Create & Cultivate 100: STEM: Jesse Draper
CLOSING THE GAP.
CLOSING THE GAP.
Jesse Draper is proving that it takes a Valley Girl to take down the gender bias of Silicon Valley. We call this Sweet Valley High Schooling Your
As founding partner of Halogen Ventures as well as creator and host of the 2015 Emmy nominated television series,“The Valley Girl Show,” Jesse is Sweet Valley High Schooling our asses about what it means to put your money where your mouth is. A 4th generation venture capitalist focused on early stage investing in female founded consumer technology, Jesse is challenging the industry's penchant for funding more men than women.
Though her dad opened the investing doors to her at a young age, investing isn't just in her DNA. She's had unparalleled access and and easy education. She was one the first people to test AIM (AOL’s Instant Messenger) and participated in the first ever Skype video conference at 16. She's said that women take fewer risks with their money, but wants them to put it to work.
With a background in investing and media, that's double the reason to invest in her.
More from Jesse below.
Name: Jesse Draper
Instagram Handle: @jessecdraper
Business Instagram Handle: @halogenvc
Where do your drive and passion come from?
My family. My family is very driven and my grandfather always instilled in all of us that if you do what you love, the money will come with some really hard work. That is where my passion comes from. I feel like I do what I love by supporting female run tech companies every day.
How do you feel as a woman in STEM?
It is a huge advantage to be a female in STEM because there are fewer women. We have a long way to go and we need to encourage more women to enter the profession by giving media exposure to the ones within the STEM industries.
What do you think is a major "miss" for women when it comes to investments?
When it comes to raising money as a female, something I see regularly is that they aren't thinking big enough. We are realistic. We know exactly how much money we need to raise to get where we need to go. This is positive but sometimes we need to think bigger. Women need more of what I like to call the 'billion-dollar mindset' which is 'How do you build this company into a $Billion business?'. When women pitch me and I think they are thinking too small, I will say 'Take this idea. Imagine how big this business could get. How many different revenue streams? How do you find more customers, imagine the biggest business you possibly can with this idea Then multiply that by 100. Then multiply that by 1000. And then come back to me and pitch your company.'
How do we reprogram ourselves to believe that we are good at/with/handling money?
This is a problem buried deep in the history books as men used to control the majority of the nances. Women are still becoming used to handling the money in a relationship. A couple things: Go to every accountant or financial planner meeting with your spouse, don't let your husband make any large financial decision alone. The more exposure you have to finance, the more you will realize that you know more than you think. And what you don't know, you can easily learn. Women also need to experiment with their money more. They feel safe buying a pair of shoes or hard good that is tangible because they understand that. They would feel more comfortable investing in the stock market, companies, etc...if they tried it. It's not as complicated as we make it out to be. Start by investing in a stock that you know. Put your money to work. Don't 'save' it all, invest it, grow it. Play with it.
How do we get more venture dollars to go to women?
We need more female investors. I have found that often, the high net worth women that I meet feel more comfortable writing a $1 Million dollar check to a charity than they do investing in a for-profit venture. I encourage more women with this type of access to wealth to invest in both the non-profit world as well as the for-profit world because you can do just as much good, if not more by investing in women lead companies. By investing in a for-profit female-led company, you are creating more female billionaires of the future and thus more wealth handled by women. This is how we level the playing eld.
How have you successfully navigated such a male-dominated eld?
I am a tough negotiator and I speak up when it's important. I also try and promote the women around me because no one wants to stand on top of the mountain alone.
What are your hopes for young women who are interested in STEM?
I hope they go for it and build the Ubers, Googles and Amazon's of the future with the most diverse teams. If the data proves to be true, diverse teams breed success and with more women in leadership, these companies of the future will be infinitely more successful than those that currently exist.
"Diverse teams breed success and with more women in leadership, these companies of the future will be infinitely more successful than those that currently exist."
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Wasting water. I grew up in the never-ending drought that is California and my husband grew up in Seattle where they have tons of water. I hate the faucet running unnecessarily. Drives me nuts.
What are your biggest fears about running a business?
You can't have any fears if you are running a business. You have to be insanely optimistic and open to pivoting, rolling with the punches and trying new things no matter how terrifying. You have to JUMP.
What's something you'd like people to know about your job that they probably don’t?
I get to bet on people's dreams and I feel incredibly fortunate to be an investor and be able to do so. It's a privilege. It's also a ton of hard work.
IYO-- How can we stay original when we are so saturated with other people's work?
I think the most dangerous place any human can live is inside the box. You need to think outside of the box. Question everything. Don't do things the way other people do. Create a company that solves a problem that you have experienced in a new way. Copycats are boring and they won't get anywhere. I stay original by going to the beat of my own drum. I don't like to do things the way other people do.
"The most dangerous place any human can live is inside the box."
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What about your career makes you feel the most complete?
I don't think I ever feel complete in my career. I am always excited about what else there is to do. I just closed my first fund and that feels like a good step completed. I like to think that I can always do more and improve and no one has figured it all out. I certainly haven't. I do like knowing I have completed something but the only thing that gives me that feeling is finishing a book. Everything else can be improved or bettered in some way and that is how I see the world.
If you had to trade jobs with anyone else in the world, who would it be and why?
Trump. Just for the next couple of years.
At what point in your career did you find the confidence to really take charge and become the woman you are today?
I'm still finding the confidence but if you talked to me in my 20s, I think you would have met a much less secure woman. I had to learn how to be confident in my abilities and teach myself to trust my decisions.
What's the best advice you've ever been given? Or your favorite piece of #realtalk?
My family always says '80% of success is just showing up' - this has worked well for me.
When you hit a big bump in the road, how do you find a new road or a detour?
I take a step back and go do something else for a little while. Sometimes I give it a night's sleep. I try to look at the situation through different people's perspectives and I talk to my friends, mentors, and advisors about it. Once I have done enough 'research', I make a swift decision and plow forward until I hit another bump.
What song do you sing in the shower when you’ve had a bad day?
Baby got Back by Sir Mixalot. It's my theme song. I have a Kardashian booty.
TO SEE THE FULL CREATE & CULTIVATE STEM LIST CLICK HERE.
STEM: Melissa Grillo Aruz, Forerunner Ventures
Investing in women. Investing in future.
This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full STEM List Here.
Investing in women. Investing in future.
Meet Melissa Grillo Aruz: VP of Platform at Forerunner Ventures, the early stage venture capital firm investing in some of the buzziest, cultiest, most disruptive brands of the moment, including Dollar Shave Club, Birchbox, and Glossier.
Now 39, the Brooklyn-based mother of two launched her career at ad agency Razorfish, where she handled retail accounts for Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren, and Abercrombie & Fitch. “This was in the early 2000s and these were the brands that were on the forefront of media, launching brand pages on Facebook and yes, MySpace, which now seems obvious, but back then was very innovative,” says Grillo, once behind such digital milestones as creating the first live streaming concert with Fergie for Victoria’s Secret Pink, as well as the first sponsored blog post with Refinery29. A different time, indeed.
From there, Grillo moved onto marketing for Gilt Group during their period of landmark growth, and consulted for J.Crew, Madewell, and Warby Parker. “I started to get excited about this next generation of consumer facing brands that had a strong POV, really connected with their customers in a fresh new way and came to life online,” she explains. It was through this work that she became acquainted with Kirsten Green, future boss and Forerunner Ventures founder. For the last two years, they’ve been forging the future of retail and backing some of this generation’s most sought after startups.
After fifteen years in the fashion space, Venture Capital was still uncharted territory. But Grillo isn’t one to be easily deterred by the unknown. “There was a fun and steep learning curve when I came on board, and I am lucky to be a part of a group that sees the value in disciplines outside those which traditional Venture Capital firms typically offer their companies,” explains Grillo, whose intuition for supporting promising and profitable young brands makes her an irreplaceable asset to the VC firm behind the explosive growth of Bonobos and Outdoor Voices. “It was exciting to know I could be a part of how Forerunner differentiates itself. I learned to capitalize on what I was good at while, at the same time, being humble enough to ask questions, read up on new topics, and as with anything involving startups worked my butt off to learn.”
"I learned to capitalize on what I was good at, while being humble enough to ask questions."
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While the finance industry is historically male-dominated (an antiquated reality that Forerunner is no doubt disrupting, however unintentionally), Grillo rarely feels like a fish out of water. “The key to dealing with these situations is to try to put yourself in other people’s shoes and understand what their motivations are,” says the VP, who leans on a close network of entrepreneurial women and hardworking moms for encouragement and support, and counts her professional teammates as mentors. “I can easily tell myself I’ve spent decades growing brands, creating and riding trends, and that I’m really good at what I do, and that internal pep talk usually does the trick! A successful career is earned and requires sacrifice. It truly is done through dedication and a lot of hard work, nothing is handed to you.”
Between running family and working at the fund, Grillo has little time leftover for herself — but one thing’s for sure, she never skips her bedtime routine. It’s the little things. “Every night, no matter how tired I am, I always take off my makeup, put on eye cream and moisturizer read a few pages of my book and off to bed.” When asked how she defines female empowerment, she replies, “Today, for me, it means asking intelligent questions with confidence and walking into a room without questioning whether I belong there or not. As I start my day tomorrow it will mean something else, but it always means operating with confidence and self love.”
"A successful career is earned and requires sacrifice."
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That big things are in the future for Melissa Grillo and the team at Forerunner — now that’s something we’d put our money on.
Forget Shattered Ceilings, These Co-Founders Want You Above the Glass
Female entrepreneurship is growing 1.5x faster than male entrepreneurship.
If Heather Serden and Danielle Yadegar, co-founders of Above the Glass, were to poll 1,000 women, these are the top five questions they'd ask:
WHAT IS YOUR MAIN SOURCE OF MOTIVATION?
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE TO YOU?
WHO IS YOUR BUSINESS ROLE-MODEL?
WHICH BUSINESSES DO YOU WISH EXISTED OUT THERE?
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE FROM ABOVE THE GLASS?
Recently launched, Above the Glass is setting out to empower and mobilize young women and female founders by removing the fear around the financial and business aspects of a startup. While the class of 2017 at top business schools reported record numbers of female enrollees, there are not enough resources for women who are not afforded similar opportunities. But that's exactly what we can expect from Above the Glass: business resources and downloads, interviews with women paving the way, and career advancement advice.
We checked in with the partners ahead of Create & Cultivate DTLA where they will be joining us as mentors.
We talk about understanding the who of your brand, but also the why. What’s your why?
We started Above the Glass to fill what we saw as a huge void in the market – a lack of formal business training amongst creative female professionals. We knew from time spent with private clients what types of questions these women were asking, and what services and information they were looking for.
The real turning point came when Heather experienced sexism at work. She was working in tech, which is notoriously a boys club, and honestly didn’t realize discrimination in the work place was still an issue. We think that as women get older, get married and have families, that a lot of the dynamics change, and we often get stereotyped to be on the “mommy track,” or taken less seriously as we climb the corporate ladder. She knew she could go start a business with the tools she had, but so many other women didn’t have the background or the knowledge to take that leap - so we started Above the Glass to give that opportunity to all women.
And why is now the right time to launch?
There is so much inspiration out there right now for female entrepreneurs. It is a really great time for female empowerment, and women are stepping up to help other women. Women have the ideas, and are inspired to take that next step – often they just don’t know how to do it. We think that Above the Glass can give them the information and the resources that enable them to execute on their ideas.
What is Above the Glass doing to close the gender gap?
Women are under-represented in business school and in leadership positions in corporate America. We are definitely as smart as men, but the numbers show we don’t have the same formal business training. By creating Above the Glass, we provide women with access to information and tools that can empower them to start businesses. This equal access to information and resources to take that leap can allow us all to be our own boss, regardless of gender.
"We are definitely as smart as men, but the numbers show we don’t have the same formal business training."
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April 12th is Equal Pay Day. A year from now what do you hope has been achieved?
Starting a business isn’t necessarily about making money overnight, it’s about building a future. We hope everyone has the opportunity to start their own business, if that is what they really want to do. Being your own boss means you have a say in what you get paid, or the success of the business dictates it, not someone else.
What women do you admire?
We admire all women who have built and scaled businesses, despite the challenges they faced. We also admire the women who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to give us their feedback and advice. Kindness has made the greatest impact on us – we will always aspire to be like the kind women who have been so generous with us.
Who is your dream interview? What would you want to know?
Our dream interview would be Alexa Von Tobel. She started her company, Learnvest, to help women manage their personal finances, and turned it into this incredible investment platform - she transformed an entire male-dominated industry. She was young, hungry, and just got it done. Being an entrepreneur is so hard - an emotional roller coaster - and we would want to know all of the challenges she faced and how she got through them. We would want to know everything about her journey.
What are some skills you want to help women in business hone?
Women are often intimidated by a lot of the numbers and abstract concepts in business. We think that by just talking about it more, and breaking some of these topics down into simpler terms, we can make all of it approachable. Whether it is the financial side of starting a business, the legal side, or just the ability to discuss business in casual conversation, we think the best thing we can do for women is to make it more familiar.
Do you ever feel the pressure to perform both genders in the workplace?
When you start a business, you are every role and every gender. It can be hard, as a woman, to negotiate deals that are in your best favor. Men would push harder for the lower prices on contract services, and higher fees for their own services, but women can come off as “bitchy” or “high maintenance.” At Above the Glass, we just try to continue to do what is in the best interest of our business, despite the traditional gender roles others may want us to play.
"When you start a business, you are every role and every gender."
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How do you think women are taking up space differently than they were a decade ago? Both at work and at home?
We think women are starting to see some creative options on how to have both a family and a career. Statistically speaking, the rate of female entrepreneurship is growing 1.5X faster than male entrepreneurship – and the types of businesses that women are starting tend to be smaller, lifestyle businesses. There are fewer boundaries between work and life, and if you can create a business for yourself, then you control your own hours. A tradeoff of in having your own business is that you never officially turn off. If there is a work emergency, you are responsible for it, not matter what the hour is!
What does ‘Having it All’ mean to you, respectively, and how do you think this differs from your mother’s generation?
These days, so much about having it all is about timing. You can have it all, but not necessarily all at once. Our parents’ generation focused on having a family early and fitting a career into that family life, no matter what sacrifices they had to make. These days, people are so focused on a career that they often wait until later in life, once they are successful, to have children. For some people that timing works out better, but we don’t think it has to be that way. We can still have families and careers simultaneously, we just need to be aware that there are trade-offs. If you are scaling your business with an infant at home, you may not be able to spend as much time with your baby as you want. If you want to be a full-time mom, you are going to have to wait to scale your business.
These days we know we have more options, in terms of timing, for how to have it all.
Answer Heather and Danielle's questions in the comments below to give us more insight!