Rebecca Minkoff, IMG, And Leading Women's Organizations Launch "Female Founder Collective"

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebecca Minkoff, in collaboration with IMG and public, women-focused nonprofits across New York, announce today the launch of the Female Founder Collective, a platform for female business leaders to connect and support each other, socially, legally and economically.

The Female Founder Collective has been established to achieve three primary objectives:

• Build awareness of Women-Owned Businesses (WOBs) and expand their access to consumer markets to increase share of overall sales revenue;
• Support growth and expansion of WOBs and create opportunities for more female business founders;
• Invest in women's financial viability across the socio-economic spectrum – from female business leaders to single heads of households – and leverage women's leadership in the economic development of our communities.

In today's landscape, women are dominating consumer choices and are increasingly leading the way in business. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, more than 11.6 million firms are owned by women, employing nearly 9 million people, and generating $1.7 trillion in sales as of 2017. Women-owned firms (51% or more) account for 39% of all privately held firms and contribute 8% of employment and 4.2% of revenues^[1].

"Millennial consumers buy from brands whose purpose and values they support and identify with," states Rebecca Minkoff, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Rebecca Minkoff. "By creating a socially visible symbol for female-owned companies, we effectively shape modern consumers' purchasing decisions. By attracting more of the millennial audience who identify with and want to actively support female entrepreneurship, we provide female founders with a sustainable market growth strategy."

As a brand which created the platform for self-expression and togetherness to the millennial audience, Rebecca Minkoff is uniquely positioned to launch and lead the Female Founder Collective. Staying close to its customers has always been the priority, and investing in community growth has been a critical brand pillar.

"Studies show that women reinvest the income they receive into their families and communities at rates significantly higher than men. We wanted to issue a symbol and allow more women to know what companies they can support in order to support each other," continues Rebecca Minkoff. "Increasing wealth for women, particularly women-owned businesses, would have a significant impact on the economic development within the larger community." 

The Female Founder Collective celebrates its launch at New York Fashion Week: The Shows, with a celebratory reveal of the official Female Founder Collective seal and supporting marketing campaign, created in collaboration with IMG's fashion properties and talent. Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer of Endeavor, IMG's parent company, will moderate a panel discussion between Rebecca Minkoff and female business leaders in the fashion space, including Joan Smalls, multi-hyphenate supermodel and business woman; Brooke Wall, founder of The Wall Group; and Stephanie Mark, co-founder and editor in chief of Coveteur. The event takes place at Spring Studios, the central location for New York Fashion Week and home of NYFW: The Shows.

Championed by Rebecca Minkoff, the state-wide initiative engaged the support of the YWCAs of New York State, Inc.; Sandra Rivera of Rivera Law, PLLC.; and Margaret Muhlfelder of We Are Go.

"Real change can happen in the world when women work together on behalf of all women. YWCAs of NYS are excited to support the Female Founder Collective and the opportunity it provides women business leaders to make a real difference for their own work and their communities. Local YWCAs throughout the state look forward to working with the successful women business owners, emerging women entrepreneurs, and all women inspired to make change that the [Female Founder] Collective will bring together," states Daquetta Jones, President, YWCAs of NYS, Inc.

The Female Founder Collective launch comes to life with the support of the IMG's fashion properties, including: The Wall Group, the female-founded and led agency providing best-in-class representation for fashion stylists, makeup artists, and hair stylists; Lens, new era representation firm for multi-faceted image makers across art, film and fashion; IMG Models, leading international model management firm; and NYFW: The Shows. The debut marketing campaign features photography by Christelle de Castro, fashion styling by Christine Nicholson, hair styling by Kiri Yoshiki and makeup by Laila Hayani. Additional support from Milk Studios enabled production of a collective vision.

The Female Founder Collective launch campaign precedes programming rollout in January 2019. Please visit www.femalefoundercollective.com for more information or follow @femalefoundercollectiveNY on Instagram for ongoing news.

Link to download campaign images: https://bit.ly/2NTIg7b
Link to download video: https://vimeo.com/user63829819/review/288287377/f44f2d5097
Link to download Female Founder Collective Seals: https://bit.ly/2M7bAoW

For Female Founder Collective inquiries:
Jordana Jaffe, Rebecca Minkoff Public Relations
[email protected]
212 677 7829 x2242

For participation and involvement inquires:
[email protected]

For IMG inquiries:
Ansleigh Scholtes, IMG Fashion Communications
[email protected]
212 774 4581

^[1] National Associaton of Women Bussiness Owners via American Express OPEN "The State of Women-Owned Businesses." (2017, January). The 2017 State of Women-Owned Business Reports.  Retreived from https://www.nawbo.org/resources/women-business-owner-statistics and http://about.americanexpress.com/news/docs/2017-State-of-Women-Owned-Businesses-Report.pdf

SOURCE Rebecca Minkoff

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http://www.rebeccaminkoff.com