Helene Lerner, Founder WomenWorking

Helene Lerner

Helene Lerner is the founder of WomenWorking.com. She’s a television host, Emmy award-winning executive producer, workplace consultant, and prolific author of thirteen books—including The Confidence Myth: Why Women Undervalue Their Skills and How to Get Over It and In Her Power: Reclaiming Your Authentic Self.

 She began her career as a teacher, later working her way up through the management ranks of The New York Times. As CEO of Creative Expansions, Inc., a multimedia company, her mission is to empower women and girls. 

I’m so excited for you to connect with Helene, check out WomenWorking, and follow along as she continues to empower women and girls to pursue their passions, follow their dreams, and believe in what’s possible.

I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.

I’m Helene Lerner, the founder of WomenWorking.com. I’m also an author and television and social media host. The mission of my company Creative Expansions Inc. is to empower women and girls. 

And, what I’m working on now is pitching a show to air on my social media channel called Self-Care during the Coronavirus Outbreak, for your health, your safety, and your spirit. It’s on the practical ways real women can feed their mind and body properly and how to take healthy care of their home, family, and themselves—and hopefully, this will be in production soon. 

 My staff and I work diligently, daily, to provide content for our website WomenWorking.com and our social media channels. We have a robust following and social media presence that we maintain (over 18 million!).

How did you get started?

I’ve always had a deep desire to empower others, and it started from a place, a desperate place, during my early twenties. In fact, I was so desperate that I was going to jump out of a four-story window, but something deep down told me not to. It said there’s more to life than this, Helene. At the time, I was very overweight. I didn’t know how to lose the weight, life was very dark, and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. 

I searched out help that week—and I wasn’t used to asking for help. I found a group of people that were also losing weight, and they told me if I just did what they did, I would probably lose the weight, too. And, I did!

It was physical, emotional, and spiritual. The weight started to come off because I wasn’t eating my feelings down. I learned to identify my emotions, and it was scary because I had to face my anger, my sadness, and even my happiness. I had to learn to set boundaries with people, when something wasn’t right, and that wasn’t easy to do. I was starting to flex new muscles, inner muscles. I also thought of myself as an atheist. I was skeptical of a higher power, but I found one in the warmth of those helping me.  

Because I had been given so much, I needed to give back. Although I had a full-time job and a little baby, and was married at the time (I’m no longer married, I’m now divorced), I left my job and started to build a career based on empowering women and girls. I’ve always been a bit of a ham, so I like being in the media. But now, it’s media with a direct message: to let go of the things that stop us from being powerful and great. 

With the help of a higher power, I just went out there. People could hear my passion—and I created TV shows. I was nominated for a national Emmy Award for my show Treating Breast Cancer: A Woman’s Choice. It was little me, up against Good Morning America and the CNN news room. 

The nomination gave me the inspiration to go out and get more funding to produce these shows. I got a national distributor for the shows. I’ve won 2 Emmys, 7 Gracie Allen Awards, and a coveted award for the best television programming one year from my distributor American Public Television.

What inspired the work that you're doing?

WomenWorking.com got started as a result of one of my shows, Women Working, 2000 and Beyond. We started this show in the year 2000, when two of my sponsors told me to start a website. This was the year of 2K, the year the internet was supposed to crash. I told them, I would do it, as long as they helped. And, they did, and it has been very successful. 

About four years ago, the social media for WomenWorking.com went viral. The world was very troubled, I mean it’s always troubled, but there was definitely a lot of people feeling as if they needed to do something. I asked my inner energy to use me in a bigger way. That weekend, I went on a Yoga retreat. On Friday, we had about 11,000 followers. When I came back on that following Monday, we had grown to 5 million. It’s true!

As of today, I have a following of over 18 million and 800,000, between Facebook and Instagram. I was thrust into social media, and I continued to develop a strong following.

My latest work is a new series called HerTime TV, and there’s two of those so far.

What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?

Absolutely! My purpose and passion is to empower women and girls. I am very grounded in that purpose; it motivates everything I do. And, I believe everyone has a purpose and passion that’s empowering, not just me. Sometimes we deny that voice inside us that’s telling us there’s something more, there’s a purpose. Maybe its something as a kid we enjoyed doing, maybe it’s something we see others doing something—and we say, “Oh I really like that, I’d like to do that, but I can’t. That won’t happen for me.” But, this is negative mind talk, and it’s lies we tell ourselves. Why not you? That’s what I want to ask, why not you?

Women are being called at this time to step up. Women are not only smart and strategic, but we’re the people that bond with other people; we are the mothers, not only to our own children but also to children around the world. We see the common bond between people. That’s what’s needed in the world right now: we need to be the women who build bridges between others.

What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?

I love when I see people I care about happy. I think happiness is contagious. I love the theatre, and I love good movies.   

How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?

Yes! I get up very early in the morning, I meditate, I listen to a positive tape. I used to swim, but now I exercise in my apartment—about 8 minutes. I get on the phone with friends who are positive, and that’s really how I start my day.

During the workday, as I talk to people in business who I’ve never met before, I pick one of my Soulful Wisdom cards out, a deck for women who do too much. I pick it specifically for that person—after the business talk, of course! I pick out a card, and it’s always on the mark.  

One of the things in business that’s always been important to me is to make a business friend. That’s one of the reasons I think I’ve been so successful because I really do care.   Soulful Wisdom cards have been helpful in this and continue to help a lot of people.

What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?

“I’m proud of you, Helene. Good job.”

Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?

Not really. At this point, I can now go within and ask for what I need. And, I’m able to hear the answer. 

What is your biggest dream?

I’d really like to see the coronavirus gone. I’d like to see it gone and see people connecting more, see people reminding themselves that we’re all the same. We all have different voices and speak differently, but deep down, we are all the same. 

I want to see us all come together after this.

To learn more about Helene and WomenWorking visit their website www.womenworking.com and on Facebook @WomenWorking Twitter @WomenWorking Instagram @WomenWorking LinkedIn here and on YouTube here. You can find her new card deck here

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