Let's Help Her WinAd
One of the measures of gender equality is representation of women in entrepreneurship. While more U.S. women are starting new businesses than in previous years, male entrepreneurs still outnumber their female counterparts three to one. There are still multiple barriers to women in entrepreneurship, which can prevent them from achieving financial independence and providing a better life for themselves and their families.
It's because of these challenges that serial entrepreneur and executive producer Kris Mathis came up with the idea for Let's Help Her Win, a reality television series where he and his team are on a search to discover the next successful woman entrepreneur, inventor, visionary, creator and innovator in and around the Western Michigan area.
The show, which completed production across most of 2023, will hold its premiere event on March 30, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Celebration Cinema North in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The ticketed event will screen the series' first episode, as well as hold a networking hour, where guests can interact with Mathis, the production team, the entrepreneurs and investors featured on the show, and each other to learn about and celebrate women's entrepreneurship.
Following the premiere, the show will be available on YouTube beginning April 3 and broadcast on TV in the fall of 2024.
"One of my goals for 2023 was to invest in women-owned businesses," Mathis says. "I was raised by my single mother, and I saw how hard it is for many women to make ends meet. So I posted my idea for Let's Help Her Win on social media, and it blew up. So many people are interested in expanding women's entrepreneurship, and we all got together and made it work."
A total of 12 women entrepreneurs from Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) backgrounds joined Let's Help Her Win's first season, where they pitched their business idea, either a new concept or existing business, to a panel of investors. These investors are local serial entrepreneurs who are looking for an equity stake in the businesses, in exchange for investments and entrepreneurship mentoring.
Aside from Mathis, the following entrepreneurs have appeared as investors: Ray Jones, Amber Clingman, Theresa Mosley, Joshua Gerber, Stephanie Scott, Karla Velis, Destiny Adams, Nikaira Willis, Raquel Guzman and Myric Harris. Let's Help Her Win's production team is led by a Black woman director, Shania Lee, founder of Lilies & Sparrows Media. Mathis previously met Lee through a business accelerator program and helped her develop her business. Sound director Kameron Green is an up-and-coming entrepreneur and coach in West Michigan, having founded the media production company Xperience Live.
Ahead of the first season's premiere, the second season of Let's Help Her Win is already being produced, and applications for entrepreneurs and investors for season two will open on March 30. Mathis is also planning to bring the show's concept to other regions across the U.S.
"We've spent the past year working hard and thinking through the concept of how to better support women in business, knowing the obstacles, the challenges that women face every day," Mathis says. "We've been very fortunate to have assembled a team of people, community partners, and sponsors who believe in the mission and supported us to bring what began as a social media post into reality. I also made sure to have the show stream for free on YouTube, as I believe that platform subscription fees should not get in the way of young future entrepreneurs seeing the show and being inspired by it. We're really excited to show the world what we've come up with, and how we continue to support women in business."
Community partners who provided their generous support to the show's first season are Arbor Circle, Consumers Credit Union, GROW, SpringGR, Ten Media and Studio Cor3.