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CoOperative will host documentary screening to raise awareness for female entrepreneurship

She Started It
The CoOperative office in Graham will show "She Started It," a documentary about female entrepreneurs, on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Photo courtesy of Chelsea Dickey.

“She Started It,” a documentary on female entrepreneurship, will be shown for free at the CoOperative office in Graham, N.C. on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. It is the second documentary they’ve shown this year as part of an effort to raise awareness of entrepreneurship in the community.

CoOperative is a nonprofit collaborative working space with women holding prominent leadership roles. 

The documentary follows five female entrepreneurs from different parts of the world as they begin their startups, from getting funded, to forming a board, to failing and rebuilding.

“We’ve got women that are pushing forward in their businesses and being innovative in the way they see problems and solutions in the community,” said Chelsea Dickey, CoOperative’s director of community development. “If we can rally around them and provide the necessary partnerships, then hopefully we get to have more voices at the table, and greater collaboration in the community.”

The screening is sponsored by four female-owned businesses in Alamance County. 

“We’ve been partnering with female-owned businesses in the community as well and kind of seeing the difference in how businesses are run and funded and how women need different resources,” said Blaine Williamson, CoOperative’s communications coordinator. “We wanted this to be a night for people to come and hear other women’s stories and get educated on that.”

Amy Nakhle, co-owner of Smitty’s Homemade Ice Cream, feels the film is important because it sets an example for her daughter and nieces. She said that she is aware that young girls growing up in the South need role models.

Graham is a town of about 15,000 people that falls beside I-40. The town is one of the poorest census tracts in Alamance County, Dickey said. She hopes the documentary proves what a little targeted investment in the town can do.

CoOperative hopes to have high school students and women from the community attend the event. Claire Stanovich, a junior at Elon University, is attending because of a personal interest in entrepreneurship.

“I am very interested in the storyline and seeing how they highlight each of the women in relation to the idea of female entrepreneurs taking more of a role in today’s society,” said Stanovich.

arts@dailytarheel.com

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