By Co-Founders, Rachel Kurth & Anne St. Amant

Dear Dot Community,

Happy 1 year of The Dot! Whether you’re new to The Dot or have been around since the beginning, please allow us to re-introduce ourselves as a lot has happened over the last year:

We’re Rachel & Anne and we’re two young women attorneys in the Twin Cities. We met through working at the same firm and almost instantly hit it off over a lunch at Red Rabbit. Casual pop- ins to each other’s offices quickly turned into routine morning coffee where we talked about everything from our weekends to handling difficult situations at work (along with our beloved coworker and devout Dot member, Delaney!) Hence the blog name, coffee talk. Initially, Anne dreamt up the idea of The Dot after a particularly bad work day that culminated into the realization that we needed a place where working women, across industries, could connect in casual and authentic ways. However, the idea of “The Dot” sat for over a year, doing nothing and going nowhere until Rachel came along and pushed it into a reality. We always say that our two different  personalities and skill sets represent why The Dot is so important: we each bring different perspectives to our friendship and our working Dot relationship, which  compliments each other so well and provides a balance to this organization.

We always say that our two different  personalities and skill sets represent why The Dot is so important: we each bring different perspectives to our friendship and our working Dot relationship, which  compliments each other so well and provides a balance to this organization.

It is absolutely crazy to think how far The Dot has come in what, in reality, has been a short amount of time. In just a year, The Dot has established itself as a nonprofit through the work of our amazing board of directors. We’ve been able to welcome two ambassador classes  of incredible women who embody what it really means to be a member of The Dot: they are women who are trailblazing in their careers and care deeply about connection and uplifting women in the workplace. 

The Dot has been able to host so many opportunities to do that very thing—to connect. We are truly proud of the dynamic events we’ve been able to host: from Speak Up in September—–-highlighting the importance for women in the workplace to find their voices and speak confidently, to Mingle All The Way (speed networking!), and our group workout with the Grind in 2023. We started 2024 just as strong with a personality workshop hosted by Lacey Simmons, and an invigorating workout at Bare3 in the North Loop.

We rounded out our first year of events with our signature event on April 18 of this year, welcoming just over 90 guests and vendors to connect. Each of these events has brought both familiar and new faces, and we’ve loved getting to know each one of you and watch you connect  with each other. As highlighted at our one year celebration, The Dot has always been about elevating conversations we’re having within our friend and coworker groups, to make them more productive and garner meaningful perspectives from  other professional women in the Twin Cities. We hope you were just as inspired as we were listening to the challenges our ambassadors have overcome and the successes that came from their hard work, resilience, and persistence. It was even more empowering to see the crowd nodding your heads and raising your hands, relating  to the experiences of other women in other industries. There is so much power in realizing that while we may all have different day jobs, we are all experiencing similar struggles and triumphs, no matter the industry you are working in. 

The Dot has always been about elevating conversations we’re having within our friend and coworker groups, to make them more productive and garner meaningful perspectives from  other professional women in the Twin Cities. 

As we enter into another year of The Dot we have so many goals, from growing our network, to hosting an even broader variety of events that focus and reflect on the fact that we are not just where or who we work for. We also seek to expand our networks to partner with sponsors that will help us to achieve these goals and reach more women than ever.

The Dot started with the two of us excitedly running between each  other’s offices, (offices that shared a wall, mind you) to dream and scheme up The Dot. But even that initial vision looks different as The Dot has been shaped by our incredible board of directors, two classes of ambassadors, and (most importantly) you, as to what you want to see and what you need from this Organization. The Dot will also look a little different as Anne and I now find ourselves at different law firms; however, while we no longer share a wall, we still share the absolute joy and fulfillment that comes with running The Dot and celebrating the milestones of fantastic events, engagement on our network, and the genuine happiness we feel from seeing women connect. We started The Dot as coworkers, but we enter into another year of The Dot as best friends who care deeply about the community of strong, connected women that they are creating in the Twin Cities. 

We started The Dot as coworkers, but we enter into another year of The Dot as best friends who care deeply about the community of strong, connected women that they are creating in the Twin Cities. 

We can’t wait to experience another year of The Dot and hope you’ll join us for the journey!