Women Entrepreneurship Founder Series

WE Founder Series

This series of interviews with company founders is designed to motivate emerging entrepreneurs and support inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems by:


1. Addressing stereotypes about entrepreneurship and what an entrepreneur looks like
2. Engaging in dialogue about factors impacting female and other under-represented entrepreneurs 
3. Listening and learning from each other

Special Event

Women Entrepreneurship Week logo

As part of Women Entrepreneurship Week 2021, we have a special LIVE On-line edition of the TXST Founder Series with CEO and Founder of The Mentor Method, Janice Omadeke, on Oct 22nd from 11:00AM - Noon CST. The event is free and open to all students, faculty, and community of entrepreneurially-minded people.

Janice Omakeke, CEO and Founder of The Mentor Method

 

photo of Janice Omakeke

 

Janice Omadeke is the CEO and Founder of The Mentor Method, an enterprise platform helping companies keep and develop their diverse talent using the proven power of mentorship. The company recently raised over $1M in Seed funding, making US history as one of the first 100 Black women to raise over $1M in institutional VC funding. Black Enterprise recognizes Janice as one of DC’s top 5 black women in tech. She has also been featured in Forbes as - Forbes Next 1000 class of 2021, Entrepreneur magazine, and she was a subject matter expert at the 2016 White House Summit on Building the Tech Workforce of Tomorrow. Janice is certified in Entrepreneurship from MIT, and is PMP certified with over 10 years of corporate leadership experience for Fortune 500 companies.


Check out all our previous interviews!

Darsha Ham, COO & Co-Founder Melanoid Exchange

Shopping where your dollar matters. Melanoid Exchange is the premier place to connect entrepreneurs of color with the world and to support those entrepreneurs with the training and skills necessary to grow their E-commerce ventures.

Darsha is a woman of faith, wife, entrepreneur, mental health advocate, and registered nurse. Her powerful story is one of inspiration and social advocacy.


Adrianna Cantu, CEO & Founder of Revealix

 Adrianna is a Texas State University alumnus whose journey has taken her from clinical medicine, to wound care specialist, to health care executive, to now inventor and entrepreneur. At Revealix, she and her team are creating mobile imaging and remote patient monitoring solutions to prevent diabetic foot wounds and amputations. Diabetic foot complications disproportionately impact communities of color and Revealix is working to eliminate these inequities.


Tarica Navarro, Founder of KINN Home

Tarica is a creative designer, amazing mother, and inspirational entrepreneur who has merged her passion for cooking and design. Her company, KINN Home, focuses on thoughtfully designed dining and home essentials to cultivate the movement toward slower, simpler living.

In this interview, she offers some great advice on how to build an effective team, leverage an entrepreneurial mindset in any business setting using a "top-down and "bottom-up" approach, and to balance the multiple roles women play in business and family.


Isis Ashford, COO & Co-Founder, Xplosion Technology

Isis is an Electrical Engineer from Prairie View A&M University, class of 2017. She and her partner founded Xplosion Technology in 2017 to develop sports technology combined with embedded systems and motion tracking technology that allows athletes to train smarter and faster. In the midst of the COVD19 pandemic, Xplosion Technology is hosting a wide range of fitness challenges to increase physical activity and overall health with the goal of preventing and reducing the impact of chronic and acute illnesses. Check out her inspirations and lessons learned from family and experiences as a young entrepreneur.


WEBINAR REPLAY: 2020 Virtual Kick-off Event

Keynote Address

Dr. Amanda Elam

Dr. Elam is a Research Fellow at the Diana International Research Institute at Babson College and President/CEO of Galaxy Diagnostics, Inc., a medical diagnostics company in North Carolina. With over 25 years of experience in the study of gender, entrepreneurship, and innovation, her research interests focus on the application of sociological theories to the study of business startup, innovation, and growth across countries and social groups, including gender, ethnicity, and immigrant status. She has published numerous research articles and a book entitled, "Gender and Entrepreneurship: A Multilevel Theory and Analysis" which was recognized for innovative thought leadership in entrepreneurship by members of the Academy of Management. In addition to running a small company and conducting research on business startup and growth, Dr. Elam also advises a number of small businesses in the life sciences sector and serves regularly on panels and presentations at industry conferences.

Building Essential Skills: Networking in a Virtual World

Jan Triplett, Ph.D. CBTAC

Dr. Triplett is the CEO of the Business Success Center (BSC) Sustainability Experts that provide proven programs to make businesses more profitable and efficient while balancing the need to care for people and the planet. She is a Certified Technical Advisor for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and a Certified Business Technical Advisor Consultant (CBTAC) for Texas Workforce Commission. She is honored as a Texas Small Business Advocate by the Small Business Administration (SBA). She was a delegate to both the White House Conference and Congressional Summit on Small Business and testified before the state and the SBA. She has led two successful international trade missions to Japan and Ecuador.

 

She helped found the Women's Chamber of Commerce and the Austin Literacy Council. She is the author of "The Networker's Guide to Success" and co-author of "Thinking Big, Staying Small and Easy to Be Green." She is a guest blogger for the Business Bank of Texas, allbusiness.com, LinkedIn, and the Austin Business Journal. She has her own blog at ownersview.com.

 

View the full Webinar

This event is FREE and open to all students, faculty, alumni, community, and general public.

The Founder Series is a partnership between Texas State's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and DivInc.

DivInc's vision is a world that is authentically diverse, equitable and inclusive, where social and economic disparities no longer exist. Their mission is to bridge the gap between underrepresented entrepreneurs and the resources they need to build profitable, high-growth companies. They mobilize communities, execute programs and establish partnerships that foster diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultures.

DivInc transforms the existing entrepreneur tech ecosystem into a more authentically inclusive environment. Through their efforts, they inspire, empower and enable underrepresented founders to build successful high growth businesses. They aim to unleash the untapped and hidden innovative talent within our communities and generate an entrepreneur mindset shift for generations to come. Read more...

Additional Resources

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2018/2019 Women's Entrepreneurship Report
by Amanda B. Elam, Candida G. Brush, Patricia G. Greene, Benjamin Baumer, Monica Dean, and René Heavlow Read More about Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2018/2019 Women's Entrepreneurship Report