Success On Her Terms With Shelly Sun Berkowitz Discussing "Finding Your Truth North" (11/4/25 at 11 AM CT)

©Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®  All rights reserved.

Summary:  Join us LIVE with Shelly Sun Berkowitz, CEO, Founder 2 Founder on Tuesday, November 4th at 11 AM CT.  Shelly will be talking about "Finding Your Truth North" – redefining success in a way that protects both your ambition and your well-being.  To learn more and to register free of charge for the virtual program visit: https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/programs/success-on-her-terms/

More about Success On Her Terms (SoHT)  

Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global unveils its newest and most exciting program yet!  "Success On Her Terms," a dynamic four-part series presented by Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® in collaboration with Merrill’s Baldwin Marcovici Group and moderated by Alex Didac.

It is designed to spotlight high-potential, growth-stage women entrepreneurs who share their personal journeys and offer actionable insights on how to align purpose, people, and profit while building and scaling a business.

Join wegg® for the *first session* – Finding Your True North – in our four-part series on Tuesday, November 4th at 11 AM CT with Shelly Sun Berkowitz, founder and Executive Chair of BrightStar Care, a national home care franchise system she built over 20 years, scaled to over 400 locations, and led through a majority sale in 2025. 

More about Shelly Sun Berkowitz

Shelly now serves as CEO of her advisory firm, Founder 2 Founder, where she is helping other founders scale, sell, and secure their business legacies. Through her family office, Next Phase Capital (NPC), Shelly offers patient, values-aligned capital to franchise businesses. 

Shelly will be talking about clarity, resilience, and redefining success in a way that protects both your ambition and your well-being.

To register

Again, to learn more and to register (free of charge) for the first session that Shelly is kicking off, visit: https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/programs/success-on-her-terms/

I [Laurel Delaney] hope to see you there!  

Illinois Rocks When It Comes to Supporting Women-Owned Businesses

In Illinois there are nearly 561,000 women-owned businesses employing more than 661,000 workers and bringing in $165 billion in revenue each year. During this monthlong celebration, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has been elevating resources and events to help bolster Illinois’ women-owned businesses and aspiring female entrepreneurs.

During October DCEO is celebrating National Women's Business Month throughout October by recognizing the significant contributions of women-owned businesses across the state.

“I’m proud to celebrate the wealth of women-owned businesses across our state – and the thousands of talented women who’ve helped establish Illinois’ vibrant business community as the best in the nation,” said Gov. JB Pritzker.

Read on to learn of additional resources that are available to women-owned IL businesses.

How to Create Trustworthy Brands

Creating a brand that resonates with the world is a tough job.  Yet Jeff Raider, co-founder of Warby Parker and now co-founder and co-CEO of Mammoth Brands, which includes Harry’s Razors, Lume, and Flamingo has built some of the most recognizable consumer companies of the last decade, with a track record of creating trustworthy brands that positively impact people’s lives. 

How has he done it?  

Before jumping into reading the entire article, I'll give you a spoiler alert:  Raider’s advice to aspiring [women] entrepreneurs is to, “Create a product that is unique, different, and better in some way, and make it easy to explain.”

Read on to see what else he has to say.  

Black Women Shoulder Additional Burdens On Their Path to Success

Black women shoulder additional burdens beyond men on their path to success, especially in accessing venture capital funding, including networking gaps and less access to personal investment due to racial wealth gaps.

Alicia Sheares’ research on Black tech entrepreneurship in Atlanta and Silicon Valley identifies additional barriers faced by Black women in the field due to negative assumptions about their abilities, signals that they do not belong, sexual advances, and distractions relating to their appearance and attractiveness.

These challenges for Black women are distinct from those reported by Black men and by white women. 

For her presentation to the Clayman Institute, Sheares dug into her research on Black women.

Celebrate 10 Years of Success with Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global on 11/6/25 in Chicago!

©2025 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global.  All rights reserved.

Anyone can join Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® in Chicago on November 6, 2025 to celebrate 10 years of success! 

Enjoy exceptional food, signature cocktails, lively conversation, and a soundtrack curated entirely by women artists—plus gift bags filled with products made by women. And to top it all off, the evening will be emceed by the sensational Whitney Reynolds!

To learn more and to buy your tickets, visit: https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/about/10yr-anniversary/

Listening to Women's Lived Experience Is Essential to Economic Empowerment

We all agree.  Issues come and go, but the speed at which diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has dropped down the business sustainability agenda in recent months is extraordinary.

One influential voice pushing against the “anti-woke” tide is Cherie Blair, a leading British barrister and, most famously, wife of former UK Prime Minister (1997-2007) Tony Blair.

As a feminist, the 71-year-old international trade and human rights specialist is focused on what she sees as business’s systemic bias against women. “Business was built by men, for men, on the assumption that a lot of other things were being done by somebody else; (i.e.) women,” she says.

Blair compares female economic exclusion to an airplane flying with one engine; companies will eventually get to their destination, she says, but they would get there much quicker with two.

She concedes that philanthropic approaches can only go so far: Companies need to think harder about how women’s lived experience can be designed into their digital products and services. Her goal is to empower one million women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Learn more about Cherie Blair, her program and how she encourages women to back themselves.

The Funding Gap Continues For Women Entrepreneurs

While many female founders are addressing social good, they still are denied resources.

Female entrepreneurs are on equal footing with their male counterparts in creating businesses with a societal impact. But there is still a colossal gap in startup funding between women and men who prioritize social issues alongside corporate profit. That is in danger of growing even larger as DEI policies are increasingly removed.