Women in Business Archives

Giustra Foundation Powers Women Entrepreneurs with New Fund

VANCOUVER, British Columbia– (10/29/20) Today, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), in partnership with The Giustra Foundation, announced the creation of a bursary fund, easing access to game-changing mentorship and education for women entrepreneurs across the country who need it most.

The new fund, which will launch with $150,000 over three years through a major donation from The Giustra Foundation, will provide much-needed tuition bursaries for women entrepreneurs to take FWE’s programs. With the goal of ensuring that impactful programming reaches those women entrepreneurs who need it most, the bursary will support women who – due to financial difficulties or belonging to a marginalized group – would otherwise not be able to access FWE’s programs.

She Matters: NYU Rewards Female Founders with New Fellowship

New fellowship further strengthens the Institute’s reputation as a launchpad for female founders, providing training, mentorship, and up to $1.5 million in grants

To further its already strong commitment to supporting gender equality among budding entrepreneurs, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute today announced a new Female Founders Fellowship. Open to all NYU student entrepreneurs, the Fellowship provides training, mentorship, networking opportunities, and grants of up to $50,000 each.

The Female Founders Fellowship was officially announced by Stacie Bloom, NYU’s Vice Provost for Research, at the NYU Entrepreneurs Festival, an annual event showcasing entrepreneurship on campus.

Tatler Launches Front & Female to Embolden and Free Women

“Despite the enormous progress that has been made by the feminist movement, there are still huge gaps that we’ve yet to bridge, such as representation in politics and STEM, language and data bias, lack of female mentors and sponsors, the gender pay gap and more,” says Tamara Lamunière, founder of Front & Female. “All of these issues create vicious cycles we need to break. One of the ways that can be addressed is to provide women resources and support structures that can empower and embolden them to aspire for and achieve more. That’s where Front & Female comes in.”

Inspired by women who are the first and at the front of their fields, Front & Female is a resource for women to be their best selves, at home, in business, or in society, so they can be catalysts for the empowerment of others. It aims to bring like-minded women together to exchange ideas at roundtable discussions, with the goal of catalysing collaboration.

Kris Kepler: On Radical Hospitality and Unexpected Leaders

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features Kris Kepler, CEO of mobile hygiene pioneer LavaMaeX, which brings hygiene and other critical services to the unhoused.

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

I left my corporate job over three years ago to work in the non-profit sector. I craved a role in social impact, I wanted to give more, and I’ve never looked back.

Kris Kepler, CEO of mobile hygiene pioneer LavaMaeX. (Image credit: LavaMaeX)

When I started, I wish I would have known the power of embracing failure, saying “I tried my best,” being okay with it and not defeated by it. I have learned to look at those moments with curiosity and optimism and know that failure brings great opportunity for change both personally and professionally.

Creating STEM Environments for Women to Thrive: Olu Ibrahim

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features Olu Ibrahim, Founder & CEO of Kids in Tech.

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

As fundraising becomes more professionalized, as a collective, our industry [the non-profit industry] is neglecting the human element of the work we do. Rarely do we have the opportunity to attend professional development workshops that invite us to step back, explore and embrace our humanity. We must center, explore and embrace our humanity in fundraising. Fundraising for social change is about a lot of heart work. It is the heart work that will change our world for all. I too love data and the information it provides but let us keep that in mind.

It’s so easy for women to get in that space where you’re just everything to everyone all the time. We should be telling women and girls to take care of yourself, because that way, you’ll have more to give to those around you.

(Liveblog) MIT Solve Welcomes 14 Grantees for Women and Girls

On Tuesday, September 29^th, MIT SOLVE finalists and supporters alike gathered to celebrate the finalists in this year’s SOLVE grant competition. A wide range of speakers and presenters contributed to a fantastic two-hour event, with participants joining from across the globe.

MIT Solve recently held their 2020 Challenge Finalist event, where winners were announced. (Image Credit: MIT Solve)

What is MIT Solve?

MIT Solve is an initiative from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that aims to solve the world’s challenges through the lens of healthy competition. Teams of innovators apply to become “Solver teams,” who work together to tackle world problems across the current year’s categories. A panel of judges with expertise in the technology industry select finalists from the teams who submit their pitches online. Then, during the annual MIT Solve Challenge Finals, the finalists present their pitches for a community vote, and the winning teams are revealed at the end of the night.

WMM Summit: Vicki Saunders on Women’s Radical Generosity

During the Women Moving Millions virtual summit on Friday, September 11, SheEO Founder Vicki Saunders spoke with Resilience Educator and Entrepreneur Komal Minhas about the ways women’s radical generosity is changing the world.

Komal Minhas and Vicki Saunders discussed radical generosity and the importance of identity during the WMM Virtual Summit. (**Image Credit:** Women Moving Millions)

The session focused on the importance of “transforming the investment model”: In other words, updating the ways we invest in businesses and campaigns in order to support more women entrepreneurs. Instead of trying to squeeze female entrepreneurs into a traditional investment model that doesn’t fit, SheEO and Saunders support female entrepreneurship by creating an entirely new field of play that focuses on financing, supporting, and celebrating women business owners.

Ensuring “Post-Traumatic Growth” for Women in The COVID Economy

Editor’s Note: The following dialogue is between Dr. Diandra J. Prescod, associate professor and program coordinator of counselor education at the University of Connecticut, and Erin Milroy, president of Kuder, Inc., an award-winning career guidance solutions provider. Their exchange offers perspectives on how to prepare and support American workers, particularly women, as we deal with COVID and its economic and social impacts.

With millions displaced due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, America’s workforce, and American families from all walks of life, have been hit hard.

*Dr. Diandra J. Prescod, associate professor and program coordinator of counselor education at the University of Connecticut*. (Image Credit: Diandra J. Prescod)

Many women and men have been laid off or furloughed by their employers and have been forced to seek employment elsewhere, re-entering what is one of the most difficult climates since the Great Depression. Other households continue to struggle to find daily work-life balance, a dilemma made worse for those who, amidst social distancing measures to avoid infection, have been faced with unprecedented challenges, such as homeschooling their children during their workdays.

Cognizant U.S. Fdn Joins Reboot Representation with $1.5 Mil Grant

In the United States, Black, Latinx, and Native American women make up 18% of our population. However, this same group represents only 4% of computing degree recipients. And in an industry that relies so heavily on the holding of degrees and training certificates, these statistics create a major hiring gap for women of color in tech-focused careers.

**Image Credit:** Cognizant U.S. Foundation

The Reboot Representation Tech Coalition, a partnership of 17 companies working together to improve representation in the technology industry, aims to increase the number of Black, Latinx, and Native American women employed in tech. This September, Cognizant U.S. Foundation became the next member of the Coalition with a $1.5 million grant–the first step in the Foundation’s announced $5 million commitment to communities of color.

To Value Girls Properly, Plug the Leaky Pipeline in STEM

Editor’s Note: The following essay is by Julie Perry, VP of Marketing, at Boardable.

When I was a girl, I used to watch characters like Murphy Brown and Angela Bower from “Who’s The Boss?” on television. I remember seeing these incredible women workplace role models and how tough and tenacious they were. They got the job done, often in fields primarily dominated by men.

Girls in STEM — Julie Perry, Vice President of Marketing at Boardable.com, discusses strategies to improve female participation in STEM. (Image Credit: Boardable)

But while they made for great businesswomen role models, I did not have those same role models in fields related to science, technology, engineering or math. I was fortunate to have a father who encouraged me to do anything I dreamed of, but many young girls today don’t have the same privilege. Even as television yielded to the internet, giving us new ways to connect, girls still struggle to find support and understand the value they bring to the world, especially in STEM.

Category: Women in Business