Get to Know 3 Girl CEOs from Hawaii and How they Created Ventures from Girls with Impact's Entrepreneurship Academy

We are living in unprecedented times. However, amid a pandemic girls are becoming CEOs and creating their own ventures after completing Girls With Impact’s live, online Entrepreneurship Academy. The graduates included three students from Honolulu, Hawaii, who participated in the 10-week program (check out even more in our latest press release.).

We also had the chance to chat with these CEOs who created programs to support local change, gender equality in the workplace, and an app to inspire artists. Read on for more about their exciting ventures and their experiences at Girls With Impact.

AnnaSophia Dao, 13, CEO of Next Wave, a service that organizes and collects food donations for local food banks.

Girls With Impact: Tell us more about your experience with Girls With Impact?

AnnaSophia: I thought the platform was smooth and easy-to-navigate. I really like the assignments helped to get me out of my comfort zone.

Girls With Impact: Tell us more about what you created?

AnnaSophia: I created Next Wave before the program but I learned how to market my business, stay organized and how to make Next Wave a non-profit.

Girls With Impact: Why was this business important to you?

AnnaSophia: My family was thinking what we could do to help our community during the pandemic. The local food banks in our community were hurting since people aren’t going out as much, so my sister and I passed out 100 flyers, asking people to leave non-perishable cans in front of their homes. We collected these cans and then delivered them to our local food bank. We received a lot of support and decided to brand and name our service so that people had a better idea of our mission and what we do.

There’s also nothing quite like this in Hawaii and I wanted to start small and focus my efforts on the local level.

What was your favorite part of the Academy?

AnnaSophia: It was great to get to know girls from all over the country and meet people I normally wouldn’t have had the opportunity to connect with. It was also interesting to see their ideas, especially when we were sharing. They also helped me to help me to put my plan into action and also have a sounding board to brainstorm ideas.

Girls With Impact: What are some of your dreams/goals? How do you think taking the Academy helped you.

AnnaSophia: I would love to grow Next Wave, get more volunteers, and continue to market my business so that they could know more about what we do.

Nia Bakari, 16, CEO, Hard Working Ladies, a website that promotes women who are working in male-dominated workplaces and careers. 

Girls With Impact: Tell us more about your experience with Girls With Impact?

Nia Bakari: This was my first time attending a Girls With Impact course and everyone made it a welcoming environment. My teacher, Ms. Grace, was very nice and helped me along the way and answered all of my questions.

Girls With Impact: Tell us more about what you created.

Nia Bakari: I created a website that promotes women that are working in male-dominated workplaces and careers.

Girls With Impact: Why was that business important to you?

Nia Bakari: I believe that there is inequality in the workplace for both men and women. I wanted to make this website to bring awareness to those women who have jobs in a male-dominated career. Those are the women who work as a mechanic or a science engineer or a truck driver. I wanted to show everyone that a woman can do a "man's job" and that women are much more than secretaries and housewives. 

Girls With Impact: What else did you learn from the Academy?

Nia Bakari: I learned how to be more confident with myself. Taking this class helped me improve on my public speaking skills and confidence level in myself and what I am capable of.

Bella Samtani, 16, CEO, Muse, an app that provides inspiration for young artists, allowing them to collaborate and connect with other creators. 

Girls With Impact: Tell us more about your experience at Girls With Impact.

Bella Samtani: Over the course of several weekly meetings at Girls with Impact, I learned a great deal about marketing and budgeting. I found my instructor to be encouraging as she would comment or critique my ideas after each session bring back assignment. Although the course flew by, my knowledge of the marketing world expanded greatly. 

Girls With Impact:  Tell us more about Muse.

Bella Samtani: Before our first live class at Girls With Impact, we were instructed to list our interests, skills, and issues we wanted to solve. I instantly knew that I wanted to create a product relating to art and design. After much deliberation between creating a website allowing people to decorate their dream room or creating an app allowing aspiring artists to post and sell their art, I decided to create the app. I wanted my app, “Muse” to be a platform that provided inspiration for young artists by allowing them to collaborate and connect with other creators.

Girls With Impact: Why was this business important to you?

Bella Samtani: I decided to create a business in regards to art because drawing and painting have always been a passion of mine. About a year ago, I created an Instagram account where I would post my portrait drawings, watercolor paintings, and sketches. However, I noticed that the people who were liking my posts were strangers, not fellow artists. I wanted to be able to talk to other artists and comment on their work. So I decided to create an app where artists from around the world could collaborate with each other as well as sell their artwork. 

Girls With Impact: What are some things you learned from Girls With Impact?

Bella Samtani: In the beginning of Girls with Impact, the idea of starting my own business seemed daunting. However, as time went on, my excitement about the idea of starting an app that I was passionate about grew exponentially. Our instructors guided us through the process of brainstorming ideas, creating our vision statement and customer personas, proposing our elevator pitches, and keeping in mind who our competition was. Before enrolling in this class, I had no idea what a MVP (minimal viable product) was. I thought MVP meant most valuable player! I also never thought about how to budget or regulate my income.

Girls With Impact: What are some of your dreams/goals? How do you think taking the class could have helped you?

Bella Samtani: Although I don’t completely know what my future will look like down the road, I know that I want to be doing something that motivates me everyday to become better. I don’t want a job in an office cubicle that confines me of my creativity. This class has enabled me to envision what my future job could potentially be. Girls with Impact has helped me understand that I want to do something with my passion for art and design in the future.