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.

Funding Opportunities in 2022

We are noticing a lot of regional and local grant opportunities being offered to small business owners as funding from the American Rescue Plan Act trickles down from the federal to state to local levels for distribution.

We will keep this spreadsheet updated with new opportunities that we find. Check back each day and see if one will work for you!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zU5SUCYBopz64FM4q_nqp2wvILmcdItq_PRWQRXFUB4/edit?usp=sharing

Women Appearing on US Quarters in 2022

The U.S. Mint honoring five women in 2022 by engraving their images on newly minted quarters. The women were selected following an expansive selection process that was coordinated by the National Women’s History Museum. In the period of four months, more than 11,000 names were submitted. The five that will appear in 2022 include: Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren and Anna May Wong. Read more about these women here.

Remembering Betty White

While it may seem odd to have a post mentioning an Betty White, the reality is that over her SEVENTY year career as an actress, she perpetually ran into walls in the entertainment industry and just as quickly eliminated those barriers for women who will hopefully follow in her footsteps with equally long careers. Read more about this remarkable woman in this piece from Smithsonian.