Amy Nelson on The Riveter

You may have heard of a space created by women called the Riveter. It started in Seattle by a mom named Amy Nelson, who, by the way, is the mother of four girls under the age of five. So she's busy. But since the opening of the first space in Capitol Hill in 2017, the Riveter has expanded to six other cities at least. It's gotten attention from major female celebrities like Jane Fonda. It's tackled hot button issues like fair wages as well. And now there is also a movement to get more women engaged in politics and this season, too. So Amy Nelson is here today to talk about how the Riveter is evolving and what's next. And I'll let you start.

Well, first of all, it's so good to have you here. I've heard so many great things about you. So, first of all, for people who aren't familiar, what is the Riveter?

So the Riveter is a modern day union for working women. We have workspaces, meetings, programming, events, and member resources. We're trying to change the ratio for women in the workplace because we still don't think we're in the right place.

Oh, okay. So I'm just wondering, how do we get women engaged in politics? That's something that you've been doing. And really, I didn't realize that the Riveter has been behind bringing in some of the big names like Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang. That was because of the efforts that the Riveter did.

Yes. We've been so lucky to bring so many candidates through, something we do at the Riveter. A lot of our members want to find ways to be civically engaged. How do I participate in voting rights? How do I participate in reuniting families at the border? So we try to provide programming and space to help our members do that and the broader public. And so this year, we have an initiative called the Riveter 2020, where we are bringing pro women candidates through the Riveter to talk to our members specifically about what their policies would be toward working women trying to do things like close the wage gap, which is still ridiculous, and bring more women into the C suite. Because as we know, there are still more Fortune 500 CEOs named John than there are women.

Wow. What is a big misconception that you think people, even people at the Riveter have about women getting involved in politics? What's a big misconception?

I think sometimes people think that women aren't looking deep into the issues that matter to them in the workplace, which is really what we're focused on. And that's why we're bringing in the next few weeks, we have Senator Harris coming to Seattle, as well as Dr. Jill Biden to campaign for her husband. And so we're really excited. We also have Governor Inslee coming, who ran an incredible campaign, and we're thrilled to come and talk with him.

What are some of the workplace issues that are on your mind? I mean, I see you on Instagram and you're always pumping.

Yes, I am, which is a big one.

But I've talked to a lot of women who have a lot of new moms who struggle with that. Going back to work.

Yeah, absolutely. It's so hard. So I have four daughters, as you mentioned, which is very on brand for the Riveter, and my youngest daughter is just three months, so a little bit older than your son. But I think one of the things that people think about is a lot of people think women will leave after they have kids. It's one of the reasons we still have a lot of maternal bias in this country. And so one of the things to think about for companies is how do we accommodate parents, not just mothers, but parents who are coming back to work. And it is different for mothers. And I think we still need to acknowledge that in the sense that mothers are bearing children and could be breastfeeding. And so how do we think about welcoming them back into the workplace after they've taken leave, which hopefully they have. But I think that's a big one.

Yeah. And we use the same pump. I've noticed, too. And that one is kind of, you know, exclusive. It's not inclusive by any means, because it's an expensive one, but it's an investment. You know, that's how I looked at it. But it's certainly difficult. I'm wondering, too, Black Women's Equal Pay Day, you're taking on issues like that.

We are 100%. So equal pay is something we care so deeply about, because why go to work and not make the same dollar as a man? It doesn't make sense. I also think that equal pay is not a women's issue, and it's an everyone issue.

It's an equality issue.

It is an equality issue. And even more than that, I mean, if you're in a marriage between a man and a woman and your wife isn't making an equal dollar, that affects your family's bottom line. So it should really be impactful for everyone to think about it. And it's important for us to highlight Black women's equal payday as well as the next equal payday we have coming up is Native American women's equal payday. And so we need to say, you know, the wage gap is terrible, but it is infinitely worse for women of color. And it's important to highlight that.

Yeah. I always say you don't have to be a member of a group to empathize with the wrongs to that group, whether it's a woman, African American, Jewish, Hindu, whatever the situation is. And you guys are now taking this beyond Seattle, but to New York City?

We are, which is so exciting. So we did expand throughout the country this year. We're in six states now, seven cities, 10 locations. We are not yet in New York, but we are going to New York in November, on November 6th and 7th for our first ever Riveter Summit. So we are welcoming speakers from Stacey Abrams to Lindy west, one of our hometown heroes and beyond, to talk about women's action and change and the ideas that we can use to bring together to make the world look different.

Amazing.

Yeah.

I am so. I am so impressed. And there's an event tonight that I want to mention right in Bellevue in the Riveter in Bellevue. There. I think there's a drop in business coaching.

There is a drop in business coaching.

Is that a pretty regular thing?

It is. We do events like this all the time, and we welcome the public to many of them. And so tonight we have business coaching for women who are starting businesses, which women are starting businesses at 5, 5 times the rate of men, which is thrilling. Right. Such an opportunity. And so we have office hours with investors, office hours with small banks, office hours with attorneys, all of the kind of things you need to get your business up and running.

One of the true movers and shakers here in Western Washington, Amy Nelson, thank you so much for joining us. And I know you guys are going to continue the conversation online.

Yes. Well, we're going to go out and tape something. Another segment.

For another segment.

I can't wait.

All right.