Syrian Women Leading In Refugee Communities

Unconventional times can create impactful change. Syrian women have begun to be elected as camp leaders in their Lebanese refugee communities. While these women would have been expected to stay at home in their native Syria, the turmoil caused by war has begun to shift some of these traditional norms. One of the female leaders who heads up camp of hundreds of refugees, Hind Al-Haad, stated,”Circumstances can either form obstacles or push [women] forward.” Learn more about these amazing women in this BBC piece.

Women in Enterprising Science (WIES) Program Launched by Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna

Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who is a professor at the University of California-Berkeley as well as a 2020 Nobel prize winner for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, has recently launched a program entitled “Women in Enterprising Science” (WIES). The goal of the program is to enhance gender equity in bio-entrepreneurship. The program seeks to achieve this by offering scientific entrepreneurs the opportunity to receive up to $1 million of funding to create and grow new ventures around promising genomic and emerging biotechnologies. To learn more about this initiative, read this article in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Institute Funding Boosted To Bring Through 100,000 Students

Graduates from the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell. Top row, from left to right: Zaakirah Muhammad, Denisse Lamas, Shereese Floyd, Elizabeth Roy. Bottom row, from left to right: Randii Smith, Anh LyJordan, Jessica Williams, Abena Foli.

Bank of America announced their commitment to continue to fund the Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell so that we can bring another 50,000 students through the program at no cost to participants. That will bring our total number to 100,000!

There was an additional press piece reported by Bloomberg that mentioned the expansion of the program and also highlighted one of our program graduates. We are so excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with such a diverse and inspiring group of entrepreneurs in the years ahead!

More Black Women Leave Jobs In Favor of Launching Businesses

According to this piece from The Guardian, there has been a marked increase in black women launching their own ventures over the past few years. Some of the increase is attributed to challenges from the pandemic and some to historical gender/race pay disparity in the workplace. That said, the article also shares that black women have a long history of entrepreneurship and the pandemic is forcing the world to recognize that. Per the article, “women of color make up only 39% of women in the US but represent 89% of new women-owned businesses. Within that demographic, Black women are leading the charge at 42% of new women-owned businesses, followed by Latina women at 31%.”

Legal Resources – for Free

The Legal module in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate program provides a host of downloadable resources and tools for entrepreneurs but in that limited two-week course, there are many more nuanced legal items that couldn’t be covered. This list of free resources – offered through the small, woman-owned legal firm of Trellis Legal provides a fabulous assortment of tools at no cost.

Becoming Helpable

Caroline Kim Oh is an executive and leadership coach with a focus on BIPOC and women leaders in diverse fields, including social impact, marketing, creativity, entrepreneurship, and technology. (She also served as a facilitator in the pilot program of the Women’s Entrepreneurship program) Caroline is especially energized by supporting her clients to become confident and high-performing leaders while enjoying the right mix of work-life-fulfillment ratios.

In this video (under three minutes long), Caroline shares some important messages about selfcare. (We love her phone analogy – so true!)

The Isolation Journals

The Isolation Journals is a site that was founded by Suleika Jaouad on the idea that life’s interruptions are invitations to deepen our creative practice. The Isolation Journals sends out free weekly journaling prompts. If you sign up, you will receive one in your inbox every Sunday. The website also contains journal entries from the community and provides the option to submit your work (you can even submit anonymously). Learn more and sign up for a weekly prompt here.