Everything is Broken… What a Great Time to be Alive!

A CEO: chief executive officer of a company, corporation, or something similar. Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Donald Trump; all of who are powerful men in the CEO world. They run an empire that keeps America and the rest of the world in check. It is rare that a woman is in the same sentence as CEO. That’s when SheEO, Vicki Saunders, steps in and changes everything.

             During a visit to Rollins College, Saunders talked about her journey into taking control of her own life and chasing after her dreams. Based out of Canada, her company, SheEO, invests in women entrepreneurs who are determined to step out of their shell and not be another statistic. According to CNN, only 14.2% of women are in the top five leadership positions at companies. “SheEO is here to wake women up and encourage them to change the world,” Saunders explains to the student audience filled with women, “I feel like, during this time of the 21^st century, everything is broken.” She elaborated and said that although everything might not be physically broken, things are extremely out of place. “Take a look at Silicon Valley, for example, places like Facebook and Apple are encouraging women to freeze their eggs, so can to work harder and push their lives back,” said Saunders.

            According to Apple and Facebook, both companies have benefits including offering women to freeze their eggs. This suggests that women should put their careers first instead of their own lives and families. “It is kind of funny that Silicon Valley would have benefits like that, especially since there are apps being produced that basically replace your parents,” laughs Saunders. Apps like Uber, Grub Hub, and Alfred cater to tasks such as driving, food services and even laundry. Saunders suggested that it was because since entrepreneurs no longer have a helping hand, why not let an app do it for them!

            “I wanted to start SheEO to break away from the stereotypical CEO deal. I wanted something that could impact women and encourage them to do what they want,” said Saunders. SheEO was a company inspired by Saunders’ desire to create a space for women to be great. The company allows women investors to donate $1,000 in hopes of eventually raising one million dollars to loan out to women entrepreneurs. “The idea is to make the money recycle within the company and by giving women loans with 0% interest, it will allow these ladies to accomplish great things.” In the arena of start-ups and incubators where companies are desperate for investors, Saunders made it point only to have women invest in her company. Many men have tried to invest, but she has been adamant about saying no. “We’ve had to stick to our guns. We’ve had CEO fathers wanting to donate to us, hoping their daughters could one day benefit from our organization, but we had to say no,” said Saunders. Keeping the company in the female arena insured that it was a company for women by women.

This is something that Saunders wished she had when she first started out on her dreams when she was in Prague during the fall of the Berlin wall. “It was so incredible to see, it was like one day, there was a tank on the street limiting people from doing what they wanted, and then one day…. A flip was switched and suddenly everyone was free,” she sighed, “I realized that I was free too.” It encouraged Saunders to take the initiative to then start her own English language school in Prague. Shortly afterward, she went to India and bought her first store of clothing. She then encouraged her other girlfriends to join her in her crusade. “It was so nice to be free and do what I wanted; it started something in me… and now I can’t stop running businesses!” she laughed to the audience, “it was also cool to get people excited about the same things that I was excited about.”

The groups of students in the room seemed to get a kick of Saunders’ presentation and were searching for guidance to potentially run their very own companies in the future. “What is the most beneficial thing you learned from SheEO?” asked student Mallory Gladman, “Oh boy! Hmm… I’ve certainly learned a lot from SheEO and my time with building businesses in general… what I have to say as the most beneficial thing that I have learned is – It’s always harder than you think it is,” sighed Saunders, “I had a 5-year lens, now, it has changed to a 20-year lens. Always be able to adapt to new things, that is extremely important.” Saunders elaborated and said, “I may have failed… hell! I fail every day. But I have crazy big dreams, I stress about things, but I try not to let any of that steer me away from the main goal.”

It took some of the most successful women many tries to get where they are now, do not let fear get in the way of your dreams… as many may say, “Rome was not built in a day.”