Episode 75: Rachel Werner – Consulting, Motherhood and Entrepreneurship

After working for years in the corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors, Rachel Werner founded RBW Strategy, her women-owned consulting firm based in the Washington, DC Metro area. She’s an expert in the full lifecycle of grants activities, and currently provides fundraising, project management and strategic planning support to nonprofit, public sector and for-profit clients. She is also an award-winning business owner who was recently recognized as a SCORE Client of the Year!

On this episode, Rachel shares:

• Why she transitioned from working at a Big 4 management consulting company after having her first child
• How her experience prepared her to become an entrepreneur, build her client base, and differentiate her business
• What it was like starting her business while pregnant with her second child
• The preconceived notions she had to overcome about having a home-based business
• How she defined her work/life boundaries as an entrepreneur, and found support from other entrepreneurial mothers through an accelerator called Her Corner
• Her experiences pitching and working with her clients
• Her advice for new entrepreneurs

You can find out more about Rachel at her website www.rbwstrategy.com, on LinkedIn or by emailing rachel@rbwstrategy.com .

Rachel’s full bio:

Rachel Werner, Owner and CEO of RBW Strategy, a women-owned consulting firm located in the Washington, DC Metro area. She has over 16 years of experience in the corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors. Due to her experience as a project manager, grant seeker and grant manager, she has expertise in the full lifecycle of grants activities, and currently provides fundraising, project management and strategic planning support to nonprofit, public sector and for-profit clients. Since the beginning of her career, she has helped to garner over $32 million in grants and contracts and has managed over $2 billion in grant funding. She graduated from Vassar College with a Bachelor of Arts and received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. She has also obtained a Certificate in Grants Management (2012), is a certified Project Management Professional (since 2014), and is a Certified Grants Professional (since 2010). She is actively involved in the Grant Professionals Association and regularly conducts in-person and online trainings, most notably at the Grant Professionals Association Annual Conference, the National Grants Management Association Annual Conference, CharityHowTo, Candid, Center for Nonprofit Advancement and Catalogue for Philanthropy.