Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us for this panel this afternoon. My name is Lucy and I work with the Wind fellowship here at the Atlantic Council, where we work on enhancing women's economic participation in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly by supporting women, Arab women entrepreneurs in the region. It is with great pleasure that I join you this afternoon to be moderating this panel where we will narrow down on the pivotal role that women entrepreneurs born out
side of the U. S have played in contributing to the U. S entrepreneurial landscape and to do so I am joined by great panel of women entrepreneurs. So without further ado, please allow me to introduce them. We have with us today. Bush. She is the co founder and CEO of Pointy X. We are also joined by Raja Kumari Gente Allah. She is the CEO and managing partner as Yatra ventures. We're also joined by a by Schultz, the founder and creative director of Xaf Collection. And we're also joined by Christi
e Burly. She is the co founder of three worlds. Um and so the kick off the conversation. I will start off with Russia. Raja. Statistics show that for capita immigrants are about 80% more likely to start companies here in the U. S. Compared to us born citizens at the very core immigrants and entrepreneurs, chair and appetite for risk taking, however, navigating the complexities of being an entrepreneur and an immigrant. Present their own set of challenges. Could you please share with us the criti
cal moment or the defining experience that propels you into your entrepreneurship journey here in the US Good morning. Good afternoon. I'm in the wrong today. Thank you for having me and it's great to join this panel. You know, my journey on the entrepreneurship was actually this. I think the US provides. Um, freedom to fail. I feel like I have all the cultures that I've been exposed to. I think growing up I went to I wanted to be an astronaut. I went to school to be an astronaut. So as I'm a I'
m a as far as away. You can be from it because I'm blind as a bat and no one would give me the keys to the space shuttle. Um so Um so I just decided. Okay. One dream doesn't work out. You know, in the U. S. You have the ability to switch careers, switch pads if you fail, so I think that first feeling of Oh, I have the freedom. To fail and to pursue things that are not on the traditional path was right out of college. Of course, you know, uh, as an Asian American child, there are certain paths ev
ery parent wants you to go through. So I think that was one. And then the second defining moment, one was Being comfortable with failure and resiliency. Two is this fundamental belief that Ah! How women play a role in society in decision making is still Um, decision making is extended to Uh, people with power and money and wealth. And so I thought, if I wanted to influence how long my maternity leave will be in a setting or these big decisions in society, I should be part of the wealth generatio
n, not just part of receiving the policy decisions, Um and and that's sort of the structure. That was the second moment in my career, I thought, Okay, well generation and how energy how my body is used. All of these things are related to women feeling comfortable with generating wealth. I think those were the moments you know, comfortable with failure, recovery and then Ah! Encouraging women women to say I want to be part of the wealth creation, wealth generation and how well this distributed in
society. I completely agree. And I think you mentioned two words here that are very key to the core of being an immigrant and the court being an entrepreneur, which are the the freedom to fail. That is, I guess the first term and then the second there is resilience that comes out of it, and they're both very important. Being both an entrepreneur and an immigrant, because it tells a lot about the spirit that both carry when it comes to innovate. And with that, I would like to take it to Christie
Um Christy in the US approximately 1.5 million women. There's approximately at 1.5 Million women business owners. And the account for 11.5% of all woman. Business owners, not just in who are not U. S citizens. Do you believe that there is a distinct kind of determination that proposed first generation immigrants when it comes to starting their businesses in the U. S. I completely do. And I mean, sitting up here with this panel of women is also a testament to that. I think that there is a certai
n kind of grit and determination. When you're already immigrating to a different country. You have to go through so many different hurdles at that point, you know it. Exactly to what we've discussed. It kind of lives or dies with you. And I think that carrying with that grid, that determination, um For for what you're kind of building is definitely embodied an immigrant women, particularly what I found from moving to the us, Um, And obviously not not being from here is really rebuilding that com
munity up, And I think that can be really hard. Um As a woman immigrant as well. You're a completely starting from scratch. You're rebuilding your social structures. Your support structures kind of who your network is and that standard pathway of that career, So I think it can be really, really daunting. But I think it can be very rewarding, obviously, as well. I definitely think that there's That determination and drive that women entrepreneurs have for sure. Absolutely. And I just realized tha
t we are five women who are not born in the US and here we are on international women's Day talking about determination and our will to succeed in America as a follow up to what you were saying. Can you tell me a little bit? How your personal cultural nuances have shaped your approach to entrepreneurship and your business strategy here in America? Definitely so I'm from Cyprus, a small little island in the Mediterranean. We have a very Mediterranean kind of slow pace of life with that, Um, and s
o I feel like that's really grounded me as an entrepreneur to really find solace and Kind of take, take stock and take time to not just be on the go all the time, which you can definitely get burnt out and get caught up in Um, I think also within Cyprus, there's a lot of investment flowing into the country, particularly in real estate, and so seeing that rapid innovation was also really inspiring. Growing up there. Mhm. My the company that I've co founded is called abroad and we support other no
nprofits and conservation organizations. And I grew up around nature, living and breathing protecting the environment. Um, And that's obviously something that's really stuck with me as a career as a young woman moving around the world, seeing all of the different kind of same challenges around the world and just different places being able to take those learnings from my culture from different places that I've lived being able to connect with others on that speak different languages for that has
really I think propelled my my my business and the way that I operate as an entrepreneur, as well, I I think it's very interesting How consciously and subconsciously we take a lot from our culture and wherever we even from our languages, you mentioned the languages wherever we go and its shapes us, and it shapes this entrepreneurial spirit that's within us and in a way also shapes are the way we deal with our fear of failure and our our ability to to pick ourselves back up again. And Start a ne
w whether it's academically or business when it comes to entrepreneurship. Um, so I think it's very fascinating. And I'd be curious to see how the other cultural experiences to have shaped the rest of our panels experiences with that. I'm going to be moving to a by, um by women entrepreneurs in general encounter notable challenges. For example, these challenges include securing funding, overcoming gender specific hurdles, like gaining recognition for achievements and also being taken seriously i
n general. What additional obstacles maybe cultural or linguistics to immigrants or first generation immigrants here in the U. S women in particular face And how have you overcome these in your early stages of your business? Um well, I think. Well, I'm originally from Ethiopia and some things that culturally that was I was self sabotaging was the idea of humility of like, how you present yourself when you're raising funds or when you're promoting, or even just competition of like for my business
. Where the way you present it as Being humble is very well celebrated in Ethiopia. But here you kind of have to be like I did this. I did that. And that's how you get noticed. And so I think there is that level of like cultural shift where we need to be okay by actually, you know, like we're good at this, you know, presented their numbers to do that, And I think that was for me like curbing learn to just be like Oh, actually, I'm capable. I deserve this. I deserve to be in the space. And so I t
hink there is that I see it now and other people that I saw myself like when I started my business about 10 years ago. I'm gonna go a little bit off script, but I guess this is what makes this conversation interesting. You mentioned the word humility and being able to recognize your achievements and just being gamble about them and putting them out there right out when you and I were having our off off table discussions you mentioned that Covid has helped to change the way you present yourself t
o prospect funders. Can you talk a little bit about that and share how this experience in moving a little bit to the digital world has Enabled women to be more outspoken about their achievements. When I started, I have an investment platform and we invest in infrastructure. And and when you say that these are big projects, uh, basically in Africa, West, East Africa and other parts, and so when I first started the company people wanted my building to look like a GE building. Or would say, Who's y
our finance guy? I'm like it's a finance girl. You know things like that there was The architecture and there was a model that existed in in the world and I was like, Well, I need to take care of my elderly parents. I need some time. I need to be able to work with flexibility. My team. The engineering team is in Milan. The operations team is in Uganda. The legal team is in London. So it was a global team that we had been working with. And before Covid. I kind of had to get an office space to pro
ve that I fundamentally exist even though we were doing a $4 billion project. Object. But with Covid it changed everything. Nobody asks me. Where's your building? What's your website? You know, it's become sort of an equalizer in the sense that I don't need G level building. People still assume that I can get work done in our teams can get work done in a more collaborative way. So in that sense, I think the culture has changed and it really I think some ways that burdened women, but But in some
ways, I think it relieved women from having to prove the architecture that the existing architecture of what a corporate looks like or what a business looks like, fundamentally changed. And so today. Um, you know, people who are shifting from these big offices to little offices, work share all of those cultural things. The other thing I think was fundamental during post Covid has been, um Just this idea of Metrics. What a business and I met. Those metrics are I think social media was a big part
of it, but in infrastructure can't tweet every day, A brick went on an engineering design went on. Um, there's certain things that But the metrics of how you evaluate a business and how you measure their ability to have a return on investments. Fundamentally, I think changed to say that there is a need for public sector involvement to manage the risk Covid would not have been We could not have come out of Covid with a massive public sector. Ah, support, So I think there's a greater appreciation
that public sector plays a greater role in stabilizing economies. That except entrepreneurship that accept investments in in a way that I had not seen the five years before. Covid where when we were Working to convince people that's you know, firms of our size, not the big 500 can still do big things. Ah, through crisis. Okay, lot of I think a lot of feedback we received was Hey, you guys are much more flexible than when Covid happened. We were able to continue and finish our infrastructure work
, whereas others had to slow down that way. Um, So as we're shifting the conversation a little bit from the challenge is to discuss the positive aspects. I'm going to turn it over to the one you were born in Saudi but moved to the US when you were 11 If I'm not mistaken, eight. Sorry, and you recently co founded your company here. How How How do you find that Your unique cultural and personal personal histories have propelled you to your towards your entrepreneurial. Achievements here in the US,
But I'm particularly interested in hearing how your background has given you a distinctive insights and also advantages in the competitive business arena here, um, so originally from Saudi Arabia. Obviously, I grew up in the nineties and Saudi and as you all know, and have heard what Saudi was and what Saudi is today, it's a fundamental difference. Um, as far as the positives, I think, just Uprooting. Really my not only the setting the original setting, where Your experience is essentially come
from wisdom of your family, your friends, your neighbors, but coming into a fundamentally different landscape, like the United States, which is essentially a melting pot. You sort of have to dismantle your own perception of the world and sort of look into it from a different aspect. Like you know, people's perspectives and sort of have this influx of experiences where you can apply What you have known from a certain perception and then certainly how to apply it in a vast array of various networ
ks. My personal experience. I'm, a co founder of a biotech company. I work on stem cell research and stem cell engineering. And, um, obviously, when it comes to a very conservative country like Saudi Arabia, I At one point worked on fetal stem cells and embryonic stem cells. And there's a lot of policies religious policies against that in Saudi Arabia, so giving me that sort of perspective to again dismantle, um what is appropriate and healthcare and science and what we need versus what are the
belief systems and faiths and be able to find essential? Can grow in C in what I do versus what is accepted. Granted, we've moved away from stem cell embryonic and fetal. There's IPs CS, but that's a whole different conversation. But the reality is, I think, just the influx of different in Pierce empirical information that come in, essentially Give you A lot of opportunity to see the world from a different landscape. Instead of using the wisdom of your family and parents, you sort of have to be
convicted and what you now believe, because the only person who essentially can depend on is your new experiences and that's sort of where you can look into. It is what your provided from the world, so I think it's just essentially changing perception into perspective. I couldn't agree more. Um, I want to dive a little bit now into the specificities of your personal ventures, and I'll take it back to Christie Christie. Unlike the rest of our Panelists here, you're the company you co founded is a
ctually a nonprofit organization. Um, I you found you found the three worlds here in the US where you work on aiding climate and conservation groups. In achieving their missions and that this is really an example of entrepreneurship with purpose interested about if you have any advice that you would give to women who are not born in the US and would like to start their non government organizations or their companies here. But who are particularly looking into giving back to local communities. Co
mpletely. The way that I really started is when I came to the U. S. I hadn't stepped foot in D C before before moving here, Um Completely. Didn't I think I knew one person? Um And so I first thing I did is I started volunteering and the local community. There's a fantastic group called Global Shapers, part of the World Economic Forum, which I'm part of, and Really There's there's many, many organizations in DC that you can you can volunteer at. I'm really just understanding the landscape of the
local challenges that face the community that you're in that that was really helpful for for me to kind of network with people and also just have a friendship structure. Get to know people. Um and and I'm not really helped with three road rewrote is a kind of global landscape, so it's not based necessarily in D. C. We have a very global mission to achieve 30 by 30, So 30% of the world's biodiversity protection by 2030. So it's not necessarily DC specific. We're looking at a global landscape here
. But as my Panelists rightly said, DC, is such a melting pot and being able to connect with different people in different industries facing the same challenges that you face as an entrepreneur has been incredibly impactful for me. And by similar to Christie a little bit when we're talking about giving back to local communities, you found that staff collection where you work with local designers and Ethiopia. So the purpose of Zapf was to foster an economic empowerment for African artisans, and
we find the notion of global luxury. While you manufacture products and Baba have launched your source here in the US As many immigrant entrepreneurs and DSR company involves a special cultural touch of your home country, interested if there were any legal requirements that you found particularly challenging, challenging to navigate when you were trying to enter the markets here, for example, whether it comes to shipping your products or sourcing, And how would you like to see those amended to m
ake it easier for immigrant entrepreneurs who start their businesses here? Yeah, sure. Well, so essentially, we have have a manufacturing company in Ethiopia for the little goods, and then I partnered with other artisans for jewelry and clothing in Kenya and Senegal and so forth. Um, so the idea is that whatever It's always kind of a a new challenge. I guess whenever you enter into a different country because there's different leadership, but the U. S, um so I don't know. If you guys know like I
'll go. There's a trade agreement between different African countries that's giving tax free whenever they import. So the challenge for us is that you pricing something. Um, now and then maybe In three years or so, uh, relationship between this country and the US changes. And then now the price also changes because I'm now going to pay you 30% more whatever it is, And so kind of. I guess you're trying to make it bulletproof of these constant change of relationships are unstable. Or things that t
he U. S doesn't like. Whatever the country I'm sourcing from for that season. Um, yeah, So it's kind. You have to be creative in ways you still want to make it relevant. Um, by still supporting them. I think the challenge is, for example, like recent is the word that currently happening in Ethiopia. Where we lost the that that agreement that duty tax free, So there's a lot of manufacturing companies in the Ethiopian. I have shut down just because the buyers from the U. S side are no longer compe
titive for them to buy an Ethiopia and so for me, that's kind of daunting. And with my company, the business model is that direct So I have my own retail here, and we manufacture there. So that kind of helps depending on another buyer, liquidity, Macy's, or that's gonna no longer source for me. And so I can, at least you know, change the pies accordingly, And then I have my own direct concern customers and so that keeps its sustainable for my artisans back home. And as a follow up to your answer
. Do you have any advice that you would give to an immigrant entrepreneur on scalability, particularly for women who managed businesses across different continents? Yeah, I think first you have to kind of see leverage on what are your competitive advantage within your own country, And that are that. Thing expand, like scalable, given that you have a working capital and so forth, And so for me, I started out with leather just because Ethiopia happened to be the largest livestock population in all
of Africa in ranks like number eight in the world, but for the longest time, which has been exporting raw heights to Italy and other European countries, where finishing luxury leather goods so For me. It's like why not actually export value added, because that's where it actually creates economic activity. When you're exploiting value added, versus just raw material and kind of have to see it from that angle. What's where you can prevent advantage and then what are being spot after in the other
side of the country completely agree, and I think what you just said resonates a lot with some of the recommendations that come out of our wind fellowship discussions, which is perfect. And really, no work on your background. But backyards first know all the ins and outs of how your business can operate in your country and your area of expertise and then take it a step further when it comes to scalability. And since I mentioned the wind fellowship, I want to turn it back to the one who was actu
ally one of our fellows for the wind fellowships for the Saudi Arabia cohort last year. Um, you were paired with a mentor as part of the program last year, and I remember you speaking about the benefits of networking in general. And remember, you said, it is one of the most important things of entrepreneurship when it comes to networking. And indeed, studies have shown that men and women network differently, revealing that women often feel intimidated to put themselves out there and to ask for g
uidance in general. And this kind of goes back to the humility discussion we were having earlier as immigrants are first Gen immigrants there is this feeling of hesitation to network and it might be compounded by the feelings of being an outsider and a new environment. So what strategy is did you rely on to leverage your connections? One started your business here and the U. S. And how have these relationships help? Helped your business girl. Certainly networking. I think we sometimes or maybe m
e personally, I definitely underestimated the power of networking. Originally, I had walked in thinking, um, Here's what I've done here is who I am. Here's what I can provide in value any interest, and I sort of had to change and re strategize instead of essentially approaching and really flocking. Our feathers. It's entrepreneurs. But mainly, it's the whole matter of perspective versus perception. I started speaking to who, whomever I was potentially interested in and I I never I never brought
the conversation first to me, but rather put in a little effort and obviously a quick Google search to see what they're doing, but their aspirations are And I sort of approached it in a way where Here's how I can help you. And that was really the main strategy that I found potentially the most practical one of my experiences, actually. And this is going back to Roger. I have some good news for you. So we so obviously we're developing technologies that can isolate stem cells from human adipose ti
ssue from fat. In Nano engineering them essentially for regenerative medicine. There were two. There are two experiences that I had, where I technically used the strategy instead of saying here, Here's who I am. It's rather Here's what I can do for you. Um So as you said, not necessarily because there is sort of inferiority complex complex. Not necessarily because you're an entrepreneur, but We are in a room that is a little bit error, landscape and environment a little bit harder to penetrate w
hen the majority of leadership positions and decision making power is, um, in with men just by virtue statistics alone. So you already going in thinking I don't want to ask for help. So therefore, how do I sort of tip the balance a little bit and potentially make you think that I can help you and hopefully there is a reciprocal. Conversation where there is not just a compounding interest, but potential synergy. One of the conversations is a space medicine or actually a space and satellite compan
y in Luxembourg called Stu Space Cargo Unlimited, and they're creating satellites in in energy sourcing from, uh Potential human space travel excursions of, uh, Planet settlements. And I don't know much about satellites and not electrical, mechanical or space engineer. So I approached him basically saying, Look that there's a future in human space travel and human space excursions. Pure believer in, you know, settling in Mars or to the moon. Here is a technology that I've created where we can so
rt of do it with unmanned missions and necessarily not necessarily using resources like expensive Personnel like astronauts and whatnot. Essentially, it's a plug and play technology. And if there's any way I can help He found so much interest that we just forged a partnership a month and a half ago, basically, to take this technology on their Web one mission in 2025 red one, and Leo's just low Earth orbit. So Raja, I have a proposition for you. If you're interested. If they ever give me a key, y
ou'll be the first in mind to have the spare for this rocket. Um, and you heard it here first? Yeah. Okay. Good. So, really, it's it's how can I help you? First, The same thing happened with the strategic consultant to the Saudi The FDA went in to talk about my technology. What's going on in Saudi in terms of stem cells. They told me, I said, How can I can? How can I help you and sort of we signed on really within the two weeks for me to help consult the first therapy, south therapy framework in
the country, and that's essentially the strategy. It's going in asking how you can help first, and then hopefully, in time they'll see your value and see how they can you both built together instead of one. Ah, instead of a one way street, you know, it's really fascinating. You're saying this because I looked at different studies that of how men and women that's very differently, and the one I picked includes here was that woman awful feel feel more intimidated. But in one of the other studies
specifically talked about how women approach you're really a living example of that study. How women approach networking by preparing how they can offer their services first, whereas men go in asking For help. First, Um so I guess it speaks a lot about our ability as women entrepreneurs and the reason why we should put ourselves even more out there and to your point, it creates a window for opportunity. I wish you the best of luck with right up but truly create this this window of opportunity to
create more partnerships and better business decisions. With that I'll take it back to Raja are you founded Yatra adventures, And it's a platform that provides investors with the systematic and repeatable approach to invest in energy infrastructure and value added opportunities in emerging markets are constantly interacting with investors in trying to understand what are their priorities. And where would they like to But But their money while venture capital funding overall has surged and recen
t years numbers haven't leaped forward her female founders at the same pace Since numbers indicated that 2023 in 2023 companies, founded only by women garnered only 2% of the total capital invested in venture capital startups in the US And this is by the World Economic Forum based on your experience do immigrant women entrepreneurs in the s face this issue more intensely. And if so, how Um On with my business. Uh, it started off kind of looking at the next generation investors and as my colleagu
es have talked about it, I wanted to focus on value addition whether you're adding value to human capital or natural resources. And Africa was sort of my framework because it has the youngest population on the planet at the moment, and that's kind of the next India or the next China In terms of I know Western perception of the continent kind of is is warped and in many ways with regards to the continent So I was a deputy assistant administrator for Africa USA. I D and was the principal architect
for power Africa, which was to say, how do we mobilize the G 20 to actually invest in a continent that doesn't have energy without energy? Basically can't be productive in any aspect. Schools healthcare, You don't have freezers, too. Store medicines. I mean energy is fundamentally an issue about productivity, human individual productivity and institutional productivity. And I found a lot of the two fundamental issues about capital and women are scale. Many people wanted to first questions. I wo
uld get it. Oh, it's a micro business. Are you like weaving? Pillows, Uh, so the perception of scale and money or something. So when you're walking in saying I want to raise a $4 billion investment or $3 billion investment, it really is an uncomfortable level of scale. Um, for people to just change that perception, because they're expecting you to walk into ask for less ask for smaller amounts, and it took me a while to not ask for 10 Million but asked for $200 million because that seemed to giv
e me more credibility. They're like, Oh, the more you ask, you know better it is for you and things will go better. Um, so I think that scale was a big part of Women to access to capital because you're not at the right levels, at least for infrastructure. The second challenge I've faced is, um And I don't know how to put it delicately. So I won't. Um it's just this fundamental view that Hmm. We can't handle the stress of business. When things go bad. We're not able to come out of it at the other
end, somehow the standard for failure. It's just a much higher so people will say somebody I won't say who you know, gave me early on $5 million to start the business. And they said, Well, you know, Ah, just give it to you and knowing I won't get it back. And I just kind of looked at, looked at it and said, Oh, yeah, I'll take the money. But let me just say that thing that you know you The fact that you won't pay it back is sort of a, you know, Let's just get on with it kind of thing, and then
I think the last bit on a positive side. Is people trust women not to take this extraordinarily, you know, shoot from the hip risks. I think my number the numbers, thoughtfulness, the people and the processes that we've put in place. People know that if there is some setbacks The systems and processes in place to recover from it. So I think the trust is there, but this idea of can you handle? It is sort of the balance, you know? Yeah. You won't do stupid things. But can you handle these big thin
gs? This kind of thing in terms of capital. I think 2% will be 2% for another. Five another decade until we get more women into being entrepreneurs, and that's kind of my goal in Oh, I'm now I have staff women on my staff and people that I'd like to cultivate to say, Roll yourself out into a business. It's stressful, but it allows me to take care of my parents. My family, you know, as an entrepreneur gives me a bit more time. And flexibility. But I would say it is the toughest job you'll love be
ing an entrepreneur. Um, but the collaborate, I would say. Finding the right people to collaborate with is fundamental. And the taking The money from the right people is also I turned down a lot of money first before I agreed to partner with somebody and people would say You're poor. Why are you turning down money? But I thought the idea would die if I didn't partner on the idea with somebody rather than money, so I wanted to share I wanted some partner with people who had this idea value additi
on and fundamentally committed to that, and then I could take money from them or share money in a co invest with them, So I feel like money is a good metric to partner on. But I think your idea um and your values have to align because if you don't have it, you look you're fighting for trust from day one. If you don't trust you lose that ability to collaborate freely. I have partners. Now I can disagree with and and say, Let's Change the path together on that, so I recommend it as a absolutely wo
nderful journey. But I also think it's a tough journey. But also I think the United States has many mechanisms for art entrepreneurship at the state level at the county level at the federal level that I think people should explore and check out because I'm one of my partners or Will it be partners will be us Exim Bank for the investments we're doing overseas us dfc all of these great institutions. You need to work with the right people, but, uh There are mechanisms to promote prime. There's an a
rchitecture and infrastructure to promote. Ah! Entrepreneurship in the United States. And I think if you start learning those that also helps you write collaborate. And ask you do please look up our wind fellowship as well here at the council. Um, but completely agreed that there are a lot of mechanisms. I think One of the things that I kept thinking about, as you were talking is there is a stigma when it comes to asking for money or putting ourselves out there and to break it. I think there's a
misconception where women unconsciously think that we have to think or act like a man to be taken seriously, and you're really proving the opposite here that no. We should act as women and prove them wrong. No, give me the money and I'll show you You how I can actually invested the right way. And you'll see the value of your investments to conclude the discussion. I wanted to take it back to Christie as and I think right as input was a perfect segue to looking into investing where there's an ad
ded value. Whether it's a for profit company or nonprofit organization like yours. Can you just share a little bit about your experience and raising funds for re worlds and particularly Focus on the length of wanting to be taken seriously in putting yourself out there one raising the funds completely and just to go off that conversation, I think Definitely imposter syndrome happens. Um and I think as a woman you're told, like, be small, You know, be quiet, um, settle down, and I think my advice
would be to be big. Be bold. Trust yourself. If you're passionate about something, trust your gut and go for it and lean on the other, very supportive people in those networks. To just touch on fundraising a little bit for re rolled with we and structured a model for our first project. We're raising $1.2 million to purchase a piece of critical land with endangered species actually re wild. It really creating that addition al itty, and it was a complete bottom up initiative where 100% of the dona
tions were given to the project. We had zero marketing budget. We have a fantastic volunteer team of 40 people, and they're really the backbone of rear old and it's been phenomenal to be working with them and being able to actually successfully, uh, completed that fundraising with the project project O T T. Um and I would be very happy if anybody would like to reach out to kind of share more on the challenges around that. It was really how can we? How can we resonate with people? Because wheneve
r you talk about it, people are like I really want to make that change. I really want to contribute to this as well. And it was just how do we reach people? And how do we Kind of make it go global and social media news outlets marketing really helped in that. Thank you so much. Christie. And with that we've reached the end of our discussion and the end of our international women's days for him here at the Atlantic Council. I'd like to thank all of our Panelists for participating. What a great ho
nor to have moderated the discussion. I've learned so much from you as I'm sure the rest of our audience did. And I also would like to thank you all for attending and would like to thank everyone who attended online in our livestream. With that I would like to turn it over to our executive vice president here at the Atlantic Council, Genevieve Huda.
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