Women of Color Entrepreneurs (WOCE), a Massachusetts nonprofit that supports women of color entrepreneurs growing their businesses, is pleased to announce its inaugural awards for Women Entrepreneurs and Champions of Women Entrepreneurs. Awardees include:
- Media Champion: Shirley Leung, The Boston Globe
- Corporate Champions: Yvonne Garcia, State Street and Saskia Epstein, PNC
- Entrepreneurs of the Year: Poorvi Patodia, Biena and Nia Grace, Grace by Nia
- Service Provider Champion: Priya Lane, Lawyers for Civil Rights
This year’s honorees will be celebrated on Wednesday, October 9, 2024 from 6 – 8 p.m. at Autodesk in the Seaport. Entrepreneurs, business and community leaders, and elected officials are expected to attend the event.
WOCE has supported 50 women of color entrepreneurs growing their businesses since its inception in 2019. WOCE entrepreneurs are contributing to job creation, generation wealth building and creating an inclusive and vibrant economy, and its recent data shows its cohort companies contribute approximately $8 million in revenue to the local economy, 82 new jobs were created and three entrepreneurs have purchased commercial real estate.
During the program, the Commonwealth’s Secretary of Economic Development, Yvonne Hao, will deliver remarks. Prior to her role as Secretary, Hao led transformative innovation in her private sector roles, including as a Co-founder, Advisor, and Managing Director at multiple firms and as a Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of PillPack, which was acquired by Amazon. Secretary Hao will share details about her journey and the many ways she continues to champion women of color entrepreneurs.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Massachusetts is lucky to be the home of many family-owned, multigenerational small businesses, many of which are owned by women, immigrants and people of color,” said Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao. “I am excited to speak at the Women of Color Entrepreneurs Startup Party with a Purpose, and to support initiatives and organizations such as Women of Color Entrepreneurs that promote racial and gender equity.”
“We are so honored to celebrate these amazing women entrepreneurs and champions at our Startup Party with a Purpose and to bring together women of color entrepreneurs that we have supported in Massachusetts for the last five years,” said Anuradha Yadav, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Women of Color Entrepreneurs. “Successful women entrepreneurs are needed to build a strong and resilient economy. Congratulations to our inaugural awardees, who are doing amazing work supporting racial and gender equity.”
WOCE third cohort member, Madeline Cabrera, the CEO of Emmaty, will also speak about her company’s growth and their recent contract awards totaling $4M by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
“It was challenging to learn about opportunities for larger contracts in Massachusetts, but WOCE came through for me with the MBTA opportunity. Having support from my mentors through WOCE has been so important in helping me navigate business growth and being able to learn about systems for fulfilling larger contracts,” said Madeline Cabrera, CEO of Emmaty.
Sponsors of the Startup Party include Fidelity, PNC, State Street, BDO, Casner & Edwards, RIW, Nutter and Insperity. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-of-color-entrepreneurs-startup-party-with-a-purpose-tickets-945825959907
About Women of Color Entrepreneurs
Founded in 2019, WOCE is a Massachusetts nonprofit providing long-term support for women of color entrepreneurs. WOCE provides tailored programming, peer support and a collaborative community, long-term mentorship, 1:1 assistance, facilitated access to partners, customers, lenders and investors. Annually, WOCE brings on a new cohort of 10 – 15 entrepreneurs. Additional information is available at http://woce.us.
