In 2016, at the age of 13, I had the opportunity to attend Amazon's first Women Entrepreneurs Conference. I listened to stories by female entrepreneurs about the lack of representation, lack of funding, and lack of mentorship they experienced. It was here that I realized how lucky I had been to be surrounded by female role models and entrepreneurs my entire life. I knew I owed it to other young women to help them gain the same exposure.

As I became invested in promoting female entrepreneurship, the information I uncovered was startling. Only 2.3 percent of venture capital goes to female led startups. Venture capitalists invested almost $200 billion in companies with all-male founders in 2020 and women received just $4.9 billion in venture capital investment. (source: Crunchbase). Only 16% of angel capital goes to female led startups and 84% of the decision makers at venture capital firms are men. (source: NAWB/Crunchbase)

This is why I founded Girls Who Start – to inspire young women across the country and globally to become entrepreneurs.  The goal is to provide exposure to female entrepreneurs, provide tools and tips about how to start a company or organization, and create a global community of young women interested in entrepreneurship.  We need more female entrepreneurs.  And we need more as founders, investors, and creators.  We need to start now!