Sali Christeson suppressed her dream of starting Argent for years. She was killing it at her job at Cisco – she didn’t have time to start her own company. But after spending over a decade in male-dominated companies, where business casual was a non-negotiable, Sali realized that most women’s workwear just…wasn’t working. Sali tells the story of how she went from wearing pocketless pants to building Argent, a brand that actually works for the lives women lead.
In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Sali also shares:
How she set boundaries as an employee at Cisco – and how she implements those learnings as a founder
Why getting good at networking landed her investors and opportunities
How she teaches female founders to reclaim their power instead of give it away
Advice on how to advocate for yourself to be included in conversations
In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Sali also shares:
On Giving Away Her Power Too Early
Sali: I was absolutely very quick to give up my power early on. The number of people that said, ‘you don't know this industry, you haven't worked in fashion, et cetera.’ The list goes on. And this happens to women – especially when they're starting companies. [They’ll say] you need a business founder. People get told that a lot…I've met so many founders where I'm like, you're profitable. Like you are crushing it and you're just getting undermined at every turn. Reclaiming your power is something that I'm always trying to work with founders on, female founders, specifically, in the early days and really owning it as much as possible and not giving it away.
On How She Set Boundaries as an Employee Before Becoming a Founder
Sali: I finally got to the place where I was like, people already think I'm good. They formed their opinions. So I'm gonna stop working at 6:00 PM and I'm gonna reset boundaries and expectations, so people know if they email me after 6 P.M., they're gonna hear from me at 8 A.M. when I start the next day. I just started putting boundaries in place in a way that was not at all detrimental to my position in that organization.
These quotes have been edited for clarity.
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