Incomplete List of Resources for Female Entrepreneurs in Los Angeles (Updated on Feb 21, 2019)

by Pocket Sun (@pocketysun) & Silvia Li Sam (Silvia Li Sam)

Being a female entrepreneur isn’t easy. I started SoGal because I felt the magic happen after I exposed myself to the entrepreneurial world. My mindset completely changed and my life’s path immediately looked very different. I thought, how powerful it would be if more young women could get the same exposure, have a peer-to-peer community, and know entrepreneurship is an option. I know I did not see it as an option one year ago. One empowered woman can empower a group of women around her, and the impact will be exponential. That’s exactly what happened in my journey of building SoGal. I know for a fact that I have created positive changes in people’s lives, and it’s been the most rewarding thing on the planet.

From November 2014, SoGal has grown from a new student organization at University of Southern California, to a global community of 100,000+ diverse entrepreneurs and investors in 40 chapters around the world. I am absolutely amazed by what has happened since I got started. It’s not a monopoly game, however. We need to be inclusive and supportive to collaboratively empower women. That’s why I am creating this list to know what options are out there if you want to make like-minded female friends in Los Angeles.

A great way to stay updated is to sign up for the SoGal Newsletter, a curated newsletter of events, resources and content for female entrepreneurs like yourself!

* Updated on Feb 21, 2019: fixed dead link of Girls in Tech LA and SoGal newsletter. Also, here’s another curated list of LA resources for your reference.

Community:

• SoGal — A global community of emerging entrepreneurs and investors. We hosted high-impact events including SoGal Summit (largest diverse millennial entrepreneurship conference) and SoGal Startup Bootcamp (3-day entrepreneurship, tech, and startup weekend), and now we host online and offline events for our 40 chapters around the world, including LA! You can find most events on our Facebook page.
• Elevate Project — A year-long program that pairs female startup founders with mentors from Mayor Garcetti’s Tech Council and other high-level tech industry individuals.
• Girls in Tech LA — A nonprofit focused on women’s innovative and entrepreneurial achievements in technology
• Vinetta Project LA — Vinetta Showcase is an event series that mix female founders with investors for pitches
• Worthy Women — The movement for women who want to play big in the world
• Women Founders Network — An accelerator that connects women building high-growth businesses with the tools and resources they need to achieve business success
• Female Founders LA — 5 LA-based tech startups united to support one another, share resources and widen their collective networks
• In Her Shoes Movement — Helping high school girls find their life’s vision
• Ellevate LA — A networking group for professional women
• Tuesday Nights — An invite-only community of female executives and entrepreneurs
• Los Angeles Women Entrepreneurs Meetup (LAWEM)
• Women Who Tech — A diverse network of women and men of over 10,000 entrepreneurs, engineers, investors, and industry leaders
• Lean In Circle — A community started by Sheryl Sanberg’s book Lean In
• Levo League — Your career copilot. Build connections with peers, mentors, and jobs, and stay inspired
• Dreamers // Doers LA (Facebook group and online platform)
• Female Millennial Entrepreneurs (Facebook group)
• WeAreLATech —An LA Tech community and event calendar
• #Ambitionista Success Club — A place to give and receive support with like-minded, ambitious women
• Glassbreakers — A peer mentorship community for professional women
• I AM THAT GIRL — Helping girls transform self-doubt into self-love by providing a safe space to connect and have honest conversations about things that matter
• Female Founders Happy Hour — Women founders gather on the 3rd Tuesday of every month in Santa Monica
• The New Hollywood — A philanthropic women’s goal group inspiring everyone to Rise Higher, Shine Brighter and Give Back
• SiliconBeach Young Professionals — Monthly networking mixers for female and male founders, executives and professionals
• createHER — Inspiring events that connect with and elevate our fellow women leaders

Competitions

• Her Startup 2016— First cross-border, female-oriented global tech startup competition, co-hosted by SoGal, TechBase and Lean In China. Selected teams from the US, China, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world will be invited to an immersive week in Silicon Valley (July 18-22, 2016). Global Final will be held as part of SoGal Summit 2016 on July 20, 2016.
• Women Startup Challenge (Apply Now through March 31, 2016)— Largest pitch competition that brings together the best early-stage women-led startups who are using tech to rapidly scale and innovate. Next pitch competition: June 2016, SF.
• Women Founders Network (Apply from April 21 to July 20, 2016) — Next Annual Fast Pitch Competition: October 20, 2016, LA.

Media & Content

• The F SHOW — A YouTube video series providing inspiration and guidance to emerging entrepreneurs
• BroadMic — A weekly digital podcast series with seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders
• GirlTalkHQ — A daily news blog for female empowerment & inspiration for millennial women
• Stiletto Gal — Multimedia company for empowering and connecting women in business and inspiring the next generation of women leaders and entrepreneurs
• WeAreLATech Podcast —First podcast focused on LA startups
• Top 50 Digital LA Women 2015 — A list that recognizes top women who have made outstanding contributions to LA’s startup tech ecosystem and community
• TechZulu
• LA Tech Digest

Learning:

• Draper University — 7-week residential accelerator program in Silicon Valley
• Female Funders — 6-week Angel school for female entrepreneurs
• Girl Develop It — Teaching women to code
• Girls Who Code — Teaching girls to code
• General Assembly — Learn just about anything
• Pipeline Fellowship — An angel investing bootcamp
• 500 Startups Investor Training — I attend the first ever one. It was awesome, global and diverse.
• 37 Angels Angel Training Bootcamp (NYC) — Learn about angel investing

Co-working Space:

• CTRL Collective — New space in Playa Vista with a Women in CTRL initiative
• rhubarb studios — US Bank Tower, Downtown LA
• Paper Dolls — Beautiful office space for women, Brentwood and Santa Monica (coming soon)
• One Roof Coworking — Co-working space, Venice
• PodShare — Co-living and co-working space, Hollywood and DTLA

Capital

• SoGal Ventures — First cross-border millennial VC firm led by women. We invest in early stage startups in consumer tech, enterprise services, and digital healthcare.
• Golden Seeds — Early stage investments focused on women
• Crowdfunder — Crowdfunding platform
• Tech Coast Angels
• Pasadena Angels

Conferences

• SoGal Startup Bootcamp (Sep 25–27, 2015, LA) — 3-day entrepreneurship, tech, diversity and startup weekend. JOIN US!
• SoGal Summit (July 20, 2016, Silicon Valley) — the coolest female millennial entrepreneur conference in SoCal
• Female Founders Conference (April 4, 2016, SF)
• Tech Inclusion (Sep 11–12, 2015 SF)
• Wonder Women Tech (July 15-17, 2016, Long Beach)
• Digital Women (March 8, 2016, LA)
• Silicon Beach Fest (June 2015, LA)
• USC Women’s Conference (March 18, 2016, LA)
• LA County Women’s Leadership Conference (Dec 10, 2015)
• Catalyst Conference (April 2015)
• #CatalyzeCourage Summit (March 12, 2016, SF)

Did we miss something? Let us know at hello@sogalventures.com. Don’t forget to say hi on Twitter @pocketysun and @iamsogal!