About Us

Who We Are

BUILT BY SHE is a community and platform for Women entrepreneurs in all stages of business. We have set out to level the playing field for Women seeking support and funding to grow their businesses. With Women CEOs receiving only 3% of all venture capital money, we have a lot of work to do. We believe that all entrepreneurs deserve an equal opportunity to innovate and be heard without the unconscious biases that are currently plaguing our start-up eco-system.

How does BUILT BY SHE do this?

Inspire the community with events featuring #badasswomen

Create workshops and programming to teach entrepreneurs the skills needed to grow

Work 1:1 to dive deep into the industry; providing guidance from startup to scale

Acquire knowledge from our community and apply it to help even more entrepreneurs

With 60 years of combined experience in Operations, Strategy, Finance, Design and Venture Capital, BUILT BY SHE will not stop until there is balance among entrepreneurs. We believe the American dream must include a balance between Women and Men in order to create true innovation, disrupt the business status quo and cultivate balance in the economy.

Our Mission:

Level the playing field for Women seeking support and funding to grow their businesses.

Our Vision:

Empower Women entrepreneurs through our community along with education through our programming.

Our Values:

Problem-Solvers

To surround ourselves with people that are searching for solutions, instead of problems, this promotes a positive work environment as well as cultivates creativity.

Lifelong Learner

Being a student of life for life allows us to roll with a constantly changing environment. What works today, may not be what works tomorrow.

Growth Mindset

Failures are not permanent and are an essential part of success. By turning our failure into learning experiences, we can pivot our ideas into a successful solutions.

Risk Tolerance

Risk can represent opportunity, but it can also mean the potential for loss. By understanding our risk tolerance, we are well suited to make decisions that keep us aligned with our goals.

Passion

Passion allows us to push through the hard moments we all inevitably face to ensure we reach our goals.

MEET THE TEAM:

TANYA RAUKKO

Co-founder of Built By She

TANYA RAUKKO

Co-founder of Built By She

Tanya Raukko has built a diversified career in strategic planning and consulting. She also serves on the Board of several portfolio startups and is passionate about helping entrepreneurs succeed. She is currently a Managing Partner at Imprint Venture Lab, a seed stage incubator that stewards creative startups. At Imprint's sister company, interTrend Communications, Tanya built one of the company's core assets: a Strategic Planning team instrumental in the brand, consumer, and marketing strategy of clients such as Toyota Motor Sales, State Farm Insurance, The Walt Disney Company, JCPenney, and AT&T.  Prior to interTrend, Tanya was at NextLeft, a digital agency with clients such as Nestle Purina, Nissan, Countrywide, and ConAgra. Tanya has an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA.

JENIFER MAXWEL

Co-founder of Built By She

JENIFER MAXWEL

Co-founder of Built By She

Jenifer is a Co-Founder of Built By She and Controller for Imprint Lab. She has spent the last two decades cultivating a diverse career in the manufacturing, production, service and retail industries. During the last eight years, she has used that knowledge to provide strategic consultation to Imprint’s portfolio companies, by building infrastructure and providing operations oversight, project management, financial management and growth scaling. Most notably, Jenifer has worked with Knockaround, Solar weather app, Love Wins, Nice Cube and Maekan.

Jenifer’s entrepreneurial spirit and abilities help her implement swift solutions to the growth challenges of start-up companies, and this makes her a critical component of the Built By She and Imprint team..

JULIA HUANG

CEO of Renzei Holdings

JULIA HUANG

CEO of Renzei Holdings

Julia Huang is the founder of Imprint Lab, and CEO of interTrend Communications, Inc.— one of the most innovative and fastest growing advertising and marketing agencies focused on the diverse and expanding Asian communities in the US. Established in 1991, interTrend is the recipient of dozens of awards for its pioneering achievements in the education and guidance of Fortune 500 companies such as Toyota Motors Sales USA, Northwest Airlines, JCPenney, State Farm Insurance and The Walt Disney Company. Julia Huang was recently selected as a 2014 Fortune Most Promising Woman Entrepreneur.

CASSANDRA LEEMAN

Community Manager

CASSANDRA LEEMAN

Community Manager

Cassy is a purpose driven entrepreneur, with a passion for developing sustainable solutions to industry problems. She began her career at an import company where she rose to Managing Partner — overseeing foreign relationships, inventory acquisition, marketing, and bookkeeping. While attending university, Cassy’s fervor for sustainability led her to co-found a clean-energy start up. This is where she honed her business development skills. Her involvement has contributed to a half-a-dozen business plan award and an NSF SBIR grant. Cassy joins the Built By She team as Community Manager — focusing on Community Outreach & Development.

SAKURA REESE

Designer

SAKURA REESE

Designer

Sakura is a designer, wife, a mother of two, and the very proud owner of her own swim school.  For over 12 years, she has worked as a visual artist in advertising. She began her graphic adventures with small boutique design shops, collaborating directly beside clients.  Design eventually led her to interTrend Communications, an award winning ad agency based in Long Beach, CA. At interTrend, she crafted integrated advertising campaigns across various channels, including TV, Print, Digital and Social Media, as well as New Media for National and Global accounts.  Sakura joins the Built By She team as a designer who not only supports the creative sector, but also knows just what a brand needs to shine. When she’s not in front of her computer, you’ll find her enjoying a sunny swim with her kids, whipping up good food for good company, or connecting with families at her local church.

TRACY HO

Social Media Manager

TRACY HO

Social Media Manager

Tracy is a foodie, adventurer who enjoys taking on new challenges in every aspect of life. She is a creative individual and social media guru who loves capturing amazing moments through her lens. She has a huge passion for entrepreneurship, and is currently on a journey to start her own business in the food industry. Tracy began her career at a Japanese magazine company as a social media specialist; photographer, translator and editor helping small business and restaurant owners promote themselves. She further extended her talents in the financial services industry as a Digital & Social Media Manager. She devoted her passion as a marketing executive to target small business owners in the US Japanese market. Marketing eventually led Tracy to interTrend Communications / Rezonate Media, an award winning ad agency based in Long Beach, CA. At interTrend Communications / Rezonate Media, she has integrated her knowledge of traditional and digital media planning to create social media strategies and execute innovative ideas for national and global accounts. Tracy joins Built By She as Social Media Manager where she utilizes her creativity and deep expertise in the media space to craft meaningful stories that engage the community.

PARTNERS:

Thank You

Thank you for supporting Built By She and for your interest in our beta community. We would be honored to help you in your endeavors and are energized by your commitment to advance your companies.

As we continue to grow ourselves, Built By She will be taking a short hiatus to assess the next steps in how to best cultivate and support our community. Rest assured, we will be back with a vengeance but need to briefly hit the ‘pause’ button on our growth to better understand how we can best serve you. That said, for the next few months we will not be producing content, holding events, or performing assessments.

Please stay tuned, as we will announce our plans for the relaunch in the near future. We look forward to coming back better equipped than ever to help develop your businesses! Thank you again for all of your support.