This post originally appeared in Forbes.

I’ve been pretty fortunate in my career to not experience much overt sexism. Working in majority-female organizations, mostly in the nonprofit sector, I’ve had amazing female bosses and mentors. Other than the rare uncomfortable moment with a leering male donor, I’ve always felt like I was seen for my talents and hard work. Still, when I was named CEO of Venture for America a few months ago, I wrestled with some imposter syndrome and worried if I would be taken seriously by outsiders in my new role. I’m only a few weeks into the job, but here’s what I’ve learned so far about being a woman in the driver’s seat.

1) The secret mafia of powerful women that we suspect exists really does
It was a busy summer. I knew I had to finish a strategic plan and hire a COO by the end of August to be ready for my official takeover September 1^st. I spent a lot of time in advice-gathering mode, and frankly, I have a hard time not being honest and open about the things I’m worried about in growing and leading the business. But I’ve found that in admitting that I don’t know things, the offers to help have come flooding in – mostly from other women. I’ve been invited to brain trusts of power ladies and had figurative Rolodexes opened wide for me.
Women truly want to see other women succeed and they put in the time to help those that come after them. And they expect nothing in return. I had an incredibly successful former media executive more or less appoint herself to my personal advisory board within an hour of knowing me – and she followed through on every promised introduction and word of advice. On another occasion, over coffee, a female leader with a storied background in technology and government reached over the table, grabbed my hand, and said to me, “You deserve to be here. I’m going to help you get where you need to be.” I couldn’t be more grateful to these women. Knowing I can lean on them for judgment-free advice and timely counsel as I scale our organization gives me incredible confidence.

During our 2018 application cycle, we’re hosting #AskVFA Twitter conversations to not only provide support around our application and selection process, but also to act as a resource for your entry into the startup world.
The topic for November’s chat was “How To Turn Your College Experience Into A Startup Ready Resume” with members of our Talent team. Here at VFA, we’ve worked through thousands of resumes over the years, selecting the best and brightest talent in the country. As a result, we’ve helped over 700 recent grads land full-time entry level roles at startups across the country and while we could share an endless supply of advice, here are the top three things to focus on while completing your resume:

1. Focus on opportunities that highlight your professional growth.

Answering the following questions can help you connect your extracurriculars to a business:

• What role did you have in that extracurricular experience?
• Were you a leader?
• Did you manage a group of people or a project?
• What outcomes can you take responsibility for that would demonstrate success (ex: money raised, impressive # of attendees, growth over time, etc.)?

Do your best to connect any experience you have had (business or not) to concrete outcomes that would show that you can add value — and will do the same for your new company.

2. Focus on the specific job and company you’re applying for and craft your resume around its needs.

• You should focus on the roles you’ve had that directly relate to the job you’re applying for, as well as major accomplishments (both in an academic and business settings).
• Share results from your experiences as expressed in concrete numbers (if possible), and promotions or increases in responsibility or role over time.

We suggest having several versions of your resume that highlight different experiences. With a resume, you only have one page so it’s best to customize that page based on the specific job you’re applying for. It takes more work to develop several resumes but will make you a stronger candidate in the long run!
3. Focus on letting your resume act as the tipping point for your interview.
Your resume should act as a snapshot of your career experience. There is only so much that you can fit on your resume, therefore we still encourage you to focus on your experiences that are most relevant to the job in question.
Worried about not being able to show the balance between your abilities to do the gritty work and displaying high-level leadership experience? You can highlight more of your in-depth work experiences during the interview process. Most high level leadership roles involve grunt work — so you can come with examples of a time you managed a complicated project and a time you rolled up your sleeves to get a job done. This combination shows you’re versatile and have a “no task is too small” attitude.
Resources shared during the chat:
How to go from liberal arts student to thriving startup employee
How to turn your college experience into a startup ready resume
How to format a startup resume
85 Powerful Verbs That Will Make Your Resume Awesome via The Muse

The Venture for America Accelerator is a three-month program open to VFA alumni and Fellows at the conclusion of their two-year Fellowship. On August 1st, seven teams descended on Detroit to begin working full time on their companies. Thanks to generous support from the William Davidson Foundation and Quicken Loans and with help from the Venture for America team and a wide range of industry leaders, Accelerator teams have the time, space, and funding to focus solely on building their fledgling companies.
Meet Freddy Adenuga, a 2015 Fellow and Founder of Sweat Seal. Sweat Seal makes custom undershirts that prevent pit stains. Here, Freddy talks building a company in a VFA City, honest marketing, and the two guarantees of running a business.

What’s it like building a company in a VFA City?

I did my fellowship in Columbus, Ohio and I can easily say that I’ll be spending a good chunk of my life living there. Nicknamed ‘The Biggest Small Town in America’ what drew me to Columbus is the genuine commitment all residents have to the success and happiness of everyone who lives there, both old and new. Anyone in the city from the mayor, to a head of a VC is ready to make time for you if asked. Once on my birthday I was having breakfast with a co-worker, and randomly I was given a business card by a stranger. That stranger said they liked my idea for Sweat Seal, and would love to connect me to a banker they knew. That kind of kindness is no strange occurrence in Columbus, and is part of why I like to call Columbus my new hometown.

What lessons learned during your Fellowship still impact the way you work today?

In my time as a Fellow I’ve come to learn that persistence pays off in peculiar ways. Many times throughout my fellowship I found myself passionately going after various goals I had for myself or Sweat Seal, and simply applying brute will force as a method of getting what I wanted. Sometimes that worked–often it didn’t– but what I found is that the people around me appreciated my hard work and commitment to my passions and offered me unique opportunities I often would never have known existed. This engrained in me that you never know what dividends hard work will end up earning you.

How did you find your earliest customers?

I love honest marketing. I believe that if you have a good product, you should put your product to the test to show just how effective it is. For Sweat Seal, being that it’s designed to prevent sweat stains, I decided to demonstrate how strong it was by going on a treadmill for 6 hours live on Facebook to show just how long it lasted. Over 3,000 people viewed that live stream, and it gave Sweat Seal a social credibility words could never have earned it. Being bold, honest, and direct was how I was able to earn Sweat Seal early success.

Building a business is a tough process. How have you learned to embrace the challenges?

Challenges and taxes are the two guarantees of running a business. I’ve learned that challenges are best embraced when one is willing to be open, honest, and quick about solving them. People are surprisingly calm and understanding when you present them with clear facts and explain the logic behind any tough decision you have to make. For Sweat Seal this meant being upfront with customers if we had any unexpected shipping delay, and letting them know what went wrong and how we fixed the issue. When you treat customers like a friend, they’re often are friendly right back in return.

What readers can do to help you get to your next step or milestone? 

Right now Sweat Seal is still receiving orders via Indiegogo if you go to SweatSeal.com so feel free to get someone sealed with a gift they’ll love! Also if anyone reading knows anyone with connections with inventory financing, please pass along my email: fred@sweatseal.com
Whether you’re toying with a fledgling idea, developing a side project, or preparing to launch a company, we have the resources, programming, and network to help you succeed once you’ve completed your two-year Fellowship. Our alumni have launched 41 companies that employ more than 195 people. Click here to find out how VFA can help you succeed.

The Venture for America Accelerator is a three-month program open to VFA alumni and Fellows at the conclusion of their two-year Fellowship. On August 1st, seven teams descended on Detroit to begin working full time on their companies. Thanks to generous support from the William Davidson Foundation and Quicken Loans and with help from the Venture for America team and a wide range of industry leaders, Accelerator teams have the time, space, and funding to focus solely on building their fledgling companies.
Meet Dutch Waanders, a 2015 Fellow and Co-Founder of PathSpot. PathSpot is a portable device that protects against food borne illness. Here, Dutch shares his story of translating his VFA experience into entrepreneurial success, prioritizing action over ideas, and aligning his career with his values.

What lessons learned during your Fellowship still impact the way you work today?

During my time working and completing my fellowship in Cleveland, I learned the importance of following through on each task, as those lead you to the next task. While networking, planning, and learning are all important and spark ideas for the future, I learned that too many great ideas can be bad news. For each great idea, there needs to be a structure and process for prioritization and delivery.  With a young company the possibilities are endless, and I find myself working hard to maintain focus and structure. By spending time working for a startup before founding my own company, I was able to watch our leadership avoid the endless cycle of ideas, and move towards action, which is something I try to emulate through the constant swirl of possibilities that exist as a founder.

What’s it like building a company in Detroit?

Moving my life and business to Detroit, I didn’t have the highest of expectations. But immediately after arriving, I felt incredibly supported by the community here.  People have been incredibly willing to share their time and connections, both through the accelerator and outside.  Some incredibly talented and successful people volunteer their hours with impressive levels of patience. The generosity expressed by so many here is more than I could ever have asked for.

What popular entrepreneurial advice do you disagree with?

Especially in the early stages of founding a company, the message of “do what it takes to make the sale” rings constant, as those first sales are crucial for the start of your company. However, I disagree with this advice because I think that more important than getting a quick sale is getting the right sale for your business. At PathSpot, we work hard to make our first customers into partners, connecting with people who align on our core values and mission and have the same idea for the direction of where the company will go. This means passing up on early sales that would require altering that direction, and while it is tempting sometimes to change the company to match the client, I think that the early sales set the stage for how our company will grow and change. To me, it is worth waiting to find the right sale, instead of changing your values and vision to make every sale.

How has pursuing entrepreneurship impacted your personal development?

While any job or experience will end up impacting who you are as a person, I feel that entrepreneurship amplifies that because it requires more time, commitment, and energy than any other experience I have been a part of. The largest thing I have taken away that applies to my personal development is resilience and ability to overcome failures. Working on a very small company full time can be an all-consuming experience, so it is very disappointing when things don’t work or turn out the way I expect, or when a conversation I was very excited about doesn’t end the way I hoped. However, I’ve learned that some of those “dead ends” end up leading to incredible discoveries I never would have expected, and therefore my ability to bounce back and explore new avenues even when I am discouraged has definitely improved all aspects of my life.

Which VFA credo do you identify with the most?

My career is a choice that indicates my values.  
Where you choose to work says a lot about you. How do you fit with the company culture?  Do you work fast and revise, or think things through before starting? Do you arrive early or stay late?  How much time do you dedicate to mentorship and networking? When starting a company, that’s magnified. Your company logo tells the world what your favorite color is. Your office space was your choice. Your business cards, who you work with, how much funding you raise– as a founder, all of it was your choice and each item says something about you.
But a bigger choice is what you work on, and how much. As with any startup, there’s more work to be done than can fit in a week. It’s tempting to cut corners so you can be everywhere and do it all. This “good enough” mentality is something I struggle with. I place a lot of value on delivering my best, and if I need to decrease the number of tasks I complete in a day to maintain that level of quality then I will. Because it’s my choice, and my values.

What readers can do to help you get to your next step or milestone?

Currently, PathSpot’s next big step is to bring the device we have created from a prototype that we 3D print and build in house to a scalable manufactured device. If you have any resources or understanding of hardware manufacturing, I would love to connect and hear your advice and perspective as I learn to navigate that space. I also always appreciate any words of encouragement or advice from anyone who has started a company, idea, or organization before — having a community of entrepreneurs surrounding me mentally is incredibly inspirational!
Whether you’re toying with a fledgling idea, developing a side project, or preparing to launch a company, we have the resources, programming, and network to help you succeed once you’ve completed your two-year Fellowship. Our alumni have launched 41 companies that employ more than 195 people. Click here to find out how VFA can help you succeed.

The Venture for America Accelerator is a three-month program open to VFA alumni and Fellows at the conclusion of their two-year Fellowship. On August 1st, seven teams descended on Detroit to begin working full time on their companies. Thanks to generous support from the William Davidson Foundation and Quicken Loans and with help from the Venture for America team and a wide range of industry leaders, Accelerator teams have the time, space, and funding to focus solely on building their fledgling companies.
Meet Ellen Currin, a 2015 Fellow and Founder of Harriette. Harriette makes all-natural body hair care essentials for women. Here, Ellen shares her experience of unexpectedly becoming an entrepreneur, embracing change as a business owner and her mission for women.

Have you always wanted to start a company? What were some of the critical inflection points that got you to actually launch?

When I joined VFA, I was so convinced that I never wanted to start a company. I filled out a survey last week from my alma mater and I actually laughed out loud when I selected “entrepreneur” from a drop-down list of occupations – it still doesn’t feel real to me! But being in Detroit and being surrounded by people building impactful things has definitely rubbed off on me.
I started the accelerator last August with the intention of building up Detroit’s rock climbing community – and eventually a brick and mortar gym – through my organization, Climb Rock City. It was around this time that my hobby slash side hustle of making and selling natural cosmetics really started to pick up. I never expected that it would gain traction so quickly and eventually scale into a business – but that is the story of how Harriette was born!

What’s it like building a company in Detroit?

I spent my fellowship in Detroit and I am so grateful that VFA led me to this city. Detroit is the most amazing place to start something new because the community of makers and entrepreneurs here is so strong and very supportive. Entrepreneurs in this city are more than willing to help in any way that they can – donating time, offering advice, and making connections. I honestly can’t imagine trying to start something brand new in a city like San Francisco or New York – it must be so hard and so lonely.

Which aspects of VFA have helped you the most throughout your journey?

Having the support of VFA fellows and team members has been such a gift. Harriette is tackling a pretty big social taboo head-on, and that can be really scary. A lot of days I wake up and I worry that people won’t take me or my business seriously. But the VFA family has provided me with so many positive words and so much encouragement. It definitely helps me stay confident when things are hard!

Where do you hope to see your company grow in the next three years?

Just as THINX has normalized menstruation and just as Dame has brought female sexual pleasure into the mainstream, I hope that Harriette can catalyze the acceptance and celebration of female body hair. Three years from now, I hope that body hair care is considered as common and as essential as skin care or nail care.

What’s your mission and how do you plan to live it out every day?

My mission is to erase the shame and stigma surrounding female body hair, and to reclaim body hair as a clean, beautiful, sexy, inherently feminine part of the female body. I quit shaving my legs when I was 17. And although I have never regretted my decision to embrace my natural body, I still struggle with feeling ashamed and embarrassed of my body hair.
Over the years, caring for my body hair has helped me embrace and celebrate it. The intentional act of nourishing and grooming my body hair helps me feel feminine and beautiful because of my natural body, not despite of it.
Harriette is arming women (myself included) with tools to push back against all the forces telling them they are dirty, ugly, and gross because of the hair that grows naturally on their body.   

What readers can do to help you get to your next step or milestone?

1. Join our mailing list at www.harriette.co
2. Follow @harriette.dot.co on Instagram
3. Like Harriette.Co on Facebook.
4. Reach out to shop.harriette@gmail.com with any suggestions or feedback!

Whether you’re toying with a fledgling idea, developing a side project, or preparing to launch a company, we have the resources, programming, and network to help you succeed once you’ve completed your two-year Fellowship. Our alumni have launched 41 companies that employ more than 195 people. Click here to find out how VFA can help you succeed.

The Venture for America Accelerator is a three-month program open to VFA alumni and Fellows at the conclusion of their two-year Fellowship. On August 1st, seven teams descended on Detroit to begin working full time on their companies. Thanks to generous support from the William Davidson Foundation and Quicken Loans and with help from the Venture for America team and a wide range of industry leaders, Accelerator teams have the time, space, and funding to focus solely on building their fledgling companies.
Meet Brandon Gell, a 2016 Fellow and Founder of Clyde. Clyde enables physical stores to offer extended warranties and insurance for their products with all of the benefits and none of the hassle. Here, Brandon shares his favorite productivity hack, how VFA has helped him throughout the process of building his business, and embracing challenges as a business owner.

What hacks have you developed to stay focused and productive in your day-to-day?

One of my favorite things I do during the day was passed along to me by a fellow fellow and founder of EagleEye, Drew Jankowski. At the end of each day, I make a checklist of ~6 things that I want to get done the next day. This helps me hash out what exactly the important tasks are and keeps my focus honed. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of work, but when you can look down and see something to check off, the work becomes a bit more palatable.

How has pursuing entrepreneurship impacted your personal development?

There are so many different challenges associated with starting a business that it’s hard to see where it does NOT impact your personal development. First and foremost, having to manage your own day to day schedule means that all the power is in your hands. You can either waste away the day, or do things that move the business forward. A lot of times, there’s a challenge in front of you that seems insurmountable (hello financial projections). Taking baby steps to solve these problems, starting with research, is the easiest way to do great work the first time around. The best part is, once you’ve done it once, you can do it again. Even if things don’t go the way we hope, these are skills I’ll take with me onto the next business.

Which aspects of VFA have helped you the most throughout your journey?

The VFA community has been by far one of the best resources for Clyde throughout this process. From sourcing leads, to UX/UI help, to candid feedback, the VFA community has been right by my side supporting Clyde and our team. When it’s hard to see the forest through the trees, it’s great to know Fellows and VFA team members to bounce ideas off of or seek clarity through.

 

Building a business is a tough process. How have you learned to embrace the challenges?

There are days where it feels impossible to move forward, or days where we think we’ve exhausted all possible answers to a problem and are still in a rut. That’s when you know it’s time to take step back and breathe. It’s very easy to think you need to keep working, especially when problems seem insurmountable. I’ve found that this is exactly the best moment to stop working and go for a walk or talk with friends. Removing myself from the weeds is the best way for me to seek alternative answers to a problem I’m solving (and it’s really hard to do).

What’s your mission and how do you plan to live it out every day?

At the core of Clyde is the goal to provide tools to independently owned business that help them compete with larger brands. It’s easy to understand this concept as a founder of an early stage startup, and I hope to live this mantra throughout my professional and personal life. It’s a good reminder of what it feels like to be a young and small company, able and willing to try out different things until something works.

What readers can do to help you get to your next step or milestone? 

We’re building Clyde to enable independently owned stores compete with the big guys by helping them offer superior customer service. What this means is that we need early connections to companies who are trying to grow their annual revenue. Know of any physical or online stores that could use our help? Reach out to me at brandon@joinclyde.com, or checkout our website at joinclyde.com
Whether you’re toying with a fledgling idea, developing a side project, or preparing to launch a company, we have the resources, programming, and network to help you succeed once you’ve completed your two-year Fellowship. Our alumni have launched 41 companies that employ more than 195 people. Click here to find out how VFA can help you succeed.

The Venture for America Accelerator is a three-month program open to VFA alumni and Fellows at the conclusion of their two-year Fellowship. On August 1st, seven teams descended on Detroit to begin working full time on their companies. Thanks to generous support from the William Davidson Foundation and Quicken Loans and with help from the Venture for America team and a wide range of industry leaders, Accelerator teams have the time, space, and funding to focus solely on building their fledgling companies.
Meet Alyssa Gill, a 2015 Fellow and Founder of [Place] Market. [Place] Market creates modern clothing representing small and medium sized cities by collaborating with local designers. Here, Alyssa shares her experience building a business in Detroit, utilizing the community for support and the importance of prioritizing relationships.

What lessons learned during your Fellowship still impact the way you work today?

During my Fellowship I worked at the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education (NAATE) as a School Partnerships Manager. Outside of work, I led a VFA resource group: Black Fellows for America (BFA). My ultimate takeaway from both of these roles was the importance of building and maintaining relationships. As a founder, replying to a client’s question or sending a strong follow up email to a mentor is always immediately bumped to the top of my to-do list.

What’s it like building a company in Detroit?

In the brief window of time that I’ve lived and worked in Detroit, the startup community has been incredibly inclusive and eager to be supportive. Peers and mentors alike have been generous with their time, resources, and networks. The network aspect has probably been the most apparent. Detroit is geographically large but has felt like a very small town. Everyone seems to be fewer than six degrees of separation away from each other, meaning that community leaders have been more accessible than they likely would be in a more crowded city.

How did you find your earliest customers?

As soon as I moved to Detroit, I just started finding and showing up to relevant events. I attended trade shows, conferences, fashion shows, pop-up shops, and street fairs to meet even one potential customer. However, none of these served as replacements for leveraging the small network I already had in Detroit – primarily through the VFA community. My fellow Fellows were instrumental in connecting me with my first customers.

What’s your mission and how do you plan to live it out every day?

At its core, my mission is to support entrepreneurs working to positively impact their communities. During the Accelerator, I’ve lived this out by iterating on my idea around the needs of fashion designers and other members of the fashion ecosystem in Detroit. If I am helping them grow their brands and businesses, they can continue to source materials locally, hire team members, and so on. I can also build a sustainable business laser focused on adding value in whatever form that takes.

What can readers do to help you get to your next step or milestone? (each team must answer this question)

I’m currently focused on supporting fashion designers building brands in cities like Detroit (e.g. Cleveland, Baltimore, etc.). As I continue to better understand how I might add value to startup brands looking to grow without having to relocate to the large (and expensive) fashion markets, as well as brands that are already well-established, I’d be so appreciative of any introductions to fashion designers based outside of New York or Los Angeles! Please feel free to send me an e-mail at amgill085@gmail.com.
Whether you’re toying with a fledgling idea, developing a side project, or preparing to launch a company, we have the resources, programming, and network to help you succeed once you’ve completed your two-year Fellowship. Our alumni have launched 41 companies that employ more than 195 people. Click here to find out how VFA can help you succeed.