An Award for Women’s Economic Empowerment

It was during the pandemic—when women were forced to leave the workforce in historic numbers—that philanthropist and cofounder of the Hostetler/Wrigley Foundation Sue Hostetler Wrigley and president of the nonprofit Visionary Women Angella Nazarian had the idea to create The Visionary Prize for Women’s Economic Empowerment. Their goal was to shed light on a visionary female nonprofit leader helping to advance women’s economic empowerment in the U.S.

“Sue and I shared a mutual concern over the adverse effects of the pandemic on female business owners and found that our vision and values were aligned,” says Nazarian of why they wanted to create the award, now in its second year. “Visionary Women and the Hostetler/Wrigley Foundation are both interested in finding solutions and creating pathways for female empowerment. Through this collaboration our impact is exponentially amplified.”

This past February—International Women’s Month—the winners of the second annual Visionary Prize were announced. “We received more than 100 applications from truly inspiring women leading a broad range of programs addressing inequities in access and other barriers to women’s economic success,” says Wrigley. “Our three winners this year were all visionary and innovative founders. Omi Bell, Rev. Michelle Anne Simmons and Briana Franklin have all created programs with proven impact in advancing women’s economic empowerment in the U.S., and we are honored to support their work.”

Franklin is the founder of Prosp(a)rity Project, a program dedicated to improving the financial and economic mobility of Black women through financial literacy, career coaching and retroactive scholarships. She was given $15,000 and the Rising Visionary Award, presented to a leader of an organization operating less than four years that is advancing women’s economic empowerment.

Rev. Simmons, the founder of Why Not Prosper—an organization providing support and resources to enable formerly incarcerated women to create and run their own businesses or find employment— was the Runner Up for the Visionary Award and received $25,000 to support her work. The top prize went to Bell, founder and CEO of Black Girl Ventures, which provides Black and Brown women with access to community, capital, and capacity building to help with economic advancement through entrepreneurship.

For Bell, the award allows her to continue to grow and evolve her incredibly important work.

“Winning this year’s Visionary Prize means that the effort and vision I put behind Black Girl Ventures is being seen,” says Bell. “To win an award for what we as a team are passionate about is validating to our mission—not just to us, but to those we are fighting for and to those who will encounter us in the future. This prize will help with our continued mission to serve 100,000 women by 2030. For us, to serve our community means to create paths towards economic advancement for Black and Brown women.”

“Omi applied last year and was actually the runner-up,” says Wrigley. “Her application was even more outstanding this year. Not only did her reapplying show perseverance, but the jury was unanimous that she excelled in every silo of our criteria—Black Girl Ventures’ primary purpose directly advances the economic empowerment of women; she has proven year-over-year growth and success; her leadership has been incredibly impressive; she has overcome barriers herself to help other women in her community; and—most importantly to the Hostetler/Wrigley Foundation—she continues to expand the program in ways that should lead to eventual self-sustainability for the organization.”

For Bell, the award allows her to continue to grow and evolve her incredibly important work. “Winning this year’s Visionary Prize means that the effort and vision I put behind Black Girl Ventures is being seen,” says Bell. “To win an award for what we as a team are passionate about is validating to our mission—not just to us, but to those we are fighting for and to those who will encounter us in the future. This prize will help with our continued mission to serve 100,000 women by 2030. For us, to serve our community means to create paths towards economic advancement for Black and Brown women.”