Investing In Women

While upward mobility for women is increasing, with women moving into the C-suite and reaching executive positions at an increasing pace, many things remain unchanged. Women often miss out on opportunities for challenging assignments, lack executive sponsorship to propel them into leadership positions, and are still paid less than their male counterparts. And when it comes to financial engagement, we found that women did not feel empowered to invest. Robinhood is committed to changing that.

We recently hired our first Chief Product Officer, Aparna Chennapragada. Aparna is a powerful figure in the tech industry (who just happens to be a woman), and her leadership will help us continue to grow the number of women investors. At Robinhood, we ensure diversity and inclusion in everything we do; particularly in our marketing and communications. Personally, I talk to customers every week to hear what they are thinking about.

In the creative and marketing teams, our process often begins by involving various Robinhood employee resource groups to gain different insights about different communities. We also conduct listening tours with creatives and innovators from across the company, like the Curious Cats team, which is made up of employees who represent every department, every orientation, and every racial and ethnic background. We always talk to customers live about our campaigns, as their unique perspectives inform our marketing efforts and help us build the tools and resources for people who might not otherwise feel empowered to invest.

A few months ago, we launched a Women’s Initiative group that regularly provides information and resources geared towards female investors, highlighting their stories as well as data that shows the amazing growth in women investing in crypto and how women are challenging stereotypes about the everyday investor. In addition, our Sisterhood Employee Resource Group holds events highlighting women leaders at the company, with a focus on their career growth and challenges. One recent session, “She’s Not Strategic: A Conversation on Bias in Career Growth,” discussed how bias manifests in the workplace and presented practical solutions for it.

Earlier this month a group of my colleagues came up with a few simple ways we can invest in women at work. They’re easy things to keep in mind, and it struck us that they also apply to our communications and marketing too!

• Listen
• Promote
• Amplify
• Invest

At Robinhood we believe women can have more than just a seat at the table. We believe women should have the opportunity and tools to own the table, and we’re committed to creating communications and marketing experiences that demonstrate just that.