The Communicator

By Lulwa Alkhaja

Womensforum, although no longer running, is a story of one woman’s success in the entrepreneurial field, starting a successful company independently and eventually exiting the business in 2018. 

Jodie Luber, associate dean and associate professor in Film and Television at Boston University, is that woman. She received both her bachelor and master of science degrees from BU in Journalism and reporting on science and medicine. Jodie Luber has had a successful entrepreneurial career founding a company in 1996, called Womensforum.

What is Womensforum? When was it founded?

Womensforum is a network of individually owned, small to midsized sites that were run by women. These sites were too small to generate interest from advertisers, so I thought about creating a network of all of these sites, and approaching advertisers. This helped generate revenue for the site owners and made those sites more visible.

What were the initial challenges you faced at the start of the Womensforum?

There were so many challenges throughout. My first priority was to sign up sites and that required me calling the people who owned these sites, and getting to know them. This took time, and made me realize the importance of time management, and where I should focus my time. Although vetting and understanding each site helped, it took a lot of my time. 

Another challenge was being a one person team. 1996 and 1997 were the early dot com days.  The industry was evolving very quickly. My competitors’ achievements are what drove and motivated me. I had a fear of losing my window of opportunity in an industry that was moving at a very fast pace.

Can you describe a moment or decision in your journey with Womensforum that was important for you? 

About six to seven months in, I went to a major conference of the industry. Womesforum was the Ad Age magazine cover, but we had no sponsors yet on the site. In this conference I printed 100 colored copies of our ad cover and paid a porter to stick them in the men’s rooms of the hotel where the conference was being held. At that point in time most of the ad buyers were men. 

Later that day I was approached by a very large sales ads agency. They became our sales partner for us until we became fully funded. Their sales operations had account executives all over the country. This agency didn’t have any women’s properties and just now saw the value of advertising to women. Womensforum now had 20+ people representing us across the country, instead of me just calling different companies asking for advertisements. That was one of the first major turning points for me and womensforum. 

What are the most valuable lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur that you try to pass on to your students?

If you’re starting a new idea, look at the common pain point for multiple people. For me, small to midsize sites with talented creators were entering this new economy and deserved a seat at the table, but were being ignored. 

If you can, harness the power of like minded people with similar goals.

What advice would you give to students or aspiring entrepreneurs about the different challenges they would face?

I’ve learned how to be a writer, producer, and reporter but no one taught me about business. You have to have an entrepreneurial mindset. You do not have to think about a job, you have to think about what is happening in the larger scope of where you work. Learn transferable life skills, such as trying to promote yourself in authentic ways and becoming memorable. Have more to offer than just a single skill set.

The majority of Womensforum was acquired in 2012 by private equity group HIG Capital, and VIX Inc. acquired the rest of the company in 2018. Professor Luber stayed on as a consultant from 2012 to 2018, and eventually exiting the business. Womensforum is no longer a running website. Professor Luber’s journey as an entrepreneur came with many different challenges and successes. The lessons learned and guidance is what she aims to provide her students with.