Kirsten Barker – Page 24 – More from the Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship at Cornell

SBA Launches Largest Expansion of Women’s Business Centers in 30 Years

According to this recent post, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced grant funding along with the launch of 20 new Women’s Business Centers (WBC) that will be opened across America. These new centers will serve rural, urban, and underserved communities. The move to open 20 new WBCs is the largest single expansion of the program since it began 30 years ago. Check out the post to read more about where the centers will be located as well as to access other resources from the SBA.

Thinking Back and Looking Forward

Caroline Kim Oh

Caroline Kim Oh is an executive and leadership coach and has also been a course facilitator in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate program. She just sent out a “year end review” newsletter that contained a link to a expert interview she had with WID (Women In Development). While the article is usually only available to members of WID, it was reprinted with permission here. While reflection is a common practice as we near the end of a calendar year, Caroline’s interview shares examples of important questions that we should all be asking ourselves at any time of the year to help reflect, reset, and refocus.

Link to Webinar – Codeswitching: Navigating the Dynamics of Workplace Norms

In this webinar from December 15, 2020, Professor Deborah Streeter had a conversation with Professor Courtney McCluney about the concept of codeswitching and how it affects the everyday realities of marginalized, devalued, and underrepresented employees at work. To view the recording, click this link

Resources mentioned during the discussion included:

Book: “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo
Book: “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson
Book: “The Souls of White Folk” by W.E.B. Du Bois (link to NPR piece discussing book with Ibram X. Kendi)
Essay: “The Souls of White Folk” by W.E.B. Du Bois (link)
Publication: From Harvard Business Review – “Advancing Black Leaders” – (available for purchase via this link)
More information about Professor McCluney and her research can be found on her website or you can follow her on Twitter at @CL_McCluney

Encouragement From An App!

desk with laptop and lighted sign that says "You Got This"

Sonja Sulcer is a ’96 Cornell University graduate who is an entrepreneur who owns a coworking space in the US Virgin Islands.

She recently developed a free app called “Encourage Her” which showcases quotes authored by Women Entrepreneurs of Color. It is optimized for an iPhone, but it can also be accessed on an iPad.

To read more about the app, check out this blog post.

Podcast Featuring Melanie Hart

“If your life is your currency, decide how you want to invest and spend it.”
Melanie Hart

In the W.O.C @ Work podcast, Rai King and Dr. Blanca Ruiz explore what it means to be a woman of color in the workplace by elevating the voices of female-identifying leaders of color in order to shed light on their common experiences as they push for transformational change in organizations across the country.

In this episode, Rai and Blanca talk with Melanie Hart ( Chief Diversity Officer and Sr. VP for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice at The New School in New York City) about traversing white-dominant education spaces as a confident woman of color. Melanie also reveals what it looks like to take off that cape and rest to help heal from a traumatic event. This podcast is a must listen for all women.

Link to Webinar – Black Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Adversity and Staying Focused

Screenshot from Black Entrepreneurship panel on Zoom.

Click this link to access “Black Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Adversity and Staying Focused”. In this webinar, a panel of Black entrepreneurs in various stages of their startup journeys will share their experiences, the adversities they’ve overcome, and the resources and organizations that have provided them the support, connections, and opportunities they needed.

The panel was moderated by Marquita M. Qualls, Ph.D., Executive Director of Entrepreneurship Programs, The National GEM Consortium and the panelists included Shila Nieves Burney (Founder and Managing Partner, Zane Venture Fund), Hakim Weatherspoon (Associate Professor, Cornell University; and Co-founder and CEO, Exotanium) and Titus Calloway (Founder and CEO, BlackLaunch LLC and ReLo)

This webinar was coordinated by Black Entrepreneurs in Training (BET). BET is a Cornell program dedicated to inspiring, informing, and initiating the next wave of black student entrepreneurs and is supported by the Center for Regional Economic Advancement at Cornell University (CREA).

Bank of America Expands Funding for the Institute

We are so pleased to share this press release with everyone! Bank of America has expanded their funding of the Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell. This additional funding will enable us to add 30,000 seats – bringing the total enrollment of small business owners to 50,000. We will also be translating the program into Spanish and hiring Spanish-speaking facilitators to provide more access to Latinx entrepreneurs.

As part of the program expansion, Bank of America will partner with several nonprofits, including the National Urban League, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and Prospera, to create specific enrollment opportunities for their members. The Institute expects to begin enrolling these students in January 2021.

Making Small Talk In a Virtual World

Woman on a zoom videoconference on her laptop

In the midst of a pandemic, it seems almost comical to greet others on the Zoom videoconference or in the grocery store with a “How are you?” yet that seems to be the default for most people. This March 2019 CNBC post shared results from a study out of Harvard that analyzed small talk and determined that those people who asked more meaningful questions were perceived as being more likeable. The piece shares 7 tactics for improving your small talk – which is even more important now when our in-person interactions are more limited!

Brené Brown Interviews Elizabeth Lesser

Book jacket for "Cassandra Speaks" by Elizabeth Lesser

Professor and best-selling author Brené Brown recently shared an Unlocking Us podcast where she interviewed author Elizabeth Lesser on her recent book entitled Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes.

Cassandra Speaks looks at the cultural stories we all know and often blindly believe – from famous myths to religious parables to fairy tales. Each story shares specific lessons about gender roles, power, leadership and other values. Yet all of these stories throughout history have mostly been written by men. Despite our evolution as a society, these stories and the way we carry the lessons within us endure. This book – as well as the podcast – is about what happens when women become the storytellers and explain what it is to be human from their perspective.

COVID and Working Women

laptop on table with coffee mug and children's toys

Growing research has found that COVID is having a disproportionate impact on women. Given the demands of modified work environments, hybrid/virtual schooling models, health concerns for self and family, as well as socioeconomic impact on employment and small businesses, it is not surprising that there would be an impact – though the numbers that are being shared are daunting.

According to this NPR piece, in September 2020, 865,000 women left the U.S. workforce – which was four times more than the number of men who left. The piece goes on to share that “the pandemic’s female exodus has decidedly turned back the clock by at least a generation, with the share of women in the workforce down to levels not seen since 1988.”

Another impact that the pandemic is having is inequality in workplace promotions. This recent piece in Forbes highlighted an August study which found that “men have been promoted three times more than women during the pandemic.”

Clearly, the pandemic is teaching us that “traditional” 9-to-5 structures don’t serve all workers equally and that there is a need for a more reliable home support structure if we are ever going to fully realize the advantage of having all willing workers active in our labor market.