#3 FFF Mia, Co-founder of Aequales
It is my joy to meet a fierce female founder for the powerful inspiration I get from her. I am sure someday in the near future, this won’t be such a big deal. We might be even overwhelmed by too many FFF. Till then, I wanted to share her stories in case there are some people like me who can use a great inspiration.
I met Mia and Ana at an event and they both happened to be from Colombia. Mia is a co-founder of Aequales, which its mission is to improve gender equality in Colombia and Peru. Ana is also a co-founder of Medea Interactiva, the very few players in Colombia VR space.
Sounds interesting already, doesn’t it? If you learn more about their journeys, it is even more interesting especially how they overcame the difficulties and turned them around into their success today.
I asked Mia why a gender inequality is important to her. Did anything happen to her to be devoted to this issue?
Mia said “no”, she is not a feminist and nothing particular incident happened to her, but she felt angry. Mia was angry at gender inequality and wanted to change it. That was in her college years and led her to pursue the study of the issues. By the time she graduated, she had three different degrees (from Georgetown University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) and was ready to change the world. Only if she could find her a job for the change.
She was either over qualified or didn’t have enough job experience said the companies she applied for. After all the years, she had prepared her to jump in and to make the right impact to the world but the world wasn’t letting her in.
“I decided to start a company on my own and you know what?! It would be a for-profit.”
Then, here comes my favorite part. She said “That’s how I decided to start a company on my own and you know what?! It would be a for-profit.”
Mia and her co-founder started Aequales in both locations Colombia and Peru. Mia leads a team in Colombia and her co-founder leads a team in Peru. These countries are not exactly a developed country today and I can only imagine it could be more challenging environment to pursue her mission if not less.
However her move was brilliant. Aequales ranks companies in Colombia and Peru regarding to the gender equality and offers consulting service to the companies in needs for the improvement of gender equality and diversity. First years, it was her, co-founder, and some volunteers. The last time I talked to her was a couple months ago and they then had 14 people in Peru and Colombia including consultants, interns and volunteers. Aequales was growing quickly and making profits!
When the world is not recognizing you and your potential, it is very hard not to be discouraged and stay on your dream, but she didn’t let that situation stop her mission. We all know building a company from a scratch is not an easy thing by all means, but she decided to start one by even changing a game by turning a generally perceived non-profit organization into a for-profit company.
I know there are so many inspiration stories, but I like Mia’s story how she didn’t let the world get into her but she stayed on her game by playing in her way.
(To be continued with Ana’s story)
