Meet Veronica, From the Better Beehive Project
I want to build B&G as a platform for women entrepreneurs and women in tech. One way we do this is by providing a platform to amplify the voice of women, and boy I’ve got a story for you today.
Meet Veronica. Veronica is a woman (d’oh). Veronica is a wife. A Mother. A daughter. A sister. And many other things which none singularly define her yet are all part of the whole person she is. Yet, those characteristics are an integral part of why Veronica is an entrepreneur.
Veronica is the driving force behind a new initiative in Austin called Better Beehive Project, which aims to empower individuals and families of individuals who do not fit the normative mold of physical and mental capacities, in other words differently abled individuals. I believe this is a great mission, we all need someone to be a champion for our voices, and Better Beehive Project is exactly that for a segment of the community that is often neglected by businesses.
The idea itself is quite simple, if you frequent a business (eg. a restaurant) and notice that its friendly to people with different needs you would want to recommend it (by submitting a “buzz”) so that others are encourage to become patrons. On the other hand, if the business cannot serve the needs of the person, BBP can provide a way to let that business know what adjustments can be made to ensure a friendlier atmosphere (by submitting a “sting”).
I can talk about Veronica, her contagious passion, and the great work she is doing as an entrepreneur, but it wouldn’t be a complete tail without mentioning the story within the story, as is typical with the experience of women in general and especially female entrepreneurs who are also mothers. For this part, I will let Veronica tell the story in her own words:
Pitch a Kid was an amazing experience. My first official pitch and I was very nervous, my entire family came to cheer me on!! I was the first company to go up and pitch to a group of kids and then they had the opportunity to ask me questions about my business. During intermissions I had the opportunity to meet and network with the other companies that were pitching. I had the pleasure to meet Stephanie Boone, Founder and CEO of Wondercide. In doing research on my competition for Pitch A Kid I was so impressed with her story and that she had competed and won on Shark Tank!! I was even more excited to meet her and when she told me she was impressed with Better Beehive Project and inspired by our mission I was elated. I won second place behind Stephanie at Pitch a Kid and was grateful for the experience. Imagine my surprise when a week later, Mike Millard Founder of Pitch A Kid told me that Stephanie had donated her prizes to Better Beehive Project. Her prizes included a guaranteed meeting with a Venture Capitalist and I chose Kerry Rupp with True Wealth Ventures. […] She is part of a woman owned group that invests in women founders. I also won other prizes such as a virtual assistant and seed investor management system.
Goosebumps much? Here are two entrepreneurs, in a very highly competitive environment (or so we are led to believe the startup world is), both able to admire each other’s accomplishments, and where one of them let go of valuable resources for her success and the success of her startup for the benefit of the other. If that is not worthy of being on every newspaper’s front page, and every startup/tech related blog in Austin, I don’t know what is! Which is why I want to take this opportunity to give a shout out to Mike Millard and Audrey Millard from Pitch A Kid and Stephanie Boone from Wondercide for setting a positive example of what the #Austin startup culture is like.
With that I will leave you with these words from Veronica:
I am a non-technical founder with a strong drive and passion for changing the way our society interacts with individuals with special needs. I am a mother of two children, one with Autism and the other with severe food allergies, I have also worked as a parent liaison for Travis County in Children’s Mental Health and parent empowerment. In my journey transitioning of being a founder, Austin and our driver for diversity has embraced me and my idea and I think this is a perfect example of our startup culture!!
