Dream, Girl with Erin Bagwell
I am constantly amazed at what other women are accomplishing and Erin Bagwell is one of those women. Erin always dreamed of creating her own movie and, thanks to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, Erin created the movie Dream, Girl, a documentary about a subject that is near and dear to my heart - the stories of female entrepreneurs. Erin joins me today to share her journey that started as a dream in school and led to the White House.
What are we drinking?
Erin — Coffee
Shannon — Coffee
Podcast Notes
Erin wanted to make a movie since she was a little girl.
She made a video for a school project and she knew after she premiered it to her class that she would pursue film as a career.
Erin studied film in school, moved to NYC and worked in advertising for a couple of years, and became a feminist after she was sexually harassed at work. She created a blog called Feminist Wednesday and became obsessed with female entrepreneurs, after meeting a lot of women and hearing their stories.
Erin put together a Kickstarter campaign to produce the film and made $104,000 in 30 days. She has been working on her film Dream, Girl for almost four years.
Erin uses Jillian Foster’s definition of feminism: It is about the equality of the sexes, but it’s also about preserving other women’s rights. Give people the space to make their own decisions, whether you agree with them or not.
When people start to dissect things that are clearly fine and don’t need to be dissected, that is when we see dissent within the feminist movement.
Years ago it was feminism for me, then it was feminism for we. Now it is evolved and bigger and can be portrayed as negative.
There is a subconscious bias against women having any power or rights. There are a lot of systems that are benefiting and making money off of this.
Erin deeply connected with women entrepreneurs through her blog and feature three of them in the Kickstarter trailer. Her campaign went viral the last week and her backers gave her the names of other women they thought should be featured and the floodgates opened. She interviewed between 50 and 100 women to be in the film.
Shannon talked about the frustration of raising money for two years. Erin said women only get 3% of venture capital funding. We need to look at who is controlling the money. Women's companies bring in 12% more revenue, and women control 65% of purchasing power in their homes.
The number one thing Erin hears when screening female entrepreneurs is how to get money and investors.
Shannon talked about her experience with venture capitalists.
Erin did the Kickstarter campaign in 2014 and released the movie in 2016. She showed the movie at the White House and brought the entrepreneurs and their families. A month after that, there was a screening in at the Paris Theater in NYC with 600 people and a red carpet.
The hardest part of making the movie has been her job selling the film.
Erin wrote a book call Creative Money, which is about assigning a value to your work and what to do about discounts.
Erin will view success by reaching the widest audience possible. There have been over 250 screenings since the release in May 2016. Erin has been traveling with the film and speaking. She is now looking for a global partnership. Erin is interested in making another movie.
Anyone can host a screening by purchasing the movie at dreamgirlfilm.com.
Don’t let the fear of looking for the money stop you from pursuing your dream. You will find the right investor who believes in your mission.
TAKEAWAY: Never give up on your dreams, no matter how long you’ve had them and how hard you will have to work on them. Erin has been building and growing Dream, Girl for over four years now, just like I’ve been building the Financial Gym for four years. Most dreams take time to fully realize so have patience so you can see them realized one day.
Random Three Questions
What is a movie that has influenced your life?
Where is a place you wish you could travel to that you haven’t been to yet?
If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Connect with Erin
Instagram: @erin.bagwell
If you want to make some of your dreams a reality and need someone to help you along the way, I hope you’ll reach out to my team at the Financial Gym. We have clients achieving their dreams every day they they never could have realized on their own. You can schedule a free call here to find out more. So head over to or send friends to financialgym.com/friends to sign up today!