CREATE
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2021 Grants Challenge

Women turning our purchasing power into real power to help each other.

Idea by Rush Inc

Women made $7 trillion of US consumer and business purchases, over 85%, while women founders got only 2.2% of venture capital. It’s time we aggregate our purchasing power back to ourselves. Rush Inc is a media commerce company focused on propelling women founders and their products into the spotlight using storytelling to drive sales from woman to woman.

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In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?

Central LA

East LA

San Gabriel Valley

San Fernando Valley

South LA

County of Los Angeles

City of Los Angeles

What is the problem that you are seeking to address?

Women made $7 trillion of US consumer and business purchases, over 85%, while women founders got only 2.2% of venture capital. It’s time we aggregate our purchasing power back to ourselves. This is the path to maximize impact, women were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and its time we take control of our main source of power, our purchasing.

Describe the project, program, or initiative that this grant will support to address the problem identified.

Reimagining shopping with story driven commerce We are first to market with the new format mixing shopping, entertainment, community and empathy to propel women founders and their brands forward, selling to gen x and millennial women. A number of factors make this timely: POLITICAL FACTORS Largest amount of women in Congress in history and first female VP gives an opportunity to create policies to bring about more equality. SOCIAL FACTORS The #Metoo and Women’s March movements have emboldened women to speak out about the inequality they experience in their lives. ECONOMICAL FACTORS 5 million women lost their jobs, venture funding to women founders dropped to 2.2%, while women made $7 trillion in consumer and business purchases in US alone. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS E-commerce has grown 44% in last year with live video commerce driving 14% of e-commerce sales in China. Daily Shows & Live Streams and Showcase Events will highlight diverse founder stories, creating economic and cultural empowerment for women.

In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?

Direct Impact: 1,500

Indirect Impact: 150,000

Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.

We leverage edutainment to help other women launch their own businesses, in the vein of how early tech company employees see how its done and can start their own (think the PayPal mafia). We are in a unique position as a city to leverage our incredible storytelling (Hollywood), retail/CPG expertise (fashion district), and tech (Silicon Beach). But rather than isolating one physical location, we can bring this to the entire city, and create much needed empathy across different cultures, industries and socio-economic groups by showing diverse women founders in leadership roles that are not portrayed currently by mainstream media.

What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?

We will define success by success of our founders and alignment with their interests. By driving revenue, showcasing diverse founders, and helping with resources and audience, we will help our founders be successful and leverage a much larger pool of resources to drive purchases.

Which of the CREATE metrics will you impact?​

Global cultural and economic influence (“soft power”)

Minority- and women-owned businesses

Unemployment rate

Indicate any additional LA2050 goals your project will impact.

LA is the best place to LEARN

LA is the best place to PLAY

LA is the best place to CONNECT

LA is the healthiest place to LIVE