Being a women entrepreneur has never been easy, and COVID-19 has added new challenges. How can we manage our careers, relationships, friendships and mental health in the time of COVID-19?

SheStarts and Cartier Women’s Initiative bring you an honest and relaxed conversation on successes, failures and learnings from:

Adapting business strategy & processes and leading remote teams
Juggling work, family and school life within 4 walls
Maintaining an emotional connection to support networks, despite physical distance
Practicing self-care and finding ways to recharge
Keeping the ‘good’ changes brought about by COVID-19

Join us for this panel discussion with four remarkable, impact-driven entrepreneurs. Hear how SheStarts alumni Dr Annie McAuley and Lucinda Hartley have adapted their lives and startups over the last few months.

Learn about the support and benefits Cartier Women’s Initiative laureate Joanne Howarth and fellow Jenna Leo have taken out of the program, and hear their tips for preparing a winning application.

This interactive event will be moderated by Cartier Women’s Initiative Global Programme Director Wingee Sampaio and will be followed by networking in virtual rooms.

Moderator:

WINGEE SAMPAIO - Global Programme Director, Cartier Women’s Initiative

Wingee serves as the director of the Cartier Women’s Initiative. Founded in 2006, it is a program that supports women social impact entrepreneurs globally. Her passion in social impact sprouted from her undergraduate days at Berkeley, with a specific passion for empowering women and social impact businesses. She currently also serves on the investment committee of Next Wave Ventures, a social impact venture capital fund investing in social impact early stage businesses. She co-authored “Impact with Wings: Stories to Inspire and Mobilized Women Angel Investors and Entrepreneur.” Her chapter, “Angel Investing as Self Empowerment,” aims to inspire women to use their wealth to create an impact.

Wingee has had a distinguished career in the capital markets for 15 years at State Street Global Advisor, Barclays Global Investors, and Goldman Sachs & Co. During this time, she was the chairwomen for State Street Foundation (West Coast offices) focusing on work force development initiatives. She was also a board member for Foundation for Sustainable Development for eight years, focusing on micro grants and grassroot development work. Wingee received her BA in economics and East Asian developmental studies from University of California at Berkeley. She has earned the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and Chartered Financial Analyst Designations. She is also a Pipeline Angels Fellow and was one of the LPs in the inaugural US Rising Tide Program.

Speakers:

DR ANNIE MCAULEY - Founder and CEO, TalkiPlay

Dr Annie McAuley is an experienced researcher and manager, plus mother of two remarkable children. Annie founded TalkiPlay to engage her youngest child in early speech development. Annie applied her medical science PhD research background with her own experience of language loss following an earlier traumatic brain injury – to change the way we interconnect with language literacy, to improve the education outcome for the 1 in 5 preschool children struggling with speech delay – so children like her daughter can thrive.

TalkiPlay won the 2019 Build Better Futures in Health awards (all of them), the Medtech Actuator award, was Google pick for the top innovation out of Australia for Google Startups, and went on to win the Google Demo Day Asia People choice award in Bangkok.

Annie has transformed TalkiPlay from an idea as a solo founder in 2018 to a team of 4 in 2020 (with an additional 4+ contractors). TalkiPlay has raised just under 1M in funding to date.

LUCINDA HARTLEY - Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, Neighbourlytics

Urban designer turned entrepreneur, Lucinda Hartley uses big data to measure the quality of life and wellbeing of neighbourhoods. She is a co-founder of Neighbourlytics, a social analytics platform which has created data for more than 500 neighbourhoods in over 10 countries and is influencing some of the world’s most significant urban development decisions. Lucinda was recently named as one of 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review and one of Melbourne's Top 100 most influential people by The Age.

With over a decade of experience in urban innovation, Lucinda was a Myer Innovation Fellow, Westpac Social Change Fellow, and was previously co-founder and CEO of award-winning placemaking consultancy, CoDesign Studio. Prior to this her insights contributed to defining UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Cities). A designer turned tech-founder, Lucinda is alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Singularity University. Lucinda doesn’t separate work and personal life: first we shape our cities, then they shape us.

JOANNE HOWARTH - Founder and CEO, Planet Protector Packaging

Joanne Howarth encountered polystyrene’s pervasive problems when she started working in 2014 as an outsource partner of Australia’s largest meal kit subscription service. In 2015, she started Planet Protector Packaging to provide a sustainable alternative to polystyrene using waste wool. Since then, the company has manufactured more than 2,700 tons of waste wool and now has 102 clients in Australia and New Zealand who have chosen not to use polystyrene.

Planet Protector Packaging has sold more than 5.2 million Woolpack sets, removing 5.6 million sets sold/boxes removed, and 2800 tonnes of compressed polystyrene from the waste stream. Joanne is in a race to become the market leader in sustainable insulated packaging. Immediate plans include expanding into Southeast Asia, but her long-term vision is that Planet Protector Packaging will one day be a global company—with the hard work of her dedicated team and the help of her wooly friends.

JENNA LEO - Co-founder and CEO, Home Care Heroes

Jenna and her husband Mat became the primary caregivers to both of his parents at age 26, while working full-time jobs. The challenges they faced led them to launch HomeCare Heroes in 2016, a Sydney-based startup that matches young people with socially isolated people or those with disabilities. The ‘heroes’ are there to provide care or even just company, with the platform aimed at a range of people, including new mothers and the elderly.

Since then, the company has provided more than 300,000 hours of support, expanded from Sydney to two more Australian cities and over 13,000 people sign up to become heroes.

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Event overview:

7:30-8:10 Panel discussion with SheStarts alumni Dr Annie McAuley and Lucinda Hartley and audience Q&A

8:10-8:25 Conversation with Cartier Women’s Initiative laureate Joanne Howarth and fellow Jenna Leo about the programme and submitting a great application

8:25-8:40 Audience Q&A about the Cartier Women’s Initiative

8:40-9:00 Networking in virtual rooms

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About the Cartier Women's Initiative

The Cartier Women's Initiative is an annual international entrepreneurship programme that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 2006, the programme is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.

The Cartier Women’s Initiative is launching a new Science & Technology Pioneer Award for its 2021 edition to fuel innovation by women. This new award is dedicated to recognising women impact entrepreneurs at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation.

For more information and to apply visit: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/. Applications close 31 July 2020.