Women in business have been expanding to new horizons in the last few years. An article written by Wells Fargo stated, “The number of women-owned businesses increased at nearly double the rate of their male counterparts.”
As March marks women history month, women in business have been creating many accomplishments, like the Annual Young Women in Leadership conference, which happened at BGSU on March 12. Young women at BGSU were able to connect and network with other women in business to talk about future opportunities.
Some women in business at BGSU are a part of The Hatch program. The Hatch is a semester long program where students get to create their own product or business idea that they will pitch to alumni investors. According to The Hatch website, this gives students the opportunity to learn entrepreneurship skills.
BGSU students Allison Dubeansky and Chanel Mckinson talked about their experience so far as women in business and The Hatch.
Allison Dubeansky, a sophomore studying business management, joined The Hatch through encouragement from her advisor.
“I went in there expecting a minor in entrepreneurship and she said, ‘well, why do you want to be an entrepreneur?’ and I give my idea. ‘Why don’t you do The Hatch? It’s basically the entrepreneurship minor.’… She goes, ‘just do it.’ She literally set me up right there and said, ‘fill out this application. I’m gonna help you and you’re gonna do it,’ said Dubeansky.
Chanel Mckinson, a junior studying psychology, was also brought into The Hatch through her professor Ryan Holly’s support.
“I spoke about my business in a entrepreneurship one on one class, and he was like, ‘Okay, we have this thing called The Hatch.’ It was the first thing he told us about, we had assignments for it. And I applied for it,” said Mckinson
Both of these women are proud of the work they have put into their Hatch idea and talked about their future business and products. Dubeansky wants to own a gym called Body. Mind. Soul, that focuses on all parts of physical and mental health.
“It’s mental health therapy, physical therapy, nutrition and a gym…I want to advertise it as a gym so that it can help as many people as possible, but I do want it to have those other factors to also help desensitize people, primarily men, to the idea of mental health therapy,” said Dubeansky.
Mckinson is bringing to the table a product she started as a hobby called The Essence of Oshun, which are aromatherapy candles.
“Not everybody has time to take care of themselves, and I feel like lighting a candle is something small, but impactful…I feel like it’s hard to find a candle that doesn’t make your head hurt and so over time, the longer you light it, the more you will experience different parts of it,” said Mckinson
In high school, Dubeansky needed to join a career tech program and chose business technology. She knew this would be a good career choice for herself.
“I was going to do industrial organizational psychology, but then I got here and the dean, actually, she said, ‘do business management.’ So since then, I have been in love with business management. My mom and my dad are both in business, so it’s kind of just like a natural thing for me,” said Dubeansky.
Her parents also affected the way she viewed business, but her mom had a bigger impact.
“She’s very big on women representing women and breaking that glass ceiling, so it’s something I’ve always been taught,” Dubeansky said.
Mckinson didn’t start in business but was slowly brought into it. She was a STEM major but was interested in entrepreneurship.
“I started with mainly science (classes), and then I started coming to business because of the classes that I took…you know, those extra classes that you need for credits. I started doing business classes, like entrepreneurship class, and I was like wait, I really like this,” Mckinson said.
Dubeansky has had many influences and experiences that has started her love for business. She wants to become that representation to inspire others that anything is possible.
“I want my name to be known and not for popularity reasons, but I want it to be known because I did something,” said Dubeansky.
She wants others who are scared to get active in their passions to create that representation for future generations.
“I think it’s very, very big for women to get involved because we need that representation in this field,” Dubeansky said.
Mckinson feels inspiration from the people before her and wants more of that experience to continue to help people.
“It feels empowering to know that I get to a step where other people will and where other people have,” said Mckinson.
She is hoping to create this kind of environment for the next generation.
“I really like being in that position to break glass ceilings and also open doors for other people and teach them about what it is like to be in business. Especially as a woman, and as a black woman,” Mckinson said.
For more information about The Hatch and the Hatchlings, click here.
For more information on The Essence of Oshun, click here.
For more about about Dubeansky, Mckinson and other hatchees, attend The Hatch on Thurs. April 10 from 4:00 p.m to 6:30 p.m. in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom.
