RISING LEADER
Carrie Murray
B
RA, Business Relationship
Alliance, is a network of
female entrepreneurs designed
to bring “solopreneurs” together
through a shared community,
collaboration,
empowerment,
inspiration and support. Founded
in 2015 by Carrie Murray, a former
private school owner, principal and
educator, BRA grew out of what
started simply as a monthly dinner
party at her California home with
friends. What began as a small
get together quickly became an
influential network of powerful
professional women committed
to hiring each other first. Many
mompreneurs, who are on their
second or third careers, flocked to
Murray as she and her organization
became known as a place where
they could find professional and
personal support, a place where
they were lifted up; it was no secret
-- the name BRA was a perfect fit.
BRA’s membership levels vary
based on the amount of support
desired -- from the “Strapless” to
the “Demi Cup” or, for even more
support, the “Full Coverage”, offering
women all types of assistance with
their businesses including Website
Development,
Social
Media
Marketing, Photography, Product
Development, Raising Venture
Capital, Branding, Money Mindset,
Finance and Bookkeeping, Email
Marketing and Public Relations.
32 • BADASSERY MAGAZINE
Badassery Magazine sat down
with Carrie to discuss the mission
and vision of BRA Network and
how women can support each
other.
BM: What is the BRA Network and
why did you build it?
CM: I built BRA out of necessity. I
was working on my first venture as
an entrepreneur when I opened my
private school for twice exceptional
children and I quickly found myself
in need of community and support
from people who had different
strengths than I do. I tried out
several networking groups, but
they were all very stuffy, awkward
and, honestly, not much fun. My
experience with these groups
was full of weird, competitive
interactions with mostly men who,
after learning what I did, quickly
looked past me to see who else
they could be talking to. I stood
there holding my glass of shitty
chardonnay and thought there
HAS TO BE something better than
this. At the same time, I found
that I was having more and more
conversations with women I knew
where I’d say, “You need to meet
my friend, Kathy,” or “I’m going
to email Jennifer and introduce
you.” These were all women who
were my friends, parents of my
students or friends of friends, and
they were all female entrepreneurs.
We were each saying we needed
a community, so I decided to
hold a dinner party and invited
them all over to meet each
other. Immediately, they started
connecting, hiring each other and
kept asking me when I was having
another dinner party. So, what
started as a group of six ladies at
dinner on a Tuesday night turned
into a networking community of
over one hundred women in one
year! ...And growing every day.
BM: Why do you think it is important
for women to support each other,
particularly as entrepreneurs?
CM: It’s kind of like a rite of
passage -- like moving from the
training bra to your first legit over
the shoulder boulder holder. As
soon as a woman realizes she is
stronger, wiser and more efficient
when she’s being backed by other
women than she is as an individual,
there is nothing she can’t achieve.
In fact, some of the most powerful
strength we harness to build our
individual empires comes from the
support we receive from a larger
community, because we’re able to
learn from others’ mistakes and
get a helping hand when needed
to build as strong of a foundation
as possible. And it’s a beautiful
thing when women get to a place
in their own entrepreneurship
when they can turn around and