Tory Burch Foundation Selects Jennifer Saxton of Tot Squad for Annual Fellowship Program
and Trip to Tory Burch Headquarters in NYC
-- Fellows to Receive $10,000 Business Education Grant
-- Judging Panel for Pitch Competition to Include Tory Burch and Business Influencers Such As Anne Fulenwider, Kimberly Weisul, and Joanne Wilson.
LOS ANGELES, CA: April 18, 2017 – The Tory Burch Foundation today announced that Jennifer Saxton of Tot Squad is one of the ten Fellows selected to participate in the second annual year-long Fellowship Program for women entreprenuers. The program offers these entrepreneurs access to unique education, mentoring and networking opportunities including a $10,000 business education grant. Selected from an initial pool of 800+ candidates, 30 finalists participated in a public online vote with nearly 50,000 votes cast to help determine the final ten Fellows.
Laurie Fabiano, President of the Tory Burch Foundation said, “We’re delighted to grow our Fellows Program and provide a community of support for these entrepreneurs as they continue to work incredibly hard to build their companies.”
Tot Squad is a mobile baby gear service whose vision is to become the “Geek Squad” of the baby industry. Their mobile fleet provides cleaning, repairs and installation of car seats and strollers at pop-up retail locations. Tot Squad offers convenience and peace of mind to busy parents with their team of car seat safety experts and use of eco-friendly cleaning products from Honest Co. With operations throughout Southern California and New York City, Tot Squad opened its first franchise in Washington DC and has over 200 car seat safety affiliates in 40 states to service B2B partners and customers.
The complete list of 2017 Tory Burch Foundation Fellows includes:
1. Anit Hora, Mullein & Sparrow | Brooklyn, NY
2. Kimberly Jung, Rumi Spice | Chicago, IL
3. Katalina Mayorga, El Camino Travel | Washington D.C.
4. Paris Sabo, Dr. Brite | Irvine, CA
5. Jennifer Saxton, Tot Squad | Los Angeles, CA
6. Allison Schickel, Brobe International | Austin, TX
7. Anita Shepherd, Anita’s Yogurt | Brooklyn, NY
8. Lauren Sweeney, Dotted Line Collaborations | Richmond, VA
9. Eliza Whiteman, Fly Dog Yoga | Charlottesville, VA
10. Janel Young, Nava Pets |Longwood, FL
In addition to the business grant, the Fellows will participate in a three-day workshop at the Tory Burch offices where they will partake in a pitch competition to present their business plans in front of a judging panel of successful entrepreneurs and influencers.
The judges for the pitch competition will include:
· Tory Burch, Founder of the Tory Burch Foundation & CEO & Designer, Tory Burch, LLC
· William Crowder, Managing Partner, 42 Venture Partners
· Anne Fulenwider, Editor-in-Chief, Marie Claire
· Kimberly Weisul, Editor-at-Large, Inc Magazine and Inc.com
· Joanne Wilson, Angel Investor, Blogger and Co-Founder of WE Festival
More information about the ten Fellows can be found at www.toryburchfoundation.org/Fellows.
About the Tory Burch Foundation
The Tory Burch Foundation empowers women entrepreneurs by providing access to capital, education and digital resources: the Fellows Program provides ten Fellows annually with support to grow their businesses; the Tory Burch Capital Program, powered by Bank of America has distributed $25 million dollars in loans to 1,000 women entrepreneurs; more than 140 women have completed an in-depth business education course through the Tory Burch Foundation cohort of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Education Program; and the Foundation’s website, www.ToryBurchFoundation.org, is a go-to destination for women entrepreneurs. The Foundation’s global initiative #EmbraceAmbition launched in March 2017, encouraging women everywhere to own their power, their drive and their dreams.
In the past year, the Foundation provided online tools and digital education to more than 200,000 women entrepreneurs and more than 10,000 women created their business plans on ToryBurchFoundation.org.
Follow the Tory Burch Foundation on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with the hashtag #ToryBurchFellows and #EmbraceAmbition.
About Jennifer Saxton
Born to a family of entrepreneurs, Jennifer Saxton developed the idea for Tot Squad while pursuing her MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. After winning the prestigious Kellogg Cup Business Plan competition, Jennifer was asked the join the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Since its inception, Jennifer has expanded Tot Squad to multiple cities and recently opened franchise sales. A second grand prize winner in the NextGen in Franchising Global Competition, Jennifer has become a voice for modern franchising, writing for the Huffington Post and featured in The New York Times, CNBC, Inc., and Entrepreneur, among other publications.
Jennifer received her B.S. in Mathematics from Duke University and remains a loyal Blue Devils fan. A member of the Junior League, she finds inspiration from volunteerism and working with other women.
Follow Tot Squad on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with the hashtag #TotSquad
Contact:
Jade Dugdale, Digital Marketing Manager, Tot Squad
310.895.9983
