Successful Female Technology Entrepreneurs Featured in Upcoming Goodyear Fellowship Event

The public is invited to attend the event, which will be held in the Engelhard Gymnasium on the campus of the Middleburg, VA, girls boarding and day school. Admission is free but seating is limited. Please RSVP to 540.687.4510 or events@foxcroft.org by March 17.

Shot on location in Silicon Valley, NYC, Europe, Vietnam, Mississippi and elsewhere, She Started It is a documentary aimed especially at middle and high school students. It tells the stories of five female technology entrepreneurs and explores the cultural roots and structural obstacles that contribute to female underrepresentation in entrepreneurship. According to a Kauffman Foundation study, women account for less that 10 percent of founders of high-growth firms.

 

"The topic of young entrepreneurs in She Started It ties directly to several curricular initiatives at Foxcroft,” said Head of School Cathy McGehee. “Sheena is an outstanding role model not only for our girls developing apps in AP Computer Science but also for all students who have creative ideas for solving problems."

 

One of five young female entrepreneurs featured in She Started It, Allen conceived of her first mobile app, a money-organizer, as a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi, after leaving a big box store with a long receipt. With no technical background and limited funds, she has grown that simple concept into Sheena Allen Apps, a successful mobile app company with a half-dozen apps and more than two million downloads. 

 

“The Goodyear Fellowship provides Foxcroft students educational opportunities outside of the classroom, permitting them to explore and discuss a topic in greater depth with a distinguished guest. We’re so pleased to have Sheena Allen with us this year," said McGehee.

In 2016, Ms. Allen founded her second startup, CapWay, a financial technology company that focuses on the population of unbanked and under-banked individuals. She also released an eBook, Starting Guide to Your First App. Her tech consulting company is called Houseboxx.

Born in Terry, MS, Allen is a sought-after speaker on topics such as diversity in the tech industry and non-tech individuals succeeding in a high-tech business. She has spoken at many universities, including Yale and Texas A&M, and conferences such as The Lean Startup Conference and Tech808. She also has been featured in various publications, including Forbes.com, BlackEnterprise.com, ESSENCE magazine’s ESSENCE Network and MadameNoire.com.

 

As the 2017 Goodyear Fellow, Allen will talk to Foxcroft students and faculty at a special morning assembly and meet with small groups of students in settings ranging from the School’s Advanced Placement Computer Science class to lunch during her stay.

The Goodyear Fellowship program, offered through the generosity of the family and friends of Alison Harrison Goodyear ’29, brings distinguished speakers and provocative performers to Foxcroft to deliver a keynote address and conduct small group seminars with students. The Goodyear Fellowship program has brought to Foxcroft such remarkable voices as Maya Angelou, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Sally Ride, and more recently, the Capitol Steps comedy troupe, physicist Lisa Randall, and former Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III.