Celebrating International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day means a little more to me this year as a founder launching her very own brand. The National Women’s Business Council 2023 Annual Report starts with a bold and encouraging statement:
“Women, especially women of color, have been a driving force behind our nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery, leading in new business ownership, returning to the workforce in record numbers, and opening doors for other women to follow in their footsteps.”
I’m exceptionally proud to be one of those women who started her business in 2023. I’m proud to be a part of the change I want my daughter to inherit. I’m proud of all the work, late nights, and difficult conversations that went into creating the GlueStick brand, and I’m excited to wake up every day and keep at it.
I’m also proud and humbled to be part of an amazing community that encourages women to build their dreams. This isn’t my first rodeo in tech startup land. I have two failed start-ups to my name and have worked at enough others to know just how grueling this game can and will be, but I can honestly say that it feels like the best time in my adult life to start a business as a woman in Hennepin County, Minnesota. There are so many more resources available to founders now compared to when I tried to do this ten years ago, and these programs are infinitely more sensitive to the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs than I could have ever hoped for when I founded my first company in 2013. GlueStick wouldn’t be here without the help and support of the following programs and resources. If you’re an aspiring founder, I highly recommend getting involved with all of these organizations. If you have the means to support their missions, please do.
CEO Start - powered by the CO.STARTERS curriculum in collaboration with Hennepin County and the cities of Brooklyn Park and Bloomington.
Every woman with a dream will tell you it’s not enough to merely have a seat at the table - We want to own the whole damn thing. The organizations listed above are helping women build our tables every single day. With the help of organizations like these, the number of women-owned businesses in the United States swelled by 13.6% in the last four years to over 14 million in 2023. In fact, women created about half of all new businesses for the third year in a row and their ventures contribute $1.8 trillion to America’s annual GDP. These accomplishments are monumental, but unfortunately, we still have work to do. Women-owned businesses still only make up 23.8% of all US employer firms. When we look at science, technology, and engineering-focused companies, the divide between men and women-owned businesses is stark. There are at least 700,000 fewer female-owned STEM firms than male-owned ones. Here in Minnesota, only 27% of all STEM employer firms are led by women.
Source: National Women’s Business Council 2023 Annual Report
If our country is going to close the gap between men and women founders, we need to continue investing in the policies and organizations working to bring equity to the entrepreneurial landscape. We need to expand access to affordable child care and family medical leave. We need to remove barriers and burdens that reduce women’s access to capital and invest in broadband access for underserved women entrepreneurs. According to a 2019 HSBC Global Private Banking survey, 46 percent of American women entrepreneurs experienced gender bias when raising capital. It is unacceptable that a woman in 2024 should be deemed “less trustworthy” by a financial institution simply because of her gender. We need everyone in this country to examine those biases and we need to end the gender pay gap so women are on just as strong of a financial footing to start their businesses as their male counterparts when they begin their entrepreneurial journeys.
Finally, we need to carry the momentum forward by inspiring the next generations of entrepreneurs. Time spent crafting with my mom and building with my dad are a key component of my personal founder story, and I know that I’m not alone. I firmly believe that the things we make as children make us the adults we grow to be. Hands-on projects inspire confidence, creativity, and problem-solving skills that give kids the foundation they need to go on and lead tomorrow’s businesses. That’s why I’m so proud to be building this company at this pivotal moment in our country’s trajectory. I can’t wait to see what kids make using the GlueStick app, and I’m even more excited to see the future they build.
Happy International Women’s Day, and a huge thank you to my mom and all the women who’ve inspired and supported me along the way.
