Everywhere I turn there are amazing women. Entrepreneurs, filmmakers, fashion designers, activists: women do it all. And lucky for us, it’s now easier than ever to discover these women and their projects and to help a sister out.
Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have revolutionized the way ideas become realities, pulling support from all around the world to help creative projects get accomplished. To celebrate the incredible things women are doing (a daily basis kind of thing for us here at BUST), we’ve rounded up 5 female-backed projects that could really use your help. Choosing to support independent fashion ventures, films that will actually pass the Bechdel test, and political campaigns that advocate for the safety of women will make a world of difference. For the price of a coffee (or of a car, you deep-pocketed BUSTies) we can help make these ladies’ dreams come true.
PROJECT NAME: She Means Business
TYPE: Documentary
DAYS LEFT TO SUPPORT: 49
WHY IT DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT: Promising authentic, brave stories, She Means Business, produced by Jacqueline Baptist and Elizabeth Dell, aims to show the realities of the 7.6 million women entrepreneurs in the United States. Over 95% of all Venture Capital funding goes to companies with no women founders, so the trailblazing ladies who have started their own businesses have often done it with little to no institutional support. Here’s a chance to see what it takes to make it in business—from the mouths of the women who have done it themselves.
PROJECT NAME: Symbology
TYPE: Fashion Start-up/Infrastructural Support
DAYS LEFT TO SUPPORT: 34
WHY IT DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT: Marissa, the founder of Symbology, works hand in hand with female artisans around the world to foster fair trade and provide livable wages for women textile workers. The IndieGoGo fund is for an upcoming production trip to India where the women of Symbology will be developing their first collection Peacocks & Paisleys, for Fall/Winter 2012.
PROJECT NAME: Bombshell
TYPE: Film
DAYS LEFT TO SUPPORT: 8
WHY IT DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT: Aspiring filmmaker Erin Sanger paints a picture of 10-year-old Daisy growing up and reckoning with what it means to be a girl. Following an unfolding hate crime against an LGBTQ youth, Bombshell tackles subjects like gendered violence and the socialization of young women, all while maintaining Sanger’s commitment to fair treatment and equal representation of women in movies.
PROJECT NAME: GLOBE (hedron)
TYPE: Environmental Activism/Urban Farming Initiative
DAYS LEFT TO SUPPORT: 23
WHY IT DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT: Built using natural, renewable materials, GLOBE (hedron) could feed a family of 4 with fresh fish and vegetables, salads and herbs year-round. This fund is supporting the advancement of GLOBE (hedron) to the real-world prototype stage, as a response to the ballooning world population and need for realistic urban farming solutions. Franziska Kristensen-Rohner is a project manager at UrbanFarmers and works with a mostly male team on this, but space-age-vegetable-pod-for-your-roof was too good for us to pass up.
PROJECT NAME: Hollaback! Against Campus Harassment
TYPE: Feminist Activism
DAYS LEFT TO SUPPORT: 25
WHY IT DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT: Campus harassment is something that 62% of women and 61% of men admit to having encountered in their collegiate years. Combining geo-mapping on free iPhone and Droid apps, Hollaback! aims to create an entirely new way to mobilize social change. By reporting incidents of campus harassment, Hollaback! hopes to improve campus policy and to reduce incidences of sexual harassment against students in 10 new college campuses this year.
Image source tenthamendmentcenter.com
