Archive for Female Empowerment

Jui Khankar- AInspire

Oak Brook teen receives Diana Award for nonprofit focusing on AI ...

Imagine if at 16 years old you decided to start a company that helps others learn more about artificial intelligence. Well, that’s what Jui Khankar did with AInspire when she was only 16 years old! AInspire is a nonprofit that helps students to explore and familiarize themselves with AI better all for free! But how big of an impact does AInsipre have in our lives? Well, AInspire has helped to serve over 26,000 students in all 50 states and even 91 countries! Jui also works with a team of 11 other women who are helping to make a difference with AI. She started this nonprofit after attending a summer camp at Stanford University when she was a high school freshman. As more time went on, she had a desire to learn more about AI and how it can further medicine and the future. At first, Jui didn’t find a whole lot of sources and research opportunities about artificial intelligence, especially for beginners wanting to know more. Soon she created AInspire.org and started to help others learn more about AI and its possibilities. Artificial intelligence keeps developing as technology improves, and so does our future. With the rapid development of AI, Jui realized the importance of gaining more knowledge on the topic and concept to help beginners learn more about where the future of AI can take us. With utilizing AI, the future could improve a lot because it can help out businesses to simplify running their businesses.  With AInspire, Jui uses lessons and activities to help others grasp the concept of AI with the technical, comprehension, and interpersonal skills that are needed to have a career in the 21st century. Jui also started an AI club at Hinsdale Central. The program is targeted more towards middle and high school students but it’s also available for everyone too. Since AI is being integrated into our everyday lives, it’s better to get a head start on learning about it now. So, since AI is slowly being added everywhere, she wanted to make AInspire free for everyone. AInspire has been seen on NBC, Chicago Sun Times, FOX 32 Chicago, The Hinsdalean, Chicago Tribune, Swiss Cognitive, and much more! You can check out AInspire here!

Sources:

AInspire

Jui Khankari

Ask an expert – JUI KHANKARI, NONPROFIT FOUNDER – The Hinsdalean

Oak Brook teen receives Diana Award for nonprofit focusing on AI education – Chicago Sun-Times

Alinea- Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani

Have you ever wanted to try out investing but was never taught very well, or do you want to know how to make some money passively? If you’re curious to learn more about investing, then Alinea is the solution for you! Alinea was founded by Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi when they were only just 24 years old! They came up with the idea in class at Barnard College, Columbia University because they noticed that some of their classmates didn’t want to invest because they didn’t know a lot about it. They also realized that not knowing a lot about investing shouldn’t stop you from trying so they created Alinea, but what is Alinea? Alinea is an investing app that was created with Gen Z’s in mind to help them grow their investments. Alinea is also backed up by Harvard, Goodwater, Kima, Y Combinator and many others. Eve and Anam created this app because it can hard and tricky to understand financial markets, especially today. The internet and technology keep growing, and so do the opportunities to make money. Alinea is a great way for new investors to get more familiar with the stock market and they also offer an “inclusive community for new investors.”

In the app, there’s personalized investing recommendations and caters towards different demographics and generations. Another cool feature of the app is how users can even start investing with as little as $1 for fractional shares of stocks and EFTs. Not every investing app lets you start off with $1, and with the starting price being so low the risks are also pretty low. Alinea also has a feature called “playlists” that are groups of stocks that can be customized based on what your values or lifestyles are. There’s even the option to invest in female-founded companies and many others. Over the years, this app has $2.1 million in funding from a lot of strategic investors and even Hardvard! Alinea is SEC registered investment advisor, FINRA & SIPC Insured as a drivewealth partner, and bank-level security, and SSL & 256-bit encryption. Having all of these features makes investing safer and easier, with lower risks and a whole lot of learning without the stress! With an annual membership only being $96, you can get access to a whole lot of support and learning opportunities on how to invest! Check out their website here!

Sources:

ALINEA INVEST : FOUNDING STORY | Alinea Invest: Social Investing App for GenZ

ALINEA, NEW FEMALE-FOUNDED FINTECH AND Y COMBINATOR BACKED APP, REINVENTS CREATIVE INVESTING FOR GEN Z

Morgan Lerner and Annie Slabotsky- GoNanas

Have you ever recalled the last time you had a good slice of banana bread? Was the banana bread really good and was it healthy for you too? Well, if your banana bread wasn’t super good or healthy for you, GoNanas has you covered! GoNanas is banana bread that’s actually good for you and it’s also gluten free, vegan, and allergen friendly. How many banana bread companies can you think of that can hit all these points? Not many brands target all these points, and most banana bread aren’t always gluten free either. GoNanas was founded by Morgan Lerner and Annie Slabotsky, when they were freshmen in college at the University of Michigan. They both noticed the lack of how there weren’t a lot of healthy food options on campus and they both also loved banana bread. They began their journey by creating a banana bread recipe that was healthy, and it took them three years to get it just right. After they perfected the recipe, they started selling single-serve loaves around their campus and Michigan. They both moved to Chicago after graduating but the pandemic forced them to close indefinitely. They had a lot of ingredients left over in their inventory and a bunch of customers that missed the banana bread. So, Morgan and Annie came out with a new product line of banana bread mixes just as banana bread became the “official comfort food of the Coronavirus.” They soon launched their product with Nordstrom Rack and went viral on social media. GoNanas was featured in Forbes, Buzzfeed, and even USA Today!

Standard Size Baking MixesBut what else makes GoNanas unique? They are a women-owned startup, and they help to empower other small business owners! They also swapped out artificial and refined ingredients for healthier and simpler alternatives that make their banana bread taste even better! They also now sell different banana bread flavor mixes like birthday cake, cinnamon roll, strawberry caramel, and more! They even launched some cookie mixes like lemon shortbread and chocolate chip! You can find more about their delicious products here!

Sources:

Morgan Lerner and Annie Slabotsky of GoNanas: Five Things I Learned As a TwentySomething Founder | by Jerome Knyszewski | Authority Magazine | Medium

About | GoNanas – GoNanas (eatgonanas.com)

Our Story – GoNanas (eatgonanas.com)

Billie Eilish, a Genre-Defying Musician

Billie Eilish holding several awards

Billie Eilish wearing one of her odd outfits and holding a trio of trophies.

Billie Eilish began her career in music when she was only fourteen years old, making a splash with the single Ocean Eyes. It was uploaded to SoundCloud to be listened to for free by anyone, and within only a few weeks it had accrued a million plays. Billie Eilish, whose full name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell, rejects many of the standards for what a billboard topping artist can look and sound like. Eilish has a unique sense of style, frequently matching baggy and brightly colored and patterned clothes with large and eccentric jewelry. She is inspired by Pop, Industrial, EDM, and Jazz, among other music genres. The result is something timeless and innovative, what some call a whole new genre. Much of her songs and lyrics which are now trending internationally were first written in her home in collaboration with her brother. (He releases music separately as part of a band called The Slightlys.)

Billie Eilish is a very creative person. Eilish speaks in an interview with Noisey about how she gets many ideas from her strange dreams. She was homeschooled, enjoying horseback riding, dance, and singing. In her youth, she was a fan of Anime, specifically the movie Spirited Away. Billie Eilish has an impressive record when it comes to acclaim, trophies, and awards. She has had her music appear in 13 Reasons Why and Barbie (2023). She is the youngest person to win the Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year awards at the Grammy’s. Though her career has been highly successful, it has not been a very long one. As of yet, Eilish has only released three studio albums over eight years of music making. She’s just twenty-two years old currently, and has the potential to be a mainstay in the Pop music world, continuing to bring new, dark combinations of sound onto the billboard charts. She can be an example to us all that if you pursue your ideas (no matter how strange) with enough passion and vision, you can find an audience. Put yourself out there, and share your ideas!

 

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HmFgsLjpnM

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/4/18/18412282/who-is-billie-eilish-explained-coachella-2019

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billie-Eilish

Rajia Abdelaziz: Co-founder of InvisaWear

Have you ever been in a scary situation like walking back to your car at night and then someone jumps out of their car and starts to approach you? Well, this happened to cofounder Rajia Abdelaziz after a night out during college. She was walking back to her car during the night after an event at college and a car full of guys stopped and started catcalling her and one even got out of the car and started walking towards her. After surviving this scary night, she realized that she didn’t have a lot of time to call for help using her phone and that all the panic buttons on the market weren’t fashionable or subtle. So, what did she do with this information? She created her own jewelry line selling fashionable and everyday accessories that have safety devices disguised underneath. Her product, InvisaWear, was soon founded with the help of her co-founder Ray Hamilton.

Star Burst Charm Necklace

InviaWear was made with the intent of keeping people safer, especially when we’re in tough situations and we can’t access our phones to call for help. Rajia wanted to make the world a safer place to be in, and didn’t want other people to suffer when they needed help during difficult situations. Statistics show that around 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 7 men get attacked at some point during their life. That’s a lot of people who get attacked, which caused such a spark that InvisaWear has been featured on ABC News, CBS, Good Morning America, and WBZ. InvisaWear has also made national headlines for helping to save a young woman’s life when she was in a car accident. There are so many other success stories about InvisaWear saving other people’s lives, and this was all thanks to Rajia Abdelaziz after she realized that there was a need for more safety panic buttons. Rajia’s company doesn’t just sell jewelry, she also sells pepper sprays, and other self-defense products to keep others safe. InvisaWear believes “that everyone deserves to feel safe and secure”, and Rajia did just that! You can check out her website and shop here! 

Sources:

Why We Created invisaWear – Our Founder Rajia’s Story – invisaWear®

WoW Woman in Wearable Tech I Rajia Abdelaziz, founder of invisaWear — WOMEN OF WEARABLES

Monika Dharia- Founder/CEO of EcoRain Poncho

Imagine coming up with and launching a business idea straight from your dorm room based off an issue with ponchos! Well, that’s what Monika Dharia did in 2016 as a sophomore at Duke. Monika Dharia studied environmental engineering, entrepreneurship, and economics during her time at Duke. She first realized that it rains a lot on the campus and went from thinking about renting umbrellas for free to eventually thinking about no plastic-based ponchos. She noticed that there was a problem with disposable petroleum-based products, especially with the ponchos. But how can you make a rain poncho more eco-friendly? And how can you make a poncho that’s different than any other poncho? Well, the answer lies in renewable materials and responsible packaging to help this ongoing issue. EcoRain Ponchos are sustainable ponchos that help to lower greenhouse gas emissions as well as being reusable and recyclable. These ponchos are responsibly sourced from Brazil made from sugarcane ethanol. What else also makes these ponchos unique? It’s that Monika made sure to include that the packaging for the ponchos is plastic free and made from FSC-certified recycled kraft paper. Soy based ink also helps to make their paper packaging easier to recycle. How many other companies that sell ponchos have unlimited uses because they’re 100% recyclable and is great for the environment? Not many other companies have thought of innovative ideas like Monika has! Monika has also won $35,000 in funding for her ponchos, but things started getting tough during the pandemic. Eventually she pulled through after getting a partnership with GreenGear. But it doesn’t stop there, because she also got a partnership with the Eagles and Braskem! So far, her ponchos have made an impact by fulfilling orders with Duke, Yale, North Carolina FC, the Eagles, and even some national parks like Yellowstone and Zion! Monika Dharia’s ideas and innovations towards the poncho market are groundbreaking, and it’s no surprise thanks to her entrepreneurial and environmental engineering skills! From an idea to reducing plastic in ponchos to being “the first 100% sugarcane-based poncho.” Monika has also been featured in Forbes 30 under 30, and in 2023 they have donated $11k to nonprofit organizations. If you still thought that was amazing, their business is also a minority and woman owned small business while also being 1% for the Planet members. So, Monika proves that if you see a need that can be fulfilled and even improved in the process to be more eco-friendly, to take a chance because your idea might be as great as an EcoRain Poncho!

Check out the EcoRain Poncho website here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Sustainable Rain Ponchos & Bags | GreenGear Supply Co.

Women ‘Green-Sports-Preneurs’: Monika Dharia, Founder of GreenGear – GreenSportsBlog

Forbes 30 Under 30 2024: Social Impact

The Sweetest Devotion: Ashley Hetherington’s Journey as a Christ-Centered Influencer

Struggling to find her footing on a path through a season of worldly pressures and broken relationships, Ashley Hetherington was a young woman on the hunt for meaning and purpose, an unconscious search for her Lord burning from a heart of confusion riddled with footholds. But now, standing on the other side of this mountain of turmoil, is an emboldened 24-year-old woman of God whose radiant passion for Christ shines through her efforts as an influencer, author, and content creator. This renewed relationship with God that grew from one of the darkest periods of Ashley’s life has lit in her a fervor for helping other young women come to terms with fighting their own battles, especially concerning faith.

Hetherington has achieved this through business initiatives that, initially, took a leap of faith to pursue wholeheartedly; graduating from Miami University with a degree in interactive media studies and journalism and thus armed to aid in the growth of other companies, she never thought her own writing and social media presence would grow into anything more than a hobby and college pastime. But keeping God central to the trajectory of her life and career has led to a fruition of and full-time devotion to this mission through many outlets.

Ashley’s simple aim has been to encourage her fellow sisters in Christ, citing Proverbs 16:24: “Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”  She orchestrates a variety of media to reach her followers, including several bestselling books and eBooks, an online blog called “The Honey Scoop”, social media channel (accessible through Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook), a podcast, and a free email subscription for weekly devotionals called “The Hive.” Additionally, Hetherington has a premium Bible study deemed “The Tree”, which includes a daily Bible reading plan, weekly devotional video, monthly group calls with women from across the globe, and access to recommended worship playlists, podcasts, and book recommendations. Ashley’s content, especially “The Tree”, reaches thousands of women from all over every year, uniting them under the purpose of growing into stronger, faith-filled daughters of Christ.

Notably, amidst this success, Hetherington always offers this glory back to Christ. She stated in an interview with Peer Magazine, “I’ll never forget that in one of the lessons [at Miami University], we were taught we are in the business of effort and God is in the business of result so it’s on us to put in the effort. To put in the work, to do the time, to be consistent, to innovate, to network, to show up every day, but God is in the business of results.” In Zero to One, Peter Theil remarks on “the guiding concepts of business”, among these principles being that “it is better to risk boldness than triviality (p. 20).” Ashley Hetherington is living a life and guiding a mission that testifies to the truth in this notion—whatever the internal struggles and external obstacles someone faces, a heart and business built on the Rock will flourish in His perfect timing for the glory of His kingdom.

Debbie Sterling & “GoldieBlox”

Debbie Sterling (now 40) started her business “GoldieBlox,” at age 29 in 2012. GoldieBlox creates toys that introduce children (especially girls) to STEM at a young age. Their website includes categories of toys targeted at various ages ranging from 0-10 years.

As an engineering student at Stanford, Sterling couldn’t help but notice that she was one of the only girls in the department. Even worse, when it came to the hands-on part of her engineering classes, she struggled a lot more than the men did. Sterling realized the problem: boys grow up playing with hands-on, STEM-like toys (such as construction toys), but girls don’t. So, Sterling wanted to find a way to introduce young girls to STEM.

To solve this problem, Sterling created the first-ever girl engineering character: GoldieBlox. The “GoldieBlox” toy included a girl-targeted construction kit paired with a book that told a story about Goldie while guiding in the use of the toy.

Early on, Sterling faced rejection of her “GoldieBlox” toy at the International Toy Fair in NYC. Many people told her that girls “only want to play with princesses;” a STEM-related toy wouldn’t sell. However, Sterling truly believed in her idea, so she posted it on Kickstarter–and it was met with huge support. GoldieBlox received large amounts of funding and media coverage.

As GoldieBlox gained more sales and popularity, it received astounding recognition. GoldieBlox had a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, won a free Super Bowl commercial, and was honored by the President.

Debbie Sterling is an incredible example of a young entrepreneur. She encountered a true problem and realized that it doesn’t just affect her, but also all little girls everywhere. Then, she applied a unique solution that no one else had discovered. Even after facing initial rejection, Sterling didn’t give up; she stayed true to herself and persevered, as all young entrepreneurs often have to.

Hannah Grace – Founder of BeaYOUtiful

In 2016, young Hannah Grace was challenged by her dad to make her own beauty products. This challenge was brought up because Hannah was growing an interest in bath bombs and her dad encouraged her to make them herself. Right away, Hannah jumped on the opportunity to make her own. 

When Hannah Grace was 11 months old, she was diagnosed with Diabetes type 1. Her parents were worried about how she would grow up with her health issues, but they never stopped Hannah. She grew up to be a determined young girl and eventually became a CEO of her own company with her bath bomb-making skills. Now only 14, Hannah is doing whatever she sets her mind to and is still a successful young entrepreneur. 

Dressember Foundation – Blythe Hill

What started out as a personal fashion challenge to wear a dress every day the month of December, turned into an international organization and effort to combat human trafficking. Blythe Hill was deeply troubled by the rising problem of human trafficking but felt lost about how she could help without some kind of legal or social work background. Her passions included fashion, trends, and blogging, and she could not see how these skills would aide in the fight to end human trafficking. As she was asked about her fashion challenge, she began to realize the impact such choices could have. What we wear is an expression to the world and Blythe realized she could harness this to do good. Friends began to join her in the challenge and Blythe decided this was how she would get involved. Dressember was born with the goal of starting conversations to raise awareness and funds to fight human trafficking. Soon there were participants from all over the world wearing a dress every day the month of December to raise awareness about human trafficking. The organization has now raised 16 million dollars and as over a million donors and advocates.

The Dressember Foundation partners with other organizations around the world, such International Justice Mission, who use the money raised by Dressember. Blythe saw a problem in the world and used her unique interests and skill set to make a difference through a new and unconventional way.

https://www.dressember.org/