Women entrepreneurs envision business futures in Durango

Female owners near parity with men, but challenges persist

The number of women founders and employees is catching up to men locally and nationally, but gender-based hurdles persist.

Melissa Glick, founder of Durango-based business Peak CEO, said many women entrepreneurs lack access to systems, support and strategic infrastructure. She hopes to change that through gatherings like Vision Into Action, which she hosted Dec. 6.

The event brought together 20 female founders to engage in focused work geared toward successfully building a business in Durango. The event included a worksheet packet with actionable steps to take for success in the business realm and a vision board session to help attendees envision their professional futures.

The event was held at Glick’s home in northeast Durango for the second year in a row.

Both years sold out, she said.

For Glick, the event – which she hopes to continue for many years – isn’t just a gathering: it’s about equipping women with the tools and community they need to scale their businesses.

“Women are balancing a lot of different things, and I just don’t think there’s as many resources available to us as there are for men,” Glick said. “There’s a lack of funding, there’s a lack of support, there’s a lack of value that’s given to women-owned businesses. We’re considered a niche, and I don’t particularly like that, because one-in-two businesses are being started by women now.”

Recent data show women having founded 49% of all new businesses in 2024 – the highest rate in the past five years.

As of this year, women also make up nearly half of angel investors – individuals who provide and fund capital for a startup or early stage business in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debt – and 46% of businesses seeking angel capital are women-owned.

U.S. Census Bureau data reflected 9.8% of women in Durango having worked in management positions in 2023, up from 7.4% in 2019.

Despite this recent rise, women-founded companies – and women in business overall – still face significant structural gaps.

According to the Harvard Business Review, only about 2.3% of global venture capital funding was received by female-only founding teams in 2020 – and that number has stayed consistent since.

Ethan Poskanzer, an assistant professor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder found that men are more able than women to gain access to valuable mentorship and resource opportunities through social networks, because male mentors are disproportionately likely to take on male mentees.

Gender segregation within mentorship networks greatly limits access to critical financial, social and structural resources for female entrepreneurs overall, he found.

Many attendees at Glick’s event described a range of hurdles they experience that they feel their male counterparts do not. These included being given less actionable feedback than men in their same fields, difficulty in finding mentorship opportunities with leaders who understand their experience, lacking confidence in their abilities and having to balance family and professional responsibilities.

“Society puts responsibilities on women,” Glick said. “Women are moms, women are caretakers and now we’re 50% of the businesses that are being started. Yet, we’re getting that lack of funding – that lack of support – and it’s not equitable.”

Data show even more hurdles for non-white women or women of intersectional identities in the business realm.

“All of this is so much harder for women of color,” said Kelsey Parks, event attendee and chief operating officer of Durango-based creative digital marketing agency Psyche Digital. “Black women are more likely to get struck by lightning than receive capital funding.”

Recent data show Black women routinely receive less than 1% of total venture capital funding.

Events like these help the female business community feel supported and understood amid the hurdles they experience, she said.

“It can feel like you’re walking a road by yourself, and events like this show you you’re not, and that there are others in your position,” she said. “It’s a network, you know?”

Event attendee Julia Taylor, who founded digital education company GeekPack in 2018, said she helps other women reach their goals through her work.

“I wanted to start (the company) so I could work from anywhere, and now I can show other women how to do that, too,” she said.

GeekPack “equips women- and minority-owned businesses with essential skills to confidently build thriving, scalable businesses that stand the test of time,” according to the company’s website.

Some women in the field are losing patience for working within – and being mentored by – a largely male-operated business system, said Stacey Reuille-Dupont, who works in Durango as a licensed psychologist, personal trainer and nutrition coach.

“Because the way men lead is different than the way women lead, women struggle when they have a male mentor, because the ways of leading are very different – they’re mismatched,” she said. “Many of us are not willing anymore to operate underneath a male dominated architecture for what society looks like.”

Many attendees shared a similar sentiment when asked where they want to see women in business in the future: with a seat at every table, in every industry.

Women supporting one another is a step toward that goal, Glick said.

“Because women aren’t given the support, and the behavioral level feedback and the funding, we keep our vision small, because we think that’s all we can do,” she said. “There are some women who think that their businesses will only ever be small, so they keep themselves from being able to reach their full capability and potential. And that’s why we have to be supportive of each other, and encourage each other to stretch.”

Being able to bring support, connection, mentorship and resources to other women in the Durango business community matters to Glick.

“I also do trainings and workshops yearlong, and I work with people virtually from all over the world, but to be able to do something here in Durango for the female founders in my community and help try and close that gap in the place that matters to me and is close to me – that’s why this is my favorite event,” she said.

epond@durangoherald.com

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