The Importance of Female Role Models

About two years ago, my boss walked into the office on a cold February day wearing a long sleeve shirt and a bubbly down vest. While I'll admit the outfit was a bit on the casual side, I figured if she was wearing it, it must be ok. I went to the GAP and bought myself a similar vest. I wanted to emulate her.

Flash forward two years. I'm now a Female Founder, and while I wish both letters didn't have to be capitalized, sadly, they do. Today, wearing the same long sleeve shirt and vest combo she wore, I strode around my office confident. I made rapid fire decisions without looking back, wrote checks, and closed new business. I was closer to being that strong, (stylish), intelligent female leader I admired years ago.

The ironic thing is that on my way out of the office, I was stopped by two female colleagues who are in their early-mid twenties. "She's a FOUNDER," one told the other. And all of a sudden they started telling me how they wanted to be founders too, how they had a great idea, no capital, but the burning desire to start their own company. How there are extremely few women founders in our incubator, and how they were hoping I could help and give them guidance.

Two years ago I looked up to the woman in the vest. Today, these women were looking up to me.