70: {Interview} Empowering Female Lawyers: Building a Supportive Network with Erin Gerner

Have you ever woken up one day and decided that you wanted to do something else professionally other than what you previously had been doing? I know I certainly have an so did this powerhouse of a human being! 

Today I have Erin Gerner with me. Erin,  founder of Powerhouse Lawyers, shares her journey from practicing law to creating a community for female lawyers. She discusses the importance of finding alignment with your values and priorities, taking small action steps, and seeking mentorship and community support. Erin emphasizes the power of creating spaces where women can come together, support each other, and empower one another. She encourages listeners to choose their heart and make intentional decisions that align with their dreams. Erin's ultimate goal is to foster community and provide resources for female lawyers to feel empowered and have options.

Takeaways

• Get clear on what you really want and what is important to you.
• Take small action steps and build your confidence muscle.
• Seek mentorship and connect with a community of like-minded individuals.
• Choose your heart and make intentional decisions that align with your dreams.
• Create spaces where women can come together, support each other, and empower one another.

Erin Gerner is a former practicing lawyer turned coach and advocate for women in the legal profession. She is on a mission to help women combat overwhelm, realign careers with values and priorities, and foster a sense of community among law-minded women.
Erin experienced the all-too-familiar feelings of defeat, lack of support, and expendability that many women in the legal world grapple with. Rather than accepting these as inevitable, Erin made the courageous decision to step away from her legal practice and chart her own path.

Over the past decade, Erin has immersed herself in the secrets of success, and is dedicated to helping fellow legal professionals overcome obstacles, achieve their goals, find their true

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Transcript

Caroline (00:02.097)
Welcome, Aaron.

Erin Gerner (00:04.316)
Thank you so much, Caroline, for having me on the show. I'm so excited to be here.

Caroline (00:09.489)
So tell me about where you are right now and how did you get there?

Erin Gerner (00:13.98)
my gosh, do we the Reader's Digest version? Lord, how long do you have? We might all have to like grab a chilled vino glass and get a glass of wine. No, I'm just teasing. So I practice law for maybe seven or eight years. I did everything I was supposed to do. I decided to go to law school. I'm one of these people who have found out there are two camps of lawyers. They're either you've wanted to be a lawyer your whole life and you go to law school or you're like me.

and don't know what else you're gonna do with yourself after you graduate from college, you're putting off your career path. People have told you you're smart, like to talk and argue your entire life and that you'd probably make a fantastic lawyer. And so off you go to law school, off I went, totally unprepared for what I was about to encounter, but I did all the things, right? Like they lay out the roadmap. You graduate in the top 10%, you go to big law, you do that. Then you get the quote unquote dream job in house, which may or may not be a dream of anything. So here I was in this,

job in this life and I figured out very quickly that it was completely unaligned with who I was, who I wanted to be. All of the example, I was always very clear and sure that I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to be a present mom and I worked big law for four or five years of my career and was actually laid off in the 08 and 09 recession whenever, you know, everybody was on the news carrying all their stuff out of law firm. Like that was me and big law.

And I honestly think that was like God's way of doing that for me, because I'm not sure I would have made that decision on my own. I would have just kept down the rabbit hole. So I went on to an in -house position. I was like, this is going to be great. I'm going to have more flexibility, et cetera, et cetera. I also became a mom at that job, and that changed everything. I had no flexibility at that job. I could not work from home. This was pre -COVID, obviously. Seat time was very important. I was...

you know, told that I would be able to interview for this certain position in the legal department that did not happen, you know, a series of events. And it was very, it was made clear to me, at least in that environment, because I did not have a mentor, I did not have community. It was like, all right, so you can be a great lawyer, you can be a mom. Like this whole in between situation, like, that's not working. And so all I knew, I have so much compassion and grace for that woman. I was said, okay, well,

Erin Gerner (02:37.148)
I'm gonna stay home. I'm gonna stay home with my daughters and that's what we're gonna do. My husband supported that. We were in a position to do that and I really thought like, okay, if I just rip off that one band -aid, then that's gonna make me feel so much better. Cause I'm gonna get everything that I wanted. Well, what I didn't really understand and what I now know is my identity was so tied to being a lawyer that it wasn't, that wasn't gonna solve the problem. That was just patching a hole in like the sinking ship, right?

So I really needed to figure out who Erin was, what she wanted, what she wanted her life to look like. And that hasn't been cute or perfect. It's been a lot of messy action. But the thing that really was a catalyst for change for my life in particular was I joined a network marketing company about six or seven years ago. And I had done nothing like that before. I was actually practicing part -time law again.

because financially we needed to in our family and I really needed something to do. And I still felt so aligned in this profession, still didn't have any community. Now I had gone back and actually was doing part -time work for a partner that I used to work for in big law. So I like literally went back to the same pain point all these years later and it still felt very rough. It was like rubbing sandpaper on an open wound. So it was not working. And so here comes this network marketing opportunity. And I was like, wait a second.

You can make money like wait and it was actually founded by a former lawyer and she started a clean crafted wine company and I was like, wait a second. She's not a lawyer anymore. How the heck did she do that? And I honestly it was one of those things where I did not want to do one thing so badly that I was willing to do anything else to try and figure it out and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because it put me in community.

with other women who were dreaming differently, who were thinking differently, who had a totally different perspective on life. It gave me a snapshot of entrepreneurship, like in a nutshell, how to do marketing, how to brand yourself, how to sell, how to build teams, how to be a leader. And in that space, I started coaching hundreds of other women to success. It was like, wait a second, this, I could brand me. I was like, wait a second. I was like, Erin Gerner can do this. And...

Erin Gerner (04:58.332)
I was just kept being surrounded by female lawyers and I just knew that I had an opportunity now in this space, knowing what I know now to be able to impact and serve and empower female lawyers so they do not feel alone. So they do not feel like they don't have a choice. So they know that they have community and options, things that I never had. And so I birthed Powerhouse Lawyers really out of that heart space. And it's just been a series of

messy action, like you know, started coaching female lawyers one on one. And that really led me down the path of questioning where is the community? Where is the space for these women? I was having so many conversations one on one with all these powerhouse women. But again, one on one isn't helping and it is helping but the greater...

bigger picture is where is the community? Like where can we all come together and empower each other and share and just blow this thing out of the water? And the answer was there wasn't a space. And so very naively I said, well, I'm going to create it, right? Like, here we go. And honestly, I'm so glad I didn't even think about it because honestly, if I'd given it a second thought, I probably wouldn't have done it. Booked a VBRO and said, I'm having a retreat for female lawyers. The powerhouse lawyers retreat was born. I had my first one last year.

in May, we're having our fourth one in September in Austin, Texas. So I've just kept going and building this community. You know, always not sure of what's coming next and knowing what my goal is overall is just to keep building and fostering community for female lawyers. And it's just so much fun.

Caroline (06:43.121)
I love that for you because not only have you created this huge community, but also in -person live events where people can connect with each other and you online and in person, which is huge. And going from one event to four events so fast, my gosh, girl, you're on fire.

Erin Gerner (07:01.212)
You just don't have time to think about it. And I think once I had that first one and I booked that house and I told my husband, I said, I just booked a BBRL for eight women in Wimberley, Texas. And he was like, you've never had a retreat before. And who are these people? Eight perfect strangers showed up to that house. And what happened was absolute magic. And then it becomes bigger than you. And you know that you have truly hit on.

something that women need and someone has to go first, Caroline. And it's not always, you know, it's, you don't expect to be going first sometimes in these situations, but sometimes you're just called to go first and you may not have all the answers or all the next steps, but I know that I can provide the space and I know that I am the person who can make women feel safe and bring these women together in one room where there's no competition and no one really.

gives a shit about anything else other than you just being a badass. I can do that. I can do that. And so I just did.

Caroline (08:06.641)
I love that because I just experienced that as a guest or as a participant going to a podcast mastermind and there was also just eight of us and it was truly magical. I mean, it was the best two and a half days. I'm not going to say best of my life because I'm married to my amazing husband, but it was the most amazing experience because just like you said, I was in the room with women who are leveling up and who want to see you truly succeed and are there to support you. And there's no competition, no.

gossip, no drama, no one has time for that and that magic, I mean I was on an energetic high for at least a week coming off of that.

Erin Gerner (08:44.668)
It's absolutely the most powerful thing that I've ever been a part of and witnessed in my professional life and really in my life in general. It just validated for me why community is so important and why we have to foster it, not only in your personal life, whether that be like moms, you know, other friends, church, whatever, but professionally, especially for high achieving females.

we get told there's a lot of things we can't do and we can't have both and it shouldn't really be like that. And then you've got other women, unfortunately, who don't set the best tone. I think, unfortunately, there's a lot of instances where we've experienced women being the nastiest to other women. And especially in the law, I think there's a generation maybe above us of like, I've walked five miles in the snow and so do you type mentality and I'm.

I just know that there is a larger group and a larger population of women who feel the exact opposite and need and want the exact opposite. And so I'm just here to be a voice for that. And there are women, they're coming out of the woodwork. So I think I'm onto something.

Caroline (09:55.825)
You definitely are. And so if someone is listening to this podcast and they are practicing law either in a practice scenario or in -house, if they are wanting to pivot and do something different, what do you suggest in them? Like, how do they start?

Erin Gerner (10:12.956)
The best place to start is you need to ask yourself what you really want. You.

Right? You, not anybody else, not what's been modeled for you, not what they told you in law school, not what your mom, dad expects, not what your neighbors expect, not what society expects. What do you want? And if you have a hard time answering that question, much like I did the very first time someone asked me, I was like, what do you mean? What do I want for dinner? Like.

Like no one's ever asked me like what I wanted like no one cares what I want right like we are conditioned to think this in our mind but we have to ask ourselves that honest question and if you're having trouble you need to go back and get still first of all you're probably running a hundred miles an hour whatever you're doing and I encourage you to get still whether that be in nature whether that be in your car you need to grab a journal don't drive while you're don't write while you're

driving, but I don't want to encourage that. But you need to get very intentional with yourself. What brings you joy? What are your values? What is important to you? I want you to envision your life five years from now. I want you to close your eyes and I want you to envision your life. Who are you working with? Where are you living? What do your friends look like? Where are you going to church? Do you have a dog? Right? Like what, who are you? What kind of things are you doing? I want you to envision that so

crystal clearly that you can nearly taste it and you work from that space and say, okay, now I've got this and now I know what's important to me. I know my values. Now we need to start getting into action. Who can help me? Who? It's never the how. We get so caught up in the how. my God, we want to know all the steps. We want a checklist. We want all of them. We want a manual for this thing.

Erin Gerner (12:08.38)
There is not that. It's never the how, it's always the who. Who is in your network doing what you wanna do? Maybe there isn't someone, maybe that's not in your direct community, maybe that is a mastermind, maybe that's a coach, maybe that's a course, maybe that's lunch with a mentor. You have to start asking questions to start getting the answers to moving one step closer to your goal. So that was a long -winded answer, but.

First and foremost, you have to honestly answer what do you really want and what is important to you and move from that space and find a mentor and community to help you along the way. Because someone has gone before you and it's now on you to intentionally put yourself in the rooms with the men and the women who've gone before you and ask them questions.

Caroline (12:58.065)
That is so good and that was something that was hard for me too because I was feeling energetically aligned with people that were doing things that had not been done like other people around me, like whether my family or my friends had not done. And so I kind of had like a...

you know, a split conundrum like, I'm really getting called to go this way, but like society is telling me I need to stay here in my, you know, corporate job making a salary or whatever. And so how do you overcome that mentally?

Erin Gerner (13:34.94)
This answer is probably not the sexiest or the prettiest answer, but you have to choose your heart. You have to choose your heart and you have to make a decision. If what is happening right now and you have to remember that you have a choice, you always have a choice, is the answer what you wanna hear? Maybe not. Is the answer easy? Very unlikely.

but you always have a choice and you need to decide your heart. That's why it's so important to get clear on your values and priorities and what is important to you because when you can choose from that space, you can choose your heart, right? And maybe your heart is getting super uncomfortable out of your comfort zone and starting your own thing, but that is a choice that you have to decide internally and then it's.

taking the small action steps along the way to build that confidence muscle to bridge that belief gap in between what you want and what you believe is possible.

Caroline (14:37.137)
I think one thing for it to add to that is a lot of times we get in our heads that we have to have it all figured out and it's really scary and we want to have all the answers to all the puzzles. But in my experience, I love to hear from you and yours. I mean, even taking small action steps has compounded immensely and no, I didn't know how to create a product or no, I didn't know how to blow up my LinkedIn account as a LinkedIn expert.

but you just start taking action and you build more confidence that way.

Erin Gerner (15:07.74)
That's absolutely it. That's how you build that confidence muscle is you're giving yourself evidence and the proof that you can do it. It's the small simple things over time. Just like you said, create massive change. Did I know how to throw a retreat? No, but I just took the next best step. And if I didn't know the answer, this is the other thing that I want the listeners to get comfortable with is you have everything. You already have everything inside you.

that you need to succeed. You already have it all. You don't need something else. What you may need is answers to your questions. So you need to connect with the right people who can help and support you along the way. You don't need to become and add on these other things. Your gifts are already inside you. It's...

recognizing that maybe you don't know all the answers but not letting that paralyze you and stop you but going to seek those answers whether it be in community, whether it be through education or mentorship.

Caroline (16:10.641)
So what would you suggest to someone, let's say someone's listening to this podcast and has a corporate salary or has the golden handcuffs on, whether it be they're an attorney or maybe in another financial services or some other type of employment, how do you break free of the golden handcuffs?

Erin Gerner (16:27.74)
Well, I think it's a answering that first question and then it's starting to take action on that and giving yourself right. And the permission to work alongside your dream until it can become the full time. Right. It doesn't have to be either or it can be and and I think being comfortable with and is okay. So maybe we and you've transitioned your mindset to you're working at this corporate job and you're in the handcuffs. No.

This is actually funding my dream right now. So I'm gonna get my ducks in a row financially with a plan. I'm gonna get a game plan. I'm gonna, you know, whatever that is, if that's starting a new business, right? You can be putting all of the things and steps in place while you're still doing your nine to five, knowing that that is temporary and that's okay. You don't have to like jump ship and.

all this kind of stuff, you can do it in tandem. We get so caught up in that it has to be either orbit, it can be and.

Caroline (17:30.129)
So what is lighting you up with some of the clients you're working with right now?

Erin Gerner (17:34.78)
It lights me up when the women that I work with then leave my community and go compound and work with each other and then build each other up. So for instance, I've had three retreats. There are a couple of women who have now partnered together with their gifts and they're going up to Minnesota. So the two of them are traveling one from Kansas city. The other one from Chicago or traveling up to Minnesota and meeting.

four other separate lawyers who have, some have met each other and some have not, but they've all been to a retreat. So they're all going to support each other and to like lift and empower their own businesses and each other. That is what lights me up. When someone sends me a picture of like, we're having a powerhouse lawyers reunion. That is what lights me up because I know that I've done my job, right? It's.

It's seeing them together in community, forming those relationships that they never would have had, having that support that they never would have had, but for the powerhouse lawyers community, that is what sets my soul on fire.

Caroline (18:43.345)
So how can our listeners find you?

Erin Gerner (18:45.948)
So you can find me at Erin Gerner. It's E -R -I -N -G -E -R -N -E -R. That's where I am. That's my name. Obviously it's on all platforms. ErinGerner .com. You can book a coffee chat with me. I've opened up my calendar to see if we're a good fit. You can go learn about my retreat. I also host happy hours every other Thursday, free virtually for my community just to give women a space to come and.

you know, connect, resonate, idea share, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, follow me on social media, send me a DM. If you are a female lawyer and you're looking for community and connection, come to the Powerhouse Lawyers retreat September 27th through the 30th at the gorgeous Miraval in Austin, Texas. And you can also tune into the Powerhouse Lawyers podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. I feel like an advertisement.

Caroline (19:38.513)
Thanks, Erin.

Erin Gerner (19:39.9)
Thank you so much.