Today I'm writing to remind myself of what female founders are capable of. I'm writing something I can revisit in moments of doubt and imposter's syndrome. Near the end of this day, I lamented the overdue social media post, the pending follow-ups to prospects, the presentation for a startup accelerator that won't write itself.  But then I paused that voice in my head. Yesterday, an advisor described the vision in my head of supporting ALL parents and primary caregivers of children with disabilities, especially those most marginalized. She wants to help me create that system change. Today, I had two amazing conversations -- one person wanting to introduce me to a major company to pitch a pilot of Empowered Together  with its employees and one agency wanting me to present to its partner orgs about ableism and intersectionality.  Those are big wins right now. They also come against a backdrop of juggling five medical appointments across two days. As a female founder, I ...

  One of the cool parts to this startup journey is connecting with other entrepreneurs. This time around, I'm grateful to know many more female entrepreneurs than the last time I co-founded a startup. Also, the folks I'm meeting are incredibly generous. For example, I connected with AuthenTech , a movement of startups creating value-driven technology, and one of their members, OwnTrail, enables people to chart out their journeys and ask one another for help. Here's a picture of my trail and you can find the interactive version here . I posted a Help Beacon to my trail, asking members to share my startup, and a total stranger shared it with her contacts! Perhaps I've grown forgetful but I just don't recall this kind of open-heartedness when I last started a company. 

What do you do when your job future looks uncertain? Worry? Escape to a good book? Start knocking on doors to see what opens up? In April 2020 I took the latter path. I learned that my job at a nonprofit was going to change in July but didn't know much more than that. Here's the month-by-month journey I've been on since then. APRIL 2020 Faced with job uncertainty, I applied to INVANTI's Founder Studio .  MAY/JUNE/JULY 2020 I joined the Founder Studio and spent three months researching passion areas that also presented compelling opportunities. These included the disparity of teachers of color, therapeutic benefits of getting kids with autism into the outdoors, and peer-led groups for mental health. The passion that kept coming back to me was providing support to parents of children with special needs. AUGUST 2020 I started a new role at the nonprofit with significantly more responsibility and less time to pursue my startup dreams. SEPTEMBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 In S...