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How a Filipina CEO in New York survived gender inequality

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Don Tagala | TFC News New York

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_WltC3c-9uY?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>Like many businesses in New York City, the app-based laundry and dry-cleaning service &#x27;Juliette&#x27; suffered a huge loss during the pandemic.Its Fil-Am CEO Rechelle Balanzat said she lost 90% of her business revenue.&quot;It was devastating. But thankfully the government was offering assistance... and I applied for all of it. I applied for all the PPPs. I applied for all the EIDLs. I applied for every grant and everyone said no to me,&quot; Balanzat shared.Balanzat added that even before the pandemic, she encountered a lot of rejections in her journey as a woman CEO. Finding lenders to scale her business was difficult despite the fact that in 2020, venture capitalists invested $156.2 billion into startups. But only 2.3% went to women, with 0.2% going to women of color.&quot;These are the facts and the reality that I deal with as an immigrant, as a woman of color trying to compete in this space... like technology,&quot; Balanzat asserted.Despite rejections, Balanzat said she fought hard to keep her business alive. &quot;When the SB declined me, I called every day. And then I emailed them and then I wrote them letters and then I faxed them the letters. Then I met them, the same letters. I sent in photos of my team and I said, this is my team. Like, we cannot take no for an answer. And then I got all the money.&quot;&quot;There is no magic formula. I couldn&#x27;t say it was x, y, and z that I did, but I could tell you it was just standing on my own two feet, not giving up, not letting go and not taking no for an answer,&quot; the female entrepreneur said.Balanzat&#x27;s app business is quite simple. Using &#x27;Juliette,&#x27; customers can request to have their dirty clothes picked up, cleaned, and delivered to them neatly folded.&quot;Yes, we&#x27;re in the business of cleaning clothes, but we&#x27;re also a lifestyle... And we understand that you&#x27;re traveling. We understand that you&#x27;re busy. We understand that your clothes need that special care and attention. And that&#x27;s why we exist.&quot;Balanzat&#x27;s story is told in a new book she wrote and published called &#x27;JULIETTE: The Story of Building Something from Nothing.&#x27; It&#x27;s a story about her journey as a woman entrepreneur and her business&#x27; evolution from ideation to execution.&quot;I want them to know that everything that they think is stopping them from achieving their goals is just inside their head. The truth is, you already have everything you need to succeed. That&#x27;s the one message I want to share with everyone,&quot; Balanzat stressed.The book is available in popular online bookstores.

A Fil-Am behind a New York-based app that provides laundry and dry cleaning services shares in a book how she overcame challenges like gender inequality to become a successful CEO.