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Stella Labs Makes Three Appointments To Executive Team

Stella Labs, a local women-led accelerator, announced the addition of three businesswomen onto its executive leadership team to serve female entrepreneurs across San Diego County.

Founded in 2009, the San Diego-based accelerator is one of most prominent women business programs in California. Its mission is to “inspire, equip, and propel female founders.”

Stella Labs — formerly called Hera Labs — made three appointments to its executive leadership team, with new Executive Director Raven O’Neal, Program Manager Shan Cureton, and Event Planner Christine Lustig.

“The biggest change in our leadership is diversity, plain and simple. We wanted to ensure that every voice has a seat at the table.” said Silvia Mah, co-founder and CEO of Stella Labs.

Mah who previously served as the president of Connect with the San Diego Venture Group (SDVG) will continue to head the organization moving forward.

$150,000 in Awards From SBA

The not-for-profit has received a total of $150,000 in awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration in the past three years. The funding has allowed programs to continue operations in both Solana Beach and Chula Vista.

Stella Labs is best known for hosting the Fast Pitch and Venture Summit events, which provide women-owned businesses a platform to pitch to investors and win up to $30,000 in-kind services and cash prizes. To date, the summit has helped women raise $4 million in seed capital.

Diverse Leadership

Prior to stepping up to the new executive director role, female entrepreneur O’Neal founded Savvy Girl, a small marketing agency and has spent the last eight years serving as Stella Labs’ director of marketing.

“She was the force behind everything,” Mah said. “She empowers female entrepreneurs in her way. When my partners Alision (Pettine) and Vidya (Dinamani) began to look at our leadership — we knew she’d be the perfect fit.”

Cureton, who identifies as an African-American, and Lustig, an Asian-American, joined the group shortly after conversations with Mah about ways to concretely give back.

Program Manager Cureton is a mother and entrepreneur who founded Kiddie Commute, a San Diego-based transportation company that assists busy parents. Event planner Lustig previously worked as the event manager for the Switchfoot BRO-AM Foundation helping coordinate some of the largest nonprofit galas in the region.

“They’re three stellar women who have all served as female entrepreneurs working in the grassroots. We are really excited to have them on board,” said Mah.

Little Access to Capital

One of the biggest obstacles and barriers faced by women founders today is access to capital. According to the Harvard Business Review, in 2017 female entrepreneurs received only 2% of all venture funding, despite owning 38% of the businesses in the country.

“Women are asked more prevention-oriented questions from both investors and colleagues than men. We teach our entrepreneurs how to neutralize that unconscious bias and empower them with business acumen, financials, confidence, you name it,” Mah said.

For the past two graduating cohorts, Stella Labs has collaborated with Sony hosting an annual Demo Day at its San Diego headquarters.

“Sony will continue to be our partner, hey are very excited to support diverse female founders. Cheryl Goodman has been a big champion for us, as well as JPMorgan,” said Mah.

Fee-for-Service Model

Unlike traditional accelerator business models, which typically require a 1% to 5% stake from portfolio companies. Stella Labs offers a fee-for-service model, with 80 percent of participants receiving a scholarship grant sponsored through various community members.

“I want all of us to get to even, but in order to do that, we have to share the load and bring each other up.” said Mah.

Looking ahead, Stella Labs plans to expand its efforts to promote gender parity through greater collaboration with neighboring organizations including, San Diego Startup Week, Connect with SDVG, We tha Plug, Rosie Network, and others.

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