Women make up more than half of the U.S. population, and control or influence 85% of consumer spending. Yet, female founded companies receive just 2% of venture capital funding. To Amrita Bhasin's point, we need more women creating the products and services we want and need, and more women in investment positions to fund them.

In this week's episode of the Future is Female, I interviewed Amrita Bhasin, co-founder of Sotira, a Saas startup building financial tools to help e-commerce businesses thrive. Her and her co-founder, Gary Kwong were students University of California, Berkeley when they first founded the business. Today, they've completed the Envision Accelerator and received funding from Soma Capital.

Connect with Amrita Bhasin: www.linkedin.com/in/amrita-bhasin/

Check out Sotira: www.sotira.co/

Find TFIF Community: www.thefutureisfemale.io/

Meet Meera Clark, she's an investor at Redpoint Ventures, former investment banker, Forbes 30 Under 30, & Kauffman Fellow ✨  

In this episode of the Future is Female, Meera and I talked all about: 

⚡ Pivoting careers from investment banking to early stage investing  

👼 How she made her first angel investments & tips for others looking to get started! 

🎗 Her favorite investment themes + how to evaluate startup opportunities + so much more!  

Special shoutout Charlotte Country Day School for making this episode possible 💚   

Connect with Meera: https://twitter.com/itsmeeraclark?s=20

2% of venture capital funding is allocated to women, and of that, roughly 0.05% to Black women. Mitchella Gilbert, MBA is 1 of 200 black women who have raised over $1M in venture capital. Her advice: ignore the stats.   

As a college athlete, Mitchella Gilbert, MBA learned that the leggings she wore daily make women 2X more likely to develop health issues. After realizing millions of women deal with the same problem, she developed Oya Femtech Apparel: the first functional athletic wear with women's health in mind.   

Mitchella Gilbert, MBA has been such an inspiration since our time together as classmates at UCLA Anderson School of Management! So, I'm especially excited to share her episode on the Future is Female 💜  

Check out Oya here: https://wearoya.com/

Find Mitch here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellagilbert/ 

Why are there so many dating apps to help us find love, but so little to help us keep it? 

At Stanford, Ali Maggioncalda studied Human Behavioral Biology and researched how to improve relationships.  

During grad school, Ali launched Lovewick: Relationship App: a new couples app that helps you learn about each other and share new experiences.  

To celebrate Valentine's day, I'm sharing my conversation with Ali, founder of Lovewick: Relationship App...and here's a sneak peak!   

💜 The common needs of couples + the Triangular Theory of Love  

🔥 Boot-strapping to over 300K registered users (~ 90% from her own TikTok!!) 

💰 Raising over $1M In pre-seed funding led by Sam Yagan (co-founder OkCupid)    

Download Lovewick: https://www.lovewick.com/

Follow Ali on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@withlovewick

After graduating from Harvard, Sophie Randolph launched a music agency side-hustle, while leading strategy for a high-growth tech startup.   

Today, Sophie is the founder of Green Room, a business management tool for live entertainers.   

To pursue her business, Sophie attended Rice Business - Jones Graduate School of Business as a Forte Fellow. 

Green Room was selected for grant prize funding and was accepted into the Techstars Music program.  

Sophie recently closed a $1.1M pre-seed round of funding to grow her business. Investors included The Artemis Fund and Mercury 🚀  

Check out Green Room: https://www.greenroom.app/

Emily Herrera dropped out of Northeastern, launched her own female-focused syndicate, and now she's an investor at Mr. Beast's venture fund 💥   

In this episode, Emily and I talked all about: 

👩‍🎨 The fusion of people of influence, venture capital, & startups at Night Ventures  

🐥 The power of Em's own digital brand on twitter & how she's using it to accelerate her career  

📚 Why she dropped out of college & why she believes the college-experience is dying + so much more 

Follow Em on Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilyhxrrera

Check out her work: https://www.emilyherrera.com/

See both sides of important issues— in 5 minutes a day.   

The The Flip Side is a new kind of news source for liberals, moderates, independents, conservatives, and even the apolitical.  

In this week's episode of the Future is Female, I chatted with Annafi Wahed, CFA all about:  

👩‍💻 Her career pivot from finance to Hilary Clinton's campaign 

✍ Publishing an op-ed in the WSJ to gain 4.5K subscribers overnight 

💰 Raising Seed capital from readers and the current WeFunder campaign 

+ so much more  

Checkout the FlipSide here: https://www.theflipside.io/

Creator, investor, and #1 best selling author...all while studying computer science & English at Harvard University ✨   

So excited to share my conversation with Catherine Yeo!   

Here's a sneak-peak of our convo: 

🎨 Growing an audience of 400K+, monetizing her passion, and how the creator economy has evolved since  

📚 Launching a crowdfunding campaign to publish, The Creator Revolution, a #1 best selling book   

📈 The intersection of creators, startups, and venture capital (Special shoutout to MrBeast + Night Ventures + Emily Herrera)  

Learn more about Catherine and her book here: www.catherinehyeo.com/creator

Connect with @catherinehyeo on Twitter and Instagram

Our very first Future is Female episode featuring an investor!! 🎙 

Ashley Aydin is a principal at Vamos Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund backing diverse founders.  

In this episode, Ashley and I dive into:  

🖥 Her early career at Morgan Stanley & a YC startup 

📚 Why she pursued her MBA at MIT Sloan (***and who the MBA might not be right for) 

💥 Her drive to get more money in the hands of diverse founders 

+ so much more

Check out Vamos Ventures here 

Connect with Ashley here

What if Noom + Headspace + Betterment had a baby?  

👶 Aura Finance is a mindful money management platform that helps you put your money to work and anxiety to rest.  

In the first episode of 2023 🎇, I interviewed Kelsey Willock, my former WFU classmate (Go Deacs!) and co-founder of Aura.  

We discuss everything from: 

🏦 Her decision to leave Goldman Sachs 

👋 Meeting her co-founder Courtney through OnDeck 

🚀 Her team's acceptance into Techstars  

+ SO much more

Want access to Aura? Aura is currently at capacity but we  secured 20 spots for priority onboarding. To claim your exclusive invite, sign up for a call here. Spots are limited, so this is first come, first serve. During this session, the founders will teach you how to use the app, answer any questions you might have, and help you make the most of the world’s first financial engagement platform and community.

️ BONUS: You will also unlock access to our Investing & Savings Optimizer coaching session (a $500 value).

About Aura:

Aura is a mindful money management platform that helps you put your money to work and anxiety to rest. You can think of us as your wealth manager meets money coach on a mission to heal your relationship with money, achieve your financial goals and align your investments with your values.

We're like if Noom + Headspace + Betterment had a baby. Our mission is to empower individuals to live a life of abundance while growing passive wealth.

To learn more, take our money personality quiz or visit us at Aurafinance.io.