until the magic moment, break down your big idea into parts and start from the part you have resources and time for. Provide updates to the kids often to inspire them too.”