Inspiration for Your Summer Vacation
FemWealth Issue #21
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
Here in Europe, it’s the peak of the summer vacation. And whether we are traveling or ‘staycationing,’ this is the best time to recharge, enjoy some well-deserved free time, and bring inspiration into our lives.
Today’s edition of FemWealth is slightly shorter but packed with inspiring content. Let’s deep dive:
FemWealth Portraits
Anu Duggal, Founding Partner at Females Founders Fund
From day one, we have been committed to building the largest and most powerful network of female operators in technology.
A founder turned VC, Anu Duggal, launched Female Founders Fund, the first early-stage fund for female-founded companies, in 2014. Her one simple belief: women will build the companies of tomorrow.
Upon realizing that women-founded startups represented only 2% of the venture-backed companies in the US, Duggal kick-started a movement to diversify venture capital, shifting the industry's attention towards investing in female-founded companies. Female Founders Fund's portfolio includes 45 female-led companies, such as Maven Clinic, Rent the Runway, and Peanut, with over $4 billion in enterprise value.
The VC firm has recently raised its third and the largest ever fund for female founders in an oversubscribed $57 million round with investors such as Goldman Sachs, Melinda French Gates's Pivotal Ventures, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. The fund focus will be on the Future of Work, Healthcare, Education, and Climate Change.
📖 Inside the ‘Unapologetically Feminine’ Hamptons Home of Venture Capitalist Anu Duggal
🎧 The Two Percent Podcast hosted by Anu Duggal
Peggy Gou, DJ, and Fashion Designer
In the beginning, I had a lot of fears. Someone in the professional world, they can look at me and think, ‘Oh, she just wants fame,’ or ‘She’s not serious.’ But as more time passed, people started to see that I was serious about this music.
In her music and fashion, superstar DJ Peggy Gou combines European and Korean culture in a unique blend. Born and raised in South Korea, she moved to the UK to learn English and pursue her education as a teenager. While studying at the London College of Fashion, she discovered her passion for electronic music.
She started collecting records and later learned to produce music. Soon after, she moved to Berlin to learn from the best. With It Makes You Forget (Itgehane), she rose to international fame.
She now has her record label Guduand fashion label Kirin (Giraffe in Korean), collaborating with Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh. She is also a champion of equalizing the playing field in the music industry and has mentored newcomer female and non-binary DJs.
🎶 Listen to her newest single:
📖 Just Gou it: how Peggy Gou became the world's hippest DJ
📖 10 Reasons Why Peggy Gou Is In A Class Of Her Own
Isabel Allende, Best-selling Author
In my youth I fought for equality. I wanted to participate in the men's game. But in my mature years I’ve come to realize that the game is a folly; it is destroying the planet and the moral fiber of humanity.
Acclaimed Chilean-American novelist, memoirist, and humanitarian, Isabel Allende is the world's most widely read Spanish-language author. Sold in more than 75 million copies and translated into 42 languages, her books include The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses, The Sum of Our Days, The Japanese Lover, My Invented Country, Paula, A Long Petal of the Sea.
In her latest memoir, The Soul of a Woman, Allende recounts her experiences as a woman and feminist, from coming of age in the 1960s in conservative Chile to the tragic loss of her daughter Paula to a rare disease and becoming an internationally recognized author. Reflecting on her life stories and the evolution of feminism, Allende shares her message of hope and encouragement for the future of womanhood.
In addition to her writing, Allende is also a human rights activist. Her foundation Isabel Allende honors the memory of her daughter and is guided by a vision of a world in which women have achieved social and economic justice.
🎥 ISABEL: The Intimate Story of Isabel Allende [mini-series]
🎥 Isabel Allende explores 'The Soul of a Woman’ - an interview with Christiane Amanpour
Lessons in Leadership
🎧 Listen to the episodes of A Podcast Of One's Own With Julia Gillard featuring the who’s who in women and leadership.
🎥 Watch the Ascend Women in Leadership interviews with some of the most accomplished leaders in US tech.
🌐 Discover the Forbes 50 Over 50 profiles of the most inspiring and impactful leaders in US politics, science, technology, and culture. Share it with your mom, aunts, and all the wise women in your life!
FemWealth ❤️
The Stack World, a women-owned and led media company and community founded by Sharmadean Reid.
Sign up to discover thought-provoking content and events such as this:
📅 Ask An Investor With Pippa Lamb [August 5, 3 pm BST]
FemWealth In The Making ✍️
I’m currently planning the September-October issues of FemWealth:
Scientists at the Cutting-Edge of Research
Women’s Representation in the Media
Reinventing Education
Would you like to contribute with insights and/or original content on any of these topics? Please reply to this email.
FemWealth Curated News 🗞
Rent the Runway confidentially files for IPO - Co-founder and CEO Jennifer Hyman is poised to take the company public, in a record year for women-led IPOs
All Raise launches virtual bootcamp for women and nonbinary founders - Instructors include Cowboy Ventures’ Aileen Lee and Benchmark Capital’s Sarah Tavel, and seasoned executives like Figma’s VP of Communications Nairi Hourdajian
The Yips, the Twisties, the Waggles: Simone Biles Gets Them, and You Probably Do Too - Gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from most Olympic events to prioritize her mental health
Thank you for reading FemWealth!
Wish you an energizing week ahead,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer @FemWealth
Social preview credit: Anna Sudit