Supporting Women Entrepreneurs is More Important Than Ever

2019 marked VPR’s 10th year in business and our biggest one yet. We put into practice the learnings of the previous decade and as a result enjoyed many successes and overcame even more challenges. Despite having been in business for a solid decade, it wasn’t until 2019 that I really came to realize that growth is a naturally painful process and that we are each capable of much more than we would have thought.

Core to our mission throughout VPR’s history has been the support of women in meaningful and game-changing ways. With my new understanding top of mind, it became an exciting priority to fulfill that mission- this year by offering both financial and moral support to female entrepreneurs.

As a huge fan of IFundWomen and a long-time admirer of their visionary co-founders I reached out to them with my idea and the opportunity became immediately clear. As a result, in February (before the wave of COVID-19 came crashing down around us) VPR invested $10,000 into IFundWomen’s Pay it Forward grant program. The funds would be distributed over four months, starting in April, ensuring that at the conclusion of our collaboration about 12 female entrepreneurs will have been awarded grants to not only help them take the next step, but to hopefully reinforce their confidence in themselves and give them a boost during a time when we all need one more than ever.

Entrepreneurship is challenging even in the best of circumstances and growth can be daunting. I hope that every woman with a fire in her belly knows we here at VPR are rooting for her, and now, thanks to IFundWomen, we’ve been able to demonstrate our support more loudly than ever during a time when doing so is even more urgent. Knowing that this business, which I’ve spent the last decade building and that I continue to invest my own blood, sweat, and tears into, can help other women do the same for theirs has just added more fuel to my fire.

Beginning in April and going through July VPR has joined IFundWomen in their Pay it Forward program, a monthly grant where they reinvest 20% of their standard crowdfunding fee revenue into live campaigns on the site.