At the posting of this blog post, we are officially one week into Women’s History Month. Let’s backtrack: What is Women’s History Month? In March every year, Women’s History Month honors the contributions and achievements of women throughout history and encourages women to continue breaking barriers. It was declared by Congress in 1987 and has taken place every March since then (National Women’s History Alliance). The theme for March 2025 is “Moving Forward Together! Women Education & Inspiring Generations” – which is exactly what Market Street Talent has striven to do since its inception in 2008.
Market Street Talent is taking this Women’s History Month to recognize and reflect on where we started, celebrate where we are now, and look ahead at what is to come next.
WHERE WE STARTED
Market Street Talent (MST) is a woman-founded, women-led IT recruiting firm based in Portsmouth, NH, specializing in the information technology and digital marketing verticals. We started as a one-person technical staffing firm in 2008, consisting solely of our president, Jennifer Gray. 2008, as many may remember, was not considered the best time to start a company. It was known as the Great Recession and the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression. It would take the right guidance and the right vision to be successful; as Jennifer likes to say, we had to either fly or fall. We flew, building longstanding partnerships with local companies along the Greater Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine seacoast. And we never looked back.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
Today, Market Street Talent has grown in both headcount and impact. We’ve expanded our talent network and recruiting capabilities to a national level, added digital marketing as one of our specialties alongside IT, and continue to service a diverse group of clients whom we are proud to call friends. After going through another economic ripple in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have also switched to a remote-first culture, which has proven to be incredibly successful for our recruiting and sales teams alike. We meet monthly in our Portsmouth office simply because we like each other. Lastly, we are proud to be an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company, which means our employees are more than just team members—we're owners. At MST, this structure fuels our commitment to excellence, innovation, and delivering top-tier service to both clients and candidates.
One thing that hasn’t changed over time is our passion and commitment to encouraging and advancing women in technology. For the past 14 years, we have hosted annual Women in Technology (WIT) events, where we hold discussions and networking opportunities for professional and aspiring professional women in the technical space. Ironically, our most recent WIT event this past Fall centered around celebrating generations of women in technology—a very fitting topic considering this year’s Women’s History Month theme. Learn more about that event, including a recording of the panelist discussion, here.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR MST
Market Street Talent is proud to be a woman-founded and woman-led enterprise (certified as both a Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) and by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Our mission is to connect exceptional talent with the right companies, creating meaningful partnerships that drive success for our clients and candidates alike. Above all, our promise is to remain an agile staffing firm that prioritizes quality over quantity. Looking ahead, we will continue to grow our team and capabilities to ensure we can always be the best partner, including staying abreast of the latest technologies and leveraging AI/machine learning in our services.
We remain committed to our goal of making sure no woman in technology gets left behind, and we encourage others to recognize the importance of including women in all levels of a company’s organizational structure. We truly believe that we are #bettertogether. The sky is the limit!
Happy Women’s History Month!
