Meet The Winner Of Her Agenda’s Breakthrough Grant: Volume II
Support changes everything for an entrepreneur.
After eighteen years as an entrepreneur, our founder, Rhonesha Byng, decided to bring that support to the Her Agenda audience through the launch of the Breakthrough Grant. The Breakthrough Grant is a $5,000 grant offered by Her Agenda and its community to empower entrepreneurs to keep going.
The inaugural grant, Volume I, launched in 2025 received a little over 200 applications, while Volume II brought in nearly five times the applications signaling the growing need for capital among women-led businesses. More applications means more responsibility, and that’s where we leaned into our community.
Community Is Essential To The Process
For a media brand, taking on an initiative like this requires support. To make this process a success, we integrate community in every part of the process. While amplification and funding are critical to each volume of the grant, there is a powerful responsibility from our judges panel. Many from our inaugural judges panel returned for Volume II, as well as new additions, a few of our judges included:
- Regina Lawless, Founder/CEO, Bossy and Blissful
- Yanely Espinal, Author of Mind Your Money, MissBeHelpful LLC
- Winter Henderson, Founder & MarCom Strategist, AAMI
- Christina Wilds, PR Professional, Self/Freelance
- Grace (Rebecca) Rachmany, Founder/Troublemaker, Sideways
- Camara Helps, CEO/Founder, Camara AUnique Beauty
- Jes Osrow, COO, The Rise Journey
- Chedva Vivi Ludmir, CEO and Founder, Consider Labs
- Clara Ma, CEO & Founder, Ask a Chief of Staff
- Misasha Suzuki Graham, Speaker, Author, Attorney, Advocate, Dear White Women, LLC
- Adrian Granzella Larssen, Founder, Society Content
- Leah Dergachev, Founder, Austley
- Kat Shayne, Founder & CEO, CIRT
- Vau’ve Davis, Aligned and Anchored
- Allison McMillion, Tavlin Consulting
- Ariana Friedlander, Rosabella Consulting
- Kim Surko, Surko Coaching
- Rebecca Deng, Cognitiv
- Dorothy Fulop, Gamewhiz
Announcing The Volume II Winner
We’re excited to announce, Emily Mack of Offline Wine as the recipient of the Volume II Breakthrough grant. Since 2024, the brand described as “sister-founded, non-snob wine brand creating research-driven wines for millennial women by millennial women” has been building community around a product that women actually had a hand in shaping.
“For me, breaking through means walking into a community event and not hearing a single woman apologize for ‘not knowing much about wine.’ It happens all the time, from women who are confident, successful, and accomplished in every other part of their lives. That self-consciousness is exactly what Offline Wine exists to change.”
We’re very proud to see how Emily and Offline Wine breakthrough and continue to build.
What’s Next
Every volume inspires more action for us because impact is the goal. Since there can only be one winner each volume, we’ve explored how we can expand our impact beyond what we’re able deliver on our own. We are currently developing more partnerships that can be a resource to grant applicants. Our first partner in impact is the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL), an organization focused on helping small businesses and entrepreneurs through programming that builds capacity and capital readiness. We will connect all grant applicants to these resources moving forward including their Capital Circles program that bring together investors, champions, ecosystem builders, and advocates who are committed to expanding access to capital and opportunities for more entrepreneurs. To view their resources, please visit: https://www.weareifel.org/business-resources.
As we celebrate another volume closed, we’re honored that we once again have given an entrepreneur the gift of breakthrough. Please consider donating or applying to support The Breakthrough Grant: Volume III, helping us continue this mission of empowering women entrepreneurs.
