Portrait No. 001
Amy Meadows
Founder
SmartHer Ventures Inc.
Raised — Currently in a raise
Successful entrepreneurial knowledge is gatekept from women, and other marginalized populations, by cost, time, or location barriers. My first company, TrekkingGreen.com, was unsuccessful because I kept finding scam coaches instead of role models, paying for mediocre resources, and not having networks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have spent the past 10 years gaining knowledge and working in the startup communities in Berkeley, California through community management at Impact Hub Berkeley and Director of People & Operations at Eluvio. I have also completed the Stella Labs incubator and Founder Institute accelerator. I have spent the past 5 years building SmartHER Ventures by developing a pilot episode ( on YouTube), protected IP script to guide 12 episodes, and building a team of film experts with Emmy wins.
In her words
“Through the power of streaming tv we will bring successful entrepreneurial knowledge directly into the homes of future founders, bypassing the barriers of cost, time, and locations that keep us from achieving success.”
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
The toughest challenge has been monetizing the show. The accelerator investors think that making it into a reality show is too far out of their scope. The reality show investors think that the show will be boring and too stiff. The women investors who have backed similar projects backed their friends, but won't back me. Many of the investors want me to charge the women founders to be on the show. I push back by saying that women do not have the money upfront and that is an unreasonable burden. We are focusing on bringing in corporate sponsors onto the show (Canva, Gusto, Quickbooks, T-Mobile, Macy's). The sales cycles are long and we get brushed off to the next cycle. Corporate sponsors have reduced the available pools of money because of tariffs and dropped DEI initiatives. This week we are interviewing commission-based Sales Associates to kick our show into high gear. As a women focused show we have met with extra criticism and judgement under this political administration. I have withstood hateful comments, doubters, and insults to me and my unborn children. Despite the difficulties, I have continued pushing this project forward for 5 years and will not stop. We have 800 viewers of our pilot episode, an 80 page script to guide the lessons, gamified challenges, and pitch competition. We have 30 deal flow partners to recruit the on-air founders, and our Executive Producers have won Emmy's bringing a wealth of experience to the production.
Chapter II
Your vision.
Through the power of streaming tv we will bring successful entrepreneurial knowledge directly into the homes of future founders, bypassing the barriers of cost, time, and locations that keep us from achieving success. The long term impacts will not only effect the women founders in the show, but will also reach the 50% of Gen Z and 75% of Gen Alpha who aspire to chart their own courses in life. We will mold the viewers with knowledge on HR, Finances, Legal, Supply Chain, as well as social values and environmental impacts of running companies and selling products.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
The show will feature guest experts in worker-owned cooperatives, union formation, and environmental impacts. In 30 years we will have more equitable company values and business practices, we will have environmental regeneration, we will have empowered women and marginalized peoples to sustain themselves financially.