“Truly inspiring”: In Colorado, women are finding success starting businesses, leading workers

Zin Zin Htun has overcome more trials and tribulations than most to open her business, Zin Zin’s Burmese Cuisine.

After fleeing her home country of Myanmar — what Burma has been called since 1989 — the 37-year-old Aurora resident eventually arrived in Colorado as a refugee in 2015. When that homesick feeling hit, she would cook. “Mostly, I cooked when I missed my country or my family,” Htun said.

In following tradition, her parents would have chosen her career, but once in the U.S., Htun dreamed of opening her own Burmese restaurant in Colorado. Pursuing her first business venture, she initially launched a catering company.

Htun described starting out as “really tough.” She faced a language barrier and struggled to understand the U.S. process of opening a business. “In Asia, if you are a good cook, you can just open a restaurant. But, in America, it’s totally different.”

Last year, she opened her restaurant at 14200 E. Alameda Ave. in Unit 1039B in Aurora, which features family recipes – and she’s received a lot of love from the community so far.

She urges other female entrepreneurs to “never give up.”

In Colorado, it looks like they’re not. The state has seen positive growth in the number of female-led businesses starting, and venture capital money has provided a foundation for those enterprises to break through the so-called “glass ceiling.” Many of the state’s largest organizations representing workers are also led by women.

The data paints a positive picture for female entrepreneurs in the state, with the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area ranked as the No. 2 major U.S. metro area with the most female business owners, backgroundcheck.org reports.

Almost 45% of Colorado’s small businesses are owned by women, accounting for more than 244,000 throughout the state, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2021 profile.

When it comes to young companies, the future is especially bright. For three years, Colorado has held the No. 1 spot for women-led startups, with Boulder and Denver serving as strong hubs, according to a report by Merchant Maverick, a company that reviews small-business software and services.

Around $3.3 billion has been allotted to Colorado’s women-led startups over the last five years, Merchant Maverick reported. In total for 2021 and 2022, U.S. companies founded or co-founded by women attracted more than $78.9 billion in venture capital funding.

Lindsey Galloway, a 38-year-old Superior resident, considers the Colorado statistics about startups to be good news. An investor herself, she’s “looking to only put money if there’s at least one woman on the exec team.”

“I can inspire”

At a quarterly meeting in Boulder, startup founders from around the country pitched their companies for funding consideration to She’s Independent, a Colorado-based organization providing women with information and advice on angel investing. It resulted in She’s Independent Investments in January 2022, a self-described “women-first angel investment group.”

Founded by tech executive and investor Natalie Levy, the She’s Independent community has put more than $550,000 into around 10 early-stage startups, as of Jan. 26. In 2023, plans could include investing several million.

Earlier in her career, Levy worked in finance “when it was rooms of men and when it was just about making money.” When she returned to investing, she did it with the thought of, “Wait, I can work with and support other women. I can inspire.”

That professional mission strikes a personal chord within Levy. Her family has suffered loss by suicide. “My mom, as an example of this, was a woman that didn’t feel like she understood what to do with or how to exercise the financials.”

When 38-year-old Levy does her work now, “I just feel like my mom’s right here.”

Ultimately, for her, it comes down to impact. “Nothing’s going to change if we’re not having the conversations, if we’re not stepping into money.”

Four startup founders talked to potential investors at the She’s Independent meeting on Jan. 26, pitching ideas to address the global shortage of mental health providers, update windows in American homes and more.

At 36, Arieann DeFazio, chief operating officer at She’s Independent, said she’s still learning how to become an angel investor herself. “I’m finally at a point in my life where I do have some disposable income to do that.”

When DeFazio first tried her hand at investing as a young woman, she learned the bubble of private equity is not only exclusive, but also “very unfriendly” – “and I think that’s almost architected on purpose.”

She’s also been forced to reckon with “realities” of the business world that come with being a female founder or CEO.

“Something we’re trying to build here at She’s Independent is like, ‘Come one, come all,’ ” DeFazio said. “I don’t care if you’ve been investing for 30 years or if you’re a high school student, and you’re like, ‘What the hell is private equity?’”

Zehra Cheatham, 25, just signed an offer to work at a new company that’s women-owned and led. “Women are finally getting more seats at the table, and it’s truly inspiring.”

The Denverite describes herself as “always thinking about business and finance,” following trends in her industry and the global economy.

“I’m always seeking smart investments and ways to make my dollar go further,” she said.

Cheatham attributes her mindset to her access and privilege in receiving higher education, and she understands that isn’t the case for everyone. “Financial literacy is not accessible to all women,” particularly young ones, she added.

“Women my age need to be empowered to break gender barriers in the business world,” Cheatham said. “Most women don’t even negotiate their salaries because they are content with the offer. Ask for the raise.”

“A man would, right?”

The new face of labor

But women aren’t just writing checks to support the business ideas of other female entrepreneurs. In Colorado, they’re also the new face of the labor movement.

While organized labor leadership in the U.S. has traditionally identified as male and white, Colorado’s leaders are “increasingly female and diverse,” said Marcela Salazar, spokesperson for United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7, the state’s largest private sector union. Her union elected Kim Cordova as the first woman of color to be president in 2009, and she still fills that position today.

“Unlike the corporate leadership structure, labor is unique because presidents must be elected by their membership, which can represent tens of thousands of people,” Cordova said. “More women labor presidents means that our members increasingly see that strong women get things done.”

Stephanie Felix-Sowy serves as the first woman of color president for the Service Employees International Union Local 105. Amie Baca-Oehlert is president of the state’s largest union of educators, the Colorado Education Association.

Josette Jaramillo is the first woman of color and LGBTQ+ person at the helm of the Colorado AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Colorado Workers for Innovative and New Solutions, which represents state employees, is led by Hilary Glasgow.