Grateful & Growing: Her Hustle Highlights 600+ Attendees, 4 Events, and a Thriving Community
This week: UK's £250M female fund pledge, climate fintech's 34% women leadership + student wins from UH's eco-gaming to UNCP's lawn care platform.
This is WWV Labs’ weekly newsletter: Her Hustle, a place to learn all about the new and the next in female entrepreneurship, and we’re here to help you dive into it. We highlight all the fierce women who are building startups—from those launching from dorm rooms and balancing classes to recent grads and experienced professionals turning their bold visions into reality.
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Happy December! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with connection, gratitude, and maybe even a well-deserved break from your laptops. This Thanksgiving, I found myself reflecting on the incredible community we’ve built together—one fueled by ambition, resilience, and a shared mission to elevate female student founders.
I’ve had so many conversations with women in my network about the importance of amplifying wins for female founders—because visibility leads to funding, opportunities, and real change. Yet, I often catch myself hesitating to spotlight my own achievements, afraid it might come across as bragging.
But here’s the truth: the media coverage of female founders—especially female student founders—is scarce. Despite being 50% of the population, women receive <25% of media coverage. If we don’t give visibility to ourselves and each other, who will? That’s why I created Her Hustle, a space where we celebrate the bold, ambitious women turning visions into reality.
So here it is—I’m taking my own advice and sharing my personal wins to inspire others to do the same.
This past month, I spearheaded four major events, bringing together over 600+ incredible people who share our passion for entrepreneurship. Additionally, Her Hustle grew from 2,000 subscribers to over 4,200, and WWV Labs expanded its fellowship program from 250 fellows to now over 400—and counting!
Here are some of the highlights:
👩💻 November 3rd: Co-organized the Girls into VC x Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship 2024 Summit, connecting 200+ female students, founders, and investors.
📚 November 14th: Hosted the Fintech is Femme Book Tour at Harvard, drawing 60+ students and professionals for an engaging conversation on fintech innovation.
🎤 November 18th: Partnered with Foundess to create the Foundess x Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship: Womxn Networking + Pitch Night, which welcomed 170+ female students for networking and pitches.
🏈 November 22nd: Brought together 300+ entrepreneurial minds at the Harvard-Yale Entrepreneurial Mixer, fostering collaboration and connection between students from both universities.
Organizing these events was not easy—it took perseverance, countless hours of planning, and collaboration with amazing teams (shoutout to Girls into VC, Fintech is Femme, Foundess, Yale Entrepreneurial Society, and the Harvard WiE Board for their support!).
Sharing my wins isn’t just about reflection—it’s about inspiring you to own yours, too. Visibility matters. Your wins deserve to be seen and celebrated.
If you’re a female student founder ready to share your story, complete this form to be featured in our Female Student Founder Spotlight in future editions of Her Hustle.
University of Hawaii graduate Gabrielle Dang won 1st place, the People's Choice Award, and $3,000 in prize money at the Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge for her innovative energy conservation game, which teaches children sustainability through interactive gameplay.
University of North Carolina at Pembroke student Nelysa Rosario, founder of Genesis 7, won $1,500 at the BraveHawk Pitch Competition for her innovative digital platform connecting customers with local lawncare providers, continuing her streak as a top contender after placing in the Top 24 at the CEO Global Pitch Competition in October.
Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and other top investors commit £250M to empower female founders across the UK! With these contributions, the Invest in Women Taskforce is addressing the dismal 1.8% equity funding share that all-female-founded businesses in the UK received in the first half of 2024.
St. Thomas University (Canada) students excelled at the Impact X Summit. First-year students Olivia Leblanc and Ana Sofia Garcia Moreno secured 1st place and $1,000 for their social enterprise, Visible, which empowers individuals with invisible disabilities through education and innovative products. Meanwhile, Emily Lynch and her team earned 3rd place and $400 for their accessible recipe cards initiative, designed to support individuals with low literacy or language barriers.
Women now lead or co-found 34% of all climate fintech startups globally—a figure that soars to 45% for climate fintech companies launched in 2023—highlighting the sector’s growing inclusivity and resilience, with $3.2B raised across 286 European startups this year alone.
At the 2024 FemTech Innovation Challenge hosted by Velocity in Canada, University of Waterloo student Disha Patel and her teammates Varsha Prasad, Maithily Kadam, and Rifzah Ahmed advanced to the final eight with their innovative product, SenseHer—a therapeutic bra designed to support women recovering from breast cancer.
December 6 | 🃏 Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship Women's Poker Night (Boston)
Hosting an event for women in entrepreneurship?
Share the details with Her Hustle’s community by filling out this form!
After a busy November packed with events, I’m taking it easy in December/January to focus on thesis deadlines, final exams, and the holiday season. However, if you’re based in Florida and building female-focused entrepreneurial communities, I’d love to connect—feel free to DM me!
20 venture leaders redefining the ecosystem on LinkedIn you should follow.
Despite NYC securing $24.3B in VC deals YTD, funding for female-founded startups has dropped 51.9% YoY, with only 10.3% of total capital going to startups with at least one female founder—a critical gap women-led funds like Emmeline Ventures are stepping up to close.
Komal Joshi’s reflections on how why student entrepreneurs need to slow down to scale up: passion and energy drive young founders, but a focus on long-term growth, financial literacy, and strategic planning is key to transforming short-term wins into lasting impact—entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint!
Name: Yochi Hobson
School: The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania Class of 2027
Major: Marketing & Business Analytics
Startup: Project Pink Tax
Sector: Non-Profit | Women’s Health
Description of Non-Profit: Project Pink Tax is a student-led 501(c)(3) organization tackling period poverty in the DC Metropolitan area and beyond. We’ve provided over 80,000 high-quality menstrual products to low-income individuals, partnering with local shelters and community centers. We aim to alleviate the monthly burden of period poverty and empower our community.
Biggest Startup Achievement: Our biggest achievement is donating over 80,000 menstrual products to homeless shelters and community centers in D.C. Last year, we expanded globally, partnering with Save Kids For Future in Tanzania to teach 500 students about menstrual health and sewing reusable pads. This program provided 200 students with three washable pads each, fostering empowerment and sustainability.
Biggest Startup Learning Moment: Our biggest learning moment came when progress felt stagnant in our early years. My co-founder, Makenzie Reilly, and I hadn’t yet realized the importance of connecting with industry professionals and potential investors. However, once we embraced the power of relationships, we found mentorship, support, and opportunities that transformed our startup.
Advice for Female Students Interested in Entrepreneurship: Don’t let inexperience or lofty goals hold you back. Take actionable steps to learn from mentors who’ve been in your shoes and succeeded. Most importantly, continually remind yourself why you love your idea and entrepreneurship—it’s your passion that will drive your success.
Know a bada$$ female student founder?
Nominate her or yourself to be featured in Her Hustle’s newsletter by completing this form!
💁♀️ Are you a female student or recent graduate who wants to work at a startup? Apply to WWV Labs Fellowship Program to find ad hoc projects, term-time internships, summer internships, or full-time employment opportunities at startups!
Join our community of 400+ fellows from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, UC Berkeley, and other top universities today!
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I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, Hustlers!
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Love,
Daniela