These ‘Boss Chicks’ are on the rise in Dayton and hope to spread their ‘bossy’ ways around the nation

Founder: “‘Boss’ is being better than you were before.”

Credit: Shawon Brown-Gullette

Credit: Shawon Brown-Gullette

Shawon Gullette has been on the receiving  end of advice from "boss chicks" her entire career.

And she says that has been a very good thing.

“Women have always been my backbone,” the owner of Dayton Trichology Hair Loss Control Center and Infinitee Salon & Spa said. “I said, let me help other women who are in the same shoes I was in.”

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At one point, Gullette was mentoring five women at once, offering advice and guidance. It was too much and she thought there had to be a better way.

Boss Chicks Dayton was born from there.

The organization designed for black female entrepreneurs, managers and leaders had its soft launch on April 17, 2017 at Salar Restaurant and Lounge in Dayton’s Oregon District.

Gullette says it has grown stronger since.

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“As you help women grow, you help your community grow,” she said.

Boss Chicks Dayton now has nearly 40 members in Dayton.

Chapters in Atlanta, Indianapolis and Jackson, Fla. are being organized.

Gullette hopes to expand to even more states in 2019. She envisions a National Boss Chicks conference happening right here in Dayton.

“As women, we are mothers, we are aunts, we are sisters, we are daughters. We are able to nurture each other and build off that experience,” Gullette said. “‘Boss’ is being better than you were before.”

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Besides building relationships between business women, Boss Chicks hold mixers and mingle social at various bars and restaurants in and around Dayton, quarterly meetings with featured speakers and bar takeovers for a list of causes that includes heart disease.

Membership is $30 monthly on BossChicksofDayton.com. 

Gullette said Boss Chicks aims to expose women to new ideas and opportunities locally and globally.

“As women, we need to support each other,” she said. “We need to have certain support for us because we are minority.”

Members range from Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswomen to nurses and doctors.

“We are bosses in a lot of different way,” Gullette said. “You are boss at home. You are boss at work. You are boss of yourself.”

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