ABOUT BAWiP
Mission Statement
Bay Area Women in Publishing (BAWiP) connects and supports current and aspiring colleagues who identify as women or non-binary, helping them to build professional networks in and beyond the Bay Area and advance their career goals while building community and a more equitable environment in publishing.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Statement
BAWiP is committed to cultivating a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible publishing industry across race, gender, ability, age, beliefs, identity, sexuality, national origin, and professional and life experience.
The idea of creating a women’s leadership network at the intersection of publishing and technology sparked in October 2011.
Veteran book publishing and content strategists Charlotte Abbott and Robin Seaman were at a conference in San Francisco attended by many accomplished women but where the speakers were mostly men. They resolved to create a Bay Area network dedicated to increasing the visibility of women as innovators and thought leaders.
The idea caught fire with Anne Kubek, who was launching a startup in the publishing tech space, and her colleague Kelly Peterson. In October 2012, the four women launched the group’s first cocktail party, which drew 25 executive women from all facets of publishing and led to an ongoing schedule of networking events.
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BAWiP made its debut at Book Expo America in 2014, when Abbott moderated a panel featuring Kubek and other top women executives. Since then, the group has co-hosted popular BEA cocktail parties with the Women’s Media Group of New York, and continues to develop monthly networking and educational events in the Bay Area.
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