Meet Cassie Little | Sorority Speaker & Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cassie Little and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassie, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
About a year and a half into running Her Sorority Journey, I came to the tough realization that the biggest hinderance to my company’s success was me.

I started Her Sorority Journey in March of 20202 as a passion project – an outpouring of my belief that sorority women needed support to create healthy sisterhoods that promote individual members’ growth & development to thrive in college. Creating a company to solve a problem that you have experienced is inherently personal. Over the first year and a half, I got into the unhealthy habit of tying Her Sorority Journey’s successes and failures to my personal worth and value. When we would sell a keynote program, I felt a personal sense of victory. But when we would go through a low engagement month on social media, I questioned the value that I was personally bringing to the sorority space. Using my company to hustle for my own worthiness was suffocating the impact that it could have.

The most important decision that I have made in the past 3 years of Her Sorority Journey was that to disconnect who I am from what I do. In alignment with this decision, I accepted a full time job to relieve financial pressure and my identity from Her Sorority Journey. Within 3 months of making Her Sorority Journey my fun side project, instead of my source of purpose, our sales doubled compared to the prior quarter. Every month of 2022, Her Sorority Journey consistently outpaced 2021 that by November, I was able to go back to it full time. With my identity securely separated from my work, I couldn’t be more excited to be back fully devoted to my passion project!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My professional story is marked by critical evaluation of open doors. In college, I saw myself practicing immigration or international law. As I went through the steps of preparing for law school & becoming fluent in Spanish, I was integrally involved in my sorority. I was a well-networked, passionate leader at Arizona State University, holding every position from chapter president of Sigma Kappa to the sorority community’s vice president of internal affairs. After graduation, it was a natural transition for me to spend my gap year traveling full time for Sigma Kappa Sorority, visiting a new campus every week while applying for law schools. The experiences I shared with the collegiate members on campuses across the country deepened my passion for sustaining sorority. Instead of going into law school, I accepted a job working for a higher ed speaking agency where I wrote my first keynote program, gained exposure as a vendor to fraternity & sorority communities, and spoke to 1,500 women at 23 years old. I quickly realized that while I had found work that set my soul on fire, I was misaligned from the company I was working for.

It took time to leave the job where I discovered a new professional direction. The months that followed the decision to quit were filled with questioning if I made the right decision, fear of if my own venture would take off, and uncertainty of what I was even building. As I built out my own curriculum and connected with collegians on social media, I gained confidence that there was a need for an educational platform for sorority women to find support & guidance in any season of their sorority journey. The week I went to launch Her Sorority Journey, the country shut down to ensure safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Colleges sent their students home while classes continued online. Life could not continue on schedule – adjustments needed to be made in every sphere of life including sisterhood & friendship. As a brand new company, I decided to quickly adapt our content and launch our company to provide a source of guidance for sorority leaders trying to sustain sisterhood despite the separation.

Three years later, we have become a credible source of sorority programming on the topics of sisterhood, member engagement, professional development, recruitment, and leadership congruence. The past three years have presented countless challenges including adjusting from virtual to in-person services, balancing accessible resource creation like social media & podcasting, and scheduling in such a seasonal industry. I have been proud of the ways I have relieved pressure to prioritize my personal wellbeing and the primary needs of our target market instead of believing the lie that we need to do it all. From starting a summer internship program to include collegians in content development to creating flexibility in the podcast schedule, our content has become more relevant, authentic, and impactful.

I want the world to know that Her Sorority Journey’s story is not one of overnight success, but of consistent resilience. I have been able to build Her Sorority Journey not by doing things traditionally but by learning through each failure & success, letting people down, creating healthy boundaries, and taking the next best step to build a business that helps sorority members thrive and creates a work environment that I am proud to invite others into.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I moved from Scottsdale, AZ right before I started Her Sorority Journey and the city shut down from COVID-19 so my favorite spots in the city are places that brought refreshment during the pandemic and community once things started opening up again! I love getting an oat milk lavender latte from Nixon’s and walking Wash Park! In the summer, the park is full of life from the flower beds to the people playing volleyball. And a Nixon’s latte is hard to beat. For brunch, I would take my friend to Jelly U for some lavender blueberry pancakes! It’s one of the cutest restaurants in the city with so much character and energy. Another day, I would take my friend to Red Rocks for a concert or to just hike among the red rocks. I love how the drive up there makes you feel so far from the city and at peace in the mountains anytime of year. For dinner one night, I would take my friend to one of my favorite restaurants in LoHi. Either the rooftop at Linger, Acova, or My Neighbor Felix for a elderflower margarita. Another one of my favorite resturants for dinner a little out of the city is Sierra! You can’t go wrong with the artichoke appetizer, kale salad, or chicken tortilla soup in the fun environment and fun drinks. I would also take them to my church with me, Restoration Church, on a Sunday morning or the monthly Brook Happy Hour for young professionals!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Every one of my early podcast guests are lifelong sisters from various seasons of my sorority journey who have supported me endlessly. Some of my best friends from college, past advisors, fellow leadership consultants, and connections from early on in my higher-ed career have gone to great lengths to ensure that Her Sorority Journey is known & impactful in the sorority space. From sharing our content on social media to connecting me to other rockstar sorority professionals with aligned visions to actually booking me to speak on their campus, I am forever grateful for their encouragement & belief in Her Sorority Journey.

Website: www.hersororityjourney.com/

Instagram: @hersororityjourney

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/hersororityjourney/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hersororityjourney/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCSLV4KY85jaybuGJGbr7spg

Other: TikTok: @hersororityjourney Cassie Little Accounts: Instagram: @littlecass LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-little/

Image Credits
Zach Hammer (for green dress photos) Greek Yearbook (photo sitting at table)