A Week at Camp Girl Boss

Leesa and I both feel lucky that we were able to be a part of Camp Girl Boss earlier in July. Camp Girl Boss was an inaugural program created by Asheville entrepreneur and leader Emily Breedlove.  It was a week-long day camp held at UNCA that empowered girls to find their voices, celebrate the power of their ideas, and step boldly in the direction of what is possible as they created their own companies. Earth Equity Advisors chose to sponsor one of the young women with a scholarship, since a program like this is directly aligned with our values.

As a mentor, Leesa supported one of the young girls as she figured out her company, including mission, name, product lines, pricing strategies, and target market.  The concept of a triple bottom line philosophy (people, planet, profit) resonated with her, illustrated by her plan to donate 50% of any company profits to a local non-profit. “It was such an honor to help this creative young woman take her concept for a company and create a viable start-up.  The energy, creativity, passion and excitement of this group made me hopeful for the future when they’re in charge!”

I worked with the girls to create logos for their website. It was a whirlwind of a day, with 30 minutes to sit down, brainstorm and create! I was impressed with each girl’s ability to articulate their vision and communicate what they wanted for their brand.

At the graduation ceremony at the end of the week we were able to see the participants’ visions come together. Each girl had created a website that incorporated their logo, their business services and a mission statement. Beyond that, they had a 60 second elevator pitch, which is no easy feat to perfect and to give in front of hundreds of people. I was blown away. Their keynote speaker at the graduation was former Asheville Mayor, Terry Bellamy. Bellamy spoke on the importance of providing young women with the tools to overcome challenges they may face as entrepreneurs – to continue to make bold decisions and push for their success.

Congratulations to the young women who graduated from Camp Girl Boss ’18. We can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!