Heiden: HAHAHA. Not even close. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we’re too nice?

Baer: It’s been well documented in the business world that the salaries are not the same. As a woman-owned firm, of course we’ve worked hard to have parity in salaries in the studio. I do know that men tend to be more comfortable “making the case” for their value – even in their everyday demeanor. Women can tend to position themselves as “helpful.” To this day it seems men are more comfortable speaking to their talent.

Raye: Pay salaries between men and women are getting better, but they are not even. Why? Because it’s been that way for a long time and will take a little longer to fix it.

Werner: I don’t think they are the same, because I think women don’t demand it. Times have changed; bosses aren’t just giving raises out of the goodness of their hearts anymore. Raises are usually paid upon threat of going somewhere. Joe Duffy taught me a very important lesson years ago. When I requested a raise for all the long hours I had been putting in, he denied it due to insufficient reason. I then went back and compiled a list of my contributions to various projects and the billings on that project as well as the additional support I gave to the overall office. I brought in a portfolio of the projects I had worked on in the last year or so and we discussed together we critiqued the success of that project for both the client and for the design firm. I was awarded the raise I had originally requested. I realized this is how I needed to sell myself to command the salary and now the design fees from clients.

How often do you network? Do you think women network differently than men?

Baer: Formal networking is not something I love doing. It’s always something I’m trying to make myself pursue. I’m someone who falls about half way on the introvert/extrovert scale. I think it may be more about that for me than about gender. – I love talking with people once I’ve been introduced. I DO know that women and men speak/make connections very differently when networking. It seems women try to find personal openings in a conversation as a way to connect. I’m not sure I can describe what the male version is.

Heiden: These days, I turn to friends in the industry who have different skill sets or experiences, but who can benefit mutually from an alliance. I reach out to friends if I think we can both learn from a situation, challenge or opportunity, and leverage our strengths to do something exciting that we haven’t done before. I try not to use people. I’ve been used, and it sucks.

Kuhlmann-Leavitt: In general my perception of networking is that people who are trying to network give networking a bad name. Living is one big networking experience. In other words, the people that you encounter in every aspect of your life, professional or otherwise, are your ever-expanding network.

Morla: I never considered it networking. I have been a member of AIGA since 1982 because I believe design matters. I teach because it’s important—I learn, they learn. I lecture because it is important to have women hear other women. I enjoy our profession and am stimulated by our community.

Millman: This may be a grand generalization, but I have found that women make better salesmen than men. I have no statistically significant evidence to support this statement, other than that I believe (again generally speaking) women are more empathic and intuitive then men. I think women read situations better and react with more emotion and authenticity. They generally also try harder. So as far as networking goes, I think that women respond and react more viscerally and men more literally.

Oberman: Men probably realize the importance of networking and act on it in a way that we don’t. We tend to spend all our time working and no time networking.

Helfand: It’s episodic. I have a partner, who is also my husband, who happens to be the “outside” guy in our practice. I always thought of myself as the outside guy until I met and married Bill. But he’s great at it: it’s in his blood. My networking is more inconsistent, and depends where I am. (More if I am at a design connference; less if I’m in the studio working on something that demands my full concentration.) Also, there are different kinds of networking. I’ve gotten very involved in admissions at Yale, and in matters of design education, broadly written. I have an ongoing engagement in this world through following students after they graduate, visiting different schools, engaging in discussions via email with educators at different institutions that might also be considered networking, albeit for a different cause. Networking is personality driven, not gender driven.

Scher: I devote time and energy to graphic design organizations. I don’t “network.” I do talk to people in business.

Heller: I don’t think it’s fair to generalize, but the stereotype is that men are more single-minded about doing it to get ahead, and women are more interested in becoming close to other people.

Willoughby: Women are more inclined to share and enable other women and men in situations where they have had personal challenges.

As an owner/principal of your firm, what made you decide to go out on your own?

Baer: It was not a pre-conceived notion-- it evolved. Having said that, there’s no question that once it happened, I liked the fact that I was in charge, for better or for worse, of my own destiny.

Siegler: [Emily and I] always knew we wanted to go out on our own form the time we met at age 22. The desire probably came from wanting to do our own thing combined with a desire to not have a boss.

Decker: I was always a fairly independent thinker and did not like being told what to do. Add that I always thought I could do things better than my bosses—like any other disgruntled employee. I just wanted to do things my way.

Fili: I never really aspired to have my own firm, mostly because I never thought of myself as having any business expertise. But after 11 years in the same art director position, while doing freelance work on the side, I had reached a point where my freelance work was more interesting to me than my day job. That’s when I knew it was time to leave.

Heiden: I had experienced too many mergers & acquisitions to continue believing in the security of a corporate environment. M&A’s expose you to real human & psychological carnage. It’s just like a death. I wanted to create a workplace that I was in control of, (for better or for worse) and to be able to express my own philosophy in the work environment. My husband and I have created a workplace that we feel good about, and enjoy being a part of every day (almost). I think that is our overriding concern – is this a good place to work – is this sustainable – are we making good things – is everyone positioned to succeed?

Helfand: I did this fairly early, at the dawn of new media, when nobody was doing it. I started designing CD Roms for Voyager and before I knew it I was designing big, complicated websites for The New York Times and The Discovery Channel. It took too long to expllain this to other employers/designers so I just started freelancing. I was fast and diligent and I got a lot of work, so I started my own studio. And it kind of took off from there.

Heller: I suddenly became aware that I had spent too many years doing things I didn’t really care about, and too many days in meetings.

Kuhlmann-Leavitt: My Dad and Mom owned their own business for as long as I can remember. Running a business was something that I took for granted and just assumed I would do.

Raye: No one was hiring so my business partner and I started up Modern Dog.

Scher: I don’t want anyone to be able to fire me.

Weese: Chance and chutzpah. What made me decide to stay on my own was the idea of working exclusively for the kinds of clients I wanted to (cultural and educational institutions), and setting my own standards. I still really enjoy the liberation these choices bring. Plus, I think entrepreneurship is a genetic predisposition, and both my partner and I have it.

Werner: I had worked at Duffy Design for over 6 years and thought maybe I needed another design experience. Initially I thought I would go to another design firm and gain a different perspective on the business of design. However after talking to many, many design firm principles, I often received the same response, “you’ve already had more experience than we can offer you, so why don’t you just start your own business?” At first this was really frustrating, I didn’t feel ready to start a business. My fear was that I would be a businessperson only and not a designer and I still loved design. With much moral support from my family and friends I started Werner Design Werks, with no money, no clients, and no prospects. Just FEAR.

Willoughby: As a young woman I was a part of the sixties generation. We witnessed massive social change as youth and believed we were responsible for creating a better future. We also grew up believing we could send a man to the moon. Anything seemed possible then. It was a lot easier and less expensive to start a business at the time. I have always been a dreamer and a little restless, although I did not understand how these factors influenced my decision in 1970. At the time, I wanted to be with my children and live a more integrated life where I could blend family and work.