For many years, I led an award-winning entrepreneurship program at the top ranked liberal arts college in the Midwest. In my role, I had the incredible joy of working with thousands of super talented, creative, and innovative students on ideas they were passionate about, cared deeply about, and that lit them up inside.

Our students came from a wide array of backgrounds including all 50 states and all parts of the world -Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Moreover, our students were not your typical engineer or finance major; our students were majoring in art, creative writing, data science, psychology, politics, and so much more. The diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences was a benefit for the leaning environment. And we built our entrepreneurship curriculum specifically for this diverse and broad audience, testing and refining it in the classroom over nearly a decade.

Our curriculum favored active learning over theory and helped our students master entrepreneurial habits of mind, resilience, human-centric design, and the art of persuasion. We prepared our students for a bright future as both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (innovators within established organizations, institutions, and non-profits).

I also had the great joy of leading these students in our annual venture pitch competition and our annual pop-up shop. We did a lot and we learned a lot, working right alongside our students every step of the way.

But during my tenure, I witnessed young women struggling to see a place for themselves in entrepreneurship. Again and again, I heard women discount their ability to succeed as founders. In fact, very few women I meet (both inside and outside the classroom) believe entrepreneurship is for them. Many young women have told me that entrepreneurship is for just guys and that guys have the best chance of success. Women are less likely to seek this path than men because they have been socialized to believe they won’t succeed.

But that is simply not true.

Women can and do succeed as entrepreneurs. And we want girls to clearly see this path to success.

This is why I launched Girl Gonna!

I realized I could use my unique skillset & experience to make a difference in young women’s lives.

Around the world, women are believed to be risk averse, to fear failure, and to be untrustworthy. Because women do not fit with the stereotype of what a successful entrepreneur looks like, they are less likely to receive funding from venture capitalists, angel investors, and other financial investors. They are less likely to have others believe in them, too.

But Girl Gonna believes in the power of girls. Because when female founders get funded —a majority of consumers finally get products designed for them. Products and services that solve their very real problems. Products that have been missing for far too long. Right now, we are missing out on solving important problems (and we’ve got a lot of them!) because we are missing the female POV. Having more good ideas & more people taking action can only help us all.

I grew up in the heyday of the Silicon Valley and I have seen all sorts of people launch and lead businesses from across various genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. I come from a family of inventors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers and I believe that anyone regardless of gender, place, or geography should be able to startup and scaleup.

You have to believe you can do it in order to do it. And others have to believe in you, too.