Announcing The Garage’s Newest Initiative to Support Women in Entrepreneurship

On Wednesday, November 13th, The Garage hosted its first-ever Women in Entrepreneurship Dinner as a part of its newest initiative for entrepreneurial-minded women students at Northwestern to build community amongst each other, encourage networking with women in Chicago's innovation ecosystem, and explore startup ideas and new ventures.

The Garage is one of the first university entrepreneurship centers in the world to achieve gender parity in student programming participation. This is in part due to programs like Propel, which is specifically designed to encourage and support women entrepreneurs through programming, mentorship, networking, funding, and immersive learning experiences - which accepts 24 students annually.

In an effort to expand engagement, the Women in Entrepreneurship dinner series provides continued support and community specifically for women student entrepreneurs both inside and outside of The Garage's existing programming and events.

For our inaugural event, we welcomed nearly 60 women to The Garage to grab a bite to eat, network with their peers, and hear from a powerhouse panel of women founders and investors in Chicago's innovation ecosystem: Melissa Anderson, Tina Hrabak, and Kara Kaplan.

Each panelist shared the winding professional journeys that brought them to their current position or venture, emphasizing the importance of putting yourself in the right rooms at the right times - and taking risks along the way. From pitching to boardrooms entirely made up of men, to being one of only two women on important VC calls, the panelists were able to speak to the unique challenges that women face in the startup world, and their best tips and tricks to navigate some of those hardships.

While the Harvard Business Review reports that only 2% of all Venture Capital funding went to all-women teams in 2021, our panelists emphasized there are unique superpowers that women entrepreneurs can utilize to set themselves apart.

“The challenges specific to female founders are painful and sometimes invisible to people. Learning about real life challenges from relatable and successful women gave me more hope, self awareness and inspiration to endure the ups and downs of this journey- and most importantly-  support others along with me.” - Diana Kattan, Kellogg ‘25

The women in the room left the event deeply inspired to continue building, networking, and supporting each other in their endeavors, whenever they can. After all, when one woman rises, we all do.

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Our next Women in Entrepreneurship Dinner will take place during the winter quarter.

Special thanks to our fantastic panelists for helping to make this event such a success. Thank you to the Alumnae of Northwestern University Grants Committee for funding the Women in Entrepreneurship Dinner Series.

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