1871 Celebrates Women in Technology with WiSTEM:
1871 has always been a spot for developing new ideas that build community. Lately, they have spotlighted women. In fact, 1871 made this statement on its website:
“For a whole host of reasons, 1871 believes Chicago is the best place in the country for women entrepreneurs to start a business.”
Their first step was bringing in Nicole Yeary from Ms. Tech, a global women’s networking group that helps business women do tech and tech women do business.
More recently, they introduced a new, first of its kind program, WiSTEM, which fosters opportunities for women in technology entrepreneurs by giving them access to capital, technology, and community.
The WiSTEM program includes 13 women founders who will facilitate a 12-week program that includes weekly educational courses and access to female and male mentors and investors, said 1871 COO Tom Alexander, The Chicago Tribune reported.
The program is part of Google for Entrepreneurs’ #40Forward initiative, and is also supported by the Lefkofsky Family Foundation, Motorola Mobility Foundation, and AT&T.
WiSTEM had its first event, the WiSTEM showcase on January 25, 2016, which included female founders of the following startups:
- mRelief simplifies the qualifying process for social programs by quickly showing people if they are eligible or not, and recently unveiled a text messaging feature that makes the food stamp screening process even easier.
- Pay Your Selfie brings brands and consumers together using selfies. It creates a performance-based mobile marketing platform for advertisers, and it pays users cash for selfies, turning their social currency into real currency.
- iTravel Benefits is a shared, elective benefit that rewards employees who save for personal travel by providing a company match.
- PartySlate is a digital platform designed for party hosts and event professionals.
Spring courses for WiSTEM are currently closed for the 17-week program from March 7, 2016 – June 30, 2016. For more information about mentoring or applying for future WiSTEM programs, visit the 1871 WiSTEM website.