A rideshare company that focuses exclusively on women, HERide, is launching in Atlanta. The company founder, Jillian Anderson, is a former Lyft driver of four years. Learn more about the company in this news piece.
Women-Only Rideshare Company
Category: Entrepreneurial Journey
The Best Small Business Stories 2021
While small businesses definitely took a hit over the past 20 months of a pandemic-impacted world, being small did provide a few advantages. When it comes to determination and the ability to pivot quickly, small businesses often leave large corporations in the dust. This recent piece from Forbes is a compilation of the best small business stories of the year. This piece includes a look at “How Andrea Jung, Lisa Mensah And Women Over 50 Are Safeguarding Small Businesses” as well as a look at how the pandemic actually spawned over 4 million new businesses in “Covid’s Entrepreneur Explosion”.
Jacksonville Businesswoman Highlighted In Florida Times-Union
Stephanie Jones, founder of Women at Werk, an organization committed to providing women with empowerment and mentorship opportunities, was recently highlighted in a Florida Times-Union article. We were thrilled to hear about the positive experience that she has had in the Women’s Entrepreneurship certificate program (she is over half way through the program now) and look forward to seeing more of our students and program grads featured in regional and national news for their accomplishments! So glad to be a small part of Stephanie’s journey!
Discussion with Sustainable Fashion Founder Anne Marie Johnson
This October 24, 2021 Fortune article shares an interview with Anne Marie Johnson about the founding of her sustainable fashion company, Bitter Grace, and the company’s first few years in business. During the discussion, she shares that the goal of her company is to present a holistic approach to help women align their external selves with their inner selves in order to be as authentic as possible. Johnson also discusses strategic decisions that enabled the company to grow throughout the pandemic and where she sees the company heading in the next five years.
Offering Free Childcare Slashes Turnover At Small Business
In this article from Fast Company, Starr Edwards, founder of Bitchin’ Sauce, shares how offering free childcare augmented retention and hiring, especially during the worst of the pandemic. Edwards shares, ” Everyone touts work-life balance—and this is one of the most essential forms of that. Can you care for your family and work at the same time? If people can find ways of doing that, whether it’s subsidizing outside care or doing it internally like we have, I think ultimately it’s in the company’s best interest.”
Accelerating Your Success As A Female Founder
This recent piece in Entrepreneur entitled “How to Accelerate Your Success as a Female Founder” shares that there are basically two steps to starting a business: doing something to get the ball rolling, and then saying, “I’m doing this.” The article states that many female entrepreneurs struggle with the second part and provides ideas on how to get unstuck and feel more comfortable with self promotion.
Interview with Yael Vizel on the $200MM sale of Zeekit
Yael Vizel is the founder of the startup, Zeekit, which uses artificial intelligence to enable customers to try on clothes via a virtual platform. Vizel is also one of the only Israeli women to seal a nine-figure exit deal with an acquirer (in this case Walmart). This article shares a fascinating interview with her as she discusses the deal and also the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur.
Interview with Michelle Tunno Buelow of Bella Tunno
This interview in Medium is one of a series entitled “Second Chapters: How I Reinvented Myself in the Second Chapter of My Life.” In this piece, Michelle Tunno Buelow shares stories from her journey to found and launch Bella Tunno. Bella Tunno is a baby accessory brand on a mission to end childhood hunger. For every product sold, Bella Tunno donates at least one meal to a hungry child. To date, Bella Tunno has donated more than 5.5 million meals.
In the interview, Michelle Tunno Buelow shares the importance of finding and embracing your purpose in life. She also outlines some key attributes that have enabled her to succeed as an entrepreneurs: her resilience, ability to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and overall scrappiness. She discusses her battles with imposter syndrome as well as the importance of being able to “fail forward”. Wonderful lessons and insights from an inspirational entrepreneur!
Quantity Breeds Quality
This article from Inc. highlights the concept of the 70-20-10 rule. The meaning behind this rule is that with whatever you are working to produce – be it something artistic or a product or a service – 70 percent of your attempts will be mediocre, 20 percent will be poor, and 10 percent will be amazing. The key takeaway is that the only way to get better at something isn’t to sit and stare at the blank piece of paper waiting for the perfect idea or to try to research every last thing before starting, but rather to roll up your sleeves and do it! The more you try, the more results you will end up having in that 10% amazing bucket!
Podcasts For Women in Business
If you have found yourself doing more walking/jogging during COVID – either because your gym is closed or you are just looking to get out of your home for a bit – perhaps you have started listening to more podcasts.
Here is a list of the top 35 “women in business” podcasts. Each podcast listed includes information on how often new episodes are dropped, the number of followers/subscribers and what year the podcast originated. Definitely worth scrolling through if you are looking for something new to put on your listening list!