In Honor of Equal Pay Day Let’s Talk Money 💵
No, really. Let’s talk. In honor of Equal Pay Day on March 24, I’m sharing my wage journey from my first job at 17 to CEO. Why? I’ve since learned I was underpaid throughout my career. Talking about money is power. It’s one of the many reasons we have transparent pay at Dough.
When we talk about money it can lead to closing the wage and opportunity gaps. It empowers you to negotiate. It pressures companies to pay what the market values the position at.
Before We Dive In: For cost of living comparison, all positions were in Massachusettes, in and around Boston. My primary expenses include student loans, rent, and healthcare. Salaried and freelance roles consisted of design positions, including product, UX, and visual with light front-end engineering.
Hourly
Daycare, $6.75/hour, 2004 — 2005
Local Pool Store, $7/hour, 2005
College Work-Study, $15/hour, 2005 — 2009
Hollister $7.50/hour, 2007 — 2009
Internship, $0/hour, 2008
Salaried
Vacation Corporation, 30K/year, 2009 — 2010
Agency, 35K/year — 40K/year, 2010 — 2012
Startup #1, 60K/year — 65K/year, 2012 — 2014
Startup #2, 72K/year — 75K/year, 2014 — 2015
Startup #3, 90K/year, 2015 — 2016
Freelance
Startup, 2012, $30/Hour, 2012
Startup, 2012–2015, $40/Hour, 2012 — 2015
Beauty Brand, 2014, $60/Hour, 2015 — 2016
Fashion Brand, 2015–2016, $65/Hour, 2015 — 2017
Startup, 2017, $75/Hour, 2017
Founder
Agency, $40K/year — $50K/year, 2016 — 2018
Dough, Pre Seed, $2.5K/month, 2018
Dough, Seed Round, $95K/year, 2019
Dough, COVID-19 Salary Decrease, $60K/year, 2020
High School & College
Daycare, $6.75/hour
After school, I got to hang out with 4th — 6th graders aka making sure they didn’t fight on the playground. There was that awkward moment where one of the students was my ex-boyfriend’s little sister. Oh, and the mountain lion scare. We had mountain lion drills.
Local Pool Store, $7/hour
Need your pool water tested and a treatment plan? Come on down I’ll test those PH levels for you! A summer job before college, I supported in running the store. In all honesty, I often didn’t have enough to do. I’d clean to keep busy. I’d sneak-read the latest Harry Potter while waiting for a customer to arrive.
College Work-Study, $15/hour
I qualified for work-study in college and am grateful to have worked in roles that impacted how I approached my career. One was through the community service center where I had the chance to create and teach art curriculum at a local Boston elementary school. Another was in the Communications Lab where I could learn while I worked with the programs I still use to this day.
Hollister $7.50/hour
In my interview at Hollister, I was told by the store manager “You’re really pretty” as he pushed back my hair. I was taken aback by this comment as an insecure 19-year-old desperate for a job. I soon learned this was an unsaid qualification to be a “model” aka someone who works on the floor, decked out head to toe in Hollister clothing. I got the job and soon became fueled by Crunchwrap Supremes, Dunkin iced coffee, and competing to fold a perfect jean wall in order to grab the coveted Sunday time and a half hours. I was proud when I worked three back-to-back shifts which consisted of closing at our store — overnight at another mall — opening at our store. Was this the start of my workaholic tendencies? There’s a solid possibility.
Internship, $0/hour
I had a summer internship at a local record label where I visually designed album covers and MySpace banners back when Tom was everyone's friend. It was unpaid. It was a business operated by having 25 unpaid interns and maybe 3 paid employees. I learned quickly about companies that took advantage of unpaid internships.
Full Time
Vacation Corporation, 30K/year
After graduating at the height of the recession with 115K in student debt I had a choice to make: work or attend a master's program at Pratt in NYC. After sending out a few resumes for entry-level graphic design positions, I was lucky to get an interview. During the interview, it was a requirement I knew how to create flash animations. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. I was determined to get the job so I went home and designed a website in flash that night. The next day, I sent my animations to the team and was hired that day.
I quickly realized the growth of my career would come to a halt if I stayed. Additionally, I couldn’t pay my student loans on my salary and was forced to reduce payments to interest only. As grateful as I was to have my first full-time job, I started sending resumes out 7 months in.
Agency, 35K/year — 40K/year
My advice to many young professionals: work at an agency for at least a year. It comes down to the variety of projects you get to collaborate on within a short time frame to the relationships you’ll cultivate.
Startup #1, 60K/year — 65K/year
A recruiter paired me with my first start-up job and gave insight into the salary range. It was the biggest salary leap I took to date and was more than I would have asked for. Even with guidance, I soon learned I was underpaid.
Note: This was the first job I had where I could begin paying back my student loans.
Startup #2, 72K/year — 75K/year
The first time I negotiated. I was terrified. It was $2,000. Instantly accepted. I should have gone higher. However, it was a win in confidence that I’d officially negotiated.
Note: This was the first job I had where I could begin building a meaningful savings.
Startup #3, 90K/year
This was the first time I sat with an offer. To be honest, I was burnt out between startup life and planning our wedding which was a few short months away. It was the first time in my life I had the opportunity and savings to take a breather for a few months. I asked for the weekend to consider if I wanted to dive into a new role right away. By Sunday, they increased the offer by $10K.
Founder
Six Things, $40K/year — $50K/year
We bootstrapped our agency at Six Things and our primary expense was travel due to us being located in three separate cities: Boston, Boulder, and LA. We had our high season in the spring/fall and low seasons in the summer/winter.
Dough, Pre-Seed Round, $2.5K/month
The first six months of Dough were without a salary and consisted of a monthly stipend, covering my minimum monthly expenses, student loans, rent, and healthcare. It was a risk I took to co-found a business with an impact.
Dough, Seed Round, $95K/year
We created a transparent pay system with our Seed round rooted in average market salaries for Boston. With future rounds, we‘d rework to pay more competitively.
Dough, COVID-19 Salary, $60K/year
When COVID hit it was critical we stretch our runway. We came together as a team and did a temporary salary cut.
If you’re able, I’d love to hear about your wage journey. Together, we can close the wage and opportunity gaps.
