Women Advancing Equity (WAE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing equity in leadership and the workplace. We address the structural barriers that continue to limit women's access to decision-making roles across sectors.
Advancing equity
by addressing structural barriers to women's leadership.
Our Origins
WAE was founded in Chicago in 2024 as The Poderosas, a community established to close persistent gaps in leadership representation, access, and advancement for Hispanic women navigating complex organizations. From this founding cohort, WAE built a model that integrates research-informed programming, structured mentorship/coaching, and cross-sector community-building, designed not as a single intervention, but as an ecosystem that supports women at pivotal points in their careers.
As the organization grew, this model expanded into a broader platform that addresses structural barriers to women's leadership across all backgrounds.
Where We Are Today
What began as a Chicago-based initiative has since expanded to Los Angeles and San Francisco, reflecting sustained demand for structured leadership pathways across distinct professional ecosystems. Each market hosts its own programming calendar, mentorship cohorts, executive dialogues, and networking convenings, while remaining part of a unified national framework and shared outcomes.
Compensation gap
Women earned 85% of what men earned in 2024 (a 15-cent gap), largely unchanged over the past two decades.
Source: Pew Research Center, "Gender pay gap in U.S. has narrowed slightly over 2 decades" (2025).
Representation in the public sector
Women hold 28% of voting seats in the 119th U.S. Congress (2025) — 29% of the House, 25% of the Senate.
Source: Pew Research Center, "Women account for 28% of lawmakers in the 119th Congress" (2025).
Representation in the private sector
Women held 38.2% of non-executive board seats at the largest publicly listed companies in the EU as of October 2025 — up from 34.8% in October 2022, just ahead of the EU's 40% target under the Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive (deadline June 2026).
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), "Gender balance in business and finance 2025."
Expanding Internationally
WAE is expanding to Europe, beginning with Brussels in October 2026 and Paris in January 2027. This expansion reflects a recognition that structural barriers to women's leadership are not unique to any single labor market, and that the frameworks WAE has developed domestically translate to European organizational contexts.
Board Members
Brussels / Paris
Alexandra
Gantier-Hochart
President
Organizations, Policy and Institutional Partnerships
San Francisco, CA
Dayana Hemelberg
Board Director
Executive Coaching Program
Chicago, IL / Los Angeles, CA
Yvonne Gonzalez
Board Director
Public Relations and Mentorship Cohorts