Our HERversary: Celebrating 9 Years of HERverse and the Bright Future of Women Right Hand Leaders
HERversary month is here!
Our official anniversary is June 7th, although if you know HERverse, you know one day simply doesn’t feel like enough… so we’re celebrating all month long.
Nine years.
I honestly cannot type those words without pausing for a moment.
Because nine years ago, HERverse wasn’t HERverse.
It was Female Integrator Mastermind, lovingly known as FIM.
And before it was FIM, it was simply… 5 women in a group chat.
Five women navigating a role that felt incredibly meaningful, deeply complex, wildly influential, and at times, surprisingly lonely.
At the time, there wasn’t a dedicated community built specifically for Integrators.
No room full of those who fully understood the partnership dynamics, the operational pressure, the people challenges, the invisible weight, or the reality of being the strategic right hand to a Visionary, founder, or CEO.
So… we built one.
Looking back, that still feels surreal to say out loud.
Because what started as a simple group chat grew into workshops, conversations, relationships, shared experiences, and eventually something much bigger than I ever imagined.
And yes… I’m going to say this boldly because I believe it matters.
We were the first Integrator community.
Nine years later, we remain the longest tenured community dedicated to women Integrators/ COOs serving in this role.
Today, there are more organizations supporting operators, COOs, Integrators, and Right Hand Leaders than there were when we began, and I genuinely celebrate that growth. People in these roles deserve support, development, visibility, and community.
And I’m incredibly proud that HERverse helped create space for that conversation.
One of my favorite early memories was taking a leap of faith and launching our very first Summit in Nashville in the fall of 2018.
Looking back, it still makes me smile.
Because what began as women connecting in a group chat had evolved into women gathering in person to learn, share, wrestle with leadership challenges, laugh, cry, grow, and realize they belonged in a room intentionally built for them.
That experience reinforced something I already knew deep in my bones:
Women Right Hand Leaders need more than content.
We need peers.
We need context specific development.
We need places where we can be challenged, supported, sharpened, encouraged, and deeply understood.
If you’ve been part of HERverse for a while, you also know that our story includes evolution.
In 2024, we transitioned from Female Integrator Mastermind (FIM) to HERverse. H.E.R. is an acronym for Helping Executives Rise and we are proud to do just that.
The brand changed because our vision expanded.
Our core did not.
At the heart of HERverse, we remain deeply committed to helping women Right Hand Leaders rise.
Today, HERverse is a thriving collective approaching 100 women leaders.
We serve women COOs, Integrators, Presidents, Chiefs of Staff, Vice Presidents, and strategic Right Hand Leaders working inside entrepreneurial organizations.
We provide community, workshops, peer experiences, leadership development, coaching, and spaces where women can learn alongside others who genuinely understand the unique challenges and opportunities of these roles.
We are not simply networking.
We are not generic leadership development.
We are a collective created FOR women Right Hand Leaders, BY women Right Hand Leaders.
And every piece of what HERverse is today exists because women trusted us enough to build it together.
Which brings me to what I really want the focus of this HERversary reflection to be about…
Gratitude.
This milestone does not belong to one founder.
It belongs to the members who joined when we were small.
The women who invited peers.
The women who showed up for workshops, conversations, events, Summit, roundtables, coaching, community discussions, and difficult leadership moments.
It belongs to our sponsors, partners, speakers, coaches, supporters, and champions.
And it belongs to the incredible HERverse team, past and present, who have poured their hearts, talent, creativity, leadership, and belief into helping women rise together.
Thank you.
Truly.
Thank you for trusting HERverse.
Thank you for helping shape what we’ve built.
Thank you for helping carry this vision farther than I could have carried it alone.
As I reflect on our first nine years, I also find myself feeling incredibly excited about the future.
Because I believe the future for women Right Hand Leaders is BRIGHT.
I believe these roles deserve deeper development.
Greater visibility.
Stronger recognition.
Expanded opportunities for growth and professional elevation.
I believe Right Hand Leaders deserve clearer pathways, stronger development experiences, and a higher standard for what excellence in this role can look like.
And while I am not quite ready to share everything we’re building…
let’s simply say… if you’re coming to Summit this year, you will be the first to hear a big announcement!
There are exciting things ahead connected to leadership growth, recognition, and what is possible for women in these roles.
I catch myself dreaming sometimes about the future of HERverse.
The deeper experiences.
The intentional gathering spaces.
The places where women can step away from the day to day pressures of leadership to think bigger, grow deeper, build lasting relationships, and leave stronger than they arrived.
We’re not there yet.
And we’re also closer than we once were.
That is the beautiful thing about vision.
As we celebrate HERversary month, my hope is simple:
That every woman serving as a Right Hand Leader knows she does not have to navigate this role alone.
That she knows there are peers who understand.
That there are places built for her.
That her leadership matters.
That her growth matters.
That YOU matter.
HOW TO: Invest in Your Growth as a Right Hand Leader
If you are a COO, Integrator, Chief of Staff, President, VP, or strategic Right Hand Leader, here are three ways to intentionally invest in yourself:
Find peers who understand your role.
Leadership becomes heavier when you carry it alone.
Develop beyond technical skill.
Great Right Hand Leaders strengthen communication, emotional intelligence, influence, strategic thinking, people leadership, and partnership dynamics.
Invest in who you are becoming, not only who you are today.
I know firsthand how easy it is in these roles to put yourself last.
Your team needs you.
Your company needs you.
Your CEO or Visionary needs you.
Your family needs you.
There is always another meeting, another fire, another decision, another person counting on you.
And somewhere along the way, your own development can quietly slide to the bottom of the list.
Yet I believe one of the most important truths about being a Right Hand Leader is this:
Investing in your growth is not selfish.
It is leadership.
When you invest in yourself, you are investing in your team.
You are investing in your company.
You are investing in the people you influence every single day.
Because this role is often the bright shining example inside an organization.
People are watching how you lead.
How you grow.
How you communicate.
How you navigate challenge, change, courage, conflict, and learning.
And when you elevate yourself, you elevate those around you.
That ripple effect matters.
It matters for your business.
It matters for your culture.
It matters for the next generation of leaders watching you.
As we celebrate our HERversary all month long, I simply want to say…
Thank you.
Thank you for our first 9 years.
Thank you for helping build HERverse.
Thank you for believing in women Right Hand Leaders.
And thank you for helping shape the bright future ahead.
The best chapters are still being written.
Call To Action:
If you are a woman COO, Integrator, President, Chief of Staff, VP, or strategic Right Hand Leader looking for peers, leadership development, meaningful connection, and a collective of women who truly understand your role, I invite you to explore HERverse.
Because you do not have to lead alone.
-Kristie Clayton
HERverse Founder
#HERthoughts