Working in tech, Nancy Marzouk was used to being the only woman in the room. But that doesn’t mean he liked it.
“I felt like I consistently performed better, yet was potentially under more scrutiny than other people,” said Marzouk, 52.
She went to school for fine arts, but after graduation got into advertising and fell in love with the industry. As she moved up the ranks at various marketing and tech agencies, she felt like she was always working harder than those around her, but not moving up the ladder at the same rate.
He said, “The companies weren’t going to change. I basically had to leave to change it. That’s how I felt.” “I felt like I got to the point in my career where it wasn’t about what I did. There was a lot of politics in the game. And so, if you weren’t part of that, like, boys’ club, then … it didn’t matter what I did.”
Marzouk took the risk. He left his steady corporate job and launched his own startup, Mediawala, a data management company, in 2013. Now, according to SmartAsset, Marzouk earns between $600,000 and $800,000 each year, putting her among the top 1% of income earners in the country.
According to a 2019 American Sociological Review study, only 5% of the top 1% of income earners in the United States are women. Emily Riley, another woman in the top 1% and a researcher, recently surveyed 145 of these women to find out what it takes to be a woman in the top 1%. The report found another 180 women surveyed earn more than $300,000, and about 170 other women surveyed earn between $100,000 and $300,000. The ranges vary slightly, but the top 1% of income earners make more than $775,000, according to Riley’s study. The researchers found that women in the top 1% of households are well-represented as wives and partners of high-income men, but women are rarely the sole earners in the top 1% of households.
“In the middle of my career when I realized I was starting to have kids and I wanted more flexibility, I didn’t really have the tools to communicate that in a way where I felt like I was in control,” said Riley, 48. “I always felt like I was a step behind, that I was missing something. And when I continued to be reasonably successful, it became clear to me that there weren’t a lot of women above me who had created a path that I could follow.”
Riley also took a risk after deciding to have a third child. As a working mom she wanted more flexibility, so she became a technology consultant. Like Marzouk, she found that being her own boss actually brought more income to her and her family. She said she makes just under $1 million a year.
Most conversations about women in the workforce focus on challenges and barriers, Riley said. She thought about how, as a young working woman, she always wished for a roadmap to success. So, she started locating successful women in her network, women’s groups and LinkedIn after doing her own research.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response,” she said. “It really seemed to touch a nerve, that other career women agreed with me that, you know, this is something we would all enjoy. Instead of just feeling angry or frustrated or challenged, we can actually do something about it and be really excited to hear each other’s stories and learn from each other.”
Women in the top 1% of income earners are married, have at least 2 children
The results of Riley’s survey found that the top 1% of women have three qualities: drive, career management and a desire to learn and grow.
They predicted that women in the top 1% would be intense and competitive, which they found to be true as 44% of women in the 1% say they are competitive compared to 25% of women in the $100,000 to $300,000 bracket. But they also found that the 1% of women are less obedient and more “willing to go their own way.” One in five women in the 1% are likely to “go with the flow”, compared to one in three in the lower-income group.
The survey found that the majority of women in the top 1% of income earners are married and have children. While these women are generally the primary breadwinners of their households, 89% are married and 71% have two or more children.
Marzouk has two sons. Her husband works, but for some time she has been the main breadwinner for her family. Early in her career, Marzouk said, she felt like she had to go “above and beyond” at work, “otherwise it would hinder my ability to climb the corporate ladder.” She said her partner played an important role in her success by supporting her and encouraging her to pursue her dreams and goals.
Things have improved for working moms in recent years, Marzouk said, but she still feels like she misses a lot of things from when her children were younger. Riley said she heard a lot about guilt from the women she interviewed for this research.
“You can’t really have it all, but you can live a full life,” Riley said. “And that’s what happens when you have a lot on your plate, and you certainly can’t be everywhere at the same time. You’re going to miss some of the mid-week holiday parties at your kids’ school, but you’ll be there for their recital on Saturday night, you know that?”
‘What would a man do?’
There aren’t many women who are CEOs in tech, and even fewer are founders, Marzouk said. When she hears about women who want to start their own companies in the advertising and technology sector, she gets excited and wants to help them. It is difficult to raise capital as a woman, she said.
“Women are very practical. Like, we think about things realistically,” she said. But being realistic with financial projections doesn’t excite potential funders, who are mostly men. “People only want to invest in imaginary dreams.”
his advice? Think like a man, Marzouq said.
“What would a man do? What would my husband do if he was in this situation?” He said. “And I actually do the opposite of what my conscience is telling me, because I know who my audience is.”
Too many women are stuck in “middle level” roles, Marzouk said. That said, sometimes women need to think about what they want to achieve and what’s the best way to get there — which may mean stepping out of their comfort zone.
Once you break the glass ceiling, Marzouk said, “you can do whatever you want.”
Madeline Mitchell’s role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by Pivotal and a partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Reach Madeline at (email protected) and @maddiemitch_ at x.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: She quit her high-paying job to take a risk. Now she is a top 1% earner.
Reporting by Madeline Mitchell, USA TODAY/USA TODAY
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