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Inspiring Women To Be All They Can Be

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“The times they are a- changin’.” Women are starting more than 1,200 new businesses a day, up from an average of 740 a day in 2013, according to The 2014 State of Women-Owned Business Report. Four out of 10 new firms are now started by women.

What is not changing is the percent of women who are growing their businesses beyond $1 million. It is one-third the percent of men who make the break-through. As they say, seeing is believing. “Women and girls aren’t seeing enough successful women entrepreneurs in the media, especially women of color,” said Erin Bagwell. She’s changing that by creating a film, Dream, Girl, showcasing 12 women entrepreneurs who are strong, effective, savvy leaders.

When Bagwell faced verbal harassment at work, her self-esteem and confidence were eroded. When she looked in the media for examples of women who had handled similar challenges, she found stories that, like the photo-shopped images accompanying them, glossed over real-world struggles. She wanted role models she could identify with, not perfect people but real people. So she searched for women who had overcome obstacles. Their stories inspired Bagwell, gave her self-confidence and the strength to pursue her own dreams. She wanted to share their stories with other women so they, too, could be inspired.

For the film, Bagwell interviewed 75 entrepreneurs and narrowed the field to 12 extraordinary women. Enough with the tall, stick-thin white women models and celebrities the media hawk, said Bagwell. She’s highlighting successful women who reflect the diversity of America, women you could actually become.

The women she interviewed are leaders who were not taken seriously because they are women. Each was perceived as not being “smart/technical/savvy/strong/etc” enough to do the job, Bagwell said. And for a lot of those women, the very presumptions and perceptions that they lacked something pushed them to start their own businesses and create their own cultures that focused on trusting themselves.

The women were also chosen for their passion, purpose and unstoppable drive to succeed. They include:

  • Mariama Camara, a fashion entrepreneur and philanthropist who collaborated with Tory Burch to develop clothing that uses tie-dyed cloth from women in the Republic of Guinea.
  • Clara Villarosa founder of two bookstores, author, speaker and coach. At 83, she is the oldest entrepreneur in the group.
  • Marie Forleo, an author, web television host and business coach, and the founder of Marie Forleo International, B-School and MarieTV.
  • Julie Sygiel, Dear Kate, developed patent-pending fabric, which protects better than regular underwear. Sygiel’s ad campaign for a new line of underwear she created called the Ada Collection (named for 19th century tech pioneer Ada Lovelace) featured prominent female tech-company founders and CEOs in their underwear, caused a stir.

Bagwell is a role model for women and she is one of the women that I highlight in my report Stand Out In the Crowd: How Women (and Men) Benefit From Equity Crowdfunding. She came close to doubling her crowdfunding goal to raise money for her film. Her rewards crowdfunding campaign provides lessons that are applicable to an equity raise, which I will include in my report.

Examples that inspire big dreams are not enough, however. Another reason that women don’t grow their businesses as big as they might is that they underfund them. High-growth oriented women are 50% less likely to seek outside funding than their male counterparts are, according to Access to Capital by High-Growth Women-Owned Businesses, a report by the National Women’s Business Council. For every nine men raising equity financing to start and scale their businesses, only one woman does. Both men and women are critical to changing that. For her film, Bagwell interviewed angel investors Adam Quinton of Lucas Point Ventures and Joanne Wilson of Gotham Gal Ventures, among others, for the investor perspective.

Much of the gap between men and women is cultural. Bagwell interviewed author and founder of the popular Jezebel blog, Anna Holmes. She is funny, irreverent and down to earth as she addresses the problems women face. Also included is Stew Friedman, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and director of Work/Life Integration Project at the University. Friedman is an expert on work-life integration and, more specifically, how millennials are creating new models so both partners in a relationship can have more of what each wants in life.

As a big believer in men and women working together to solve issues related to equality, Bagwell is undoubtedly as pleased as I am by the big push for the #HeForShe campaign on International Women’s Day, the day I’m writing this article.

Need inspiration to grow your business? Bagwell’s film will be out in the fall, but you can watch the trailer now.

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