Pivot Purposefully Launches to Change Women’s Lives
Pivot Purposefully is our just-launched non-profit arm of Monica Motivates focused on providing holistic, engaging and high-impact entrepreneurship education for formerly incarcerated women. Our goal is to help them become business owners.
With four years of successful entrepreneurship under our own belts, we did not want to wait a minute longer to start giving back to women who face some of the toughest odds in re-building their dreams and are too often overlooked in other job training programs.
Hurdles women face
All women face greater barriers to advancement in the workplace than their male counterparts, including lower starting salaries, fewer first promotions and significantly lower representation in senior leadership roles, according to research from McKinsey & Company and many others. Those hurdles are even higher for women of color. And, for formerly incarcerated women, the barriers can feel nearly insurmountable.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 1.9 million women are released from prisons and jails each year with few resources focused on their unique needs and little attention to how the obstacles they face differ from those of justice-involved men.
In a study conducted by the University of California at Berkley School of Law, researchers found that formerly incarcerated women faced numerous mental, financial and physical barriers to seeking and retaining employment. They conducted 1,200 resume tests where one version of a resume included a subtle reference to a period of incarceration and one did not. In A Higher Hurdle: Barriers to Employment for Formerly Incarcerated Women, they reported that a criminal record made it significantly less likely for a woman to receive a positive response from potential employers. African American women received the lowest response rate.
In focus groups, formerly incarcerated women also reported that having a criminal record made them particularly less able to pursue many careers that might typically be open to them, such as with day care providers and in nursing.
Our Curriculum
We firmly believe our unique program can help formerly incarcerated women create, grow and scale new businesses by experiencing the entire entrepreneurial cycle from ideation through to the art of the pitch. With bootcamp-style retreats, subject matter experts, mentoring and connection to funding opportunities, our goal is to help these women gain financial independence, improve the lives of their families and become valued contributors in their communities.
Our curriculum follows two paths; one for those who might have a business idea but no prior experience, and another for those who have already launched a business and need support and guidance to grow.
The Entrepreneur 1 is a four-day program that includes ideation and business planning; basic business financials and organization design; personal mental health; branding your company; networking; and building your elevator pitch.
The Entrepreneur 2 is a five-day program that focuses on building your big idea, maximizing revenue; funding fundamentals; physical health and wellness; the art of the pitch and a pitch competition.
Our team
The Pivot Purposefully curriculum will be delivered by current and former corporate executives and founders who possess extensive leadership and subject matter expertise that is key to entrepreneurial, and personal, success.
They will be supported by me, Monica McCoy, Founder of Monica Motivates, and D’Sena Morehead, Operations Director with Monica Motivates. D’Sena’s former leadership experience at The Coca-Cola Company, Georgia World Congress Center and Ritz Carlton Buckhead, along with my expertise as an executive coach and former Acting Global Director of Strategy and Innovation for the McDonald’s Division of The Coca-Cola Company, will also be important contributors in bringing this important vision to life.
Join our mission
As a business leader or entrepreneur yourself, you may be as energized by this important mission to help women get back on their feet as we are. To get involved, please reach out to our team at pivotpurposefully.org to volunteer or to make a financial contribution to further this work. Together, we can provide women who deserve a second chance the opportunity to reinvent their futures.