Back in August 2020, Catherine Porth sat down with long-time Let Her Speak supporter and friend, Erika Biddix - Owner of Girl Boss Offices (now Aught). Erika is one of the greatest supporters of women entrepreneurs you will ever meet.
Let Her Speak launches podcast to share women’s voices [...]
In our first episode, host and founder of Let Her Speak, Catherine Porth, discusses the history of the She Speaks project which ultimately led to this podcast. The first season of this podcast centers around commemorating the journey we have all been on the last 2+ years and celebrating how far we've come over by looking back at where we've been.
Three out-of-towners joined two Knoxvillians yesterday on panels that brought down the curtain for the inaugural “Women’s Capital Series.” Organized by Catherine Porth and the Let Her Speak group, the three sessions – two panels on each day in June, July and August – offered insights for women entrepreneurs interested in either securing investment capital (the morning program) or becoming investors (the noontime session).
Dozens of women-owned businesses in Knoxville are now better equipped to get more funding, thanks to advice from the experts. The final sessions of Let Her Speak’s “Women’s Capital Series” wrapped up yesterday, after six different panel discussions aimed toward women entrepreneurs and investors left a mark on men and women throughout the summer.
We’ve all heard the proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” and other iterations of the phrase. But have you ever heard the phrase “It takes a village to build a business”? Within the business world you often hear terms like network, mentors, and advisors — but in all the years I’ve spent surrounding myself with entrepreneurs, studying entrepreneurship, and working across a spectrum of businesses, I never really heard the term “village” used. That is, not until recently.
This should be considered fairly good news for women founders. In the midst of turbulent times, with public market volatility and heightened geopolitical tensions, PitchBook News reports that female founders have turned in relatively strong venture investment metrics. Specifically, during the first half of 2022, U.S. start-ups with one or more women founders raised $20.8 billion of venture funding. That figure represents more than 93 percent of the deal value raised in the first half of 2021 – a record year for venture capital funding for female founders in the country.
It might have been best described as “Let Her Ask” when Catherine Porth and the Let Her Speak nonprofit that she leads hosted two events for women yesterday at the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC) on Market Square. Both were offered under the “Women’s Capital Series” banner and were the first in a three-part series that continues July 28.
Let Her Speak, the Knoxville-based nonprofit founded by Catherine Porth, has decided to help address the lack of women investors in the start-up and small business space and the lack of funding going to women-owned businesses.
Over the past four years, I have had the privilege of meeting hundreds of incredible women in Knoxville — entrepreneurs, leaders, activists, or all of the above. One question I started asking every woman I met is, “What legacy do you want to leave behind?” With every answer I received to that question, a common thread began to emerge.
