WeFestival is the brainchild of Joanne Wilson, a blogger and an angel investor, and Nancy Hechinger, a technologist and an educator, who came up with the idea over coffee with the goal of celebrating women entrepreneurs and creating more opportunities for women in tech. Each year the event has grown larger, and this year is the first they will host another event outside of New York to engage women on the West Coast.
Here are three things that stuck with me and they are all based on quotes that I heard at WeFestival.
"Being an entrepreneur is not for the fearful." This quote seems obvious, but you do not realize how accurate it is until you are faced with a big decision. In no way do I consider myself a fearful person, nor do I think anyone that knows me would refer to me as such. However, there is something about taking a leap of faith- starting your own company, funding new product development, trying a new path, etc.- that can certainly awaken or maybe create this sense that you should be fearful. You will encounter an enormous amount of uncertainty in any new endeavor, so you have to be bold and ready for what comes at you. If you believe in what you are doing and have developed a strong set of goals that keep you focused, there should be no room for fear to creep in.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." This famous quote from Margaret Mead has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it in college. As an environmental scientist who knew early on that my mission in life was to protect the planet and the species on it, this quote really resonates with me. Frankly, it comes in handy when you are trying to tackle a global issue like climate change. You cannot ever let the fact that you are just one person dissuade you from pushing forward on what needs to be done. My career has also followed the track of another related quote: “Think Globally, Act Locally.” All the work I have done around climate change mitigation and adaptation has been with local governments and though I did not specifically plan for it to happen this way, the pace of action at the local level is actually significantly faster than that at the federal and international levels, allowing people to have a greater impact faster.
If you did not have a chance to check out WeFestival, you can find the sessions online.
The sessions and networking were worth every penny I spent to travel to NYC and then some. I just hope that someday I
too can be a resource for women entrepreneurs and at a minimum a strong role model for my daughter.