WAFFAAn awesome behind-the-scenes look at Blackstone’s recent investment in Spanx. Did you know it was an all-women deal team that worked with powerhouse entrepreneur Sara Blakely? The team included Ann Chung WG’09, who is Managing Director and Global Head of Consumer for Blackstone Growth. Since joining Blackstone in 2020, Ann has led investments in Oatly, Weee!, Supergoop! and Walker Edison.
Super impressed and incredibly inspired! Rosalind Brewer, WMP’01, the CEO of Walgreens Boot Alliance, was named one of USA Today’s Women of the Year. Brewer is one of corporate America’s most prominent women and Black female executives. She is the only Black woman serving as chief executive of an S&P 500 company. Before that, she waschief operating officer and a board member at Starbucks. In 2019, she was appointed toAmazon’s board of directors, its fourth woman and second Black director, but she relinquished the role when she joined Walgreens.
From Penn’s Career Services news, read about Tiffany Yau, P’18, SP2’19 and her journey from Penn to Venture for America to founding an education nonprofit, Fulphil. She now works with Red & Blue Ventures, the venture capital fund that invest in early-stage tech-enabled companies from the Penn ecosystem. (Scroll down – they are partners with WAFFA and can help provide invaluable feedback to our members.)
Women Entrepreneurs Are Critical to America’s Economic Recovery – Natalie Madeira Cofield from the SBA describes how women-led businesses are a key driver of growth and some of the programs, grants and networks that are set up to support us.
Did you see that the new COO of Etsy is Raina Moskowitz, W’05? Ok, maybe Etsy isn’t quite a start-up anymore, but with the mission to “Keep Commerce Human”, they’re committed to using the power of business to strengthen communities and empower people – very often female founders.
Wilglory Tanjong! You are AMAZING!! Wilglory launched luxury purse brand Anima Iris in February 2020, made $725K in sales to date, all while being a full-time MBA student at Wharton! Beyoncé, Issa Rae, Revolve, Nordstrom, etc. – all love her bags. Watch Wilglory interviewed in “On the Side” on CNBC Make It. The line is produced in Senegal.
Big shout out to our WAFFA Board member Marina Glazman, WG’10 who just published a fascinating article in Harvard Business Review, 5 Ways Managers Sabotage the Hiring Process. It’s based on her experiences building start up teams and having worked with and mentored dozens of leaders and founders.
A panelist in our upcoming Webinar, Lulu Ge, WG’09, was just profiled in Forbes by Marija Butkovic, “Elix’s Lulu Ge On Shattering Societal Norms Around Menstrual Pain, Period Shaming And Why New Solutions Are Needed.” Elix is the first brand and platform bringing personalized Traditional Chinese Medicine to women’s health and chronic care. It’s built on the principle that pain and other discomforts are signs of underlying imbalances within our body, so by cultivating body consciousness and empowering self-healing, we can help heal our bodies from within.
And our favorite face mist, S’eau Prima, Co-Founded by Karen Hayes, WG’09, hit Allure Magazine’s top new skincare product list. Centered around a buzz-worthy ingredient called hypochlorous acid, which is naturally produced by our own white blood cells, it promises to improve skin barrier function and elevate the performance of any products you apply after it.
Check out Parents Magazine, where Superkin founders Miriam Williams (C’04 WG’15) and Tara Elwell Henning (VIP SF Spring 2020) share their insights in “What Parents Really need from Employers to Return to the Workplace“. Read more about Miriam in WAFFA/Medium and shop Superkin here at our Female Founders Shop!