IFundWomen Winners Part 1 with Samantha and Jessica
IFundWomen Winners Part 1 with Jessica and Samantha
Seven years ago, I had an idea for a business that took me on the wildest journey, filled with my highest highs and my lowest lows. From the second I became an entrepreneur, I felt this kind of kinship with other founders, especially female founders. This summer, when it seemed like the world was blowing up, we were trying to decide how to respond as a business to the world around us. My gut told me that supporting black female founders was the path we should take, so The Financial Gym partnered with IFundWomen to identify five black, female-founded businesses to receive a scholarship, as well as business coaching and any other resources The Gym could provide to help these women create even more successful businesses.
Joining me today are two of those founders: Jessica Andrews, founder of Take A Break Babysitting, and Samantha Sinclair, founder of Pathway to Purpose, to share more about why they decided to start a company, how 2020 has impacted their businesses, and where they are taking their businesses next year and beyond. I hope that you are inspired as much as I am, as these are two amazing women.
What are we drinking?
Jessica - Iced Chai
Samantha - Lemon Verbena Tea and Juice made with kale, cucumbers, and apples
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Jessica and Samantha applied for scholarships from The Gym. There were a total of 600 applicants. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team at The Gym were responsible for picking the five finalists.
The team was looking for women who were solving a problem, who were empowering their community, and who would benefit from interacting with The Gym.
Jessica is in the Tampa area, and she grew up there with a single mom and with a brother who has Down Syndrome. She has always been in the field of special needs.
One of her first jobs was working with a young girl with autism, and straight out of college she got into applied behavior analysis and she works with a lot of kids with special needs. She worked on skills like communication and independence, as well as decreasing aggression and tantrums.
Jessica was the clinical director and all kids were ages 2 to 10. Many parents came to her and asked if the staff could babysit their kids. Due to the ethical code in the field, her staff could not have two relationships at once.
When you have a child with a developmental disability, you cannot hire any babysitter. Jessica researched this and found that nobody was specialized in helping these families.
After that, Jessica talked to her mom about trials her mom endured when she and her brother were growing up. All of the scenarios her mom was experiencing are the same things parents today are experiencing, and there was no solution.
Jessica decided to create Take a Break Babysitting. Her company works with some families for a couple hours and others full time. There needs to be something these parents can turn to. The divorce rate is even higher for parents of children with special needs.
Jessica started Take a Break four years ago. She does this on the side and still works full time, but her business has been growing. They were on track to do three times the revenue of last year, before COVID happened.
All of the babysitters have special needs backgrounds, whether they are a special education teacher, speech therapist, occupational therapist, etc. They use word of mouth to find babysitters and they use Indeed. They are very specific about what they are looking for and they start with a phone interview, background check, CPR, and first aide.
At this point, the service is available in parts of Florida, but Jessica would like to expand into other states. Every state should have this available for parents.
Samantha is from Brooklyn, NY, and her grandma used to say, “Education is better than silver and gold”. This is what she ran with. The expectation was that she and her sisters would to go to college.
There were so many things her parents couldn’t help her through. So many of her peers and students she worked with struggled with a lack of support to achieve their college dreams.
Samantha created Pathway to Purpose in order to provide students, schools, and organizations with the structural support to provide students with college awareness services.
Over the past four years, they have hosted thousands of events, which include student workshops, parent workshops, college trips, and special events to support students as they pursue their college careers.
Her company has worked with over 10,000 students. Their goal is not to force students to go to college, it is to help them understand their options. Many have fears financially and fears leaving home for the first time.
Samantha wanted to widen their reach outside of NYC, but she felt they were at their max. Samantha created college study flash cards as a way to expand outside of NYC. This method is used for test prep when it comes to the GRE and other standardized testing.
The flash cards help students learn the terminology that is associated with college success. There are five decks available, including types of colleges, entrepreneur, affirmation, college resources, and financial aide. These are the five hot topics and if students get them right, they can make an informed decision about college. This helps increase the likelihood of them graduating from college.
Going to college used to be the financial equivalent of buying a car, and now it is the financial equivalent of buying a house. One statistic shows that 64% of college graduates don’t know what they signed up for as far as student loans and debt. This is especially true of first generation college students.
One service they provide is college trips. Many students never see the campus until orientation. Over the past four years, Pathway to Purpose has taken thousands of students to college campuses, so they can see it for themselves.
Another service is parent workshops, which helps get the parents involved. This starts the foundation of the conversation.
A low for Samantha’s has been COVID, because it took them by surprise. Over 70 events had to be canceled, including college trips, parent workshops, and student workshops. The company lost $140,000 of revenue, due to COVID.
Samantha’s high has been how receptive people have been to Pathway to Purpose and seeing that what they are doing is so impactful.
A low for Jessica is also COVID. In addition to providing caregiving services, they also host sensory-friendly events. They had to cancel their Easter egg hunt. They were on track to do three times the revenue of last year, and sales decreased by 70%.
Jessica’s high is helping families and seeing the big impact and improving the quality of life of the kids and families they are helping.
Shannon was planning a cross-country bus tour for April, Financial Literacy Month, that had to be canceled, due to COVID.
Being a founder is like being at war, where you are constantly fired upon. Within the war are different battles.
Amidst all of the challenges they were facing with losing revenue, due to cancelled contracts, Samantha was launching their first product and she had to move forward and come up with resources for revamping the website, creating a marketing team and a plan, doing photography for e-commerce, and hiring a PR company.
For 2021, Pathway to Purpose is headed to being product based and potentially doing virtual workshops. They are expanding outside of New York and they have been contacting key education decision makers so they can see what this may mean for their students.
For 2021, Take a Break’s main goal is growing their brand recognition and building back up their team. They also want to work on expanding into more events. Right now it is only events for Easter and Christmas, but they want to start offering parent’s night out events at sensory friendly locations. They also want to offer parent support groups.
Jessica is looking for volunteer assistants or donations and she needs help with advertising.
There are two ways to support Pathway to Purpose through their IFundWomen campaign: sponsoring a classroom or purchasing flash cards.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is that starting a company is like going to war, but if you are fighting for all of the right reasons, like Jessica and Samantha, you’ll always find the resources to help you make it through and achieve your mission.
Random Three Questions
What have you been bingeing?
What do you do to relax?
If this was your last meal on earth, what would you choose?
Connect with Jessica and Samantha
Jessica
Website: Take a Break
Campaign: IFundWomen
Facebook/Instagram: @takeabreakbabysitting
Samantha
Website: Pathway to Purpose
Campaign: IFundWomen
Facebook/LinkedIn/Etsy: @pathwaytopurpose
Instagram: @pathwaytopurposenyc
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
If you’d like to talk to my team at The Financial Gym to help you manage your finances if you have a business or if you are thinking about starting one, we’re offering a number of great deals right now, and our team is more than happy to make your plan and take money stress off of your plate. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com to get set up today.