STORIES THAT
BY LAUREN JONES PHOTO BY JARRAH BOREMAN
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FORMER AUSTIN WOMAN COVER WOMEN SHARE THEIR VISION FOR AUSTIN’S FUTURE.
Austin is the city for the serial entrepreneur, the creative, the trendsetter and the digital influencer. It’s a city pulsing with an undeniable energy, a city with open-minded people seeking genuine connection and opportunities to collaborate. As the only women-centric publication in Austin, Austin Woman has cultivated a unique tribe of powerful and impactful leaders who have left a mark on every aspect of Central Texas’ growth, culture and business development. In Austin Woman’s nearly 16-year run, the magazine has told the stories of nearly 200 cover women and thousands of other women throughout its pages, continuing to spread a message of hope, empowerment and strength to its readers, all while normalizing the amazing things women are capable of accomplishing. With the magazine’s sweet 16 birthday right around the corner, AW caught up with a cadre of former cover women. Here, they share their unique paths to success and what they imagine lies ahead.
92 | AUSTIN WOMAN | MAY 2018
“THERE IS A DISTINCT HISTORY IN TEXAS OF BADASS TEXAS WOMEN. THEY ARE POLITE, WELL-DRESSED AND POWERFUL.” —KERRY RUPP STRONG WOMEN WELCOME December 2017 cover woman Darbie Angell believes there is no place like Austin. Angell is the founder of Cru Dinnerware, a company she built while on bed rest with her first child. For Angell, being on the cover opened her up to a whole new network of entrepreneurial women. Already a well-known voice in the industry, she found doors that had previously been closed to her opened up. She has received national media attention and plans to expand her fine-china business beyond the U.S. market. AN EMPOWERED FUTURE Texas is ranked as the No. 2 state in the U.S. for the fastest growth in the number of women-owned businesses, and Austin has quickly become the best place to start a company as a woman. Women are no longer waiting for a seat the table; they are making their own. Sara Brand and Kerry Rupp, co-founders of True Wealth Ventures and May 2017 cover women, are rebranding the traditionally maledominated venture-capital industry. In January, less than a year after their feature in AW, Rupp and Brand closed on a $19.1 million fund to invest in women-led startups. This opens an incredible growth opportunity for all female entrepreneurs and founders, especially considering that in 2017, women-led companies received just 2.2 percent of all venture-capital funding. “There is a distinct history in Texas of badass Texas women. They are polite, well-dressed and powerful,” Rupp says.