Advancing Female Entrepreneurship in Oregon

Addressing How to Empower and Financially Support Women Founders

Amanda Mailey Photo credit M. Martinez Photo

ALIST LLC, a local, Filipina-owned marketing and business consultancy, will host its inaugural The Boss-A-Thon fundraiser on March 20th, during Women’s History Month, to advance female entrepreneurship in Oregon. Held at Akadi, a Black woman-owned, West African restaurant in southeast Portland, the fundraiser will address how best to empower and financially support women founders. According to American Express’s State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, businesses owned by women-of-color have grown by 43 percent from 2014 to 2019. Funds raised at the event will benefit ALIST’s WSW (Women Supporting Women) Community Fund which aims to support this historic growth, and to subsidize the collective women-owned, small business community throughout the state of Oregon.

Amanda Mailey, Owner of ALIST, will serve as the keynote speaker. Panelists include Tamara Brown, Vice President, Relationship Banking Officer at Heritage Bank NW and Kaysha Duffy, Director of Impact at OnPoint Community Credit Union. The discussion will be facilitated by Zanele Mutepfa-Rhone, a Zimbabwean-born culture and diversity specialist, speaker, activist, and philanthropist. Guests will be welcomed by Karen Foster, Owner of KF Curates, a Black and Caribbean-owned event strategy, execution, and consulting agency partnering with ALIST to design this women-of-color-led fundraiser. The event is open to the public and all are welcome.

“The City of Roses is a hotbed for women entrepreneurs, but there are very few organizations addressing and supporting this population as a whole. My goal is to define an equitable business model, or ecosystem, that supports marginalized business owners. Women-of-color entrepreneurs are under resourced, and I feel a dep civic responsibility to change that by collectively raising funds to support the collective body of women founders in our region. With The Boss-A-Thon, I want to bring women founders, allies, and local changemakers to rally together around this vital cause to make a bigger impact,” said Amanda Mailey, Owner of ALIST.

The Boss-A-Thon will raise awareness on the impact women-of-color-led businesses have on the economy, the traditional and innovative funding practices available, the new systems designed to connect and empower women-identifying leaders, and reframing cause-based investing to include for-profit women-owned companies serving marginalized communities.

Held from 5 to 9 p.m. on March 20th at Akadi at 1001 SE Division, Mailey hopes to gather 65 of Portland’s top changemakers to share resources, exchange ideas, and inspire cross-collaboration, with the shared goal of supporting financial growth in female entrepreneurship.

A four-course dinner from Akadi with wine pairings will be presented by Executive Chef and Owner, Fatou Ouattara herself. Tickets for The Boss-A-Thon are $150.00/per person.

“Shop local" and ‘shop BIPOC’ are important calls-to-action, but this inaugural event showcases much more than that. Investing in BIPOC-owned businesses is a strategy to build equity in power and leadership in the world. My mission is to unite this population to rise together and increase the possibility of business maturity here in Oregon,” added Mailey.