Fixing the Broken Rung: A Community-Embedded Advancement System

The largest barrier to women's advancement begins at the first promotion, where advancement gaps between women and men first appear and compound over time - the "broken rung." Qualified women are often evaluated on different criteria, limiting sponsorship and advancement. NextUp re-architects this stage through a community of trained volunteer leaders, enabled by a human-centered technology platform that activates invested sponsorship, generates real-time insight, and measures progress through the Lift Index - turning early potential into scalable promotion outcomes.