Women of color face more obstacles raising money, building their brand, and finding a community to support them as entrepreneurs. We are incredibly grateful for this powerful discussion led by Kalina Bryant, founder of UnapologeTECH, as she sat down with Rhonesha Byng, founder of Her Agenda, Bridgid Coulter, Founder of Blackbird House, and Dr. Ava Brown, founder, author, and speaker to hear how they have persevered through difficult situations and leaned on their community.

Get ready with your pen and paper for this because these women offered so many insightful stories, thoughts, and tips that we think you might just need to watch it for yourself to be able to fully soak up everything this conversation has to offer.

Check out the video and some of our favorite quotes below:

One action all women entrepreneurs should take this week:

Bridgid Coulter:
”If you've been burning the candle at both ends take this weekend to take a break and reflect. Taking a day off isn't going to change your trajectory. If you are pushing yourself, if you are exhausted, take your time, sis. It’ll be there next week but YOU need to be here. Do what you need to do to be well.”

Dr. Ava Brown:
”Take a moment and write a letter to yourself really acknowledging all you've been through this year and that you're still standing. Take that space allow yourself to feel and really realize how lucky you are to still be present, strong , and powerful. Make it a habit to take a pause and celebrate yourself. When you celebrate the micro-wins, the macro-wins will follow.”

Rhonesha Byng:
”Write down 3 small things you're grateful for every morning for the next 30 days, make it a habit. “

Day Two of the Summit kicked off with the one and only Terri Lomax from Asana, who sent us on the rest of our day feeling empowered and enlivened. Imposter syndrome, juggling multiple businesses and projects, being your best in all the roles you play in your life—finding balance can feel impossible as a woman entrepreneur.

In this interactive session, Terri showed us how to project manage your life in a way that leads to confidence, harmony, and achieving your goals.

Head to IWantTheSlidesTerri.com for the slides from this presentation!

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Read more about how female-founded company The Citizenry launches its global fair trade goods with Asana

Also, check out this demo of Asana and these 10 practical tips for working remotely with Asana (very helpful these days!)

Key Takeaways

• On Imposter Syndrome

  • What I realized over that time is that our adversity makes our story much more interesting. our perspective is needed. I still made it to the table.

  • We are not defined by where we come from, what we come from or how we got here.

  • Be able to step back and assess yourself like you look at your friends.

  • Don’t define who you are by where you are in your journey.

• Our past experience that we've had in life can be the catalyst for what we are doing in the world. 

• Key Questions To Ask Yourself to figure out where you are and where you want to go:

  • What's on my plate?

  • What do I want for dessert (self care, moments of delight)?

  • Where can I delegate (it's not sexy to do it all on your own)?

  • What am I optimizing for during this season of my life?

  • What is on the table (saved for later)?

• On Saying No:

  • If you are clear on what's on your plate, what you are having for dessert, and what you're optimizing for it makes it easier to say no. Once you know you are in alignment with these goals, you'll more easily be able to say no.

  • The more comfortable you are with setting boundaries, the easier you are able to accept no’s that others give you.

  • Standing firm in who you are and being your strongest most secure self - it just gives you a greater sense of strength.

Launch your brand on the best curated retail marketplace! Watch this session with Faire’s Head of Strategic Partnerships, Sara Ittelson to learn how to take your retail business to the next level by joining online wholesale platform Faire.

Key Takeaways

BENEFITS FOR BRANDS

● Discovery through intelligent recommendations  and marketing tools to attract new customers 

● Guaranteed payment where Faire takes on the  risk and hassle of collections  

● Access to new innovative tools to reach  customers digitally and efficiently 

● Key incentives like negotiated preferred  shipping rates and 0% commission for 

existing customers 

BENEFITS FOR RETAILERS

● Personalized recommendations based on  behavior and purchase analytics 

● Mobile app for shopping conveniently on-the-go 

● Net 60 payment terms and credit limits plus free returns on first orders for de-risked discovery 

● Consolidated order management and invoices 

● Continuously improving new buying formats like the Faire Virtual Markets

If you would like to help us Bar Shiru get through this unprecedented crisis, be a monthly supporter. More info here! https://www.barshiru.com/buystuff

While you are mixing and shaking, you can put on this amazing playlist curated for you by the Bar Shiru team.

New Pal
Ingredients:

• 1 oz Toki

• 1 oz Gran Classico

• 1 oz Dolin Dry

Instructions:

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass (or pint glass) with a handful of ice. Stir for approximately 15 second and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Express (or squeeze) a lemon peel over the drink and discard.

Way Out West

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Cocchi Rosa

• 0.5 oz Cynar

• 2 oz Cava or dry sparkling wine

• 1 oz Soda water

Instructions:

Fill a double rocks glass halfway with ice. Add the Cocchi Rosa and Cynar, then give it a quick stir. Top with 2 ounces of cava or a dry sparkling wine, then soda water to the top of the glass. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a sprig of rosemary or sage.

Fresh Lime (Non-Alcoholic)

Ingredients:

• 0.75 oz Lime juice (freshly squeezed)

• Garam Masala

• Soda Water

Instructions:

Add ice, lime juice and 2 healthy dashes of garam masala to a cocktail shaker. Shake for 15 seconds, then dump all ingredients (including ice) into a double rocks glass. Fill to the top with soda water. Garnish with a wedge of lime and a sprig of mint.

Katrina also serves on the board of fellow disruptors, Glossier and Grubhub, and is a mentor to many and a mother to two children. Hear more about her inspiration to launch Stitch Fix and what she has learned over the last year.

Check our our amazing Keynote Conversation with Katrina and LWL co-founder, Sarah Friar, from this year’s Virtual Summit below!

Key Takeaways

• The world is influx and pivoting is key. This is a great time for entrepreneurs. People are open to trying new things and excited to try new things.

• Things that have been hard now are prioritizing and drawing boundaries. Figuring out how to set home and work boundaries that are so accelerated now. I literally say goodbye to my kids like I am going to the office for the day. That helps put me in a mode of being able to be present at work. Being able to create a routine helps.

Join us in reliving this incredible panel as Rosie Rios, the 43rd Treasurer of the United States and CEO of Red River Associates, leads a conversation about what small business owners experienced this year and how they persevered through their challenges. Max Tuchman, Founder of Caribu, Irene Li, Founder of Mei Mei, and La'Crassia Wilderness, founder of Butter Love by L.C will shared how they managed their business, teams and personal wellbeing over the last year.

Key Takeaways

• My biggest takeaway [of the pandemic] is to give myself grace. - La’Crassia

• Give yourself a break during those times when it is hard for you to show up. Taking those breaks were so important to me, it saved my life in a sense. - La’Crassia

• One of the things I did to protect myself is that I don't take meetings until noon, I work west coast hours [on the east coast]. That was a saving grace. - Max

• Grieving is very hard to start and finish when you are still in the middle of it, and here we find ourselves still in the middle. And for that you have to practice patience with yourself. It's okay that you haven't adjusted because this isn't adjustable. - Irene

• The biggest stress relief has been taking myself out of the workplace physically and checking myself out mentally. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I also think that finding moments to laugh, especially with the team, to appreciate and embrace the absurdity. Those are moments that if everything were going as planned, we wouldn't have. - Irene

• I kind of took in all of the emotions that i was feeling and let them come in, they don't have to stay there, all emotions are temporary. You lean in on your support system and they show up. Those moments in time where I am supported and loved. I am abundant, I got this. And now I can ebb and flow through what is to come this week. It's so important to have that reminder. - La’Crassia

One action all women entrepreneurs should take this week:

La’Crassia

Know that the fear can’t go where you're headed. All that fear, keep it in the past and move forward. Just go and start whatever your passion or dream is and leave the fear in the past.

Max

If you have an idea to make the world a better place, there is no time better than now. Start it.

Irene

Find an artifact (old email, journal from when you started) and take yourself back to that place and appreciate how far you've come.

Rosie

Own your power. Embrace it. You've earned it. You've earned your seat at the table and advance it to the next level.

Zola is a wedding company that's revitalizing the $72 billion industry with a free suite of tools for couples to use to plan their big day and beyond. Since it launched in October 2013, the platform has helped over one million couples, and Shan-Lyn and her team have raised over $140 million in funding to date. Shan-Lyn has been through challenging times before (she immigrated to the United States, put herself through business school, and also was in a pretty awful car accident a few years ago). Join us in reliving a powerful keynote conversation from the Virtual Summit here. Learn more about how she has persevered through challenging times and used her grit and determination to keep iterating throughout 2020.⠀

One action all women entrepreneurs should take this week:

Think about yourself as your number one investor of your time and put together an investment plan of what's the highest ROI thing that you can be doing with your time. It doesn't have to just be work, but i think if we can put our investor hat on we can really clarify what it is we want to and don't want to do with our lives.

In this info packed session with Cat van der Werff of Canva gave us a full how-to on building a brand through the tools that Canva offers through both their free and paid versions.

Check out some of the other resources that Cat shared with us during this session:

Canva: Brand Style Guide

Brand Archetypes Info Sheet

Canva Color Tools

Canva’s Design School

Key Takeaways

• What is a brand?

  • So much more than a logo. A brand is a promise to your customers

• Start with purpose

  • Your reason forgetting out of bed in the morning and the impact that you want to have on the world.

  • Start With Why - Simon Sinek

  • If you are everything to everyone you can't please anyone.

• Brand Core

  • What's our purpose?

  • What do we believe in?

  • What’s our personality?

• Brand Identity

  • How do we express ourselves?

  • How do we interact with others?

  • How do we speak and dress?

• You want to give the brand human like characteristics.

• Be flexible enough that you can keep your core solid and evolve with the times.

In this jam-packed workshop, GrowthBoss took us through ideation, creation, and growth. Learn how to find product-market fit before you spend too much time and money on launching a business that just, unfortunately, might not work. GrowthBoss shared their inspiring experiences with failing fast, failing forward and what it takes to scale it in this current climate.

Key Takeaways

• In starting a business, more than not, you will come to a point where you are at a standstill - when this happens, go back to the problem, refine what the problem is and figure out a better way to solve that problem.

  • From here really looking into product market fit is important.

  • Once you feel confident that you have product market fit, ask yourself, how do you grow it, scale it, market it from there?

• How do you build your irresistible, contagious offer?

  • Your product offer is so much more than what you sell. It’s sales funnel, social media, brand identity, etc. It’s about the whole experience that you wrap around the product.

• Know your customers point A and point B: Where are they now and where do they want to be.

  • Point A: what are their symptoms - how do they feel?

  • Point B: What are they saying, thinking, and doing at point B. How is their quality of life better at point B?

  • This is where your marketing messages come from.

In this session we covered:
- How to get introduced to VC's and manage the introduction process
- What VC's are looking for in a business and team
- How to nail (or fail) the pitch
- Timeline expectations: from how many investors to contact to how long it will take
- What are the best tools and platforms you should know about

Key Takeaways

• How you structure the deal at the beginning is the most important. Regardless of what business you're in, it's important that you think about your end goal first - exit, IPO, 10 year business. It sets up your structure from the beginning so you won't have to do it along the way.

• As a founder your job in every moment is to equalize power (with the money people).

• Meet with VCs that have been founders, that have been in the chair. They will make for far better partners in the long run.

• The most impactful startups are ones that have really understood that this core problem is theirs. I believe that all of us in the first 10 years of life have a pretty good sense of our calling, the problem we were born to solve. When they know that this is their problem, they cultivate a solution that has the power of infinite possibilities. You tap into the power of the universe. 

• A great deck that tells a great story and a story is the best way to get any investor to buy in.

• Our world has gone very transactional in a lot of ways and i believe that relationships are important. These are people that you are going to marry so choose wisely.

• The most important thing about a co-founder is to make sure that your voice or the thing that you do best fits into your founder pocket. It’s so critical that you do what you do best and that you compliment each other.

• Pitching:

  • Ask for the money!

  • If they give you a no, get something else out of them. If they name drop within the conversation, write that name down and ask for that meeting. It is a hunt. You have to look for what actually stays true to your core problem and what will work for you. 

  • Don't stop, it's around the corner but make sure you feel like you're moving somewhere. If you get the brick wall, move around to the side.

One action every women entrepreneur should take this week:

 Figure out what is your core problem to solve. Look back to the first 10 years of your life and know that the answer is there. 

In Show Me the Money: Financing Strategies for Founders we got an up-close-and-personal look at the relationship between Founder and Investor. Over the course of the 45 minute chat, Katie and Kaeya specifically covered financing strategies that have been successful or failed for women-owned businesses. Self funding, loans, and venture capital are viable ways to get your startup off the ground, but not every business will be successful with every path.

In this session we learned about different financing strategies from a founder and VC perspective, and tips and tricks to help women entrepreneurs understand their financing and capital options.

Catch the video of the session and some of our key take-aways here!

Key Takeaways

• Warm up by talking to investors that you know aren’t the best fit before you pitch to your “dream” investor.

• Remember that investors are looking to find a great company to invest in as much as you are looking for an investor to invest in you.

• Kaeya: No boards until Series A. Your boards form naturally when during your pre-seed and your seed. You lean into certain people more naturally than others. Even if your seed is a price round you can wait til Series A. I think it’s a red flag when investors ask for a board seat that early. It’s similar to dating, you date then you get married. You don't pay advisors, they pay you in time.

• Before accepting capital from a VC, know what type of partnership you’re looking for with them. A good VC relationship means that you will be able to utilize them in various ways other than just for the capital they are giving you.

One action every women entrepreneur should take this week:

Katie:
Find another entrepreneur and ask some burning questions that you've had. Or ask for a connection for someone that will talk about it. Don't be afraid to ask.

Kaeya:
Go find the right people, thought partners, other founders, advisors. 

Julie:
If you are good at branding, marketing and partnerships, you may overlook what you are not good at. Pay extra attention to the areas you aren’t comfortable like financing, bookkeeping, etc. And if you don’t know, ask!

For our first panel of the Summit, we came together with Cassie Abel, Founder of Wild Rye, Jasmine Jones, Founder of Cherry Blossom Intimates, and Sadie Kurzban, founder of 305 Fitness to discuss how they launched their brands and built an authentic community around their products. From mountain biking to a lingerie boutique for cancer survivors to a live DJ dance workout, we discovered how these female founders built a ravenous community behind their brands.

This panel got REAL and by that we mean that all three of these founders are incredibly sure of one thing, said best by Cassie.

One action all women entrepreneurs should take this week:

Jasmine:
Understand in your mind to not quit and if you create the systems and processes, all the stuff that’s hard right now will get easier.

Cassie:
Just start, it doesn't have to be perfect. You're gonna have room to grow and change and perfect. AND join Women Led Wednesday.

Sadie:
Take care of yourself, whatever that means. Nourish yourself in some way.