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.
“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.
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).
On Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 1pm ET, The Chattery will be hosting a free online workshop entitled “Leveraging Crowdfunding to Launch & Grow Your Business“. The workshop will feature Olivia Owens, Head of Partnerships at IFundWomen and General Manager of IFundWomen of Color, who will share how to create a honed pitch, network map, and marketing strategy for your crowdfunding campaign. To learn more and register, click here.
Olivia Owens worked with eCornell to deliver a webinar in August on “Raising Capital During A Crisis” through the use of crowdfunding. A link to that recording can be found here.
The Chattery is a nonprofit organization that provides adult education through fun, affordable and accessible classes and workshops and is offering this workshop for free in conjunction with Startup Week Chattanooga. Shawanda Mason is a co-founder of The Chattery and is a graduate of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate program at Cornell! Many thanks to Shawanda for making us aware of this event and enabling us to share it with the broader community!
In honor of National Women’s Small Business Month, IFundWomen will be awarding six (6) $2,500 grants to idea stage entrepreneurs. Applications will be accepted through Saturday, October 31, 2020. For more information, click here
The Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program is accepting applications from now until November 12th, 2020. The Fellows Program is a one-year fellowship that offers mentorship in addition to a $5000 grant to use for additional business education. To learn more and access the application, click here.
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.
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.
Phoebe Yao is the Founder and CEO of Pareto. She realized that while talent is equally distributed around the world, access to economic opportunity is not. She also realized that while there are many online freelance marketplaces, securing virtual work is not easy. The goal of her company, Pareto, is to build a set of scalable communication guidelines for the future of work.
One free resource that Pareto made available is this compilation of 85 active platforms where you can showcase your venture or side project. This marketing resource contains brief summaries, traffic levels, and submission complexity for each platform.
Click this link to access the August 18, 2020 webinar entitled “Raising Capital During A Crisis: Launch and Grow Your Business With Crowdfunding”
Olivia Owens, Head of Partnerships at IFundWomen, discusses how to leverage crowdfunding for your business. You’ll come away from this workshop with a honed pitch, a network map, a winning rewards strategy, and a marketing plan for your crowdfunding campaign.
In this 15 minute video segment, Liz Ngonzi looks at the spectrum of business models from not-for-profits to social enterprises to traditional for-profits and then explores a variety of sources of funding that apply to each model. She also discusses organizations such as incubators and accelerators that can provide both monetary and consulting support to start-up businesses.
Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi is the Founder and CEO of Liz Ngonzi Transforms who as an international educator, speaker, executive coach, and consultant, helps impact-driven leaders, entrepreneurs and organizations to more effectively define and tell their stories, enabling them to improve engagement with their stakeholders. In helping clients she aims to INSPIRE, CONNECT with and ACTIVATE them to create the TRANSFORMATION they seek in their lives and/or organizations. Additionally, Liz proudly supports women leaders and entrepreneurs as a facilitator in the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell. Previously as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Cornell Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship, she helped aspiring entrepreneurs develop and present their unique value proposition to funders.