SoGal Summit held for women entrepreneurs

The all-women entrepreneurship organization SoGal, formerly known as GirlsUp, hosted the SoGal Summit, a conference for aspiring women entrepreneurs from across Southern California, on March 28 in the Seeley G. Mudd building.

During the all-day event, women attended a fireside chat, a keynote speech, entrepreneurial process panels and mentoring sessions.

Pocket Sun, the founder of SoGal and organizer of the SoGal Summit, said she hoped that the event would provide attendees with a forum to network and put forth their own business ideas.

“I wanted to take it to the next level by creating an all-day gathering, networking and celebration, so that young millennial female entrepreneurs, especially students, can showcase their innovation and get connections and resources in the SoCal startup community,” she said.

Sun said she faced much adversity in planning the event because of time constraints.

“I was told by professors, directors who have put on many conferences themselves that I can’t possibly accomplish the task in such little time even with my team’s help,” she said.

After working 12 hours a day, seven days a week for two and a half months, Sun was able to secure a location, find speakers and recruit sponsors. More than 450 tickets to the summit were sold. Blackstone LaunchPad at USC sponsored the event.

Among those who attended the SoGal Summit included Sabrina Kay of Fremont College; Robyn Ward of United Talent Agency; Melinda Moore, chief marketing officer at Crowdfunder; Erin Reilly, creative director of Annenberg Innovation Lab; and Espree Devora, founder of WeAreLATech. In total, more than 300 female entrepreneurs attended the event.

Kay gave a keynote address describing her achievements. She told her life story about how she came to achieve a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degrees from both UPenn and USC.

She also described her business ventures in a series of industries, as the chancellor and CEO of Fremont College and the founder of the California Design College, now known as the Art Institute of California.

Kay concluded her speech imploring each audience member to remain one of the “crazy ones.” The audience responded with a standing ovation.

Her speech was followed by a pitch competition in which 10 companies, all composed of women, competed.

According to the judges, three stood out. The companies that received honorable mentions were Sportec, which aims to improve the technologies that people use in the sports industry, and ManServant, the newest form of party entertainment in which women can hire attractive men to serve them during special events.

The winner of the pitch competition was Pulp Pantry, a company that uses the excess leftover pulp from juiceries to create healthy snacks like muffins and crackers. The organization was established by Kaitlin Mogentale, a senior majoring in environmental science, and Ashley Lukashevsky, a senior majoring in international relations, and Uzo Onyejiaka, a senior majoring in business administration. However, Onyejiaka was not in attendance at the pitch competition.

Mogentale said she appreciated the opportunity to participate in the competition.

“With every pitch, our business just gets better. We have to make sure how we will impress the judges, which only leads us to rethink our business plan and improve it,” she said.

Melissa Feldman, a junior majoring in communication, said that she was able to learn how to effectively present herself in up-and-coming markets.

“As someone that is interested in entrepreneurship, the summit taught me how to present myself and about the hottest new markets,” Feldman said.

Tiffany Yin, a junior majoring in economics, said that the event was a great networking opportunity.

“I am not necessarily interested in entrepreneurship, but this was an great event that allowed me to meet people from all kinds of industries,” Yin said.

Sun also said that she was very proud of the turnout.

“We got amazing social media traction and very awesome feedback from the attendees and speakers,” she said.

UPDATE: The story has been updated to include the fact that Blackstone LaunchPad USC was a sponsor of the SoGal Summit.