In honor of International Women's Month, we're sharing why we love being a woman-owned food brand, and chatting with a few of our fave female founders to ask their take.
First, we're getting into why being a woman-owned business is still somewhat of a victorious, against-the-odds act today (although thankfully, this is becoming less and less of the case).
The Current State of Women-Owned Businesses & Leadership in the United States
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates women made up just shy of 47% of U.S. employees in 2018, yet they accounted for less than 27% of all chief executives and only 40% of all management occupations. Among women in management, nearly 84% were white, while 10.3% were Hispanic or Latina and just 3.5% were black or African American." (US News.)
In recent years, this is all changing ever-more rapidly. American Express' 2019 State of Women-Owned Businesses report estimates the total number owned by women of color has climbed by 43% from 2014 to 2019 which presents a hopeful picture for where trends are moving.
However, the average revenue of a minority-owned business headed by a woman is less than $66,000, and $219,000 for non-minority women -- and perhaps some of this is the difficulty in accessing capital to grow and scale.
The fact of the matter is, women-led is good for business!
According to Forbes, the median returns on assets and equity in 2015 were at least 74% higher in companies with female execs and board members than that of the overall group.
For International Women's Month, we're excited to illuminate some of the savvy female entrepreneurs we're lucky to start a world stage with, and why they love their identifying as woman-led. We hope that current trends will continue to favor more women to step up to the plate and take the leap to build their own businesses.
What do you love about being a woman-owned business?
Kaitlin Mogentale, founder of Pulp Pantry: "My favorite thing about being a female founder is the collective women-supporting-women mentality amongst my generation of founders. From all-women support groups digitally, female founder nights and networking groups in Los Angeles, to the lady bosses I'm lucky to be able to call on for peer-to-peer advice and support, the women in my world are a constant reminder of belonging and family."
Grace Cheng, founder of Mylk Labs: "The rewarding feeling when I realized my goals were not just dreams and that I, as a female, was able to turn my vision into a reality."
Caroline Cotto, co-founder of Renewal Mill: "I love running a woman-owned business because of the way that female-led teams operate: we lead with empathy and focus on collaboration, radically candid communication, and camaraderie, not only with each other but with fellow women in the food space and with our customers. We understand that doing our best work means taking care of the whole person, and we place high value on supporting each other, both in and out of the office. For example, my co-founder Claire had her first child last year, and it's been important to adapt our space and our routines so that she can have her son in the office growing alongside our business. Claire's experience as a mom also gave us more impetus to work on a collaborative new baby food with two other working moms at the company Square Baby. We look for opportunities to partner based on our shared experience, and I think that's something women particularly excel at. Wouldn't trade it for the world."
Erica Liu, founder of Gr8nola: "Pursuing my passion and defining success -- on MY terms. Also - female founders are an incredibly supportive bunch and even as a solo entrepreneur, I rarely feel lonely on this path because of the network I've built. Empowered women empower women."
Courtney Boyd-Meyers, co-founder of Akua: "being supported by other female founders!"
Sally Rogers, founder of Parsnip: "Nothing gives me greater joy as a female founder than encouraging other female founders to be the rockstars they know themselves to be. As women, we all spend way too much time worrying about what others think, challenging our instincts, and not taking action, so when I can champion fellow females to blaze forward with confidence and resilience, it is just the absolute best feeling!"
Brooke Rewa, founder of GoodMylk: "I love the badass community of other female founders I get to hang out with, learn from and share the highs and lows with. I also love that we are operating in a time where I have the opportunity to be proud to be a woman in business, be fearless and be supported (and do it all with bright pink hair)."
Christina Appleton, founder of Appleton's Market: "the amazing female founder community is what I love most. We have created a great feeling of 'in it together' and always help each other out."
Happy International Women's Month! May we all uplift & support the leading ladies around us.
