Women-Led Wednesday Returns For Fifth Year, Challenging the Mold For Conscious Consumerism

Sun Valley, ID (Sept 7, 2022) - Women-Led Wednesday, the annual shopping holiday to support conscious consumerism in support of women-led brands, is proud to announce the fifth installment and renewed effort to empower and promote women-led business. This year, Wild Rye, founders of the initiative, welcomes Boise-based goodbuy on board as a supporting partner, a free, easy-to-use browser extension that intercepts online megaretailer shopping searches and diverts shoppers to the same products from over 185,000 small, values-aligned businesses. Together, Wild Rye and goodbuy are encouraging women-led brands nationwide to join the movement for this year's Women Led Wednesday, which falls annually the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, this year on Nov. 23, 2022.

The fifth iteration of this growing holiday event is more important than ever in the wake of devastating news for women in 2022. From the war on constitutional rights, to the fact that only 2% of venture funds go to female founders, and the scarcity of women at the top among Fortune 500 companies, just 4.8% of CEOs—the statistics are alarming and part of the reason Wild Rye CEO and founder Cassie Abel started Women-Led Wednesday back in 2018. "The ultimate goal is a massive ripple effect," said Abel. "If consumers make a point to shop women-led, then women-led businesses are more likely to succeed, which means more women at the top, more female role models and thus more opportunities for young up-and-coming women in business to soar to the top in the future."

goodbuy was founded in 2021 by two working moms who struggled to find the items they needed from businesses they felt good about supporting. The browser extension brings visibility to female and minority-led businesses everywhere and allows consumers to put their hard earned dollars into the communities and brands they support. "With both goodbuy and Wild Rye being female-founded brands based out of Idaho, our goals couldn't be more aligned when it comes to raising up other women in business," said Cary Telander Fortin, goodbuy co-founder. "Joining forces and partnering on Women Led Wednesday means diverting spending away from mega-retailers and into the pockets of small, women-owned businesses."

Currently, over 500 of brands are listed on the Women-Led Wednesday directory, and interested brands may apply to be included at any time, without cost, just the commitment to promote participation and help raise awareness. Although the holiday promotes extra savings on products from high quality brands on the day of, Women-Led Wednesday encourages people to shop women-led throughout the year, and continues to list such brands on the website’s robust brand directory on an ongoing basis for easy access.