“Anyone who knows me knows I need to make a difference. It’s part of the fiber of my being.”—Dawn Wellott, CEO of SmartMomGig.com

Remote work should empower people. Newfound flexibility in hours and location should lead to greater gains in productivity, work-life balance, and happiness.

Instead of relishing the newfound opportunity and freedom, we learned how vulnerable working women are in times of crisis. Women bore the brunt of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. In the US alone, over 2 million women left the workforce, in one year, during the height of the pandemic. Women of color lost many of their gains in the workplace, seemingly overnight. As a result, a move to remote work that should have empowered women worldwide instead put a new obstacle in their path.

This is not how it’s supposed to be. Remote work offers excellent advantages for working women. As the pandemic wanes and businesses worldwide embrace a new era of empowerment and flexibility, women are expected to reap the benefits of remote work.

SmartMomGig.com offers one of the best platforms for women and stay-at-home moms to find remote working gigs. SmartMomGig.com matches stay-at-home mothers, and women with professional skill sets, with short-term work opportunities. Everything is now online and virtual; the work you need done should be, too.

In conversation with Dawn Wellot, CEO of SmartMomGig.com

Q. What was the motivation behind starting SmartMomGig.com?

My motivation for starting SmartMomGig.com was my long-standing goal of empowering women to stay in the workforce, update their skills, and help them provide for themselves and their families. As a result of COVID-19, my goal has been reinforced. Seeing the need for women to care for their families and contribute financially to make ends meet has strengthened my resolve. SmartMomGig.com is my answer to doing everything I can to provide a solution in helping women access the tools they need to create their best work/life balance.

Helping women, especially assisting women in the workforce, has been an ongoing common theme throughout my life. It originated with the strong, supportive, and accomplished women who raised me. This mission has evolved through my career and personal choices. My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother were all strong and accomplished women who instilled in me that you can raise your family and succeed professionally. These don’t have to be mutually exclusive concepts.

Q. How does SmartMomGig.com empower stay-at-home moms with employment opportunities?

SmartMomGig.com empowers stay-at-home moms and female freelancers by providing a platform for them to utilize their skills, create their own schedules, choose the amount of work they want to take on, get paid a fair amount for the work they’re doing, and create a safe environment at home for themselves and their family.

When we help women find work they can do from home, there are many benefits to the business owner, manager, and entrepreneur. They now have an eager and skilled workforce that costs less money and time to execute, due to lowered overhead. These workers now have the income to spend in their local economies, which benefits their communities and provides a true Win-Win-Win solution!

Q. How would you define true entrepreneurship? And how are entrepreneurship and working women important for the economy as a whole?

At its core, true entrepreneurship is believing in yourself. Whatever your service, product, concept, or experience, believing in it and yourself is the key. Enough so to want to do everything you can for it to succeed. This means going in 100%, which can stress the entrepreneur and their families. Working women are an integral part of the success of our local and extended economic landscapes. Women’s spending dollars go back into grocery stores, daycare, children’s sports, boutiques, hair and nail salons, clothing stores, pet stores, restaurants, spas, and home stores. If we want our economy to thrive, we need to employ the women in our lives—our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters.

Q. What other entrepreneurs do you look up to? Why?

There are so many amazing women who have come before, so that we can rise today. However, one of my favorites is Cynt Marshall, the NBA’s first black female CEO.

I am aware of her because of my previous role in Learning and Development at AT&T and also my work with the employee resource group, Women of AT&T, of which I was the Rocky Mountain President. She worked for AT&T for over 30 years but then decided to launch her own consulting firm focusing on leadership and diversity.

It was during this time that the Mavericks were having a rough go with a multitude of scandals and sought out Cynt as their CEO. At that time, there were no women or people of color on the leadership team and she quickly made massive strides to address this. I believe the stats are different now, with women making up half of the leadership team and people of color about the same.

Cynt is an amazing inspiration. Once you meet her, you know you are in for something special. It’s as if she can see who you are and what you are made of. She has a knack for inspiring females in business and making sure everyone in the room has a voice.

Q. Any company/entrepreneur must have a sense of authenticity and originality to succeed. What do you want to be, a leader or a follower?

Anyone who knows me knows I need to make a difference. It’s part of the fiber of my being. I want to continue to lead in the shift of empowering women to stay in the workforce, utilize their skills, and provide for their families on their terms. Women need to be able to embrace the flexibility remote work provides for them. It’s not a luxury. It’s a SOLUTION!

Keeping in mind the social and cultural ties that generally trim down women’s freedom, confidence, and boldness, what steps/programs/policies would you suggest for women who want to be successful like you?

Women need to take advantage of all of the opportunities available to them. They need to continue to add to their skills, stretch their comfort zones, get involved in their communities, celebrate other women, and celebrate their successes! We are all deserving of those successes. Building on their professional skills and abilities and stretching themselves will help them live their best lives and find the work/life balance they desire.

Empowering women to rejoin the workforce through remote gigs

Dawn Wellott is the CEO of SmartMomGig.com. Dawn is an expert at creating efficiency and effectiveness in corporate workflow with 20 years of experience in Leadership, Demand Management, and Corporate Training.

She is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, entrepreneur, and mother of two exceptional children, who support her in this worthwhile venture.