Category: Women in Business

Wasserman Launches The Collective with $1 Mil for Women in Sports

Thayer Lavielle, Executive Vice President at The Collective. (Photo Credit: Thayer Lavielle, LinkedIn)

She can. She did. She will.

The powerful video encapsulating the new mission of “The Collective” speaks to women around the world. As Wasserman Media Group’s newest initiative to support the advancement of female athletes and entertainers, The Collective is an agency focused on change.

Wasserman unveiled the new initiative on July 13. The Collective is a new division of the company dedicated to women’s representation, and it formalizes the media mogul’s long-standing commitment to the cause.

“The Collective is being launched to raise the visibility of women in sports, entertainment, and culture,” reads the press release. The new division will deliver “unique strategy, insights, and ideas for talent, brands, and properties focused on empowering and speaking to women.”

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Walker’s Legacy: Partnering to Launch Women of Color in Tech

Walker’s Legacy Foundation, the charitable arm of Walker’s Legacy, works to promote and support women of color entrepreneurs. (Photo Credit: Walker’s Legacy Foundation)

In recent years, foundations, corporations, and individuals alike have paid significant attention to closing the gender gap in the tech industry. We have made progress — but not as much as some may think. Female representation in the tech industry is staggeringly low, and this is especially true for women of color. To combat these statistics, Walker’s Legacy, Comcast, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund are joining forces with the Women of Color in Tech event series.

The Women of Color in Tech tour is a new national event series that highlights multicultural women in technology. Sponsored by Walker’s Legacy, in partnership with Comcast and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, this speaker series highlights the accomplishments and career paths of multicultural female entrepreneurs. Through the program, women of color will find new opportunities, resources, and programs that can bolster entrepreneurship around the country.

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Time and Space to Create: Ways Funders Can Help Women Artists

Artist Kathy Hodge in her studio. (Image credit: Kathy Hodge)

Being a working artist is demanding. Most artists hold other jobs to support themselves, which limits their studio time.

“It’s a cycle. You don’t have the time to create the work, so you can’t create enough work to sell to support yourself financially, so you need to have the job, which takes up your time. It’s hard to get out of that loop,” says Rhode Island artist Kathy Hodge. Hodge is an award-winning artist with many exhibitions and shows to her name who also served as the Artist in Residence at multiple U.S. national parks. Because the gender gap is still prevalent in the art world, as in many sectors and professions, women artists like Hodge are in particular need of support.

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Female Film Force: Bumble’s Grants to Women Behind the Camera

Feminist dating site Bumble is making grants to women filmmakers with its Female Film Force competition. (Image Credit: Bumble)

Bumble—the self-proclaimed feminist dating, lifestyle and career app—recently announced the five winners of its 2019 “Female Film Force” competition.

The competition, now in its second year, provides grants to female filmmakers in France, Germany, Ireland and the UK. Female Film Force received over 1,300 pitches by teams of women filmmakers (writers, directors, or producers) and awarded £20,000 (about $25,000 USD) to each winner.

The initial candidates had submitted their applications in March, and were subsequently reduced to a short list, following which ten teams pitched a film industry panel, and then that group was winnowed to the five victors. In addition to the grant, the winners will receive support and guidance from industry experts; the completed films will be released in January 2020.

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With Support of Founding Sponsors, WE Takes On Nonprofit Structure

Jackie Mattox, president and founder of Women in Electronics (Photo Credit: WE)

In 2017, what was planned as a 45-minute lunch turned into an hours-long planning session as Jackie Mattox and Monica Highfill, later in collaboration with Amy Keller, laid the groundwork for what would become the First Annual Women in Electronics Leadership Conference.

Now, with the support of its founding sponsors, Women in Electronics (WE) is taking the next leap into the philanthropic field with its establishment as a nonprofit organization, dedicated to empowering women in the electronics industry.

“At Arrow, we see the incredible benefits of being inclusive,” said Alan Bird, president of the global supply chain at Arrow Electronics, one of WE’s founding sponsors. “We are proud to be helping Women in Electronics fulfill its mission to expand inclusion throughout the industry through awareness, networking and training.”

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Ten Companies Join UN Foundation to Improve Women’s Lives

UN Foundation
Katja Iversen, President and CEO of Women Deliver, speaks at the Women Deliver conference held in early June, 2019, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau look on. (Image credit: Women Deliver 2019)

Women comprise a large and growing percentage of the global workforce, yet they often work under unhealthy and difficult conditions, including harassment and violence, that are damaging to them, and to their families and communities. In textile, garment and shoe manufacturing, as well as flower farming and tea, coffee, and cocoa processing, women comprise 50 to 80 percent of the workforce. Many of these female workers are underpaid and suffer from pervasive gender discrimination.

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Benny Bonsu and GiveMeSport Team Up To Boost Women’s Sports Media

Benny Bonsu, award-winning sports journalist and advocate, who founded the Girls in Sports Foundation, will be Head of Women’s Sports for GiveMeSport. (Photo credit: Benny Bonsu, Twitter)

It’s another win for women in sports media!

On May 29, 2019, GiveMeSport announced their decision to appoint Benny Bonsu as the new Head of Women’s Sport, building the foundation for the company’s new media outlet dedicated to covering women in sports.

GiveMeSport (GMS), a division of Bragg Gaming, is an online sports media outlet that provides real-time news and interviews for sports fans, focusing on exclusive content like interviews with players and managers. GiveMeSport Women will be GMS’s latest foray into female-focused media management, dedicated to complete coverage of women in sports.

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Canada and Equality Fund Commit $300 Mil CAD to Women’s Rights

A new initiative that crosses public/private lines, The Equality Fund, has formed in Canada to address women’s rights in some of the world’s poorest countries. (Image Credit: Equality Fund)

The Canadian government recently pledged $300 CAD (about $225 million U.S.) toward improving women’s rights and economic security in the developing world. Maryam Monsef, who serves as Canada’s Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, made the announcement on June 2 ahead of the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver, where she is a speaker.

The Canadian government is partnering with the Equality Fund to administer the funds. The Equality Fund is a consortium of Canadian and international organizations that is funding efforts to improve outcomes for women and support gender equality globally.

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Vodafone’s June Sugiyama Unveils New Mission for Women and Girls

Vodafone Americas Foundation celebrates ten years of winners from its Wireless Innovation Project. (Photo Credit: Vodafone)

The empowerment of women is going to require more intentional efforts to close the gender gap across all sectors of society. In the technology industry, corporate philanthropy has the potential to play a significant role in driving solutions to gender inequality.

On May 8th, 2019, the Vodafone Americas Foundation announced its new commitment to empowering women and girls through technology, utilizing new corporate philosophy, employee support, and a partnership with MIT Solve.

This is not Vodafone’s first foray into philanthropy: for the past ten years, the Foundation has committed itself to transforming communities around the world with technology solutions.

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More Than Survivors: Developing the Next Generation of Tech Workers

The Foundation for Gender Equality is launching a new initiative aimed at helping female survivors of gender-based violence learn tech skills. (Image Credit: The Foundation for Gender Equality)

The Foundation for Gender Equality aims to foster opportunities and remove obstacles for women and girls facing inequity, and its latest initiative targets female survivors of violence and sexual abuse with a program that teaches them tech skills. The goal is to enable victims to go beyond simple survival to earning a living wage. The Westport, Connecticut-based non-profit, which was founded in 2016 by Richard and Jill Fitzburgh and Theresa Boylan, has partnered with Tech Up for Women to develop the “Give Back” program to achieve this goal.

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