A few weeks ago, I spent the day at NYU ITP at the Womens Entrepreneurs Festival. This is a one day event put on by The Gotham Gal and her friend Nancy Hechinger who is on the faculty at NYU ITP.
In its second year, the WE Festival features a day of panels and talks featuring women entrepreneurs. Men can attend and do, but the stage is filled with women all day long. It's a very different experience from the typical startup/tech event and I highly recommend it to anyone who is eager to see more women doing startups.
My favorite panel was called Makers and featured five women who love to create things and have started companies to pursue their passions as makers. Here's a video of that panel. The video is 90mins, but the presentations are the most imporant part and they only last for about 35mins. The audio isn't great. I suggest you put on headphones and turn the volume up.
What these five women make clear is that anyone can be an entrepreneur and that women are natural makers and innovators. It is also interesting to see how each of them is using the Internet and technology more broadly to innovate around a product that is physical. There's a lot to learn from what they are doing.
My oldest daughter, who is a junior in college, was in attendance that day. She was inspired by these women and came away with a sense that the world is full of possibilities for women. That's the whole point of the WE Festival.
