Seven months ago, our lives were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, we have clear evidence that the brunt of its economic impact in the United States has been borne by women. Last month, 865,000 women left the workforce – four times more than the equivalent number of men. Venture funding for women-founded companies has […] [...]
There are moments in life so dark that positivity is tone deaf. We planned to kick off the 2020 Champion Awards today. Instead, we pause. Because the need of the hour is a different kind of action. We invite everyone in our community to practice active allyship, not just today but every day. The true […] [...]
I was in San Francisco last Friday and Saturday as the news escalated. After weeks of seeing it unfold from afar, we were facing real threats of a novel coronavirus outbreak in the USA. And it was starting right in my hometown of Seattle. Meanwhile, work goes on. I was in the Bay Area for […] [...]
Despite substantial work and progress across many fronts, ours included, the percentage of venture capital invested in women founders has barely budged in the past 3 years. In a system as entrenched as this one, change is slow and hard to see in the short term. We measure leading indicators and trust that they will […] [...]
It all started with a common sponsor. Just over two years ago I secured a sponsorship for FFA from Project W, an initiative by the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP led by partner Lynn Loacker. Lynn has since become one of our biggest supporters and Project W has been our sponsor 3 years in […] [...]
FFA made magic happen this year. 2019 was a year of accomplishments at a level that I have always wished for but never really expected. I mean that honestly. Because it doesn’t just take a good person and hard work to achieve great things – I learned that lesson in the first 20 years of […] [...]
It didn’t occur to me to write a blog post in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month because, up until recently, I wasn’t Hispanic American. I was just Hispanic. I was born and raised in Costa Rica, a tiny nation that nonetheless knows leadership. Even as every one of our neighbors spiraled into dictatorships and […] [...]
There’s a trend we’ve noticed among the grittiest founders: once they fall in love with an idea, they become determined and refuse to ever admit defeat. Normally this is the stuff of success stories. But there’s a troubling side to it too – founders that keep going, working on it slowly for years, without ever […] [...]
Today is a special day. And not just because it’s Monday! We are down to the final hours of the application period for Ready Set Raise 2019. In just under two days, once all your data is in, we get to learn about hundreds of companies led by women and non-binary founders. Because of them, […] [...]
My daughter turned two months old yesterday, and even though we are still squarely in the “fourth trimester” stage, this is when most moms in the US prepare to go back to work. Assuming, that is, they had the privilege of taking any time off at all. How do women CEOs take maternity leave? If […] [...]
