Isabel Báez
Isabel Báez, Founder of Alavanz
💫 ABOUT: I’m Isabel Báez. I helped build a company—until a hostile takeover wiped out everything I’d worked for. I was a new mom, single mom, in a country that wasn’t mine. No job. No safety net. I had to ask for social aid—and queue up for food just to get through the week. My work with Mailchimp and YETI Coolers back when they were just getting started? Quietly overlooked. The degrees I’d earned before they became LinkedIn trends? Barely noticed. My two decades of remote, cross-functional work Somehow invisible. All they saw was a tired, broke, single mom willing to take the lowest-level job just to pay the bills and feed her kid. So I did. I took the jobs. I studied during naptime. Cooked with a toddler on my hip. Swallowed the imposter syndrome and smiled through patronizing feedback. I rebuilt piece by piece, no shortcuts, no spotlight. That’s why I founded Alavanz: to create the platform I wish I’d had. Because no woman should have to burn out just to survive and clarity should never be a privilege.
💪 MOTIVATION: I built Alavanz because I’ve lived the problem myself navigating motherhood, entrepreneurship, and constant digital noise with too many tabs open and not enough clarity. As a CX architect with 25+ years of experience, I saw how much time and energy women were wasting every week just trying to find what they needed: the right tools, services, communities, or clients. Most platforms weren’t built with us in mind. I didn’t want to create yet another tool. I wanted to build a space that actually made sense for women like me; solopreneurs juggling work, life, and ambition where everything comes together, and the noise finally calms down. That’s what Alavanz is about: reclaiming time, reducing mental load, and helping women grow without burnout.
🎁 GIVE: We’re inviting select members of The Fourth Effect to join our Slack HQ, a quiet, invitation-only space where we share early developments and shape the Alavanz platform together. Alavanz itself will also be invitation-only at launch, designed to bring clarity, not noise, to the way women grow, work, and connect.
🙏 GET: We’re looking for a handful of aligned women to help us test, refine, and amplify Alavanz before we launch.
🎉 FUN FACT: I have pet-hens, a very opinionated cat, and a mild obsession with strategy board games. My kids say I’m a boomer, especially every time I try to record a TikTok.
📣 NEWS: We were recently interviewed at South Summit for tackling the root cause of burnout—not just the symptoms—by building Alavanz: a smarter, quieter way to grow.
Here are a few things that reflect the heart of what we’re building:
Carla’s Story – our daily LinkedIn series based on 100+ interviews with female founders, capturing the real, often messy beauty of building while carrying it all.
An invitation to join our waitlist – for early access to Alavanz, our invitation-only platform designed to help women grow with more clarity and less chaos.
A call to spread the word – especially to those who believe the future of business should work with women, not against them.
And finally, we’re exploring partnership opportunities with female-led communities ready to offer their members more engagement, visibility, and revenue—without the overwhelm.
🌈 DREAM INTRO: I’d love an introduction to Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code and Marshall Plan for Moms. Her work has been pivotal in spotlighting the invisible labor women carry, especially mothers, and pushing for real, systemic change.
Honestly? Meeting her would make my legs a little shaky—in the best way.
🥰 What she loves about The Fourth Effect? What I love about The Fourth Effect is that it brings together women who talk business—with clarity, ambition, and zero fluff. It’s a space where the conversations are sharp, the connections are real, and collaboration actually leads to traction.
Being part of this network means having access to the kind of energy and insight that moves things forward.