She Started It - a documentary about female tech entrepreneurs

Sat 26 May 1:30 — 5pm

Massey University Ground Floor – East Entrance Dominion Museum Building, 21 Buckle St, Mount Cook, Wellington

Film screening of She Started It - a film on women tech entrepreneurs followed by a panel discussion.

This event has already happened!

At Xero, we focus on ensuring we have a diverse and inclusive workplace, as this benefits employees, drives stronger business outcomes and better reflects the diverse community of customers and partners Xero interacts with every day.

Led by the executive team, diversity and inclusion is one of the company's strategic priorities. We have a number of initiatives that specifically focus on achieving this goal, including champion diversity and inclusion within the wider community.Therefore we are proud to host the screening of SHE STARTED IT - a documentary on women tech founders. This film follows five women over two years as they pitch VCs, build teams, bring products to market, fail and start again, the documentary takes viewers on a global roller coaster ride from San Francisco to Mississippi, France and Vietnam. Along the way, it weaves in big-picture perspectives from women like investor Joanne Wilson; White House CTO Megan Smith; GoldieBlox CEO Debbie Sterling; and Ruchi Sanghvi, the first female engineer at Facebook.

Through intimate, action-driven storytelling, SHE STARTED IT explores the cultural roots of female under-representation in entrepreneurship — including pervasive self-doubt, fear of failure, and risk aversion among young women. It exposes, too, the structural realities women face as they become entrepreneurs, including lack of female role models and investors, and the persistent dearth of venture capital funding made available to women-led companies.

After watching SHE STARTED IT, there will be a panel discussion with local female entrepreneurs, academics and investors who are all keen to encourage, support and inspire a new generation of female tech entrepreneurs into the marketplace.

This event is open to anyone (men, women, non-binary folk, and people who are other marginalised genders.

We would also like to encourage those 12 years of age and older to attend - although for anyone ages 15 or under we recommend bringing a parent or guardian.

Click here to view trailer for film

Massey campus map here to help find the event. We will be in Tokomaru Block 10 which is close to Entrance D.

Brought to you by:

Contact the Event Organiser

Speakers

Ezel Kokcu

By the age of 24, Ezel was already sold two of her startups (including STQRY) and was already on to her third, Passphere, launched last year.
She is passionate about encouraging the next generation of Kiwi’s (especially women) into STEM.

Frances Manwaring

Managing director at Moxie, co-founder and chair of ShowGizmo and a board member at National Council of Women NZ, Frances believes entrepreneurialism must be in her DNA because she keeps returning to the startup scene between ‘proper jobs’. Her day job is brand strategy and visual communications.

Kirsty Godfrey-Billy

Kirsty is the Chief Accounting Officer at Xero. With over 20 years experience in the finance and technology sectors, she is passionate about providing excellent financial services. Kirsty leads Xero’s financial operations creating a beautiful internal experience to support our teams.

Kristen Lunman

Kristen is the Innovation Director at Kiwi Wealth. She has spent the last 7 years entrenched in NZ's start-up ecosystem. Last year she was the programme director for NZ's first fintech-focused business accelerator programme. Kristen is also a mentor for the Lightning Lab accelerator program.

Stephanie Benseman

Steph found her love for entrepreneurship through the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES). Now an innovation specialist at Creative HQ she helps others become entrepreneurs. She co-founded Filtr, and is a partner in First Cut Ventures. Steph is also an avid mentor for youth in the startup community.

Tui Te Hau

With over a decade of experience in business start-ups, Tui Te Hau is the woman you want to go to when you have that lightbulb moment. She was the CE of Creative HQ; she established the Lightning Lab accelerator programme, and now she works as the GM of Te Papa’s innovation hub, Mahuki.

Top →