International Women’s Day Emcee in New York: “Pay It Forward” Pricing

International Women’s Day is supposed to be empowering.

It’s meant to celebrate women’s achievements, value their expertise, and move the needle on gender equality in a tangible way - including financially. Yet, every year, I see the same pattern repeat itself, especially around speaking, hosting and campaign work.

As a professional International Women’s Day emcee in New York, my Instagram DMs are full of young women asking how to price themselves when a corporate approaches them for a panel, keynote or campaign. They’re excited, they want to show up fully and they’re trying to be fair in what they charge. Then, a few days later, many of them come back to me with the same deflating update: “Never mind, they said they had no budget.”

Crazy, really.

The problem: “We’d love you… but we have no budget”

There is a deeply ingrained expectation that women will give their time, energy, and intellectual property away for free in the name of “visibility”. It shows up as:

- Panels asking women leaders to share their stories pro bono

- Campaigns expecting free content from women creators

- Corporates wanting polished, professional hosting without factoring it into their event budget

If International Women’s Day is about anything, it has to include paying women fairly for their work.

Why I don’t work for free for International Women’s Day

As an emcee, host, auctioneer and professional moderator, I’ve made a clear decision in my business: I do not work for free for International Women’s Day.

That’s not because I don’t care. It’s precisely because I do.

If we say yes to unpaid work, we reinforce the very dynamic we claim to be fighting - that women’s labour is optional. My role as an International Women’s Day speaker in New York is not a decorative extra; it’s fundamental to how an audience experiences the content, the energy, and the message.

So I set and hold my rates for corporates and brands around IWD, in exactly the same way I do throughout the year. And I encourage other women to do the same.

A different model: “Pay It Forward Pricing” for women’s nonprofits

However, there is a nuance here that matters. While I don’t work for free for corporates around International Women’s Day, I care deeply about making my work accessible to women’s nonprofits and mission-driven organisations.

So I built a philanthropic arm into my business, and I call it “Pay It Forward” pricing.

Here’s how it works:

- When a corporate client hires me at my full, desired rate, it unlocks my capacity to gift my time to a women’s nonprofit later in the year.

- I explain to the client that, by booking me at my standard rate, they’re not just investing in a polished, effective event experience for their team. They’re effectively underwriting my ability to support grassroots or underfunded organisations pro bono.

- It’s my own “Pay It Forward” structure: their investment in my work flows directly into support for women-focused nonprofits that could never match corporate budgets.

Each year, I commit to a small number of women’s nonprofits that I support entirely pro bono as an emcee, auctioneer or panel moderator. Truly, I wouldn’t let them pay me even if they offered - because that’s my intentional give-back, built into my business model from the start.

Empowerment has to include money

We talk a lot about empowerment, confidence, and “having a voice” during International Women’s Day. But none of that means much if women are consistently expected to:

- Work for free

- Discount themselves into exhaustion

- Just be grateful for the invitation

Empowerment has to include financial empowerment. Paying women speakers, moderators, and hosts fairly is not a bonus; it’s the baseline.

Getting creative with how you price and pitch

One of the most liberating parts of running a creative, service-based business is that you can design structures that align with your values.

For me, that looks like holding my full professional rate for corporates AND building a clear, intentional" “Pay It Forward” model that supports a set number of women’s nonprofits each year at no cost to them

Maybe your version looks different. Perhaps you:

• Offer a “social impact” slot each quarter at a discounted rate

• Donate a percentage of all March speaking fees to a women’s charity

• Create your own version of pay-it-forward pricing, where certain bookings unlock pro bono hours

The point isn’t that everyone should copy my exact structure. It’s that you’re allowed to be imaginative and principled with how you design your pricing and your give-back.

An invitation to other women in business

If you’re a woman building a speaking, hosting, coaching, or creative business, I’d love you to consider two questions:

1. Where are you currently working for free - or far below your worth - because you feel you “should”?

2. What might a more intentional, creative model look like for you, one that honours both your financial needs and your desire to give back?

International Women’s Day doesn’t need more unpaid panels, underfunded speakers or exhausted women. It needs women whose time is respected, whose expertise is valued, and whose businesses are strong enough to give back on their own terms.

Sometimes, the most radical thing you can do to support women is simple: pay them properly.