December 2021
Features
The Voyager 5
Girls Who Start returns with renewed vigor By CASSIDY GOLIN ‘24 Features Editor
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he business world was run by men. In fact, the first female entrepreneur wasn’t introduced until the 1900s. Madame C.J. Walker was the daughter of slaves who built her hair care empire from nothing. She was the frontier for women-owned businesses. Today, more than 11 million firms are run by women, but women only make up about 19% of business owners. This isn’t enough. “In our world, we are used to seeing men as entrepreneurs,” said Eastern Girls Who Start co-president Abigail Serata, “it’s essential for females to know that there are people like them in these positions and hopefully it can inspire them to follow in the same path.” What is an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is someone who starts and runs their own business. There is no age, gender, race, or education requirement to being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship teaches work ethic and problemsolving skills, “good work ethic helps solve problems—not just in business, but in life,” said club advisor Alec Sherman. Business skills are crucial to have, no matter what career you pursue. What is Girls Who Start? Girls Who Start was founded in 2016 by Ariel Beck. The organization is geared towards girls that seek a future in business and entrepreneurship. By learning from
other women’s experiences, students can receive the tools they need to run a successful business, “Girls Who Start exposes students to business professionals by getting to hear their stories and give advice from their experiences,” said Sherman. From Hint Water to Dormify, the wide variety of guest speakers knows no limit. Abby Serata and Eastern graduate Lily Coyne started a chapter of Girls Who Start at Eastern in 2020. “Before it became an official club at Eastern, I participated in large Zoom meetings of Girls Who Start presidents from all different schools in the country,”said Serata. “Besides DECA, which you can only participate in if you are in a business course, there are not many clubs that are like Girls Who Start. I became really interested in what I was learning in workshops and from guest speakers and wanted to share it with my friends, so I reached out to Mr. Sherman and we got the club approved.” Eastern’s chapter of Girls Who Start has already seen a variety of guest speakers. “Last year, guest speakers were very difficult because many people were struggling with work due to the pandemic and we had to do our meetings online,” said Serata. Despite the pandemic, the club was able to meet with guest speakers via Zoom. “We’ve had many successful women entrepreneurs including an owner of her own dog training business, jewelry business owner, and a midwife with a birth
Girls Who Start officers; from left: Dawn Betner, Kejal Shah, Elyse Kratchman, Abby Serata, Carly Schulman, and Nadine Litvak. education business.” There are many guest speakers to look forward to, including Benita Cooper, an architect from Haddonfield. The main goal for Girls Who Start at Eastern is exposure which will help make Girls who start a stable club at eastern. Abby admitted, “When we started, the club was all virtual and it was very hard to get the word across. This year, my hope is to have frequent meetings, increasing interest, and building up our members so that the club can continue long after I leave.”
Photo supplied by Abby Serata ‘22
It is just as crucial to have women’s representation in the workforce as anywhere. Women still make 80% of their male counterparts. It’s time to dissipate the gender gap. It’s time for women to run the business world. “If you are a business-minded individual that hopes to start your own business one day, and would like to know the resources available to you, this club is for you,” said Club Advisor Alec Sherman. If you are interested in learning more about Girls Who Start, contact Abby Serata at abbyserata2022@eccrsd.us.
Investments for Dummies: Tips from an Eastern expert has been highly volatile due to issues inery. Given the largely inflated nature of dependent of the company (COVID and the public markets, finding the entry point the Omicron variant. into this ETF is key. It is suggested that The downward trajectory of the SMA the recent and ensuing dips be viewed as or new investors, the stock marand the recent strength of earnings prespurchasing opportunities.” ket can be scary. It can be chalents a unique entry point to buy into the Moving into a different area, Deere Co. lenging to know which stocks stock.” This is a multito invest in, which to drop, and is a slowfaceted when to do all of it. In the last issue, Mr. “The activity of this stock is most c o m p a n y m o v i n g Sherman, the Investments teacher, recomstock, but mended five of the best stocks to invest closely tied to the infrastructure with focusBrzozowski in. In this issue, we consulted Max Brzopackages that are being pushed by es in agrirecommends culture and zowski, Eastern senior and president of the Biden Administration. In the turf, conreaders take the Investments team. advantage of Max has well-researched opinions, but event of positive news about the s t r u c t i o n the opportu- passing of physical infrastructure, and forthese stock suggestions are for infornity to buy estry, and mational purposes only. Each investor this stock will experience in. financial should always do his or her own research positive price changes.” For new services. and analysis before making any decisions. readers, an They operThat being said, here is Brzozowski’s ETF, or “Exchange Trade Fund, is a comate in the manufacturing, sale, lease, and list of five recommended stocks. bination of stocks, securities, bonds, etc., distribution of agricultural and turf equipFirst up is AT&T, a global provider of and is traded as a whole. ment and related service parts. telecommunications, media, and techThe SPDR Dow Jones Index ETF is The company has moderate growth nology services. Along with names like a diverse grouping of stocks including and could be held onto for either shortVerizon and Sprint, AT&T is one of the UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Goldman term trading or long-term returns. “The largest providers for wireless and wireline Sachs (GS), Home Depot (HD), Microactivity of this stock is most closely tied telecom, video services, and other broadsoft (MSFT), Salesforce (CRM), Macto the infrastructure packages that are casting capabilities. Donald’s (MCD), Honeywell Internationbeing pushed by the Biden Administra“Over the past three months,” Max exal (HON), VISA (V), Boeing (BA), and tion. In these packages are two types of plains, “it has experienced a gradual deAmgen (AMGN). infrastructure: physical and social. In the cline in its Small Moving Average with a While Max predicts extremely slow event of positive news about the passing -$1.50 ~5%. In the last few days, the stock growth, he of physical infrastructure, this stock will still recomexperience positive price changes. This mends an prediction can be made from its vital role investment. in the construction projects that will re“This fund quire its equipment and services.” has followed Moving into the realm of cryptocurrenthe Dow cy, Proshares Bitcoin ETF is a fund seekJones Indusing to find “capital appreciation primarily trial Average through managed exposure to bitcoin fuin its recent tures contracts.” activity inIn other words, this fund does not invest cluding the directly in Bitcoin but instead in assets panicked that have corresponding value to Bitcoin sell-off due and similar cryptocurrencies. “Recently, to the Omithis fund has experienced choppy water cron variwith COVID scares,” Brzozowski warns. ant of CO“However, this fund-and cryptocurVID-19 and rency, in general, is a good hedge play to The second edition of Investments for Dummies the subsethe macro-market because of the negafeatures senior Max Brzozowski and his list of recommended quent recovtive shift in demand for the US Dollar,” stocks. Photo by Tiana Cyrelson ‘22/Canva By TIANA CYRELSON ‘22 Media Editor
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he said. It is recommended that this fund be purchased in the short term and reactively to positive news about Bitcoin itself or in response to negative news about the US Dollar and major indexes.” Of all of his suggestions, Brzozowski describes this to be the most high-risk investment, but it offers the potential of a high reward as a short-term hold. The final investment on his list is Buckle Inc., a retailer of casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for young men and women. They operate in 42 states throughout the US and have over four hundred forty brick and mortar locations. “The principal draw to this asset is its rising dividend yield. All well-balanced portfolios have some equity in the dividend sector. However, it is advisable to place personal equity into this company because of the special dividend ordered by the board of directors to be paid out December 29 to shareholders of December 20 or earlier. In addition to providing a 6% increase in dividend yield, changes to the yield such as this one will create demand and volatility in price that can provide short term profit as well.” The low-risk investment is promising for a long-term reward. With each of these suggestions is a recommendation towards personal research, as no investment should be made without consideration to one’s own personal profile. Smart investing can be a helpful secondary source of income, but each investment should be carefully evaluated.
Featured Stocks 1. AT&T (T) 2. SPDR Dow Jones Index ETF (DIA) 3. Deere Co. (DE) 4. Proshares Bitcoin ETF (BITO) 5. Buckle Inc. (BKE)
