About the Co-Founders
After meeting hundreds of talented women who are seeking work-life balance, Kathryn Sollmann and Eliza Shanley had the inspiration to create WOMEN@WORK. Both women knew the very unique power of interactive seminars and membership organizations: individually and as a team they have created and led a wide array of professional memberships, seminars, conferences, training programs and trade shows focused on business, investment and general interest topics. Through a keen understanding of group dynamics, Kathryn and Eliza provide the framework for productive discussions that help women share insights, explore solutions and enhance personal and professional growth.
Kathryn has been through many stages of work-life balance as she has pursued work without interruption since the age of 16. Early in her professional career she developed and led training programs for Peat, Marwick, Mitchell (now KPMG) and developed seminars and conferences for Institutional Investor magazine. She left the magazine to establish her own investment marketing communications firm, which she ran successfully for 17 years from a home office. During this period she was also the co-founder of a small investment publishing company that created sponsored books, newsletters and seminars for the investment community. An accomplished writer, editor and marketing strategist, Kathryn’s client list has included the top 20 investment firms, as well as the New York Stock Exchange, the Employee Benefit Research Institute, Time, Inc. and the Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE). Now the mother of two girls (16 and 7), Kathryn balances her professional life with a full family schedule and volunteer endeavors.
Early in her career, Eliza witnessed the evolution of professional women’s issues on the staff of Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro in Washington, D.C. She then developed research and public relations expertise with a small woman-owned business that served high-profile clients such as The International Herald Tribune, and later with the Public Broadcasting Service managing the PR effort for its Adult Learning Service. Eliza worked for a year after her first child was born, and then left the full-time workforce for four years as she raised her two daughters (now 19 and 17). She continued to develop communications and research skills through volunteer and freelance projects until her children were in elementary school. Eliza then returned to the workforce in earnest, establishing her own consulting firm and working with prestigious clients such as N.W. Ayer, where she worked on the De Beers, KitchenAid and GM accounts; UBS Paine Webber and Plan Sponsor magazine. In addition to professional pursuits, Eliza has been an active church leader and a very active mother of two college students.