Get Anna to Hawaii (it's not a holiday, swear)

By Anna Guenther

video

PledgeMe.Project

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NZ $1,395 pledged


41 people pledged


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This campaign was successful and closed on 22/07/2014 at 2:59 PM.

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About

Get Anna To Hawaii (it's Not A Holiday, Swear)

Project 2014-05-24 11:54:57 +1200

I've received a scholarship to attend a forum for Women in Business in the Pacific. While they're covering most of the costs (hotels, fees, internal flights), I still need to get over there. And, that's pretty hard on a start up salary.

 

One of my sage friends reminded me that crowdfunding is all the rage (ironic, I know) so I thought I should see if I could get you, my crowd of family, friends, and fans, to help me get over to this forum.

Who am I?

If you're reading this, you probably already know me (and probably quite well - hi family! hi friends!). But, if you don't know me - my name is Anna, and I co-founded this platform a few years back. That's me below.

 

Why this conference?

Some of you will know I'm passionate about bringing more diversity into business. One area of diversity is, of course, around gender (though - I totally agree - that's not the only area!).

I'm pretty early in my thinking around women in business - and my first real foray into discussing it came about last year, when I was asked to talk at a conference on the "Future of Feminism". Which, I thought was pretty funny at the time because I was adamant my partner, Mike, was more feminist than I was. The conference organisers thought that was great, and I think it made them want me to come and talk even more.

Since that talk, I've been doing a bit of research. I fell into the rabbit warren of 100% Men and Jezebel. Read Caitlin Moran's How to Be A Woman. I got enraged about the census results, engaged in subsequent discussions about the gap in men and women's median salaries, and started actively discussing diversity with my team (and more recently, my board).

So when an acquaintance told me I should apply for the East West "Changing Faces" Leadership Seminar, I got excited. But, being the stupidly busy person that I am, I wrote my application letter in about 30 minutes (15 minutes while I was still in bed, and then 15 minutes whilst scoffing down lunch).

Thankfully for me, the application committee must have seen some glimmer of hope in that application letter (and the two reference letters - thanks Jody and Brendan!) and they offered me a spot at the seminar, with a scholarship if I could get myself there.

 

What do you want to learn?

I want to discuss the role of women in business, and how we can increase the number of women founders getting funded, women investors funding, and how that could lead to more women on boards. I think part of the solution might be this equity crowdfunding thing.

I want to talk about how we build more social enterprises, and how equity crowdfunding can support that space as well.

But, most importantly, I want to figure out what I can do to help the above. And, since part of the forum is creating an action plan, I know that'll happen.

 

So what do I get out of this?

I've put a bit of thought into rewards (as have my rockstar friends on Facebook). Most of the rewards are actually things my much suffering boyfriend will need to provide - but there's a few things I can do as well. I've included some photos below - and you can read more about the rewards themselves there -->

Thank you!

Just thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read this, for taking the time to send me facebook messages, for being my staunch supporters (in all the random aspects of my life) and for generally being you. I'll love you even if you can't pledge, I know many of you are in the same start up cycle that I am.

 

x

A

 ps. Final thanks to: Hayden, for making me apply. Jody and Brendan, for writing reference letters. My Board for telling me I could take the time to go. Charlotte, Gemma, Rebecca, Herman, Ants, Hilaire, Sam, Tori, Logan, Anna, Gerald, Jody and Marian for piping up on FB with reward ideas. And, of course - to Michael for humouring me in all things, and offering to draw up some rewards.

 

pps. Here's a video that was made about me last year. I think it explains why I'm into crowdfunding, and social enterprise pretty well (thanks Tim, Guy, and the BeCause team!).

Anna // The PledgeMe Story from Inspiring Stories Trust on Vimeo.

Comments

Updates 4

Wait, it's October already?

01/10/2014 at 2:04 PM

And you know what that means - time to get those Pandacorn calendars out! Mike has been busy drawing up the final few Pandacorns required to fill out the twelve months of goodness (as well as the individual nemesis fights) - and a calendar creation day is imminent. Here's September for you:

And the mock ups for Tania's fight with Turkeys for you lucky $100 pledgers :)

Thanks again for all of your support. Hawaii was such a big learning experience for me - not just on an academic and professional level, but personally as well.

x

A

WOW.

29/07/2014 at 8:48 AM

Well. The last two weeks flew by in a tornado of new friendships, learning, laughing, and (some) tears.

It was an absolute privelege to be able to attend "Changing Faces", and not only have learned so many things that I want to bring back and share in New Zealand - I've now got 15 new sisters (and a new brother) in my life.

I'm still processing everything, but for those of you that are in Wellington I will be reporting back on Friday: https://www.facebook.com/events/501696099962964/. Come if you can :) 

For those that are further afield, I'll write an update next week covering the points from Friday. There will be pictures.

My access to the internet has been a bit patchy (I've been staying on a boat!) but I will get those final rewards that I owe out this week, and will touch base with Mike on the drawings when I get home tomorrow.

Thank you thank you thank you everyone for getting me over here. I can't thank you enough for being a part of blowing this ladies mind.

x

A

ps. here's a photo of me and some of my new "sisters"

Operation Honolulu UNDERWAY

13/07/2014 at 11:33 AM

It's crazy how quick this has come, but I'm officially on my way to Honolulu! And, while work wise the timing isn't great, life wise - I'm totally ready for the chance to talk about women in business. 

In the past week the role of gender in business (and life in general) has been coming up a lot in New Zealand (from David Cunliffe's apology to some tense discussions at Nethui). The myriad of issues and causes make it such a complex beast. I'm excited to have two weeks to think, learn, and work out an action plan to try and address some of the issues that women face here in New Zealand.

So, prepare your inboxes / twitter feeds for Honolulu Haiku overload as well as general updates.

You lovely humans who pledged to come to my homecoming report, the date (and boardroom) has been locked for 1 August - I'll send you an official invite this week. Feel free to bring friends (and wine), I know I'll have lots of learnings to share and would love to have a discussion with you all.

And, my amazing man Mike has been drawing up a storm - the $100 reward and Pandacorn Calendars will be winging their way to you September / October (maybe sooner). Since we overfunded, there's talk of good stock :)

x

A

You guys!

28/05/2014 at 6:32 PM

Wow. Just wow. I have an awesome crowd alright - thank you so much for giving me the financial boost I needed to get over to Hawaii for the Changing Faces conference.

For those of you that know me on Facebook, you'll have seen my overly excited animal meme sharing over the weekend - including how I felt after the first day:

When I hit the 99% funded mark:

And, my happy dance inspiration once we got over the line (less than 27 hours from starting):

Now, I've overfunded, which is hugely appreciated. All the extra money raised will be used towards the flights. They actually will cost around $1,500, so all the extra help is totally welcomed and extremely useful to this start up entrepreneur.

Thank you again, friends, you all rock!

Anna

    Pledgers 41

    Anna Guenther
    22/07/2014 at 2:59pm
    Anonymous pledger
    01/06/2014 at 12:29pm
    Kaila Colbin
    30/05/2014 at 1:45am
    Tania Strauss
    29/05/2014 at 10:48pm
    Simon Travaglia
    28/05/2014 at 4:49pm
    Mohawk Media
    28/05/2014 at 12:04pm
    Mary Rinaldi
    27/05/2014 at 7:10pm
    Jadin Leslie
    26/05/2014 at 10:38pm
    Katherine Field
    26/05/2014 at 9:00am
    Sam
    25/05/2014 at 10:46pm
    Catherine Stewart
    25/05/2014 at 10:21pm
    Joe Butler
    25/05/2014 at 10:19pm
    Bee Gee
    25/05/2014 at 10:01pm
    Herman Visagie
    25/05/2014 at 9:57pm
    Honey Carmody
    25/05/2014 at 9:57pm
    Emanuel Rabina
    25/05/2014 at 5:15pm
    Anonymous pledger
    25/05/2014 at 4:23pm
    Jess Guenther-Leslie
    25/05/2014 at 2:07pm
    Rebecca Gray
    25/05/2014 at 2:06pm
    Marian
    25/05/2014 at 1:05pm
    Jennifer O'Sullivan
    25/05/2014 at 11:37am
    Nancy Linton
    25/05/2014 at 10:30am
    Thomas Mitchell
    25/05/2014 at 9:37am
    Anonymous pledger
    25/05/2014 at 9:15am
    Alannah Compton
    25/05/2014 at 8:41am
    Anna Sliber
    25/05/2014 at 5:16am
    Ashleigh Barrett-Young
    25/05/2014 at 3:48am
    Megan Bowra-Dean
    25/05/2014 at 12:43am
    Stephanie
    25/05/2014 at 12:09am
    Emma Van Hellemond
    24/05/2014 at 9:55pm

    Followers 11

    Followers of Get Anna to Hawaii (it's not a holiday, swear)

    Get Anna To Hawaii (it's Not A Holiday, Swear)

    Project 2014-05-24 11:54:57 +1200

    I've received a scholarship to attend a forum for Women in Business in the Pacific. While they're covering most of the costs (hotels, fees, internal flights), I still need to get over there. And, that's pretty hard on a start up salary.

     

    One of my sage friends reminded me that crowdfunding is all the rage (ironic, I know) so I thought I should see if I could get you, my crowd of family, friends, and fans, to help me get over to this forum.

    Who am I?

    If you're reading this, you probably already know me (and probably quite well - hi family! hi friends!). But, if you don't know me - my name is Anna, and I co-founded this platform a few years back. That's me below.

     

    Why this conference?

    Some of you will know I'm passionate about bringing more diversity into business. One area of diversity is, of course, around gender (though - I totally agree - that's not the only area!).

    I'm pretty early in my thinking around women in business - and my first real foray into discussing it came about last year, when I was asked to talk at a conference on the "Future of Feminism". Which, I thought was pretty funny at the time because I was adamant my partner, Mike, was more feminist than I was. The conference organisers thought that was great, and I think it made them want me to come and talk even more.

    Since that talk, I've been doing a bit of research. I fell into the rabbit warren of 100% Men and Jezebel. Read Caitlin Moran's How to Be A Woman. I got enraged about the census results, engaged in subsequent discussions about the gap in men and women's median salaries, and started actively discussing diversity with my team (and more recently, my board).

    So when an acquaintance told me I should apply for the East West "Changing Faces" Leadership Seminar, I got excited. But, being the stupidly busy person that I am, I wrote my application letter in about 30 minutes (15 minutes while I was still in bed, and then 15 minutes whilst scoffing down lunch).

    Thankfully for me, the application committee must have seen some glimmer of hope in that application letter (and the two reference letters - thanks Jody and Brendan!) and they offered me a spot at the seminar, with a scholarship if I could get myself there.

     

    What do you want to learn?

    I want to discuss the role of women in business, and how we can increase the number of women founders getting funded, women investors funding, and how that could lead to more women on boards. I think part of the solution might be this equity crowdfunding thing.

    I want to talk about how we build more social enterprises, and how equity crowdfunding can support that space as well.

    But, most importantly, I want to figure out what I can do to help the above. And, since part of the forum is creating an action plan, I know that'll happen.

     

    So what do I get out of this?

    I've put a bit of thought into rewards (as have my rockstar friends on Facebook). Most of the rewards are actually things my much suffering boyfriend will need to provide - but there's a few things I can do as well. I've included some photos below - and you can read more about the rewards themselves there -->

    Thank you!

    Just thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read this, for taking the time to send me facebook messages, for being my staunch supporters (in all the random aspects of my life) and for generally being you. I'll love you even if you can't pledge, I know many of you are in the same start up cycle that I am.

     

    x

    A

     ps. Final thanks to: Hayden, for making me apply. Jody and Brendan, for writing reference letters. My Board for telling me I could take the time to go. Charlotte, Gemma, Rebecca, Herman, Ants, Hilaire, Sam, Tori, Logan, Anna, Gerald, Jody and Marian for piping up on FB with reward ideas. And, of course - to Michael for humouring me in all things, and offering to draw up some rewards.

     

    pps. Here's a video that was made about me last year. I think it explains why I'm into crowdfunding, and social enterprise pretty well (thanks Tim, Guy, and the BeCause team!).

    Anna // The PledgeMe Story from Inspiring Stories Trust on Vimeo.

    Comments

    Wait, it's October already?

    01/10/2014 at 2:04 PM

    And you know what that means - time to get those Pandacorn calendars out! Mike has been busy drawing up the final few Pandacorns required to fill out the twelve months of goodness (as well as the individual nemesis fights) - and a calendar creation day is imminent. Here's September for you:

    And the mock ups for Tania's fight with Turkeys for you lucky $100 pledgers :)

    Thanks again for all of your support. Hawaii was such a big learning experience for me - not just on an academic and professional level, but personally as well.

    x

    A

    WOW.

    29/07/2014 at 8:48 AM

    Well. The last two weeks flew by in a tornado of new friendships, learning, laughing, and (some) tears.

    It was an absolute privelege to be able to attend "Changing Faces", and not only have learned so many things that I want to bring back and share in New Zealand - I've now got 15 new sisters (and a new brother) in my life.

    I'm still processing everything, but for those of you that are in Wellington I will be reporting back on Friday: https://www.facebook.com/events/501696099962964/. Come if you can :) 

    For those that are further afield, I'll write an update next week covering the points from Friday. There will be pictures.

    My access to the internet has been a bit patchy (I've been staying on a boat!) but I will get those final rewards that I owe out this week, and will touch base with Mike on the drawings when I get home tomorrow.

    Thank you thank you thank you everyone for getting me over here. I can't thank you enough for being a part of blowing this ladies mind.

    x

    A

    ps. here's a photo of me and some of my new "sisters"

    Operation Honolulu UNDERWAY

    13/07/2014 at 11:33 AM

    It's crazy how quick this has come, but I'm officially on my way to Honolulu! And, while work wise the timing isn't great, life wise - I'm totally ready for the chance to talk about women in business. 

    In the past week the role of gender in business (and life in general) has been coming up a lot in New Zealand (from David Cunliffe's apology to some tense discussions at Nethui). The myriad of issues and causes make it such a complex beast. I'm excited to have two weeks to think, learn, and work out an action plan to try and address some of the issues that women face here in New Zealand.

    So, prepare your inboxes / twitter feeds for Honolulu Haiku overload as well as general updates.

    You lovely humans who pledged to come to my homecoming report, the date (and boardroom) has been locked for 1 August - I'll send you an official invite this week. Feel free to bring friends (and wine), I know I'll have lots of learnings to share and would love to have a discussion with you all.

    And, my amazing man Mike has been drawing up a storm - the $100 reward and Pandacorn Calendars will be winging their way to you September / October (maybe sooner). Since we overfunded, there's talk of good stock :)

    x

    A

    You guys!

    28/05/2014 at 6:32 PM

    Wow. Just wow. I have an awesome crowd alright - thank you so much for giving me the financial boost I needed to get over to Hawaii for the Changing Faces conference.

    For those of you that know me on Facebook, you'll have seen my overly excited animal meme sharing over the weekend - including how I felt after the first day:

    When I hit the 99% funded mark:

    And, my happy dance inspiration once we got over the line (less than 27 hours from starting):

    Now, I've overfunded, which is hugely appreciated. All the extra money raised will be used towards the flights. They actually will cost around $1,500, so all the extra help is totally welcomed and extremely useful to this start up entrepreneur.

    Thank you again, friends, you all rock!

    Anna

      Anna Guenther
      22/07/2014 at 2:59pm
      Anonymous pledger
      01/06/2014 at 12:29pm
      Kaila Colbin
      30/05/2014 at 1:45am
      Tania Strauss
      29/05/2014 at 10:48pm
      Simon Travaglia
      28/05/2014 at 4:49pm
      Mohawk Media
      28/05/2014 at 12:04pm
      Mary Rinaldi
      27/05/2014 at 7:10pm
      Jadin Leslie
      26/05/2014 at 10:38pm
      Katherine Field
      26/05/2014 at 9:00am
      Sam
      25/05/2014 at 10:46pm
      Catherine Stewart
      25/05/2014 at 10:21pm
      Joe Butler
      25/05/2014 at 10:19pm
      Bee Gee
      25/05/2014 at 10:01pm
      Herman Visagie
      25/05/2014 at 9:57pm
      Honey Carmody
      25/05/2014 at 9:57pm
      Emanuel Rabina
      25/05/2014 at 5:15pm
      Anonymous pledger
      25/05/2014 at 4:23pm
      Jess Guenther-Leslie
      25/05/2014 at 2:07pm
      Rebecca Gray
      25/05/2014 at 2:06pm
      Marian
      25/05/2014 at 1:05pm
      Jennifer O'Sullivan
      25/05/2014 at 11:37am
      Nancy Linton
      25/05/2014 at 10:30am
      Thomas Mitchell
      25/05/2014 at 9:37am
      Anonymous pledger
      25/05/2014 at 9:15am
      Alannah Compton
      25/05/2014 at 8:41am
      Anna Sliber
      25/05/2014 at 5:16am
      Ashleigh Barrett-Young
      25/05/2014 at 3:48am
      Megan Bowra-Dean
      25/05/2014 at 12:43am
      Stephanie
      25/05/2014 at 12:09am
      Emma Van Hellemond
      24/05/2014 at 9:55pm

      Followers of Get Anna to Hawaii (it's not a holiday, swear)

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 22/07/2014 at 2:59 PM.