Hurley Winkler
Chelsea DuDeVoire is a working woman’s strongest ally. The founder and CEO of Babes Who Hustle, a website devoted to connecting working women around the globe, never knew that her desire to watch other women succeed would lead to her own success.
DuDeVoire started the website after graduating from Florida State University and beginning her professional life in Jacksonville. “I think I hit rock bottom creatively, and wanted to start something,” says DuDeVoire. “I started it for fun—created the blog for myself and my friends, and it quickly grew out of my circles and into something much bigger.”
Her mission to bridge the gap between working women manifests itself “across all industries, professions, cultures, backgrounds, and locations.” In part, DuDeVoire’s curiosity toward working women stemmed from social media. “Everyone on social media seems to have the coolest job ever. They have Instagrams of their cool office space, or their cool happy hour with their coworkers, or their cool work perks or benefits.” She notes a generational distinction in terms of the ways women work today. “I feel like our parents didn’t have any of that when they were working.”
Babes Who Hustle features a wide variety of women with different types of hustle, ranging from artists to business executives. DuDeVoire asks her subjects about their interests and work, and features two babes each week. Weighing in at 40,000 online followers and counting, it’s hard to believe that the website is less than a year old.
She notes that Jacksonville plays “a huge role” in the operation of Babes Who Hustle. “My ability to even start the blog was based on the fact that I lived here,” says DuDeVoire. “It’s not a big, expensive city where I’m counting coins, trying not to be broke while not having a social life. That wasn’t my situation here—it’s more livable, so I had a little more free time and leeway to do things on the side.”
With over 100 featured babes on the site and dozens of other articles, Chelsea DuDeVoire is looking toward bigger goals with her start-up. “I’m realizing the potential of so many different avenues that we could take,” she says. “I’m trying to figure out what I want to tackle, and what I don’t, in addition to what I’m capable of at the moment, and what I shouldn’t get too carried away with.”
Babes Who Hustle will soon have merchandise available for purchase internationally—they’ve sold out of their first local run of signature apparel, mugs, and stickers. DuDeVoire has also hired her first employee, who assists her with social media, blog edits, merchandise sales, and more. She’d like to have a team of her own someday. “It’s hard, though,” she says, “because I’m a control freak.”
Until DuDeVoire opens a space of her own, you can find her conducting business in her car on the way to work, making phone calls in the parking lot during her lunch hour, and plugging away with her assistant over an iced Americano at Bold Bean San Marco after-hours. Still, she dreams of a brick-and-mortar space of her own. “I’d love to have a co-working space in Jacksonville geared toward women.”
The young entrepreneur seems surprised by her growing success. “It doesn’t feel real.”
Visit Babes Who Hustle online: babeswhohustle.com
Follow along on Instagram: @babeswhohustle
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