PROVIDENCE – In a letter sent to its constituency Thursday, women’s economic development nonprofit and networking group The Lady Project announced it will “sunset,” ceasing all operations, at the end of 2018.
Sierra Barter, Lady Project co-founder and CEO, told the Providence Business News Thursday the decision to sunset the “all-volunteer” organization was a “bittersweet” one.
“We had to make some strategic decisions based on our sustainability and what we can commit to,” within those constraints, she added.
Barter confirmed Thursday she began a new position at Citizens Bank in late January. Per her LinkedIn account, she is now the financial institution’s assistant vice president of strategic communications.
Signed by the Lady Project Team and board of directors, the letter says: “Our mission will live on forever through our members, the collaborations they have created, and the relationships they have made because of Lady Project. We couldn’t be more grateful.”
Lady Project Works, the group’s headquarters on Plain Street in Providence, will close as of June 30 while the group’s social media presence and websites will continue to be managed until a planned shutdown on Dec. 31, 2018.
Purchasers of annual memberships which stretch past Dec. 31, 2018 may email the group for a pro-rated refund.
Per the announcement, the organization’s chapters will see through their 2018 engagements – a schedule of which can be found on the group’s website. The final event, as of Thursday, is a PVD Lady Project meet up on Dec. 19.
Plans for the annual Lady Project Summit are still on and tickets are still being sold. The convention will be held this year on Oct. 6 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence.
Barter, is a Johnson & Wales University graduate who launched the group as an outlet for women to grow both their social and professional networks. Memberships were sold and participants were treated to lectures, presentations and activities geared to creating a female-centric community among local residents of various locales.
In six years, the organization – made up of more than 1,600 members mostly in their 20s and 30s – spread to 15 U.S. cities. among them Albany, Boston, New Haven, Conn., New York City and Portland, Maine.
Barter, who was appointed in 2015 by Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza to sit on the “Millennial Task Force” and a resident of the East Side, was one of PBN’s 2016 Business Women Honorees.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
