The Solution is Texas Women

Closed Caption Transcript:

Hello, my name is Jasmin Brand
and I am an entrepreneur.

This is my coworker, Cash,

and we're actually based in Dallas.

And today I want to talk
to you about Texas women.

And yes, I am biased
because I am a Texas woman.

But before I do that, I want to share
a little bit about my journey.

I did not intentionally mean 
to become an entrepreneur.

Like a lot of entrepreneurs,

it happens to you
because you seize an opportunity.

And so that was kind of my journey 
about 11 or 12 years ago

was seizing opportunities.

And then I got bitten by this whole idea
of creating my own destiny and controlling

kind of my the trajectory of my business
to the amount of money I wanted to make.

It's been an amazing ride for 11
to 12 years. It's been exciting.

There's been a lot of wins as well as

successes, but there have
been colossal failures.

There was a period I like to refer to 
as the Ramen period

where nothing was working.

I didn't make any money.
I actually lost quite a bit of money.

I've also had huge failures,
huge mistakes.

But 11 years later,
I know that those mistakes

and those failures were so key and crucial

in setting the path of what I'm doing now

and where I'm where I'm wanting to go
in my... I believe what's my life's work.

Through all those good,

bad and ugly experiences,
I start to reflect and think about what

was the thing that was there through
them all, like what was the constant?

And after reflecting about it and having
several glasses of wine,

I came to discover that it
was this idea of community.

Community is what saved
my butt every time.

Both the good things and the bad things.

Community is what helped 
me to find my first client.

Community is what
celebrating me when things went well.

And community is where I went
to when things were really bad.

And I wasn't sure if I wanted
to continue on this journey.

And as I reflect on this
year, that is 2020,

I start thinking about the good,
the bad and ugly this year as well.

It's been unprecedented.

So many challenges and most of us have
already skipped forward to 21.

But I would be remiss if I didn't take

this time to really think about, what
are the lessons from this year?

And once again, I've come back
to this idea of community.

Community is what will save us.

It is what will get us out of 
this hot mess we've been in.

Community is what brings us together,

and it is what will provide the necessary
platform in order to advance our ideas

forward and to ensure that all
of us are in it together.

And I start thinking about,
OK, community is the way out.

As we think about 21 and we think 
about the future of startups

and the future of entrepreneurship
and diversity and inclusion. 

Community is the way out.

But who or what can actually ensure that
we're building the right communities?

And it didn't take me long to think
about this, but it's Texas women.

I am biased, but I can back it up.

But I believe the real
solution is Texas women.

Texas women have the ability,
the capacity and the fortitude

and just the plain fabulousness to build
the kind of communities that we need

in order to move the state
and this country forward.

There's a couple of elements, though,
that these Texas badass Texas women are

going to need in order to build
this this amazing community.

And I have been thinking about this

in general as I love to build
communities outside of the work I do.

And what builds amazing tribe? What
helps keep engaged women moving forward?

And there's a couple of different things.

Actually, there's four things that I think are

important for us
to ensure that Texas women

have what they need to build
these these communities.

The first one is connectivity.

You know, Texas just geographically,

geographically by itself is hard
to get connected with, right?

Now, with the pandemic, we were 
able to increase a lot of our connectivity,

but it's still challenging, right?

It's not like it takes several hours
to get to certain parts of the state.

So we are in immediate need of a greater

way to connect with what's
happening around the state.

And most importantly,
we are in a... We have a major

need right now to connect the women
around the state in a much better way.

So connectivity is huge.

Two, representation matters.

We need more women of color
at the front of the stage. Period.

We just have to have that.

And right now, I don't know if we
have a mechanism in place to do that.

Once again, I come back
to how can we solve that?

And it goes back to community

and we need Texas women to help
us build that community.

So representation matters.

When we start building 
greater connectivity around the state

that will then give us the opportunity and

the ability to now tackle diversity and
inclusion in a much more granular way.

Right now, it's kind of like throwing
darts at a board and cross your fingers

and hoping that it lands.

Without the connectivity.

We can't get to the root of our challenges

with diversity,
inclusion and representation.

We need greater connectivity
in order to get better representation.

So connectivity, number one.
Two, is representation.

Three. Texas women need to be paid more.

Period.

We still have a huge deficit

between how much men make in relation
to how much a woman makes.

Whether this is 
professionally corporate wise

or the amount of money that startups get, 
female founded startups receive.

Pay us what you owe us. Period.

And in order to get these badass Texas women

to build this badass community,
we need them to be paid.

We need to be viewed equitably.

In order for us to do that, 

we need representation
and we need community.

So pay us what you owe us and make sure
that the women, Texas women are being paid

for what they're doing and the hard work
that they contribute to the state.

Always.

Finally, navigational tools.

Now, you may be thinking GPS,
a computer. No, really basic.

We need a way for Texas women,
all Texans in general, the Texas women.

If we're going to build this community,
we need greater, clearer navigation.

How do I move through this state
in an effective strategic way?

We have a challenge right now
just working from city to city.

And so we need in place
greater navigation. A map.

A guide. A roadmap.

So that, whether I've 
been here for one day

or I've been here for 40 years,
that I can navigate smoothly

and effectively through the state.

So that I can build connectivity,

increase representation and make sure
that Texas women are being paid equitably.

So communities are way out.

Communities are the solution.

They were for me as a business owner.

And they will be for this
state and for this country.

Community is our solution,

community is our way out of any
challenges we're having.

I believe that the solution to building
these strong communities is Texas women.

We have a huge force here in the state,

but we're not taking advantage
of these amazing women that are here.

And the best way to do this,
to build this robust community,

which will move the 
state forward as a whole,

is to increase our connectivity,

 improve our representation,

ensure Texas women are 
being paid fairly and equitably

and establish navigational tools.

So that, whether you're a transplant
or you're born and raised here like I was,

you can navigate effectively
with purpose in the state.

Now, how can we do all this, Jasmin?

I have a solution for you.

I have been thinking about this
with all this extra time,

and I've been working
on a project called Her Texas.

A project is probably 
an understatement of it.

It is what I believe to be my life's work.

It is a connectivity point for Texas women.

It is going to be that necessary navigation

that will ensure that we're able to pay
Texas women what they should...

We can get... We can start to get female founders
invested in a much more expansive way.

We can get black women and women of color
to move forward and take front stage.

And just base level, we can increase
the connectivity. Her Texas, I believe,

like I said, is my life's work.

It is a passion project, but I believe it
is something that will live past myself.

Texas women are the solution.

I'm excited about supporting,

moving forward,
engaging this base of women that

have often been overlooked
because they're not connected.

And I'm excited about what 2021

and the future holds for for Texas
women, but Texas as a whole.

It's time to shake things up.

The state is in the need of a little bit

of a rebrand, and I think community
is what will move the state forward.

The solution is Texas women.

And I'm excited to show
you what we can do.

So far along the journey,

Support us. Celebrate us and champion us.

Let's build a really amazing community.

Thanks.