Where Are All the Women?
After earning an MBA from The University of Oregon and working in economic development incentives and consulting spaces, Dr. Susan Clark Muntean became intensely curious about who really controls decisions made in our political and economic systems. She enrolled in a PhD program at the University of California San Diego, then wrote her dissertation on the relationships between these systems and flows of financial investments. The more she investigated, the more she realized just how absent women are from the top tiers of political and economic influence.
“I started digging into the socio-cultural phenomena driving gender disparities in business, and what I found were a great many institutional, structural, and attitudinal barriers preventing women from achieving the same levels of success as their male counterparts,” explained Dr. Clark Muntean. She zeroed in on the experiences of female founders in the world of high growth/ tech entrepreneurship, identifying key steps entrepreneur ecosystem leaders could take to give women more opportunity to succeed in this arena.
Evidence-Based Boots on the Ground
After a decade spent conducting research, Dr. Clark Muntean was eager to begin implementing her findings in evidence-based entrepreneur support practices. This brought her to Asheville, “a nascent startup ecosystem that’s young, fresh, and has a lot of potential,” as she put it. “Here, we have the ability to build an inclusive entrepreneurial culture from the ground up. Which means we can turn it into a model for other ecosystems across the nation.” She took a job as an Associate Professor of Management at UNCA, then began volunteering as a mentor with Hatch Innovation Hub, where she used her findings to empower female founders at the beginning of their startup journeys.
Dr. Clark Muntean strives to provide mentees with holistic mentorship that accounts for their core values and supplies them with the emotional support they need to persevere through challenges. “When you found a company, you put your life on the line and your blood, sweat and tears into your vision — it’s a scary endeavor, and that’s why we work hard at Hatch to address the human dimension of entrepreneurship, too,” she commented. By doing so, she and her colleagues assure founders who may not fit society’s “successful entrepreneur mold” that they are neither alone in their experiences nor any less capable of achieving success than someone who looks like Steve Jobs.
Last year, over 50% of the companies who won Venture 15 awards were female-(co)founded. Over 50% of the companies enrolled in Hatch’s Pressure Test program were also female-(co)founded. “We’re doing a much better job supporting women and entrepreneurs of color during the 2020s than we were back in ’17, ’18, and ’19,” said Dr. Clark Muntean. “But we still have a long way to go. Too many women and individuals of color still encounter second guessing, condescension, and the attitude that they’re lesser than.”
Towards an Equitable, Inclusive Future
In her new role on the Hatch Innovation Hub board, Dr. Clark Muntean aims to collaborate with startup ecosystem leaders across the region to continue removing the barriers that keep historically marginalized individuals from bringing their entrepreneurial visions to life. “Establishing a truly equitable, inclusive startup culture is good for everyone,” she said. “The more diversity you have on boards, in C-suites, within founding teams, the more innovative, resilient, and prosperous an economy can become.”