PLANO, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stacy's Pita
Chips is continuing its commitment to helping female founders be
found by partnering with Oscar winning actress and producer
Reese Witherspoon and the media
company she founded, Hello Sunshine, to spotlight the 10 inspiring
winners of the 2021 Stacy's Rise Project. New this year, Stacy's is
also amplifying founders by launching FoundedByHer.org, an online
business directory featuring female founders from across
the United States.
As a female-founded brand that grew from a sandwich cart to
nationwide distribution, Stacy's is building upon its legacy of
helping women rise through the Stacy's Rise Project, a grant and
mentorship program dedicated to helping women grow their
businesses. Earlier this year, Stacy's, with longtime partner Hello
Alice, received an overwhelming amount of interest in the Rise
Project from founders across the nation with an almost 300 percent
increase in applications from years prior. The 10 winners will each
receive a $10,000 grant, mentoring
from Frito-Lay and PepsiCo leadership, and the opportunity to
participate in a speaker series featuring Frito-Lay leadership and
notable founders. Perhaps most importantly, they are also
welcomed into a built-in community to experience the power of women
coming together to lift each other up, celebrate each other's
successes, and achieve their dreams. To welcome and amplify the
2021 finalists as well as extend visibility to founders in 2022,
the brand is kicking off a partnership with actress and
producer Reese Witherspoon and the
media company she founded, Hello Sunshine.
"I truly believe that when one woman rises, we all rise, and
that is why my team at Hello Sunshine and I partnered with Stacy's,
beginning with the 2021 Stacy's Rise Project®," said Reese Witherspoon, Oscar winning actress,
producer and founder for Hello Sunshine. "This partnership and
project are so important because it not only provides essential
funding, but also provides unmatched support through mentorship and
connections to help female founders take their business to the next
level."
Helping Founders Overcome Unique Challenges
To better
understand the unique challenges and opportunities female founders
face, Stacy's commissioned a survey among 500 U.S. female
entrepreneurs, defined as those who are currently or plan to own a
business with the intent of making a profit. One of the key
findings was that unconscious bias, defined as "prejudice" or
"social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals
form outside their own conscious awareness," proves a hurdle in
female entrepreneur's business journeys. Notably, of the 500
respondents, more than one third (34 percent) believe they
frequently experience unconscious bias from other people, and 76
percent believe they have encountered challenges their male
counterparts have not. When it comes to having a support system,
the survey reinforced the importance of having female leaders and
mentors, with more than 45 percent of respondents saying it was
very important.
"As we continue to champion the Stacy's Rise Project and
founders across the U.S., we're overjoyed to partner with Hello
Sunshine and Reese Witherspoon,
whose dedication to empowering female entrepreneurs is
inspirational and perfectly aligned with Stacy's legacy of
supporting these women," said Ciara
Dilley, Frito-Lay vice president of marketing. "This is just
the beginning of Stacy's work with Hello Sunshine and Reese to
spotlight remarkable founders and continue to build up a community
of empowered and supported women."
This year, Stacy's will make it easier than ever to discover
female-founded businesses nationwide with the FoundedByHer business
directory, now available at FoundedByHer.org. This directory
provides consumers with the ability to search for founders by
zip code or category. It also allows founders to register their
business to be featured in the directory for an opportunity to be
found.
The support doesn't stop there. In celebration of Women's
Entrepreneurship Day on November
19th, you can support founders through the FoundedByHer
curated gift boxes that represent a variety of founders
featured in the FoundedByHer.org directory.
Aspiring entrepreneurs and fans can follow along the journey of
the Stacy's Rise Project class of 2021 by following
#StacysRiseProject across social media channels.
Introducing the Stacy's Rise Project® Class of 2021
- Sara Fludd, St. Petersburg, Fla., who founded Pop Goes the
Waffle, an innovative waffle company dedicated to authentic liege
waffle via retail, wholesale and eCommerce.
- Samotria Holmes, Simpsonville,
S.C., who founded Holmes Sweet
Home, a specialty food producer that is hyper focused on
ingredient quality and supporting our local economy.
- Marsha Stephanson,
Pflugerville, Texas, who founded
Cater to Mom, a monthly postpartum self-care subscription for new
and seasoned moms.
- Sue Kakuk, Minneapolis, Minn., who founded Kakookies,
delicious grab-n-go cookies made with real food ingredients and
plant-based protein providing the nutrition of energy bar with the
deliciousness and comfort of a cookie making them an ideal snack
for travelers, outdoor enthusiasts, and busy families.
- Jocelyn Ramirez,
Los Angeles, Calif., who founded
Todo Verde, a plant-based Mexican
food business based out of East Los
Angeles that is creating culturally relevant dishes.
- Adrienne Walker,
Capitol Heights, Md., who founded
BlueHenry LLC, a manufacturer of quality all-natural beverage
garnishes. They produce dehydrated fruit, simple syrups and rimming
salts and sugars that are predominantly used to amplify craft
cocktails.
- Amber Balakian,
Reedley, Calif., who founded
Balakian Farms, a manufacturer of fruit and vegetable CPG products.
They currently produce Organic Blended Heirloom Tomatoes.
- Alberta Liao,
Millbrae, Calif., who founded
Jinka, the first vegan tuna spread product in the refrigerated
section with a goal to provide a clean, healthy, sustainable, and
delicious tuna alternative to people who are looking to incorporate
more plant-based foods in their life.
- Julie Butcher,
Estero, Fla., who founded The
Vegan Knife, a company that offers a line of allergy friendly and
vegan cupcake/cakes and donut mixes. Specifically, all of their
baking mixes are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, egg free, soy
free, nut free, and vegan.
- Sajani Amarasiri,
San Francisco, Calif., who founded
Kola Goodies Inc., which makes botanical-rich, yummy, easy,
superfood latte blends to boost your energy, mood, immunity, and
well-being. Made with ingredients sourced directly from South Asian
farmer collectives.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online in
August 2021, among a sample of 500
U.S. female entrepreneurs, defined as those who are currently or
plan to own a business with the intent of making a
profit. This online survey was commissioned by Stacy's
Pita Chips and conducted by market research
company OnePoll, in accordance with the Market Research
Society's code of conduct. All participants are paid an amount
depending on the length and complexity of the survey. This survey
was overseen and edited by the OnePoll research team, who
are members of the MRS and have corporate membership
to ESOMAR and AAPOR.
About Stacy's® Snacks
Stacy's Snacks is one of the
many brands that make up Frito-Lay North
America, the $17 billion
convenient foods division of PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), which is
headquartered in Purchase, NY.
Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website,
http://www.fritolay.com/ and on Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/fritolay.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion
times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the
world. PepsiCo generated more than $70
billion in net revenue in 2020, driven by a complementary
food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade,
Pepsi-Cola, Quaker, Tropicana and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product
portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages,
including 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail
sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in
Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose. "Winning
with Purpose" reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the
marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of our business
strategy and brands. For more information, visit
www.pepsico.com.
About Hello Alice
Hello Alice is a free,
multichannel platform that helps businesses launch and grow. With a
community of nearly 500,000 business owners in all 50 states and
across the globe, Hello Alice is building the largest network of
owners in the country while tracking data and trends to increase
the success rate for entrepreneurs. Our partners include enterprise
business services, government agencies, and institutions looking to
serve small- and medium-business owners to ensure increased
revenues and promote scale. A Latina owned company, founded by
Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore, we believe in business for all
by providing access to all owners including women, people of color,
veterans, and everyone with an entrepreneurial spirit. To learn
more, visit www.helloalice.com, as well
as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram,
and Facebook.
About Hello Sunshine
Founded by Reese Witherspoon, Hello Sunshine is a media
company that puts women at the center of every story it creates,
celebrates and discovers. Hello Sunshine tells stories across all
platforms - from scripted and unscripted television, feature films,
animated series, podcasts, audio storytelling, and digital series -
all shining a light on where women are now and helping them chart a
new path forward. Hello Sunshine is also home to Reese's Book Club
and the newly launched RBC App. Fast growing in reach and
influence, this community is propelled by meaningful connections
with stories, authors and fellow members. Recently Hello Sunshine
acquired Sara Rea's SKR Production
to expand its unscripted content and also announced the launch of
their Kids & Animation Division to create content that
celebrates a younger audience. Hello Sunshine was named the #2 Most
Innovative Company in Media for 2020 by Fast Company Magazine and
one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential Companies of 2021.
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SOURCE Frito-Lay North
America