Pharrell Williams‘ non-profit, Black Ambition, celebrated its fourth annual Demo Day in New York City, awarding over $2.7 million to 30 innovative startups led by Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. The event, designed to bridge opportunity and wealth gaps, highlighted companies across tech, healthcare, consumer goods, artificial intelligence, and media/entertainment.
Reyna New York, a Mediterranean tapas restaurant and cocktail bar, invited five businesswomen to speak about their professional experiences on the June 26 panel.
I was able to sit down with Kheris Rogers who is a teen influencer, fashion designer, actress and CEO of her apparel brand “Flexin’ In My Complexion” which she began after bullies made fun of her darker skin tone and she began the fashion campaign and blew up on Twitter with celebrities wearing her apparel.
On this Mother’s Day in the US, we recognize and celebrate the working mother: those women who transform their lives for their children, while still contributing to the work force. Of this group of hardworking individuals, female entrepreneurs face unique challenges in the workplace, sometimes dealing with fundamental issues that men may never encounter.
To this end, for the past 15 years Cartier has championed women entrepreneurs through their Women’s Initiative, an all-encompassing international entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. The program is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social or environmental impact. We joined Cartier in celebrating the 15th anniversary of the program earlier this year along with a celebration for International Women’s Day in Dubai.
Now, we share highlights from an interview with Wingee Sampaio, the director of the Cartier Women’s Initiative, who spoke on the evolution of the program, the unique challenges female entrepreneurs experience, and the triumphs she’s witnessed. Quotes were edited for clarity and brevity.
There are specific kinds of challenges. I think the most well known one is around funding. Women have a challenging time raising capital because there’s less women on the other side [as investors], so there some biases. Often it comes from the type of questions that they receive. So something, for example, when a male investor meets a fellow male, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, what is your business potential? What is the growth, etcetera?’ Very focused on growth.
But when it’s a woman, the questions are, ‘What are the risks that you see? how are you addressing all these risks?’ Then at the end they’re like, ‘Wow, she’s full of risk and I’m not so sure.’ It’s a good investment, but, this is the nature. Growth-orientated versus risk-adverse type of questions for women entrepreneurs.
But it’s not much of it, I would say is necessarily intentional. It may just be a bit of an unconscious bias amongst investors. And of course now with the research being published, there’s greater awareness around this challenge.
This is one of the reason why our program exists. We are specifically focused on impact entrepreneurs because we believe business is an important force for good. And we’re specifically focused on the woman doing this work because despite the fact that they’re creating businesses that the world needs, they’re facing more barriers than normal to solve for these challenges.
We posed a question about the behaviors that Wingee has encountered in her coaching and mentorship experience, having worked with hundreds of women through her career and the Initiative.
The most common thing I see is a little bit holding back in personality. Sometimes they feel like they have to sound a certain way in order for them to be heard and that there is a certain way to pitch. So sometimes they deviate from what their true expression is. We want women impact entrepreneurs to hold true to what their purpose is. They’re building a business around that and they want the business to resonate with investors.
So in terms of coaching, it’s more about this: how do you self-reflect and be more self-aware? How do you be more comfortable actually with what you are working on. For the woman impact entrepreneur, we try to create a sense of belonging and a sense of community so that they can feel like other fellows in our program.
When asked about what lessons Wingee has learned from leading the Cartier Women’s Initiative, she had this to say:
I’m actually on a very similar boat as many of our women entrepreneurs in the sense that we are all women change makers. We see something in the world that we would like to do something about and we are trying our best to create that change. Holding onto the purpose, being a firm and confident that what you’re doing is needed is a constant challenges.
The pandemic has disproportionally impacted women and minorities. That said, if ever there was a moment to witness the resilience of a woman leader, the current times have really reinforced the importance of our work.
For me, I try to have an affirmation of why I do what I do. Reminding myself of my north star so that you can do your best work. I intentionally make time for that.
The program’s awarding of grants has been steady, but now the Initiative works closely with the entrepreneurs and expert third parties to synthesize the economics of the entrepreneurial work, allowing for closer and more accurate alignment from the perspective of story, business stage, and market potential, ultimately setting these entrepreneurs up for success.
We’ve been around for 15 years which is a tremendous testament in terms of commitment by Cartier. For the first 10 years we were more of an award; a single event. It was an event to recognize and these incredible women entrepreneurs.
But fortunately, five years ago, we had the commitment of Cyrille to really grow this program and to do more work in this space. I felt that it was time to get the pieces in this place, so we grew from an award to the current four pillars of our work: award, fellowship, community, and thought leadership. So the next step was to figure out how to measure the impact of each of those so that we could continuously reflect and improve on that work.
In the beginning years, there was a Laureate and then there was the runner-up, and only the Laureate received the financial grant. When Cyrille joined, he changed it so there would be a financial grant, even for the second and third place. This was great because all of these women are doing incredible work. So then we had $100,000 grant for the Laureate, $30,000 grant for the two runner-ups.
Then in the last three years, we have been evolving our selection process, and now we engage with an impact investment firm that does the due diligence for us around each of the entrepreneurs. Our knowledge and our work with entrepreneurs is much closer than it has ever been. So as a result of that, we do know more in detail, the differences between their businesses. We wanted to increase our commitment to the space, and this is why for us we again changed the grants to $100,000. $60,000 and $30,000, and that’s how we will be going forward.
Wingee proudly shares the difference between coaching and mentorship, and expresses that finding the perfect personality and skills match between the mentor or coach and mentee is critical for success.
For us, when we are talking about coaching, it is about executive leadership and it’s about fully expressing your intentionality. It’s much more of a leadership and mindset training, and we call that coaching. Coaching involves actually helping entrepreneurs reflect on how they could be more of what I’m trying to do myself. Almost holding you accountable.
Mentoring is actually professional experience. For example, say I lack expertise in medical device product development, or I lack expertise in growing my business from five people to 100 people. Mentoring is more of a transfer of professional experience; someone who has been there and done that and what you are trying to do from a practical sense.
One of my biggest challenges with initiative is actually finding the right supply of the contribution with the right demand from the fellow. We have been very fortunate to have such a large selection of people who are interested in mentoring and entrepreneurs who have a lot of need. It’s a game of matching.
You can learn more about the work of the Cartier Women’s Initiative here, and get the full details about this year’s Impact Award winners, nine former fellows who continue to succeed, here.
Actress, singer, television host, and entrepreneur Adrienne Bailon has spent her career breaking barriers and paving the way for women of color in the entertainment industry. In 2013, she became the first Latina daytime television host when she joined The Real. Her accomplishments are a product of faith, hard work, and gratitude which is why her collaboration with Olay is a match made in heaven.
Olay has become a part of Bailon’s self care routine and the brand aligns with her own values by working to empower women of color especially in the entrepreneur space. With balancing a busy career and being an entrepreneur she has learned that self care is a must. The partnership with Olay not only offers the opportunity to empower women of color, but the Olay body products have become her self-care staples. Olay is supporting women of color through their partnership with LISC NYC which provides support for female entrepreneurs in areas such as Washington Heights. Olay products offer an opportunity to unwind at home, and the brand is working towards empowering entrepreneurs and building equity for women of color.
Bailon being both Puerto Rican and an entrepreneur has been able to learn valuable lessons about owning her own business and is able to offer wisdom to women looking to follow in her footsteps. For many women of color Bailon serves as an inspiration through her ability to balance being a daytime host, business owner, singer, and actress.
Bailon working in the entertainment industry for years and now being a business owner has required her to stay true to herself while balancing being the accountant, manager, spokesperson, and boss of her own businesses. Her tenacity has guided her throughout her professional career. Bailon has learned how to stay true to herself and take a fearless approach to life in the entertainment industry.
Owner Paige Beuning created PVB The Label to highlight issues concerning the ocean, plastic and fast fashion.
To make the world a healthier place to live, Paige decided to create swimsuits made from Econyl to build and develop sustainable communities, in a creative and positive manner. The Knockturnal spoke with Paige about PVB The Label growing in the future, and helpful tips for entrepreneurs.
The Knockturnal: Where do you see PVB the Label 10 years from now?
Paige Beuning: In 10 years, I see PVB The Label empowering millions of people with positivity, creating new ways to be more sustainable, and helping other brands implement more eco-friendly practices.
The Knockturnal: PVB The Label was created to bring attention to the issues of the world with ocean waste, plastic waste, and fast fashion. How do you think that people can help make the world a healthier and cleaner place to live?
Paige Beuning: Buying quality over quantity. In today’s world, it can be so much easier to choose fast fashion, because of timeliness and convenience. But where do those clothes end up? There is a massive ripple effect when choosing fast fashion. Something to consider when shopping is buying quality products instead of a lot of crappy things. Try to find clothes that will have a long shelf life.
The Knockturnal: What improvements would you like to see from fashion designers and store owners?
Paige Beuning: I would love to see fashion designers and store owners using more eco-friendly shipping supplies. For instance, all of PVB’s “plastic” bags are biodegradable, our tissue paper and tape are recycled and can be reused, and our suits are made from ocean waste!
The Knockturnal: The mission of PVB the label is to make people feel confident and happy. Through your business, do you plan on creating more bathing suit designs for plus-size women?
Paige Beuning: Yes! We have been working hard with our manufacturer to create new sizes for PVB! We are so excited to start carrying plus-size swimwear in season 3!
The Knockturnal: How did you first get the idea to start PVB the label and what experiences helped shape the focus of the business to create awareness about the world?
Paige Beuning: I have loved the ocean since the day I was born. I had millions of swimming suits growing up because I lived on a lake in Minnesota. Recently, I got my Master’s Degree in Fashion Marketing and something that we discussed a lot was sustainability in the fashion industry and how detrimental it is to our Earth. Instead of just talking about it, I wanted to do something about it. I wanted to make a real impact and hopefully inspire others to help too. As PVB The Label grows, we are finding more ways to create a healthier planet.
The Knockturnal: On the website, I was impressed by the diversity of the women showing the swimsuits but also the different body shapes. In today’s society many women want to physically look a certain way, what advice would you give men and women about body image and self-confidence?
Paige Beuning: YES! Our three pillars of our business are inclusivity, positivity, and sustainability. We want everybody to feel included, feel loved, and feel confident. Confidence is not just a trait people have; it is a skill. It can be learned and worked on. In my opinion, everybody should learn to be confident because literally, everybody is beautiful in their own way (cheesy, I know). Life is too short to not love the amazing body you are in!
The Knockturnal: Can you give some necessary steps that people should take into consideration when creating a business?
Paige Beuning: If you are considering creating a business, make sure that you are 100% passionate about it, willing to learn, willing to make mistakes, willing to have sleepless nights, and have a strong mission.
This past Saturday, The Knockturnal had the opportunity to attend the High-Performance Lifestyle Training Retreat (HPLT) in Los Angeles. The HPLT Retreat brings together driven individuals who aim to improve their lifestyle. The HPLT Retreat is a 3-day event, including keynote speakers, yoga, and an intense HIIT workout day. HPLT’s mission is to “empower your inner savage” to come out.
Having The Right Mindset To Start A Business