Entrepreneurial Journey – Page 7 – More from the Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship at Cornell

Pandemic Results in More Women Launching Businesses

black business woman at laptop writing a note

According to this article from Time, in December 2020, America lost over 140,000 jobs – and all those jobs belonged to women. It’s no surprise, that the Washington Post just reported that this has likely been partially responsible for the “pandemic-fueled rise in female entrepreneurship”. This Post piece highlights stories of women who either saw changes in the economic landscape that encouraged them to launch their ventures or were forced to pivot and turn to entrepreneurship because of job losses and stay-at-home orders.

Link to Webinar – Starting a PPE Company During A Pandemic: Lessons Learned

In Spring of 2020, Dr. Gabrielle Page-Wilson, Dr. Samira Brown and business executive Alexandra Stanton, launched Little Lives PPE, a Black and woman-led company changing the personal protective equipment (PPE) landscape for American families and communities.

In this webinar, Dr. Page-Wilson and Ms. Stanton discuss the challenges of launching a PPE company during the COVID pandemic and how the business and product lessons they learned can apply to any aspiring entrepreneur who is thinking about launching, managing, or scaling a business during this unprecedented time.

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.

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).

Culture, Honesty and Three Tips for The Best Pitch

three hands holding cartoon puzzle pieces

In this September 22,2020 interview, Inc. magazine senior editor Christine Lagorio interviews Cindy Eckert who is the CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals as well as the founder of Pink Ceiling, a business incubator for women.

During the interview, Eckert shares her own dissatisfaction with traditional big-business which led her to become an entrepreneur. Related to that, she discusses the importance of creating a strong company culture – whether your organization is just getting off the ground or an established business. Finally, she shares her thoughts on the three things that every founder should be able to express when heading into a potential investor meeting. Click the link above to access the write-up and interview.

Black Female Entrepreneurs Are Thriving In Detroit

Courtney McCluney, an assistant professor at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations was recently interviewed on NPR’s Marketplace about her research on the status of entrepreneurship in Detroit. McCluney states that over the past several years, Black women have comprised the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S. despite having disproportionate access to resources like capital. She recently looked specifically at the city of Detroit which despite less resources and higher than average poverty is creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This piece in the MIT Sloan Management Review entitled “The Detroit Hustle” outlines some of McCluney’s research project. The piece speaks to the growth in women-owned businesses in Detroit and discusses the concept of the “Detroit hustle” – a “long-held mantra unique to the city that defines people’s entrepreneurial energy and approach to work.” The Data collection for this research project is ongoing. It will be fascinating to find out what Professor McCluney continues to learn and share.

Women-led Company “Little Lives PPE” Makes Kid-Sized Face Shields

Sending children to school is challenging enough during a pandemic – parents don’t also need to worry about how their younger children will manage masks and hygiene to stay safe.

A startup called Little Lives PPE has created a face shield that can be worn by children as young as two and is designed to sit comfortably on a child’s face throughout the day, ideally on top of a mask. Little Lives has partnered with a manufacturer in Rochester, New York, which has been mass-producing adult face shields throughout the pandemic. Little Lives masks are currently selling for $7 on their website.

Little Lives PPE was co-founded by Samira L. Brown, MD, Gabrielle Page-Wilson, MD and Alexandra Stanton.

Interview with Jessica O. Matthews

Jessica O. Matthews is the CEO and founder of Uncharted Power, a full-scale renewable energy company. The initial goal of the company was to create a smarter energy grid for sub-Saharan Africa (Matthews is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Nigeria) but the impact of natural disasters such as flooding and wildfires on the US energy grid encouraged Matthews to broaden her focus and create a more global solution. Read more about this incredible entrepreneur in a July 14, 2020 interview in Politico.

NPR’s “How I Built This” podcast series – Resilience edition

In NPR’s How I Built This podcast series, host Guy Raz interviews entrepreneurs to explore their journeys and lessons learned. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the series took a slight detour and began to record segments entitled How I Built Resilience where entrepreneurs share past experiences that required grit and discuss how the current coronavirus situation is impacting business.

“How I Built Resilience” episodes include:

April 2, 2020 – Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Jeni’s company battled a Listeria outbreak in 2015 that almost broke her business, but she bounced back stronger than ever and is confident her company will survive this crisis, too.
April 9, 2020 – Susan Griffin-Black, founder of EO Products. Susan’s company has made a full pivot by only producing hand sanitizer and hand soap to support public health needs during the pandemic.
April 16, 2020 – David Neeleman of JetBlue Airways and Tristan Walker of Walker & Co.
April 23, 2020 – Author Simon Sinek whose books about business include “Start with Why,” and “The Infinite Game”
April 30, 2020 – José Andrés, a restaurateur who is now running World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit he founded that brings food to people during humanitarian crises.
May 7, 2020 – Christina Tosi of MilkBar and Gary Erickson & Kit Crawford of Clif Bars
May 9, 2020 – Stewart Butterfield of Slack and Steve Holmes of Springfree Trampoline
May 14, 2020 – Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and Alice Waters & Fanny Singer of Chez Panisse
May 16, 2020 – Tobias Lütke of Shopify and Jon Stein of Betterment
May 21, 2020 – Tony Xu of DoorDash and Marcia Kilgore of FitFlop
May 23, 2020 – Sarah LaFleur of M.M. LaFleur who is rethinking her brand and her marketing to stay relevant in a new work-from-home world
May 28, 2020 – Restaurateurs Kyle Connaughton and Daniel Humm
May 30, 2020 – Alli Webb of Drybar and Andy Puddicombe & Rich Pierson of Headspace
June 4, 2020 – Jenn Hyman of Rent The Runway
June 6, 2020 – Troy Carter of Atom Factory
June 11, 2020 – Actor and comedian Kevin Hart
June 13, 2020 – Y-Vonne Hutchinson, founder of ReadySet, a consulting firm that helps companies make authentic commitments to diversity and inclusion.
June 18, 2020 – Cathy Hughes, founder of Urban One, the largest African American-owned broadcast network with 54 radio stations around the United States.
June 20, 2020 – Sadie Lincoln, founder of Barre3 who had to transition from in-person to online fitness programming.
June 25, 2020 – Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick who discussed how protests for racial justice have resonated with him personally, and how this moment can spark meaningful change for African Americans — in the world of business and beyond.
June 27, 2020 – Canva founder, Melanie Perkins and Spindrift founder, Bill Creelman
July 9, 2020 – Sharon Chuter, founder of UOMA Beauty, a cosmetics company that caters to a wide variety of skin tones.
July 11, 2020 – Morgan DeBaun who founded Blavity as a media platform for Black millennials to convene and connect online.
July 16, 2020 – Julia Hartz, founder of Eventbrite
July 18, 2020 – John Foley of Peleton

Let’s Work – Speaker Series

The “Let’s Work” speaker series sponsored by The Laundress invites female entrepreneurs and thought leaders to share their thoughts during this unique time in our world. The speaker series is happening on different days over the next several weeks at noon (ET). The series is also exciting in that there are breakoff sessions (zoom rooms) for the attendees to network amongst themselves in addition to the keynote speaker. Click this link to register (for free!) for the session. Upcoming speakers include:

April 24, 12:00pm EST — Lisa Price: Founder of Carol’s Daughter @iamlisaprice
April 28, 12:00pm EST — Sophia Roe: Chef, Wellness Expert, Founder of Pillow Talk Sessions @sophia_roe
May 1, 12:00pm EST — Patty Rodriguez: Best-selling Author, Co-founder of Lil’ Libros and Patty Rodriguez Jewelry, Senior Producer for On Air with Ryan Seacrest @pattyrodriguez
May 5, 12:00pm EST — Renae Bluitt: Creator of She Did That (Netflix), Founder of In Her Shoes Blog @iamrenaebluitt
May 8, 12:00pm EST — Amani Al-Khatahtbeh: Founder of MuslimGirl.com, Congressional Candidate New Jersey 2020 @amani
May 12, 12:00pm EST — Jaclyn Johnson: Founder of Create & Cultivate @jaclynrjohnson + Lindsey Boyd: Co-founder of The Laundress @thelaundress
May 15, 12:00pm EST — Erin Patinkin: Co-founder of Ovenly & Seemore Meats and Veggies, Co-host of Start to Sale @erinpatinkin
May 18, 12:00pm EST — Cyndi Ramirez: Founder of Chillhouse & Chill Times @cyndiramirez + Gwen Whiting: Co-founder of The Laundress @thelaundress