If The System Won't Work For You, Work Around The System

They say when one door doesn’t open, find a new door. Instead of trying to change the system, many people are discovering, it’s time to create your own. What are alternative ways people are creating their own path to funding and founding and what can we learn from them? That was the focus of a panel I spoke at this weekend at Forbes 30 under 30 summit, alongside Anarghya Vardhana partner at Maveron; Cindy Gallop founder of Make Love Not Porn and Rica (Modjossorica) Elysee founder of Beautylynk.

Cindy had every door closed in her face and is now raising a $200m fund to support other founders; Anarghya left her job at Google, found part time work with a VC and is now a venture partner, and Modjossorica Elysee bypassed conventional investors and raised money through a syndicate of female doctors and her church. Meanwhile, I’ve been rejected more times than I care to remember but I still keep going, around the system, over the system, building new systems. This is how we open our own doors. . #Forbes #under30summit #womenatforbes

Dee Poku, Cindy Gallop, Rica Elysee, Anarghya Vardhana

Wonder Woman Breaks Records

If we want to see more female directors kicking ass behind the camera, we have to support them at the box office. The more that female driven films succeed, the more it opens the door to other female talent. This weekend, women came out in droves to support Wonder Woman, the first superhero film ever to be directed by a female filmmaker. With a historic $100.5 million at the domestic box office and counting, the opening was bigger than Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Thor and is also the highest ever opening weekend for a film directed by a woman. Congratulations to director Patty Jenkins, directing her first film in 13 years after the award winning Monster.  I hope this is just the beginning.