NYWSE Incubator Friendraiser - July 7, 2009

Save the Date!

NYWSE Incubator Friendraiser @ Bowery Wine Company

featured speaker, silent auction, jazz trio, open bar

July 7, 2009

7-10 P.M.

The NYWSE Incubator Friendraiser marks the successful conclusion of the NYWSE Incubator program.  Join us in celebrating the first co-hort of NYWSE Incubator participants, including the selected social entrepreneurs, their apprentices, and their mentors.

Diana Ayton-Shenker, Founder & CEO of Fast Forward Fund (FFF), a youth-investing-in-youth social venture fund, will speak on the importance of investing in young social entrepreneurs--particularly women.  The NYWSE Incubator is an FFF Pipeline Partner. 

Six budding women social entrepreneurs were selected from a competitive pool of applicants to participate in the NYWSE Incubator.  The entrepreneurs were assigned a female mentor and a female apprentice.  The teams worked for six months to realize the entrepreneurs' social ventures with the support of workshops, resources, classes, coaching, and pitch opportunities.  How did they fare?  Come find out!

2009 NYWSE Incubator Selections

• Early Earners – Online education destination for youth and families promoting positive financial habits
• Girl Guides USA – Outdoor program that develops girls’ environmentalism, leadership and teamwork
• Illume – Online mentoring and career resource for young women from illiterate families in India
• Out Against Abuse – Online resource to stop domestic violence in the South Asian community
• Public Stuff – Software to connect government and citizens to improve services and community life
• Start Your Engine – Exercise, nutrition, stress and time management program for low-income women

If you would like to learn more about applying to the NYWSE Incubator, make sure to meet NYWSE Incubator Founder & Manager Allison Lynch at the Friendraiser.

Interested in volunteering?  Email Melissa Osborne at: [email protected]

Margaret Prusan Inspires the NYWSE Incubator Participants to go from "Eclipsed to Extraordinary"

Saturday June 6, 2009 Margaret Prusan of Ilumin led the NYWSE Incubator entrepreneurs workshop called “From Eclipsed to Extraordinary”. Illumin’s mission is to help extraordinary women entrepreneurs realize their potential. She says, “For me, the greatest joy of this business is seeing the ‘aha!” moment on the client’s face. The moment when all her talents and experiences are fully illuminated, and she truly gets just how amazing she already is!” Margaret’s pension for working with starting, growing or evolving women-owned businesses comes from her own soul searching to find a career that fit her interests and passions. Mrs. Prusan’s background is in business development and marketing communication. She has worked on many high profile projects, as well, like the Kerry-Edwards 2004 presidential campaign. She explained that it took a conversation with close friend to help reveal her own greatest strength: acting as other peoples’ north star to help them build businesses that reflect their real assets and interests. Realizing that she can help identify and define the purpose of other peoples’ businesses, Illumin was born.

Dana Skallman, founder of Independent Strategists, shares her story

Hi, I’m Dana Skallman and from my very core I am a serial social entrepreneur; committed to helping people succeed in their professional endeavors. I know from experience that economic opportunity and education are crucial in giving everyone the same chance to succeed. My daily goal is to share resources and tools so each of us knows exactly how money works and how to make money work for you.

This belief is something that has been with me since childhood, having grown up with educators who started their own business and seen the huge impact they have had in the community they serve. Having been raised by business owners, it's the only way I know how to work. I believe business and entrepreneurship is one of the best vehicles for providing education and economic opportunity at once. If we have the education we need it provides us the knowledge or foundation we need to take action. I have also seen how the lack fair economic opportunities have marginalized many, thus benefiting few. If we can make this more widespread, I believe, many of the challenges and inequities we see in our world today, would no longer exist. And money is the tool we use to accomplish most of the goals and dreams we have in our lives, which makes this knowledge crucial to our success.

Believing that business and entrepreneurship provides solutions to many of the challenges we face in society, I have built my company on this premise. Independent Strategists is born from the belief that if we provide the tools for business to succeed, we will have a stronger economy and economic opportunity will be more wide spread. Its purpose is twofold: One, provide business with the tools and solutions that make our businesses stronger and more efficient, having a greater economic impact in our communities. Two provide opportunities for those individuals who want to be in business for themselves a chance to do so without high risk. In doing so we are directly benefiting the majority, individuals and business, at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), leveling the playing field by lowering the barriers to entry.

When you get a chance please visit our business website, we’d really love to hear from you www.independentstrategists.com. You can also read more about my busines philosophy at www.dasfadventures.com.

NYWSE Incubator Venture “PublicStuff” Selected for $50,000 Investment by the Fast Forward Fund

NYWSE Incubator Venture “PublicStuff” Selected for $50,000 Investment by the Fast Forward Fund First Round of Youth-to-Youth Investment in Social Enterprise Field PublicStuff to move into prototype development to improve government services and community life

June 2, 2009 (NY, NY):  New York Women Social Entrepreneurs (NYWSE) announced today that one of its Incubator Program companies, PublicStuff (www.publicstuff.org), was selected for a $50,000+ investment over two years by the Fast Forward Fund (FFF) in its first investment round.

PublicStuff is an online portal that connects people with their local governments to improve public services and community life.  PublicStuff is a low-cost system which meets the needs and budgets of the small and mid-sized local government market. 

NYWSE Incubator Social Entrepreneurs Master Image Management

The Stylist blogger Busting Diva says: “Style is absolutely essential in developing a personal brand. It often affects the rise or fall of a model, movie star, designer or performing artist.” Skillful image management of entrepreneurs is also a reality of the social media age. And social entrepreneurs are not immune.

On Saturday April 4, The New York Women Social Entrepreneurs (NYWSE) Incubator Program held its first photo-shoot at Baruch College, helping to give participants a competitive advantage when representing their brand and pitching to potential partners and funders. Seven women participated, including Keren Perry-Shamir, Ami Desai, Caitlin Dean, Morena Vattuone, Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa, and Lily Liu. Staff and models all had a blast but could not have done it without our friends Jacques Cornell and Steve Hart of Happening Photos and stylist Tijana Beca.  The results, below, speak for themselves.

Lily Liu of Public Stuff wins by learning to go with the flow

My blog post: The NYWSE Incubator Program has helped my venture take advantage of many unexpected opportunities

I am currently in the process of starting a company called PublicStuff, and we wouldn’t be making the kind of progress we are if it were not for our participation in the NWYSE Incubator Program. Our product is a website that aims to connect people with their local governments, so that everyone can participate in the development of their communities. The Incubator Program’s classes and learning tools have allowed me to learn and grow tremendously and has been alternatively a humbling and enlightening experience. Being part of a multi-generational team has created opportunities for genuine collaboration that have lead to professional development and learning. While not all the newly found opportunities were completely aligned with our working plan, sometimes the unexpected can be the most fulfilling and productive.

One of the most important lessons I've learned throughout this entrepreneurial experience is to be open to any opportunities that come my way. This may seem like an obvious piece of advice, but to truly embrace it, I believe, can be life-changing. I am by no means advocating for you to go out and say yes to every opportunity, but some of the most unlikely opportunities can lead to extremely rewarding and meaningful experiences.