Re-cap: Showcase 2020 — Power of 100

FeMNist Day brought hundreds of people together to celebrate International Women’s Day in the Twin Cities.

The event, now in its third year, kicked off on Friday, March 6 at The Coven St. Paul with the Showcase; a pitch-style event focused on activating 100 people as the friends and family investor round for three female founders. In collaboration with Still Kickin, The Coven and Nora McInerny, Power of 100 MSP organized a sold-out event featuring local entrepreneurs Jordyn Taylor, Founder & CEO of Vermillion Ink Press, Flora Ekpe-Idang, Founder & CEO of Corage Dolls, and Michelle Trans Maryns, Founder & CEO of We Sparkle.

The founders were selected from a group of nearly three dozen applicants this year based on the strength of their business idea, their motivation to bring the idea to life, the potential impact of their participation in the Showcase, and the alignment of their business with the goal of FeMNist Day: to highlight women making a difference in our community.

A common theme across this year’s FeMNist Day Showcase Speakers was revolutionizing representation in their respective industries:

Jordyn Taylor, a writer, editor and publisher from Minneapolis Minnesota founded Vermillion Ink Press to draw attention to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the book publishing industry. According to a 2019 survey by Lee & Low Books on diversity in the publishing industry, Jordyn explained, “76% of employees who responded to the survey were white, 74% were cis women, 81% were straight, and 89% were non-disabled. At the executive level, 78% were white, 60% were cis women, 82% were straight, and 90% were non-disabled.” Vermillion Ink Press is a literary multi-media collective and independent publisher of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from underrepresented voices. Jordyn captured a third of the votes and will use more than $3,000 in funding to host its official Launch Party in June 2020 and to underwrite the acquisition of one or more books in Fall 2020. To learn about and support VIP, follow @VermillionInkPress on Instagram or Facebook.
Flora Ekpe-Idang, Founder & CEO of Corage Dolls (sounds like corsage, rhymes with Minaj) began her company after cutting her teeth in the ad world, mass retail and at top toy companies. Corage Dolls is a multicultural doll company that encourages girls of color to be unstoppable. In her words, “we’re living in a time where over 50 percent of children ages ten and younger are multicultural, but our toy shelves aren’t keeping up with these changes.” Flora captured the majority of votes at the FeMNist Day Showcase (all hail our Showcase Queen!) and will use $4,800 in funding to update design and packaging in time to land on specialty toy retailer shelves before the holidays. To learn about and shop Corage Dolls, follow @CorageDolls on Instagram or Facebook or online at coragedolls.com.
Michelle Trans Maryns, founded We Sparkle as a public benefit corporation to help businesses save time, increase revenues and invest in community by leveraging technology This spring she will launch a full-version of their virtual AI assistant, which helps small, predominantly women-owned businesses like salons cut down on the time they spend booking appointments and following up for customer feedback. Michelle is quite a force in the startup community having just joined the current cohort of Lunar Startups and graduating from startup programs at Finnovation and Beta.MN. Oh and somehow she’s finding time to mentor up-and-coming entrepreneurs in high school. You’ll want to follow and support her rise at @wesparkleorg on Instagram or her website at wesparkle.org.

Guests at the FeMNist Day Showcase enjoyed breakfast from Chowgirls Killer Catering and coffee from Peace Coffee at a relaxed social hour in the newly opened St. Paul location of The Coven, where walls are adorned with art by Leeya Rose Jackson, She She, Ashley Mary, Kelsi Sharp and so many other local artists. Adding to the day’s excitement was the always honest, always hilarious Nora McInerny to emcee Showcase through three pitches, a Q&A, 100 votes and $10,000 in funding in less than an hour at an unreasonably early hour of the morning.

FeMNist Day events continued all throughout the day with workshops and mentor hours organized by The Coven featuring industry experts in almost every area. In 2019, 200 women expanded professional connections at workshops and 26 mentors gave 52 hours of one-on-one advice to fuel professional development, navigate career transitions and grow and launch businesses. A particularly magical moment of FeMNist Friday was the keynote presentation by Minneapolis City Council Vice President, Poet and Activist Andrea Jenkins. She graced us with some of her poetry aloud, had us laughing, crying and even got us up to speed on the Census.

FeMNist Day events continued on Saturday, March 7 with the largest-ever Night Market organized by Still Kickin and hosted at The Palace Theater in St. Paul. We’re still waiting on final numbers but to put it in perspective: in 2019, over one thousand Minnesotans supported 42 of the region’s most talented female, trans and non-binary makers and business owners with sales totaling $45,00 in five hours.

Support for FeMNist Day 2020 and the FeMNist Day Showcase was made possible thanks to generous contributions from the Bush Foundation, Knight Foundation, 3M, Clockwork Interactive, When I Work, Peace Coffee and Chowgirls Killer Catering. Shoutout to event planner extraordinaire Emily Mauter, our dreamy partnership with The Coven, Still Kickin and Nora McInerny, everyone who attended the FeMNist Day Showcase, and all the day-of Power of 100 MSP volunteers who woke up early AF to make the second FeMNist Day Showcase huge success: Emily Mauter, Ella Daniels, Shor Salkas, Lila Gilbert, Karli Thorstenson and Maddie Hagar.

More photos by Bethany Bernie for the FeMNist Day Showcase at www.powerof100msp.com/events.