Invest In Her
Miss South Carolina has invested in me. The saying “it takes a village” is true and I was blessed to be raised by the Miss South Carolina village starting at just 5 years old as a Palmetto Princess. The women of this organization gave me a vision for what I could achieve and mentored me into becoming the woman I am today. At age 15 I won Miss South Carolina Teen and was awarded $15,000 in savings bonds. Seven years later, I used the training I received from Miss South Carolina to excel in college and in the political arena in my position at the White House. When I decided to start a cosmetic line, I invested my earnings from Miss South Carolina Teen into my business Hope Beauty. These savings bonds were the sole investment I used to launch Hope Beauty. It was the combination of life long mentorship and financial gain that catapulted me to success. I’m grateful to the Miss South Carolina organization for teaching me to have big dreams and providing the avenue to achieve them.
Miss South Carolina has invested in me. However, there are millions more women to invest in. Women entrepreneurs are a force to be reckoned with, especially here in the Palmetto State. With approximately 170,000 women-owned businesses across the state, South Carolina ranks fourth in the nation for women-owned businesses (Greenville Business Magazine 2020). During my time working for Governor Henry McMaster one of the issues I drove was the Ladies Leading the Workforce Initiative. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor hosted round table meetings with women business owners across the state. The women were invited to share with our office the burdens they carried which we could eliminate. We asked each woman the same question, “what was the most difficult step to starting your business?” 50 of South Carolina’s top business women gave the same answer: access to capital.
To any business person, this makes a lot of sense. You need money to make money. However, the more I researched the more I realized that the issue these women faced was largely a female issue, not simply a business issue.
Nationally, women own 42% of all US businesses - that’s 13 Million women business owners - and together we employ over 9.4 Million Americans (National Women’s Business Council Annual Reports 2020, 2019). Our top three motivations for starting a business are pursuing our passions, securing financial independence and increasing flexibility (Score: State of U.S. Women’s Entrepreneurship). Despite the fact that women owned businesses produce 10% more income than their male counterparts in a 5 year period, women founded startups receive less than half of the funding men receive (Boston Consulting Group: Why Women-Owned Start Ups are a Better Bet). 73% of women shared that they experienced difficulty obtaining funding (VISA: State of Female Entrepreneurship 2019) and only 32% of women are approved for funds (Zippia: 37 Encouraging Women-Owned Business and Entrepreneurship Statistics). Women are still discriminated against when securing funding to start their business. The women I met at the Ladies Leading the Workforce round tables were right: access to capital is the hardest part of starting a business and it’s especially difficult for women. That’s why I’ve started Invest In Her: a grant competition for female entrepreneurs, funded and judged by a board of female entrepreneurs or “Investhers.”
Miss South Carolina has invested in me. I’m paying that investment forward to my fellow female entrepreneurs through Invest In Her. My goal is to give one deserving woman a $10,000 grant to start a business or take her existing business to the next level. To find that woman we will hold an online competition for applicants to submit a “shark-tank style” video pitch. The award will be funded through charitable donations and judged by our InvestHers. The board of Investhers will vote to Invest In Her and we will host the Invest In Her Award Ceremony on June 1, 2023. Not stopping with a financial investment, the winner will receive a year of mentorship from one of the Investhers. Lastly, each InvestHer and the winner will be interviewed on the Keep On Hoping podcast for the Invest In Her series.
Miss South Carolina has invested in me. Now I’m ready to invest in her. Invest In Her will expose the Miss South Carolina Organization to thousands of women recruiting potential competitors, local directors and volunteers. If selected as Miss South Carolina 2023, the judges won’t be simply selecting me, but investing in all of the women in South Carolina.
If you would like to apply for the Invest In Her award, learn more here.
If you would like to become an InvestHer, learn more here.
If you would like to donate to the award, you can do so here.
