It’s hard to believe, but we’re already one month into 2015.
What we can believe is just how many amazing grant applications have flown our way. We’ve narrowed it down to 5 finalists, and they’re all listed below (as always, in no particular order) with a mini bio.
We’ll soon announce the January Amber Grant Award winner, so stay tuned!
Neqtr is a socially conscious mobile app. They connect people through cause preferences and lifestyle interests and help them meet through planned dates at local volunteer opportunities and charity events. Thus, they help individuals find quality partners with shared passions.
PinkThink creates interest-oriented and peer-supported web and mobile games that make (S)cience, (T)echnology, (E)ngineering, and (M)ath education powerful, relevant, and engaging for girls ages 8-14. The whole premise of PinkThink is to connect the social and fun activities that girls typically enjoy to education and learning.
iMustHavit is a multilingual product and service navigation app. It connects users with the products and services around them that aren’t easily found otherwise. The app is not just limited to consumer products and services, but also will inform the user about other services, such as civil, government and human rights, which can be unnavigable due to language barriers.
braGGs Reconstruction Bras helps breast cancer survivors and previvors nurture their sense of beauty, comfort and confidence with a patent-pending bra solution that meets their unique needs. The inspiration was borne out of necessity and from a desire to have something positive come from a disease that has ultimately defined their lives since childhood.
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First off, WomensNet would like to personally thank everyone for another great year, none of which would be possible without you. We’re so excited to see what 2015 brings us. But, before we get too carried away we still have business to take care of from 2014.
This December we had so many inspiring and well thought out applications making it extremely hard to narrow it down to five finalists- so we changed it Six!
The finalists are listed below. Take a look at their businesses, congratulate them and stay tuned, we’re announcing the winner early next week!
ESL Basics is centered on teaching English through video lessons. So far Andrea has had over 1,000,000 views of her English lessons. With every video lesson she creates, she seek to connects with each learner, giving them an authentic experience with a native English speaking ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher.
Electric Ink sells gold temporary tattoos that symbolize the power and independence that defines young women. The Electric Ink Company chooses ambitious, young woman at each of its schools to represent their brand, teaching them how to run a small business and empowering them to become entrepreneurs. For each temporary tattoo sold, Electric Ink donates a portion of the proceeds to a philanthropy chosen by the young women buyers themselves.
Hush Experience designs pop up date night, dinner party experiences for couples who are looking for something different than the same old night out- or who just do not have the time and energy to plan. An exclusive prix fixe menu by a local chef, live entertainment, crafted cocktails, great company and a secret location is provided while only the time, day and theme of the event is revealed to guests. Attendees meet at a central location that is disclosed two days before the event and are whisked away to a once-in-a-lifetime, unforgettable evening.
Hammerstone School aims to empower women and non-women alike to use their bodies and minds for creative and useful ends by teaching carpentry classes. By increasing the skills of individual women, Hammerstone hopes to increase the number of women in the trades, and ultimately change workplaces for women in and outside of the trades.
The Functional Pelvis, Inc. is a private physical and occupational therapy practice dedicated to improving the lives of women and men who suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction and complications.
Though an embarrassing dinner topic for some, pelvic floor dysfunction affects millions of people (33% of women alone) who often don’t know that proven therapeutic exercises and non-surgical treatments are available which can drastically improve their quality of life when suffering from urinary and fecal incontinence, urge incontinence, chronic constipation, pelvic organ prolapse and pelvic pain.
The Functional pelvis empowers all people to regain control of the most basic human functions.
Hazel Lane Hazel Lane
Samantha Strom & Ashley Dekellis
Hazel Lane, (founded by Sam and Ash) is a previous grant winner of ours from April, 2014. Their goal is to help everyone explore the world without the hassle of tourist traps, expensive flights and currency exchange rates.
Every month Hazel Lane send’s you a carefully curated box of surprise goodies from a selected city that represents it’s spirit. They feature innovative, organic, vegan and sustainable items.
As always, thank you for reading! Remember we award a grant every month – if interested, here’s the link to apply!
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It’s been another crazy month here at WomensNet! This month, along with some small site changes, there was a record number of applicant’s -with some truly inspiring stories. You ladies keep impressing us – and making it harder and harder to narrow things down each month. It wasn’t easy, but somehow we managed. Without further ado, here are November’s five finalists for our new qualification grants.
Check them out and stay tuned! We’ll announce the winner next week!
Élevé Activewear was born out of frustration over the lack of functional underwear for women to wear while exercising. After searching the market for proper undies to wear under yoga pants Amy decided she might as well put her ideas and expertise to good use!
Stretch Recipes is on a mission to help people eat better and save more. They’re in the process of creating an app that will help allow shoppers to enter their budget, choose their meals, and automatically receive their shopping list with coupons. Stretch also hosts cooking class experiences to teach people how to cook on a tight budget.
Pole Pressure is a Pole fitness brand that focuses on gymnastics and dance technique on Pole. Jessalyn has created a License Program to allow her brand to grow in a more feasible way than franchising. With the new licensing program she can use the name ‘Pole Pressure’ to people to start teaching their own Pole Pressure classes in any type of facility; a concept similar to Zumba.
The Serene Bean
www.serenebeanespresso.com
Nicole M.Neal
The Serene Bean Espresso Catering is a portable full service coffee and brunch company. They bring the coffeehouse to you, (indoors & outdoors!) Serene Bean can compliment your current catering service or work as your solo choice of vendor. It’s like having a charming Italian Café at your event.
Tammy and her friend Mary are the founders of Spicy Guys Pretzels. Spicy Guys makes seasoned, flavored pretzels in three flavors: Original Spicy, Extra Spicy, and Smoky Sweet BBQ. Their Pretzels transforms boring, old pretzels into a gourmet snack.
As always, thank you for reading! Remember we award a grant every month – if interested, here’s the link to apply!
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This October we had many inspiring, creative, and well though-out applicants. We enjoyed reading each one. A huge thank you to everyone who applied this month- You made our decision very difficult!
For now, we’ve narrowed it down to the top five finalists. Be sure to check out their websites, congratulate them and stay tuned – we’ll announce the October winner very soon!
Poutine Your Mouth is an art and food cart decorated with colorful art and music from local artists. This food trailer opens up and invites patrons to eat and enjoy poutine, which is French fries, cheddar cheese curds, and gravy with various toppings. They cater to all vegetarian, vegan and gluten food restrictions.
Lisa the founder of Hot n’ Handi has Friedreich’s ataxia. Friedreich’s ataxia is an autosomal recessive inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system, resulting in symptoms ranging from gait disturbance to speech problems. Currently it has no cure so she’s decided to embrace it and create Hot n’ Handi.
Lisa’s mission with Hot n’ Handi is to encourage confidence in all disabled people. They sell fun, sexy, confidence-boosting attire for women who are disabled.
Solight Designs Inc.
Alice Min Soo Chun Solarpuff.us
SolarPuff is the first flat packageable and inflatable solar lantern. It is designed to provide an affordable and renewable light source to disaster relief victims.
Solar Puff uses the principles of origami and foldable design to “pop” open from a flat envelope into a cube with a very simple pull motion to diffuse the light after charging. It’s a lightweight solution that advances itself to easy packaging and storage.
The Wooden Palate was founded by Eileen O’Dea and Ryan Silverman. Every board they make is designed to last forever. The boards are tested for integrity by Ryan in the woodshop and further vetted by Eileen in the kitchen before sent to production. The Wooden Palate was born of the belief that every kitchen and home needs more bespoke wood pieces and that every chef should love the board on which they serve their creations.
Heather looks forward to providing adventurous athletes with the most delicious dehydrated food on the planet. Her recipes are inspired by her extensive travels, and rooted in locally grown ingredients. She loves throwing on her backpack and getting out to field test each and every recipe.
Happy Friday ladies, (and gentlemen)! I figured before you get started on your weekend plans, I’d deliver some good news and announce our September Amber Grant Finalists!
Here they are – Continue to read below to learn more about our finalists, their products, services and what each organization brings to the community!
September Amber Grant Finalists — 2014
Sling Hammocks
Nicole Otero www.slinghammocks.com
Nicole is a lover of the outdoors and hammocking. This inspired her to start designing hammocks and hammock straps. Through trial and error she’s finally created the perfect product. Click on her website and give it a look!
Ready Set Go, LLC
Carol Cooper website
Since Carol started her journey, she’s taught life skills and instructional reading in a private school. Carol’s constantly trying to find new and creative ways to keep her students motivated, as a result she created Ready Set Go, LLC which has inspirational jewelry and two soft plush bears named Brian and Brianna – which mean “strength.” Each bear is accompanied by a book that has been personally written in a way that will make it easy for children to understand. A portion of Ready Set Go sales is donated to organizations that help children with autism / ASD and special needs.
Puff’s Preserves
Kirsten Dawn Farabi www.puffspreserves.com
Puff’s Preserves is Kirsten’s little boozy jam creation. The inspiration comes from her grandparents. Kirsten’s grandmother taught her how to make preserves at the age of twelve. They have been making them together every Summer since. Her grandmother was always so creative with her concoctions, adding herbs, spices, and booze. Kirsten’s grandfather Hugo “Puff” Farabi bootlegged sugar, homemade wine, and whiskey during Prohibition. So she put the two concepts together and created Puff’s Preserves. She make boozy jams, jellies and preserves with fresh fruit, herbs and spices, and local Colorado spirits.
MagnaReady
Maura Horton www.magnaready.com
The concept for MagnaReady came about when Maura’s husband was diagnosed at an early age with Parkinsons disease. As someone that travels for business, he was anxious about getting into a situation while he was on the road. As he shared his concerns, Maura knew right away how she could help him with this daily challenge. By magnetically infusing the buttons on his shirts, she created a product that could restore freedom to his daily routine.
Danica Yoga
Danica Lister www.danicayoga.com
Danica has a vision of inspiring others to live at their happiest. She especially wants to work with people who suffer from depression. So she has decided to start working towards opening up her own studio based on depression as well as other chronic illnesses… fibromayalgia, cancer recovery, etc.
Hopefully everyone a great Labor Day weekend filled with good food, friends and family!
This month our Facebook ‘Likes’ broke the 900 mark and we’re very excited. Our goal for this month is to try to crush the 1K mark, and with all of your help, we should be able to get it done!
Without further a-do meet this month’s Amber Grant Finalists!
SmileOnU is a network of dental professionals coming together to provide charitable dental-care to communities in need. They are a dental philanthropic organization that provides a vehicle for your everyday dentist, dental supply companies and dental laboratories to do charitable work.
Pawsitively Delicious, LLC
Megan Stewart website
Pawsitively Delicious is a natural and homemade dog treat company in Colorado. They’re a small business that loves spoiling everyone’s dogs with good treats. They do not use any corn, soy, or wheat in any of our treats and only allow the best for each pup!
W.A.T.E.R. Assoc. is a small female-owned and operated business that provides comprehensive environmental monitoring and assessments of watersheds, fisheries, and aquatic habitats. They conduct long-term environmental research and are also involved with their local and global communities (via volunteering, citizen science, and internship programs).
Nutty Scientists Greenville
Kelly Sooklal
www.nuttyscientists.com/greenville
Nutty Scientists helps kids discover their love for science by implementing hands on interactive experiments that are designed to stimulate their minds and peak their curiosities.
The company offers a wide variety of programs from after-schools, camps, birthday parties, scientific shows and awareness campaigns.
Simple Car Wash
Taylor Mitcham
www.simplewaterless.com
Simple Car Wash is a water-less car cleaning service that comes directly to you. They clean the interior and exterior of motorcycles, cars, trucks, vans, and SUV’s using a biodegradable product without using any water.
As usual, you ladies have kept our hands filled with a crazy amount of applicants and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Without further ado, here are July’s five finalists.
Check them out and stay tuned! We’ll announce the winner(s) by the end of the week!
July Amber Grant Finalists – July 2014
The Creative Kitchen
Leila “Cricket” Azima
www.thecreativekitchen.com
The Creative Kitchen, works to produce a positive relationship between children and food while having fun in the kitchen and creating healthy eating habits for life.
At the Creative kitchen they create lesson plans to not only teach children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe environment but they also incorporate other traditional disciplines into their lessons, such as reading, mathematics, science, social sciences, nutrition, art, history, and geography.
Nightingale Apps
Tiffany Kelley Ph.D. MBA RN www.nightingaleapps.com
Nightingale Apps is a health information technology company offering mobile applications to nurses working in hospital settings. They’re focused on improving the quality of information needed for the care of hospitalized patients.
By improving the efficiency and accuracy of information flow, the health care team can provide timely access to care and improve the safety and patient-centeredness of delivered care.
Zoo To You
Rebecka McDonald www.thelittlezootoyou.com
Zoo To You is a mobile petting zoo for hire at a low hourly rate. Currently they have a miniature llama, miniature donkey, miniature goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and miniature pigs. They’re available for birthday parties, school events, weddings, and much more!
Cheeky ChaCha
Jasmine Ejan www.CheekyChaCha.com
Jasmine created a product called, Blowpaste, a flavored edible lubricant that’s vegan, gluten free, and the only lube in the world that’s good for your teeth! She mixes, manufactures, produces, pitches and markets!
Blowpaste can now be found in over 25 stores and has been featured in the Huffington Post, web shows and on the radio. Jasmine’s mission is to spread love and healthy smiles.
SplatterBox
Kristen sabatelli www.splatterboxart.com
Splatterbox opened 3 years ago. The store offers many different types of art activities such as, “open studio” drop in to paint pottery or canvases, classes, camps, birthday parties and more. Just recently Kristen also started holding paint and sip nights – where you can bring in wine and follow a painting tutorial!
The holiday of food, fireworks, friends and family is only a few days away! But before you get too busy celebrating our independence, we would like to announce our five Amber Grant finalists for the month of June.
This months applicants were all so creative and inspiring. It made choosing our winner(s) incredibly difficult! For now, we’ve narrowed it down to the top five finalists!
Be sure to congratulate them and stay tuned – we’ll announce the June winner right after the holiday!
Ever heard of chicken saddles before? Neither had we! Chicken saddles protect the backs of chickens during mating and molting.
Most existing productions are expensive, fussy, or simply hard to clean. Jill designed a new type of chicken saddle. With urban farms and raising chickens gaining popularity there should be an increasing market demand for her product very soon!
Colleen and her team created SemiPro. SemiPro is a new sports app for the remarkably average athlete. Players worldwide can create matches, view game schedules, stay updated on local competition, and so much more.
With this app you can now you can carry your amateur sports career in your pocket and never fall out of the loop again!
Kathryn and her team are opening a craft beer retail store that will take advantage of the recently-changed growler filling laws in NC. This new law allows them to serve hard-to-find craft beer in reusable and recyclable containers, while educating people about all of the fantastic breweries that exist right in NC.
They plan to have a selection of bottled and canned beer, along with 16 beers on draft that can be enjoyed by the pint or taken home in a counter-pressure filled growler.
Swagga Wear
Gillian Pennington
swaggasuits.com
Imagine a full-body snuggie or hoodie meant for wearing outside or in public, wouldn’t that be comfy? Well, thats what Swagga Suits is – full-body jumpsuits for sports fans to wear to games.
Swagga Suits was founded in 2012 by a group of UW students looking to put a little different touch on fan apparel. At Swagga Suits they specialize in one thing and one thing only…Straight up FANDIMONIUM!
HowHeAsked.com
Stacy Tasman
HowHeAsked.com
HowHeAsked started in Fall 2011 and features a new proposal story every day! The stories they share include jaw-dropping photos, tear-jerking videos, and beautiful, heart-warming words. They receive submissions from newly-engaged women, grooms-to-be, photographers, deadly duos going on their 5th or 55th anniversary, same-sex couples, and more.
Men even come to the site to find ideas and connect with jewelers and photographers for their own proposal! Bottom line, they’re in love with love (and of course gorgeous rings.)
I hope everyone has had an exciting and productive month! This month the WomensNet Facebook page reached an exciting milestone of 500 likes- thanks to all of you!
We’ve been very busy reading all of your great applications and we’ve enjoyed every one of them-which makes it difficult to choose our winner(s)! For now, we’ve narrowed it down to the top five finalists!
Be sure to congratulate them and stay tuned – we’ll announce the May winner within the next few days!
May Amber Grant Finalists — May 2014
BraveHoods
Allison Yacht
www.bravehoods.com
BraveHoods is a one-for-one hoodie company. They sell super comfy hoodie t-shirts with powerful and inspiring messages. For each one they sell, they give one away to a kid fighting cancer.
Allison started BraveHoods in response to her daughters cancer diagnosis. While her daughter, Merry was going through chemo and radiation, she was bald. Because of this she was never completely comfortable exposing her scalp in public until Allison found her a hoodie t-shirt. It worked perfectly. The girl finally felt like she fit in and was comfortable enough to go out and about. Allison then thought about the other cancer families dealing with the same issues and once Merry was feeling better, they started to think about how they could give back to their community.
Spare Change Inc.
Andra Tomsa
www.sparechangeintl.org
Spare Change is a nonprofit organization that fundraises exclusively for Food Bank For New York City. The Spare Change NYC APP allows New Yorkers to round-up their dine-out bills to the nearest dollar to help feed the hungry in their own city.
Each donation is always less than $0.99, but the impact is significant. Each $1.00 Spare Change collects is converted into 4 meals through Food Bank For New York CIty.
Users are able to track their philanthropy on their profile page, where they can see how much they have donated, and how many people they have helped feed. Restaurants participate with Spare Change by offering rewards to users who round up frequently each month.
Feel Better Pops
Marisa Teiner
Feel Better Pops, LLC was created because most kids love ice pops and they’re a great treat to turn to, even (or especially) when kids are sick. Whether they’re ceoling down a sore throat or simply rehydrating a feverish little body, they always seem to make little ones feel better.
After realizing this, Marisa began to develop her own all natural ice pops with ingredients that would make her son feel better quicker and prevent others from getting sick. Many prototypes later, the idea of the Feel Better Pop was born.
The first line of pops, called Feel Better Tummy was released in june of 2013, in conjunction with the Rutgers Food Innovation Center. The pre-launch of Feel Better Tummy is scheduled for Fall 2014.
Aesop Technologies specializes in the use of new solar technology and integrates it with our everyday lives,which seem to revolve around mobile phones. Their first product is going to be a solar powered protective case for the top selling mobile devices. This will be vital to those who are constantly looking to charge their phones. (Who isn’t these days?!) Tinisha and her team are providing a convenience by utilizing the sun as an alternative source of power at the flip of a switch on our phone case.
Aesop Technologies is currently in a patent pending status and in phase one prototype. Their intention is to launch a Kickstarter campaign in June of 2014. They are hoping to be in mass production and on the market by the end of this year.
Melted Addiction
Catina Mason
www.meltedaddiction.com
Melted Addiction manufactures all-natural and eco-friendly body products and candles. Catina began this business after many products available on the market only aggravated her sensitive skin. She then decided to teach herself how to make all natural soap and candles.
What first started out as a hobby, slowly turned into a business after demand grew. Her products are now retail ready and she currently offers sales through retail and wholesale accounts.
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April showers bring… new Amber Grant winners? Works for us!
We had another fantastic month with some truly inspiring applicants. You ladies just keep impressing us – and making it harder and harder to narrow things down.
It wasn’t easy, but we did it. Without further ado, here are April’s five finalists.
Check them out and stay tuned! We’ll announce the winner(s) within the next few days.
This idea makes us want to jump on a plane and head straight to Louisville. Kerrie Blazek and her team offer women an opportunity to ditch the daily grind for a luxurious, all-inclusive, one-of-a-kind girls getaway…on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
As their website explains, you can “think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience one of America’s most interesting cities, while re-igniting your innate creative fire, indulging in some delicious eats + fine whiskey, as you cozy up to like-minded sisters and hot guest speakers for some reciprocal sharing and learning – all in one gorgeous place.”
How could that not be the best weekend ever? We seriously might need to make a WomensNet trip for the next one.
When Kendra Barnes got married last April, she made a label for her now husband’s wedding socks that read: “Just to make sure you don’t get Cold Feet, with love, from your bride” and had her Maid of Honor deliver them. It made for a great photo opportunity, put a smile on his face, and most importantly ensured that he didn’t wear a pair of his holey socks to their wedding.
When they received their wedding photos and video, she saw how the “Cold Feet” socks brought a smile to her husband’s face, and thought…”I wonder if other brides would want to buy this”. So, Kendra set up shop on Etsy and within days she was getting sales.
Since then she has sold over 2500 pairs of socks online and in three stores that carry her product across D.C. and Pennsylvania.
ArtInFact Magazine is the brainchild of four full-time media professionals, all graduates of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, class of 2011. They’ve come together to create a content platform for entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, and independent brands in New York City.
After realizing that mainstream media outlets typically only cover tech-centric ventures, Silicon Valley, or entrepreneurs who’ve received major investment backing, they decided to fill the gap and highlight startups and entrepreneurs that capture the independent spirit of New York City.
In case it’s not totally obvious, we’re big fans of supporting startups and entrepreneurs – so this idea really spoke to us.
Ashley DeKellis found a way to share her love of discovering amazing products from cities around the world with others – and she gets to do it as a stay at home mom, creating a sense of accomplishment that she, her husband and their son can be proud of.
Hazel Lane is a monthly subscription box service that helps others to explore the world, despite financial barriers and travel restrictions. Every month they send their members a carefully curated box of surprise goodies from a particular city, focusing on items that capture that destination’s spirit and signature flavors.
The boxes include healthy, sustainable and organic products from local business and arrive in 100% recycled packaging. Even better? They’re filing as a B Corp and already give 10% back to local charities in their featured cities.
Like many of us, Donna Liimatainen-Peterson is a restless sleeper and a self-proclaimed sheet stealer. Her husband of 23 years would take extra measures to methodically tuck their sheets and blankets into his side of the bed, only to wake completely robbed of all of the bedding.
After spending 21 years as an architect (and even more years as an apologetic wife), she decided to design a solution for her unintentional sheet-stealing problem.
The Tuck Me In Good Night Bedding Retainment System utilizes an innovative lightweight cylindrical rod that easily attaches to the bottom edge of your bedsheets and blankets using coordinating fabric snap clamps, then gets inserted below the bottom edge of the mattress. If a good night sleep, fully covered, isn’t worth the $20 retail price – we’re not sure what is. Donna also sells extra long sheets and blankets to make sure you’ll never be “short sheeted” again.
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“You have to be in it to win it...seize the opportunity and apply.”
“Every month, WomensNet awards three $10,000 Amber Grants to women-owned businesses. At the end of each year, monthly grant winners are eligible to receive one of three $25,000 annual grants.”
“Launched 20 years ago this grant honors the memory of a young woman who wanted to be an entrepreneur but died at age 19 before she could achieve her goal.”
“The Amber Grant offers three $10,000 grants to women-owned businesses each month. Then, at the end of each year, WomensNet gives an additional $25,000 to three grant winners from that year.”
“This organization offers monthly grants of up to $10,000 to support female entrepreneurs starting businesses. Those who qualify for these grants are also in the running for a yearly $25,000 grant.”
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