Is there anything worse than your prospective employer starting a job interview with, “So, tell me about yourself”? “Well, Craig, my Spanx are cutting off my circulation, I’ve got loads of student-loan debt and, oh yeah, I lied: I’m actually terrible at Excel. But you should definitely hire me!” Yeah, that wouldn’t work. I don’t know about you, but it’s far easier for me to identify my more negative attributes than the positive stuff. It’s even harder to sell those affirmative personality traits to someone else. But if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that you can’t expect anyone to praise you if you can’t praise yourself. Ladies, give yourself a pat on the back for 1.) getting out of bed this morning, and 2.) being an uncompromising woman in this world.
WOMEN IN NUMBERS: $16 Billion
If you’re a business owner or a bona fide side hustler, you know it’s challenging to build something in the patriarchy. That’s why we have to give a shout-out to programs like WE NYC, an initiative to help female entrepreneurs in New York City succeed. The city relies on these kinds of programs to achieve its goal of spending $16 billion in the next 10 years on women- and minority-owned businesses. According to WE NYC, women entrepreneurs generate $50 billion in revenue annually for the city.
WOMEN TO WATCH: Gina Delvac and Natalia Oberti Noguera, Editor/Executive Producer and Creator/Host of Pitch Makeover
Today, we’re chatting about two women who are shaking things up in the entrepreneurial world with their podcast, Pitch Makeover. Gina Delvac is the editor and executive producer and Natalia Oberti Noguera is the creator and host of this enlightening podcast designed to help entrepreneurs—particularly women—flesh out their best ideas for startups, pitches and investing.
As successful entrepreneurs themselves, Gina and Natalia bring their expertise straight to your ear buds. Here’s how it works: An entrepreneur pitches her idea, then Gina and Natalia respond as a mentor would, with ideas of what to keep, delete and add to her pitch—all with the goal of helping up-and-comers get on a path to success.
As we’ve often discussed, women and people of color are consistently shut out of the funding game. Receiving feedback from a reliable and unbiased source is critical, especially considering how easy it is for burgeoning entrepreneurs to have tunnel vision on an industry or topic they’re passionate about. But by fine-tuning their pitches, they’re more likely to get a seat at the funding table.
The really cool thing about Pitch Makeover is that episode by episode, you’ll hear aspiring folks slowly gain confidence, an essential component to making it in business. And listeners also get to hear about some pretty revolutionary startup ideas.
Gina and Natalia have the resumes to back up their sought-after advice. Natalia founded Pipeline Angels, a network of women angel investors that focuses on providing capital to women and “non-binary femme social entrepreneurs.” Gina, a public-radio phenom and former producer of NPR shows, also produces the wildly popular podcast Call Your Girlfriend. Well-versed in the industry, Gina says not many women are represented in podcasts, and women of color are represented even less—something she and Natalia aim to change with Pitch Makeover.
Gina and Natalia not only serve as pitch educators; they’re also role models for creating an inclusive work environment. In other words, they practice what they preach. Women, men of color and non-binary folks work at every level in the podcast-production process.
As any entrepreneur knows, it feels like you have to spend cash to make cash. That’s the great thing about Pitch Makeover: It gives entrepreneurs the tools they need. All they have to do is listen.
QUITE THE QUOTE
Today’s quote comes from Filipino-American entrepreneur and founder of Care.com, Sheila Marcelo. She said:
“I think in terms of evolutions, not revolutions. Failure is not part of my vocabulary.”
This is Melinda Garvey signing off until next time. Remember, ladies, empowered women empower other women. Share On the Dot so more women can have a voice. Thanks for getting ready with us.
To learn more about our conversation, check us out at OnTheDotWoman.com and talk to us @OnTheDotWoman on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear your voice.
Photo by: Kat Araujo