WSW Exchange, A Learning Series for Founders
This year ALIST is introducing WSW Exchange. It’s something special we’ve been developing for awhile. Women make up 50.1% of the Oregon residents and 48.5% of all businesses in Oregon are owned by women. Why aren’t there workshops custom designed by us for us, and taught by us that also [you guessed it] pay us?
Founder, Amanda Mailey has facilitated workshops for decades, but group setting learning for ALIST is new. We can’t wait to exchange knowledge to advance each others’s businesses. Have a small business and copying the BIG BRANDS with little success? It’s not you, it may be your approach.
Mission
In 2020, women of color started 70% of all businesses in the U.S. despite receiving less than 1% of VC funding. ALIST started building the WSW or Women Supporting Women ecosystem in October 2020 as a response to the lack of support. Through the help of hundreds of donors and sponsors, ALIST has collected and distributed over 150K throughout the shared economy of 500+ women since 2022.
We’ve gathered, distributed funds, and collaborated together to spotlight and invest in women founder’s ideas. 4 years later, we’re setting up a framework to exchange knowledge to amplify the impact of our ecosystem.
Vision
April 8, 2026 was the launch of the first workshop offered under the WSW Exchange program, a learning series inspired by Amanda Mailey's 10 year entrepreneur journey and the hundreds of small business clients she served and worked with in the PNW. Amanda is also a former senior advertising executive who worked with Nike, Microsoft, Visa, Adobe, and Intel for 15 years before starting her own consultancy. The first few workshops will be available online and in person in 2026. Stay tuned for dates. To start, the talks will feature Amanda only, but later we’ll have invited guest entrepreneurs from her partner network. However, if you want to bring Amanda in to do a similar talk with your small business partners and network she is available.
HIRE AMANDA FOR YOUR NEXT WORKSHOP
What are the components?
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This workshop is a mix of intentional guided networking, a talk by Amanda Mailey, and break out groups. It ends with tangible ideas on how to approach a sales funnel + promotion strategy for your small business marketing.
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This workshop is inspired by Amanda Mailey's 10 year entrepreneur journey and the hundreds of small business clients she served and worked with in the PNW. Amanda is also a former senior advertising executive who worked with Nike, Microsoft, Visa, Adobe, and Intel for 15 years before starting her own consultancy.
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Drinks and appetizers are provided by women owned companies. All attendees will learn about the companies, their owner(s) and encouraged to support them beyond the event. Added bonus if the venue is woman owned too.
First workshop was held on April 8, 2026.
Venue @the_garage_bingen Snacks @sunrisejuice2024 Sips @analemmawines Client @gorgewomeninbusiness Sponsor @midcolumbiaedd
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Capital investment is the #1 reason women founded companies are scaling slower than male owned brands. A portion of the proceeds will go into a raffle for one lucky winner to walk away with a microgrant for their business.