Activities for the upcoming Women's Entrepreneurship Week in Milwaukee include a pitch competition, panel discussions focusing on women in technology, and a question and answer session with women business owners.
The event was previously scheduled to take place in May, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was postponed to take place between November 17-20. Last year's event surpassed 2,700 attendees across roughly 70 events in Milwaukee.
This year's event, organized by co-founders Jackie Hermes, CEO of Accelity Marketing, Christina Haidemenos, the client success manager at Milwaukee tech startup Socialeads, and Jenny Weeden, director of strategy and operations at Accelity, will be held virtually because of the pandemic.
Here are five events highlighting the week's activities:
Nov. 18
Breaking the Gender Barrier in Tech: A panel of tech experts, including Kathy Heinrich, the CEO of Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition, Glenn Reid, the CEO of Milwaukee-based Marathon Machines and a former software engineer at Apple Inc. who worked closely with Steve Jobs, and Rashi Khosla, founder and CEO of Waukesha-based MARs Solutions Group, will discuss how companies can break the gender barrier.
Nov. 19
WEW MKE Virtual Pitch Competition: Five women-businesses in Wisconsin will have five minutes to pitch their business. First place wins $5,000 cash, marketing and business strategy consulting, a one-year membership to Scale Up Milwaukee, an initiative under the Greater Milwaukee Committee; second place wins $2,000 cash, one year membership to The Business Co-working Lounge, and marketing and business strategy consulting, and the audience favorite will win cash from ticket proceeds, one month free of co-working space and online coaching.
Ingredients to a Successful Business: Entrepreneurs Wendy Alexander, Shivani Chokshi and Cree Robinson, all women of color, will talk about how they grew their businesses, what women startup founders can expect, and the different business strategies they took.
Women / Womxn in Food Business Leadership: Caitlin Cullen, the owner of The Tandem, a restaurant in Milwaukee and a 2018 Milwaukee Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree, will be among four women talking about their food business, how they've navigated their business during the pandemic, along with answering questions from the audience.
Nov 20
To Bootstrap or to Raise? Considerations in a Covid-19 World: A panel of women business founders and investment managers featuring Amanda DoAmaral, founder and CEO of Milwaukee online education startup Fiveable; Carol Vance, CEO and founder of Milwaukee tech company Alinea Engage; Dana Guthrie, managing partner of Gateway Capital; and MC Razaire, an associate at Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, the venture capital arm of Northwestern Mutual, will talk about the journey toward raising capital.
