Advancing Women For Global Impact

UPWARD Founded 

In 2013, after seeing a lack of women in senior executive roles and facing challenges that often came with the gender gap, Chairman, Founder, and CEO Lisa Lambert invited 90 women to her home in California to begin discussions on how to be a part of the solution. UPWARD was founded, the Bay Area Chapter of UPWARD was formed, and a community of support made its way across the United States, with the first international chapter launching in London in 2015. 

Established Corporate Programs

As the UPWARD community continued to grow across the globe, the demand for communities of support within the workplace and DEI programming also grew. In 2018, UPWARD answered the call by developing and implementing corporate programs to build a sustainable framework for advocates, mentors, sponsors, and champions for women inside of organizations with the goal of challenging the status quo of women’s advancement to executive leadership.

UPWARD Acquired HiPower

In 2018, UPWARD acquired The Hipower Executive Leadership Program. This valuable program challenges today’s female leaders to discover their identity beyond their titles and organizations. An intimate group of selected candidates form a cohort “ring” and participate in a series of six workshops led by distinguished faculty and brand experts, concluding with a group off-site retreat. Ring members that have completed the program are also invited back to be part of the alumni network.

UPWARD Men Launched

If women are to make significant progress in career advancement, the relationship with and support of men is critical. In 2019 UPWARD Men was established to strengthen this relationship. The mission of UPWARD Men is to provide education, events, and partnership opportunities for men to be the change agents – advocates, allies, mentors and sponsors – in support of the advancement and development of women leaders in the workplace.

Watermark Merged with UPWARD

Watermark is a community of ambitious women focused on connecting, learning, and leading with empathy. UPWARD is a global networking organization accelerating the advancement of executive women. In 2022, Watermark merged with UPWARD, the global leader in the advancement of women and the future of work to further their shared missions of supporting women’s highest aspirations while reinforcing companies' DEI strategies and helping them achieve their business goals. UPWARD moves forward as the globe's premier organization focused on the career advancement of women, bringing UPWARD members, sponsors, and clients even more opportunities for growth.

UPWARD Academy Established

UPWARD continues to strive to deepen our impact and increase our value for our members with UPWARD Academy, launched in 2022. This programming is created specifically for our members to provide them with the skills, resources, and necessary relationships required to progress in their careers.

My UPWARD App Launched

My UPWARD is an online community specifically created for UPWARD members that brings together a global network of executives to access exclusive connections and resources. The My UPWARD app, which launched in 2022, helps us facilitate connections globally and provides valuable resources, such as a Digital Learning Library, exclusively for UPWARD members.

UPWARD Members Today

Today UPWARD has 19 chapters around the world stretching from Seattle to London, with over 29,000 members worldwide, and plans to continue the global expansion to Bangalore, India later this year. UPWARD Members are professional and executive women with 91% of membership at Director level and above. UPWARD members represent over 26 industries and are employed with companies such as Intel, Apple, Edward Jones, Facebook, Stanford, Gibson Dunn, and Sephora.