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Rewatching 'That’s So Raven' made me realize its true message

Raven-Symoné in That's So Raven (2003)

Photo credit: IMDb

As of late, I've been in a nostalgic mood, eager to watch all the movies and shows from my childhood. I watched episodes of Sister, Sister,Smart Guy, Family Matters, Moesha, the list goes on.

In particular, one show in my catalog of binged series that is deservingly in my top five favorites is Disney Channel's That's So Raven.

Growing up, I would complete my schoolwork, then run over to the TV to watch Raven-Symoné play Raven Baxter, the fashionable and clairvoyant teenager gracing my screen with a tremendous presence.

I was completely mesmerized by the humanity she was granted in the series. There weren't any ridiculously dramatic storylines or elements of trauma just for ratings. Raven was a girl in high school who had an amazing family, two great friends, Chelsea and Eddie (played Anneliese van der Pol and Orlando Brown respectively), and many gifts spiritually and creatively.

Although important topics like racism, fashion, and body image were discussed, I never once felt the vibe that there were exploitive elements of Black girlhood. Honestly speaking, Raven Baxter could have been one of my friends, a spiritual advisor (what do the cards say about my future, sis!?), or even myself.

READ: What it means to be Black in the fashion industry

What it means to be Black in the fashion industryconversations.indy100.com

Being Black is my identity, not a trend.

I had visions of a future in a creative space, and Symoné helped me visualize that potential. That's So Raven was the glimmer of hope I needed, as live-action shows about Black teenaged girls weren't as prevalent in the early-to-mid 2000s. Symoné became a staple for Black girls like myself everywhere.

Symoné also proved many of the limitations that Black actresses faced were slowly diminishing. Black girls wanted to see more shows about other Black girls doing the same things that they do or, better yet, seeing other Black girls doing things out of their wildest dreams.

Even the fact that I used to interview designers for Fashion Week correlated with Raven's on-screen work as a designer.

Having representation across platforms is definitely amazing, even though diversifying a cast on a show can be a marketing tactic feigning allyship.

For That's So Raven's case, she embodied what Black girls everywhere were looking for: someone who looked like them on the big screen. This added a sense of hope that a future of prosperity can be achieved, regardless of what circumstances are thrown your way.

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Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.