Amanda Smith wasn’t trying to build a business when she launched a Facebook group in 2017.
The elementary school music teacher simply wanted to meet other ambitious women outside her workplace. Looking for friends who were building careers and businesses of their own, Smith invested $600 of her own money to create Dallas Girl Gang, a Facebook community with no grand business plan.
Nine years later, Smith is full-time with what was once her side project and grown the business into a six-figure company with more than 50,000 members. She also co-founded Playbook Marketing Co., a small business marketing and consulting firm.
Today, Dallas Girl Gang functions as more than a social community. Employers use the platform to recruit talent through paid job postings targeted specifically at women in DFW. The organization’s most recent hiring thread generated more than 11,000 views and 200 comments in just four days.
Members also use the network to find new clients, secure business collaborations, book content creator opportunities, and build professional relationships that often extend well beyond an initial introduction.
Smith attributes much of the organization’s success to creating opportunities for collaboration rather than competition. “Women are incredibly generous when they feel safe,” Smith said. “The moment you create a space where there’s no competition or comparison baked in, women show up for each other in ways that will genuinely surprise you. I’ve learned that most women are craving permission to take up space, to charge what they’re worth, to call themselves a business owner out loud. DGG exists to be that permission slip.”
As the organization expanded, Smith looked beyond Facebook. In 2018, she launched the Boss Vision Conference after identifying a gap in the market for events designed specifically for female founders and entrepreneurs in North Texas. The conference has since become another pillar of the business, with plans to expand the event further in 2026.
Smith points to members like Tara, who attended Boss Vision Conference, reworked her business strategy, left her corporate career, and is now on track to generate six figures in annual revenue. “That’s the whole point,” Smith said. “Someone sitting in the audience and realizing that they can build something of their own.”
Dallas Girl Gang generates revenue through memberships, events, brand partnerships, and employer job postings. Smith says every dollar is reinvested into the company’s infrastructure, supporting a five-person team dedicated to marketing, events, operations, and community management.
“DGG has been creating on-ramps to entrepreneurship for women in Dallas for nine years,” Smith said. “We’ve put women in rooms they didn’t have access to, connected them with mentors, and normalized the idea that a woman from DFW can build something significant right here. Dallas has a serious entrepreneurial ecosystem and women deserve to be centered in that conversation, not sitting on the sidelines of it.”
Reflecting on her own early career, Smith encourages young professionals to stop waiting for opportunities to appear and instead create them. “Stop waiting for a seat at the table,” she said. “Build your own.”
That philosophy continues to shape Dallas Girl Gang today. Members regularly turn to the platform to hire employees, generate referrals, secure freelance work, and launch new business partnerships. Smith says it’s common for someone to post in the group and receive leads, interviews, or client opportunities within days.
The organization has also become a landing place for women new to the region. Smith recalls one member who discovered Dallas Girl Gang through TikTok shortly after relocating to Dallas and attended one of the group’s events within hours. The refrain she hears most often, Smith said, is simple: “I found my people.”
For Smith, those moments are evidence that Dallas Girl Gang has become more than a Facebook community. It has evolved into an entrepreneurial platform that helps women build businesses, careers, and professional networks without leaving North Texas.
“Women in Dallas are building incredible things, and they deserve infrastructure and real support behind them,” Smith said. “That’s what we’re here to do—and we’re just getting started.”
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