Financing for Entrepreneurship
Welcome to the 2022 Career Girls Financing for Entrepreneurship Virtual Camp. From July 12 – 15, Career Girls welcomed campers to the Financing for Entrepreneurship Virtual Camp. Girls explored the building blocks of financing entrepreneurship, understanding how lenders decide whether or not to invest in a company, pitching for investment as a startup company, and finance for solopreneurs. Campers had the opportunity to engage directly with women leaders in the world of finance, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Each girl learned how to create a business model, and a pitch deck, and explored what investors are looking for in a viable company. A special thank you to entrepreneur and Ph.D. student Diondraya Taylor for volunteering her time to help produce and host the camp!
Watch this short video to enjoy camp highlights.
Tuesday, July 12
Topic: Introduction to Financing for Entrepreneurship
Download the Glossary of Terms as your pre-camp reading for Tuesday here.
Tuesday Role Model Experts
Diondraya Taylor
Diondraya Taylor is an education Ph.D. student at UCLA and the founder of Mindset & Milestones: a social enterprise focusing on entrepreneurship education for girls! As she fell in love with the startup space through her role with different startups, she recognized entrepreneurship as an amazing tool to encourage innovation, goal setting, and boldness in girls at a time when gender inequity is still a reality. In her research, she focuses on risk-taking for young women in STEM and tries to understand their engagement in relation to the identities they hold. Between her business and her research, she is committed to the development of girls and the advancement of women in society.
Dr. Silvia Mah
Dr. Silvia Mah is a founding partner of Ad Astra Ventures, that aims to “get to even” for high achieving women. Focused on “Impact with Integrity”, Silvia is the founder & Chairwoman of Stella Labs, an accelerator for women-owned businesses; founding member of Stella Angels, a female angel investment group; Investment Committee member of Next Wave Impact, a social impact venture fund; and an angel investor to over 120+ startups who have diverse founders on the leadership team.
Dr. Mah is most recently, the new Director of Innovation at Biola University focus on accelerating social innovation in the region. Dr. Mah’s own success includes producing a globally-recognized podcast, She Invests!, highlighting the investment journeys of female angel investors and venture capitalists & the inaugural Fund Manager for the San Diego Angel Conference Fund I, a new angel fund to activate regional capital from aspiring and existing angel investors.
Dr. Mah formerly served as the President & COO of Connect w/San Diego Venture Group and serving for 2 years as the Student Programs Diversity Director at the Office of Innovation and Commercialization’s The Basement, a technology accelerator for undergraduate startups at UCSD. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Dr. Mah believes in integrating family and work to create a lifestyle that serves both with a strong cup of integrity.
Wednesday, July 13
Topic: Entrepreneur & Venture Capitalist Perspectives
Wednesday Role Model
Diondraya Taylor
Diondraya Taylor is an education Ph.D. student at UCLA and the founder of Mindset & Milestones: a social enterprise focusing on entrepreneurship education for girls! As she fell in love with the startup space through her role with different startups, she recognized entrepreneurship as an amazing tool to encourage innovation, goal setting, and boldness in girls at a time when gender inequity is still a reality. In her research, she focuses on risk-taking for young women in STEM and tries to understand their engagement in relation to the identities they hold. Between her business and her research, she is committed to the development of girls and the advancement of women in society.
Thursday, July 14
Topic: Entrepreneur Pitch for Finances
Thursday Role Models
Samantha Pantazopoulos
Sam is a social entrepreneur who started her company, Vizer, in her dorm room while studying abroad. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Vizer, Sam is leading a social wellness movement to help people lead healthful lives through increased exercise and access to healthy food. Sam is a brand strategist and connector of people and ideas. Sam started her first business at 8 years old, and in 2017, graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA). She is a multi-time social entrepreneurship award winner, and was named the
Rising Star Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2019 Women’s Venture Summit.
Diondraya Taylor
Diondraya Taylor is an education Ph.D. student at UCLA and the founder of Mindset & Milestones: a social enterprise focusing on entrepreneurship education for girls! As she fell in love with the startup space through her role with different startups, she recognized entrepreneurship as an amazing tool to encourage innovation, goal setting, and boldness in girls at a time when gender inequity is still a reality. In her research, she focuses on risk-taking for young women in STEM and tries to understand their engagement in relation to the identities they hold. Between her business and her research, she is committed to the development of girls and the advancement of women in society.
Friday, July 15
Topic: Entrepreneurial Finance for Solopreneurs
Friday Role Models
Diondraya Taylor
Diondraya Taylor is an education Ph.D. student at UCLA and the founder of Mindset & Milestones: a social enterprise focusing on entrepreneurship education for girls! As she fell in love with the startup space through her role with different startups, she recognized entrepreneurship as an amazing tool to encourage innovation, goal setting, and boldness in girls at a time when gender inequity is still a reality. In her research, she focuses on risk-taking for young women in STEM and tries to understand their engagement in relation to the identities they hold. Between her business and her research, she is committed to the development of girls and the advancement of women in society.
Yanely Espinal
Yanely Espinal, director of educational outreach, Next Gen Personal Finance; creator, MissBeHelpful.
Born and raised by Dominican immigrant parents in Brooklyn, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She received a full scholarship to Brown University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2011. As a Teach For America corps member, Yanely taught third and fourth grade in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and later received her master’s degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2013. After paying off $20,000 of credit card debt, she discovered a passion for financial literacy and created an educational YouTube channel, called MissBeHelpful.
Yanely currently serves as the director of educational outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance. In her spare time, Yanely loves to listen to audio books and podcasts, dance, sew, and babysit her eight nieces and nephews.