Something big is going down. You can see the cracks and feel the reverberations. Change is in the air, as women use, make, create, and build technologies to power a pay gap paradigm shift.

Yep you heard it correctly. Women are harnessing technology to power their paychecks.

Technology fashions shift sin Wage gap. -THE JILLS

Now, the stats are still lousy when it comes to pay equity. According to the AAUW report, The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap, "in 2015, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 80 percent of what men were paid." The reports also suggest that progress toward pay parity is slow and that it has stalled in recent years suggesting equity may not be achieved until the year 2159! The report also identifies larger gaps in pay for women of color and notes that as a women ages the pay gap grows.

Dismal.

However, in her article for the Harvard Business Review, How Technology Can Help Close the Gender Gap, Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest, offers hope. Krawcheck deftly draws conclusions about how access to information (specifically information on companies' gender practices) , online social networks and communities, and value-driven decision-making are bridging the pay gap and leveling the playing field for professional women. She suggests there is a lot happening that is moving women in the right direction for pay equity.

Good news for us all. The timing, it seems is at a critical pace for women to know about, explore, and utilize the infrastructure and the ecosystems that are currently creating a much needed equalization of power in the workplace and beyond.

Throughout the article, Krawcheck details numerous technology resources that women can access to help close the gender pay gap (which you should totally check out) and she identifies the growing number of options for women in the workforce as making significant impact on the gender pay gaps. She highlights the increasingly viable option of entrepreneurship for women and notes the importance of being able to hire on a project by project basis as a contributor to the success of startups and young companies. Krawcheck also predicts a very near future "in which professional women work for, buy from, and invest in companies that align with their values." Vicki Saunders' organization SheEO is one that is already creating this future with their approach to investing - Radical Generosity - where up to 1000 women contribute $1,100 to create a million dollar fund to invest in women-led ventures. Nicole Yeary, also exemplifies these ideals with her Chicago-based company, Ms. Tech, whose member platform 'helps business women do tech, and tech women do business'.

Women empowering women, does indeed seem to be a theme for bridging the pay gap.

And this is, indeed, why we founded THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™. Because forming an ecosystem and shaping an infrastructure where women entrepreneurs can help women entrepreneurs lift and link each other, complete projects together, find community and get stuff done... well that has the potential to change everything.

JOIN THE JILLS. FIND A JILL. REFER A JILL. And start to power a cycle that spurs a workforce revolution and help us all work toward bridging the gender pay gap.

WE WANT WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS OF EVERY SCALE TO LINK ARMS AND WORK COLLABORATIVELY TO LIFT EACH OTHER HIGHER SO WE CAN POWER THE FUTURE OF WORK.

And as the snow falls fluffy and white this morning, I'm remembering the busy year we've had working toward that mission.

So last summer we headed to CHICAGO.

And what a day we had!

There's not much to not love about the Windy City, but on the particular day the sun was shining, Lake Michigan was glistening, and we had a schedule chalked full of dates, and coffees and 'lunch and learns' with some really incredible women.

First stop, Chicago's 1871, a hub of digital innovation and a buzzing hive of activity and energy, to connect with Nicole Yeary, founder of Ms. Tech, and join her community of tech savvy gals and wicked smart female founders to meet and greet and talk social media marketing tips at the Ms.Tech Mastermind event.

Later we would connect with Lakshmi Shenoy, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at 1871 and Co-facilitator of WiSTEM, a sixteen week curriculum-based program that connect women to capital, community, and technology based resources. We chatted about women in S.T.E.M. and about our powerhouse of postdoctoral JILLS, like Sarah Caudill, Clarissa Muere, Sushma Kommineni, who are leading and shaping a path for women in STEM both in academia and in industry. We were amazed and delighted by the work being done at WiSTEM and left energized to have connected with other women creating paths for a women's workforce revolution.

And we couldn't possible stop in Chicago without taking the time to meet up with our Chicago JILLS. Lisa Ghisolf fought the traffic to enjoy an afternoon tea with us at The Mart, where she shared her experiences being a veteran solopreneur for her company, Gizmo Creative Factory. We laughed until we cried with her talented storytelling that had us living and loving the travel blogs she writes.

WeWork Grant Park was the perfect ending to our day, where we relaxed, toured the amazing facility, had our first introduction to the WeWork community, and were completely smitten with the people, the architecture and the impeccable design of this gorgeous work space.

'On Wisconsin' as they say and we headed home to Madison.

But after our whirlwind day, we definitely left a part of our hearts in Chicago.