Women’s History Month is an opportunity to reflect on the women who’ve come before us; those who’ve been driving change, scaling heights, and breaking barriers for centuries.
The legacy of women in entrepreneurship and innovation is incredible – just checkout 16 Legendary Women Entrepreneurs to learn about some of the greats.
But, equally incredible are the women who are leading change in our very own communities RIGHT NOW. This list shines a light on ways U-M students can network, connect, and share ideas with other women.
Explore this deep-dive of 4 Ann Arbor and U-M Resources for women by women and find your community today!
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The Center for Entrepreneurship and the School of Information are hosting a Women’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Networking Event.
This One’s for the Girls: a networking event will feature guest speaker Marianna Kerppola, Founder and CEO of Poisera. Poisera helps moms forge their own journey. Through daily, personalized check-in conversations, we help moms navigate the highs and lows of pregnancy and postpartum.
RSVP today for a chance to network, connect, and share ideas and meet other women in tech and hear about their journey.
*We support inclusive definitions of “women” and welcome all people who identify as women, including transgender and non-binary women.
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To The Moon – a pro-bono, student-run consulting group that works to support underrepresented students and founders by building, training, and matching teams of young women and non-binary students in high school and college from across the country with women and non-binary owned businesses to work on 10-week long consulting projects.
Deeksha Gollamudi (B.A. ‘22) founded To The Moon after her own experience seeing a lack of women and minority representation in business and the absence of opportunities for direct social impact while in school.
“To The Moon aims to break down the barriers to opportunity by improving the diversity of entrepreneurial ecosystems. A clear need has emerged to inspire young women and nonbinary students to be the leaders and CEO’s of tomorrow. More now than ever, underrepresented students need support and experience so they can launch entrepreneurial ventures and gain key interpersonal skills like confidence, public speaking, and leadership. Encouraging the ideas of young women is important, as their voices are instrumental in solving pertinent issues and empowering overlooked and underinvested communities.”
How to Get Involved:
We’re currently running our second cohort, and plan on recruiting clients and students for our Fall 2022 cohort starting in July 2022. To keep up with all things To The Moon, people can follow us on Instagram (@tothemoon_group). We’re also always looking for speakers to come in and share their experiences with our members, so they can always email Deeksha (dxg@umich.edu) to reach out.
Advice From Deeksha:
“Always demand representation, attention, and access, as well as ensure that you not only create space at the table for yourself, but for others as well to follow in your footsteps to maximize social impact and change.”
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Shine & Rise – an organization dedicated to making a meaningful impact on gender diversity in the tech and startup ecosystem – with a focus in the midwest. We cultivate community, create content, and put on programming to meet our vision.
Shine & Rise began with a small group of women gathering together to share experiences, frustrations, joys, and friendship. The founders, Alison Todak and Kristina Oberly, quickly realized that they were not the only women in Ann Arbor looking for community and so shortly after a formal organization was born for womxn and BIPOC individuals in tech to come together.
“Having a community is so important as it is truly the one way to effectively share resources. As an already marginalized group, if we come together, our collective power is so much stronger than individuals. The more we talk to each other, the more we can learn.”
- Alison Todak, Director of Platform for Plymouth Growth
How to Get Involved:
This organization is perfect for womxn and BIPOC who are graduating from U-M and want to stay in Ann Arbor. To learn more about the organizations’ story, check out their blog posts. To connect with Shine & Rise about joining, reach out to hello@shinerise.org.
Advice From Co-Founder Alison Todak:
“Women are perfectly suited to be entrepreneurs because they know how to work hard. Entrepreneurs must know how to keep going, even when it gets tough. So, don’t be afraid to try different roles and companies through internships and projects. This is the time to experiment and get exposure to many different career paths and industries. You may not know what opportunities exist if you try to stay on a defined path. “Just try it on!”
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Renew CS is a free mentoring program with the goal of improving the success of women and non-binary students in computer science (ENGR 101, EECS 183, EECS 203, and EECS 280). The program offers weekly remote help sessions as well as monthly special topic sessions, such as debugging and recruiting, run by undergraduate students.
How to Get Involved:
Renew CS is looking for students interested in mentorship! If you’d like to get involved as a mentee, fill out this form. To hear from two mentors about their experience with Renew CS, check out this video.
Advice From Barbara:
“Don’t be afraid of failure. Learn from it. There are many different things that you can do with computer science. Find something you enjoy.”
If you’re looking for more ways to get involved with other women interested in entrepreneurship at U-M, visit cfe.umich.edu/ecosystem-convening to find more events.