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Their kind of startup gets the least funding, so this event gathered the best for a chance to win.

The best and the brightest women-led startups in the Northeast competed in Times Square for their chance at winning $25,000.

Starting a business is hard. And finding tons of people willing to invest their money in it is harder.

Sometimes the search for the right financial backer(s) can be a lot like putting up a romantic personal ad:

WANTED: Entrepreneurial woman with brilliant idea seeks funding to make it come to life. — W4WMAnyone (location: everywhere)
— Startup CEO seeks generous funders to help share innovative and groundbreaking technology with the world. Must like game-changers, bright ideas, and long nights of inventing.
— Turn ons: do-gooders and rich people.
— Turn offs: the uninspired and sexists.


You. Must. Fund. Me! PLEASE!

Fortunately, some people are working to make it easier for female entrepreneurs to connect with investors.

Like Women Who Tech, a group that supports and promotes women-led startups, and Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist.

They recruited some of the most impressive startups led by women in the Northeast to compete for $25,000 for their business — no strings attached.

GIF via "Shark Tank."

In a "Shark Tank"-esque set up, 10 startup finalists came to Microsoft's Times Square office to convince seriously successful people they deserve first prize.

While there was only one winner (#1 below), clearly many startups were included that were just as deserving of the money. Here are a few of them:

1. Seamless wearable technology that collects info on your body

Screenshot via Tech Times T-Lounge/YouTube.

This event's winner was SoftSpot by Moonlab for its wearable technology. But this isn't your momma's Apple Watch that everyone can see. This tech can be put anywhere — underwear, bathing suit, whatever — making it virtually invisible as it collects data on you and the environment around you.

2. An eco-friendly pregnancy test you can flush down the toilet

Screenshot via DreamItVentures/YouTube.

Pregnancy tests have been around for decades, and not much has changed about them. But this new test by Lia Diagnostics is pretty darn awesome. It's super small and discreet, so you don't have to worry about sneaking around with a long box. Then you can simply flush it after use, which keeps your business your own — while being better for the environment.

3. A medical device that detects bedsores — before the naked eye can see them.

Screenshot via Brandon Ellis/YouTube.

Gaspard's Rubitection, Inc. created a device that can help health care providers catch bedsores before they cause a huge problem for patients. How? Through a device that uses light on the skin to detect ulcers. Simple, easy, effective!

4. An app that makes pairing parents with carpool buddies a breeze.

Screenshot via GoKid/YouTube.

Little Sonia has a birthday party to go to but wants to get a carpool together? Try GoKid; it makes scheduling and keeping track of responsibilities a breeze. Something that makes it easier to parent and help the environment? Yes, please!

5. An award-winning app made to help small business owners easily find out what might be affecting them.

Screenshot via Vizalytics/YouTube.

Imagine you're a business owner who has a big event planned, but nobody seems to be coming through the door. You're probably thinking: Is it me? Vizalytics can help you answer that question with info about traffic and transit delays that might have a big impact on attendance.

You may be thinking, "OK, sure, this stuff is cool, but why have a female-only startup event?"

Well, you see how these inventions could make our lives a whole heck of a lot better — from assisting small businesses to families to hospital patients. So why aren't they big companies already?

Well, according to an MIT study, women founders get only 7% of venture capital dollars. They obviously are not getting their fair share, which is why this event is so awesome. It helps showcase what funders are missing out on when they overlook amazing female trailblazers in the tech sector.

Fingers crossed that this will help more women-led startups get the funds they need — and deserve.

Cheers! GIF via "Shark Tank."

Family

Korean mom has a perfect response to the teacher who called her son's lunches 'disgusting'

Good for her for standing up for her child's culture.

via Roman Harak/Flickr

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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parenting
Joy

Dog does the ‘pick a card’ challenge and we get to live the dream with him

Suddenly dogs everywhere need teddy bear robes.

Opie the Pit Bully|TikTok

Dog does the 'pick a card' challenge and it's adorable.

There are a few kinds of dog parents: ones that only have outside dogs, those who have inside dogs but they're absolutely not allowed on the furniture and dog parents who treat their dog as if they birthed them themselves and give them every luxury invented for four-legged fur children.

Clearly, people are going to have feelings one way or the other about dogs and their place within a household, but I think everyone can agree that seeing a dog be pampered will always be adorable. Opie the Pit Bully is one of those lucky doggos who wound up living in the lap of luxury, and the pooch got to do a "pick a card" day to showcase that his owner loves him the mostest.

In a video uploaded to TikTok by Opie's owner because...ya know, opposable thumbs and all…Opie is faced with two cards that he can't read: 1) because he's a dog, and 2) because the cards are facing toward the camera. That doesn't stop the sweet puppers from playing along, though.

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pick a card date night
Family

Help is on the way for a desperate mom who couldn't find size 23 shoes for her teenage son

Her son Eric Kilburn Jr. is a 6'10" freshman in high school.

via GoFundMe

A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

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parents
Science

90-year-old tortoise is a hero to his species by becoming a first-time dad to 3 hatchlings

Way to go, daddio!

Photo by David Cadenas on Unsplash

What we imagine the look on Mr/ Pickles' face to be after becoming a dad.

It’s been an exciting time for a couple of tortoises at the Houston Zoo—and really, for tortoises everywhere.

The zoo announced on its blog that their oldest resident, Mr. Pickles, a 90-year-old radiated tortoise, and his 53-year-old companion Mrs. Pickles (that’s quite an age gap there sir, but no judgment) recently welcomed three new hatchlings.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, here are the new baby names: Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño.

Clearly, Jalepeño is the spicy one of the bunch.

While this news is certainly momentous for Mr. and Mrs. Pickles, it’s also a huge achievement for the entire species, which is currently critically endangered.
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animals & wildlife
Education

100-year-old woman's speech against book bans in Florida school district goes viral

Grace Linn speaks for millions of Americans.

Jodi Picoult/TikTok

Grace Linn, 100, speaks at a Martin County School Board meeting on March 21, 2023.

Four hundred years ago, copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible were publicly burned by the bishop of London, with church authorities insisting that the Bible should only be read in Latin (and only by the clergy). In the centuries since, many books we now consider classics such as Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," Jack London's "Call of the Wild," Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass," Victor Hugo’s "Les Misérables, Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species"—even Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "Benjamin Bunny"—have been banned or censored in one way or another in various countries.

Battles over books are nothing new, but once in a while, they become particularly ugly or absurd, prompting people to speak out against book bans.

People like 100-year-old Florida resident, Grace Linn, whose speech at a Martin County School Board meeting has gone viral.

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book bans
Pop Culture

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler have the cutest friendship, and she has the receipts to prove it

Plenty of teasing. Lots of love.

The Tonight Show/ Youtube

Jennifer Aniston appearing on "The Tonight show"

Let’s face it, platonic relationships between men and women rarely get the same amount of attention as romantic ones, to the point where we debate whether or not they can actually exist in the first place.

That’s what makes a clip of Jennifer Aniston gushing about her decades-long friendship with Adam Sandler so cool to watch. There’s no Harry-Met-Sally-ing here, just one pal talking about another pal.

Aniston sat down with Jimmy Fallon to promote the film “Murder Mystery 2,” starring both Aniston and Sandler, but the conversation quickly veered into several anecdotes about “The Sand Man,” including how the two first met at a deli in their 20s.

As with any healthy friendship, there’s plenty of ragging on each other.

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