Female Founder of Tech Company Searches for the Fourth Female Founder to Receive Seed Funding
LONG BEACH, Calif. (PRWEB) June 28, 2018 -- On June 14, 2018 in Long Beach, Julie Fogg sponsored a mixer in Long Beach, California supporting women in tech and their allies to announce her FOUR FEMALE FOUNDERS (F3) initiative. F3 is a proof of concept program committed to building up women who have demonstrated years of developing and supporting other women's careers and organizations. “Technology touches everything, but it isn’t everything and that’s why the seed fund initiative is for women starting or running any type of organization,” said Julie Fogg, co-founder of boutique tech firm Active Port.
The chosen founders announced at the event on June 14 included: 1) Nell Merlino, creator of "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" and is launching her new initiative called "Born Worthy;" 2) Anamiria Madrigal, Founder and President, Madana Inc. a tequila manufacturer and distributor; and 3) Erika Steele, Founder Acceptance Alliance - an organization focused on critical initiatives impacting humanity, including artificial intelligence. Anamiria Madrigal said “I'm honored to be a part of the first group of female founders. It is an opportunity to unify while following in the steps of giants in this movement."
Clearly, many organizations see the value in empowering women with economic independence. On June 19, 2018 Goldman Sachs announced their pledge of $500M for female founders. The concept isn’t new. Nell Merlino, one of the chosen founders of F3 partnered with OPEN from American Express(SM) in 2005 through her initiative Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence to award resources to help women grow their businesses past $1 Million in revenues. Julie Fogg was an award recipient of Nell Merlino’s program on June 6, 2006 in San Francisco. Before that, Julie Fogg met Anamiria Madrigal, another chosen founder of F3, in an executive MBA program at UCLA Anderson in 2005. The women have supported each other’s organizations for 13 years. Both Julie and Anamiria were scholarship recipients of the Management Development for Entrepreneurs program where multiple organizations formally and informally collaborated to support the development of female entrepreneurs including Union Bank, National Association of Women Business Owners and Women’s Leadership Exchange. Julie Fogg shared "I’m grateful to all the organizations who have contributed over the years and continue to contribute including Union Bank, American Express, Goldman Sachs and more.”
ABOUT FOUR FEMALE FOUNDERS (F3)
FOUR FEMALE FOUNDERS (F3) is a springboard to fund the start-up or expansion of four women-led initiatives and companies to continue building an ecosystem of women building other women up. Some of the funds will come from Active Port, the tech firm co-founded by Julie Fogg and some of the funds will be sourced from organizations interested in supporting this movement, through contributions to SparkiCreative, a 501(c)3.
Women interested in applying to become the Fourth Female Founder in the inaugural F3 initiative can apply HERE.
Women interested in the Goldman Sachs program can read about it HERE. “The Goldman Sachs initiative isn’t linked to my initiative. Movements take time and a village. Any support makes a difference,” stated Julie Fogg chairman of SparkiCreative.
Daniel Lee, SparkiCreative, http://www.sparkicreative.org, 818-395-6272, [email protected]
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