The women we support are already building, serving, learning, risking, and carrying the responsibility of their businesses.
SoloprenHER helps close the gap between what they're doing and the resources that have been out of reach.
Women receive a disproportionately smaller share of business funding and often carry additional costs.
Women can enter business spaces and still be sold to, underestimated, interrupted, or treated as less serious.
Women can be in the room yet still have their expertise overlooked, questioned, or minimized.
Before founding SoloprenHER, Dr. Melanie Obitz spent her career in education as a teacher, literacy coach, district curriculum leader, college professor, and EdTech founder.
When she stepped fully into solopreneurship, she saw how difficult it can be to build something meaningful without capital, trusted support, or people who understand the vision before it's fully visible.
SoloprenHER grew from that realization.
Melanie created this nonprofit to move resources closer to women building businesses on their own, especially women building service-centered businesses.
At its heart, SoloprenHER is rooted in integrity, service, and compassion. It is being built to serve women beyond any one founder, program, or season, with a clear purpose: direct capital, connection, and opportunity where they have too often been out of reach.
In SoloprenHER’s first year, donor support and member contributions have already helped women access rooms, relationships, and resources that changed what became possible. Here are a few early examples.
Several women have used scholarship support to attend a SoloprenHER gathering and left with strong bonds, meaningful connections, and a community of women.
One person, who already runs a therapy business, brought a vision for a second venture to SoloprenHER. She was supported all the way to turning it into a nonprofit.
Another woman was able to practice leading a book club and practice circles, with access to a high-trust Slack community that helped expand her work.
One woman was able to share and sell her book through the relationships and visibility created inside the community, along with a micro-grant.
Through SoloprenHER's network, one solopreneur gained paid client work. Another received high-quality creative support that helped bring her vision into clearer public form.
SoloprenHER micro-grants have helped clients access services that would otherwise be out of reach, without asking the woman business owner to lower her prices or absorb the cost herself.
SoloprenHER turns donor support into direct access for women building businesses on their own
In SoloprenHER’s second year, we are working to expand our in-person programming and serve at least 100 women.
We are building toward a larger grant and scholarship system that can respond to the costs women carry when they build businesses on their own.
Support for the tools, subscriptions, and systems that keep a business visible and running.
Funding for travel, safe accomodations, childcare, and other access costs that make it possible to show up fully.
Grants that make services more accessible to clients without asking the business owner to discount her labor or sacrifice her livelihood.
Longer-term exploration of shared resources, including benefits and insurance options that could make solopreneurship more sustainable.
Help move resources closer to women building businesses on their own.
We welcome donors, sponsors, and strategic allies who want to expand access.
