Today we’d like to introduce you to Gerry Poirier
Hi Gerry, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My career journey began on Wall Street as one of the few women in a male-dominated foreign exchange trading room. Later, when the bank sent me to live in Asia, I often found myself as the only woman in the building. While my 25-year career in finance has taken me around the world in top banking institutions, it was my childhood time spent on my grandmother’s farm in a small country town that truly defined me. My grandmother, Annie, was the kindest person I have ever known and it was from her that I learned the importance of giving back to the community. Every year, Grandma would visit homes in her rural community to help families in need. She meticulously kept a list of all the children’s names and what was on their Christmas list, so when the holidays came, she’d be able to deliver gifts for each child. Often this was the only present these children would get for Christmas.
This heartwarming tradition — just one example of my grandmother’s devotion to helping others– has stayed with me for decades, inspiring my own lifelong mission to make a difference and to pay it forward. Following in my grandmother’s footsteps, when I was in my twenties, I started a project called Heaven on Earth and gave toys to children in homeless shelters and orphanages in places like Vietnam, El Salvador, and China, and refugee camps in Bosnia. AngeLink was born from this inspiration to help others.
I started AngeLink, the world’s first social fintech platform powered by women, because I saw a problem that I wanted to solve. Pervasive gender inequality and economic disparity continues to deny women a voice on a global level. Yet, no fundraising platform in the world exists to support women. So, I decided to build one.
My idea was simple; to develop the world’s first, female-powered crowdfunding community to connect, empower, and amplify our voices and improve the lives of millions. Everyday women around the globe struggle to make ends meet. I believe that no one should have to choose between feeding their children or paying rent. As women, we live a shared experience, being disadvantaged in so many aspects of our lives and change is long overdue. The world faces a reckoning from centuries of gender bias and economic inequality in nearly every country.
I thought, what if we could create a platform to provide women financial support for the things that matter most? What if we could give women the power to change the world? I founded AngeLink to unleash the global economic power of women, to level the playing field, and to bring innovation to social impact.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Building any company is a difficult road. I am realizing firsthand that, regardless of education, experience or background, 98% of women will be turned down for VC funding, which is simply outrageous. There is a systemic problem with securing funding for women in business in this country – far beyond what men have to face. The vast majority of funding is still going to have men leaving women disadvantaged and underserved. Women experience the same struggles in starting a business as men, whether it’s overcoming technology challenges, finding awesome team members, building a great culture, developing financial networks or scaling operations. Yet on top of all these challenges, most women will be denied funding. Thus, there is significantly more pressure on women that far outweighs what men experience in building an early-stage company. And, I have seen this with my own eyes.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am beyond proud that our small but mighty team developed the world’s first technology company to support female-forward missions. I started AngeLink because I see what others do not: the astounding power of love amplified by the strength in our numbers. AngeLink’s mission is to build the world’s largest community to support women, enabling them to reach their highest potential. Our success is grounded in a profound truth -the golden rule of humanity, that we all rise by lifting others. There is nothing more powerful than that.
At AngeLink, we are helping to address systemic, societal challenges that continue to deny women a level playing field:
● Women represent the highest percentage of the lowest paying jobs and earn 20% less than men for the same work.
● With mounting race disparity, women of color represent the majority of single mothers and the vast majority of single income families.
● Female entrepreneurs starting a business get less than 2% of all venture capital funding.
● Women who make it to the board room represent a dismal 15% of all seats at the table.
● Women suffer from an unequal division of labor and spend 40% more time than men on unpaid work in the home as caregivers for their children and aging parents.
Women of every race face these obstacles in every country. Therefore, it is not surprising that women are increasingly turning to online fundraising platforms for support and represent over 70% of campaign organizers in the industry. Despite these inequities, women’s generosity is inspiring, as women make up over 72% of all donors, giving small amounts of money to support others, far more often than men.
Most people come to AngeLink during times of emergency such as a medical crisis, natural disaster or a loss of a loved one. However, AngeLink is also a great platform for times of opportunity, especially for women. AngeLink is launching a matching program where women can raise funds to help launch or fund their small business to get the initial support they need to get their business off the ground. Through our 501 (c) 3, the AngeLink Community Foundation, we are developing an online entrepreneurship training curriculum, women’s pitch competition and matching program called Hope to Women in partnership with the Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC), part of the Small Business Administration (SBA) program. The program will be launched in the spring of 2025.
It’s not easy to start your own business. Small businesses, like bakeries, clothing brands and small retail shops, are the lifeblood of economies, representing 80% of U.S employers. Women who seek to join us for our upcoming Hope to Women Pitch Competition can simply start an AngeLink now and begin to raise money for their small business. This will give them plenty of time to apply to be considered for the matching program in the spring.
AngeLink is the only social crowdfunding platform Powered by Women.
1. Women-Led Company. We’re on a mission to create the largest, most trusted global fundraising community to support female-forward missions. Women dominate online fundraising and represent over 70% of organizers and donors in social crowdfunding. Yet, there was no platform in the world powered by women…so we built one.
2. Award Winning: AngeLink is the winner of the World’s Best New Marketplace BOLD Award by Crowdsourcing Week. AngeLink makes fundraising fun and engaging with innovative AI- powered algorithms and thoughtfully designed tools to delight and engage users.
3. Fundraising with Love: Customer Love Support
We help our customers every step of the way with human customer support with heart and connection including:
○ 24/7 online support
○ Toll Free phone (877-526-4354)
○ Personalized beautiful thank you emails to donors*
*For fundraising campaigns with a large number of donors AngeLink offers personalized emails with lovely graphics to send on the Fundraiser’s behalf to thank their donors.
4. Paying it Forward: 1% of AngeLink’s net proceeds is donated to our nonprofit 501(c)(3) AngeLink Community Foundation to support female-forward missions in Three Pillars of Giving: Education, Entrepreneurship and Emergencies.
5. Technology: AI-Wizard™ : AngeLink’s powerful AI-Wizard™ helps fundraisers maximize engagement and impact by crafting a personalized and emotionally focused fundraiser to help you when you need it most. Fact: Over 80% of Fundraisers using AI-Wizard™ are raising funds! Safe, Secure, Trusted: We review every fundraising campaign to promote safety, security and trust in our community. This is what we call Fundraising with Trust.™
6. We Put The “Fun” in Fundraising: Free Promotional Tools: Our distinctive brand personality and adorable Angel mascot unlocks virtual rewards and awesome features to make fundraisers shine on social media!
7. Get Rewarded for Doing Good: Fundraisers earn virtual success rewards as they get closer to their goal. Donors track their progress on an interactive, playful map and earn beautiful badges each time they give.
8. How AngeLink Works: We’re Leveling the Playing Field: Our disruptive technology is brilliantly simple with breakthrough algorithms thoughtfully designed to make our fundraisers shine.
What were you like growing up?
I was always a risk-taker. Compared to my siblings, I was the first one to say yes to anything growing up, especially when a lot of people would say no. It can be intimidating at times because you are taking a lot of risks, often alone. I have always had this idea that where there is a will, there’s a way. Persistence, commitment, and dedication pay off, and that has been my experience throughout my life. I believe that those are the skills that any entrepreneur must learn to run a successful business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://angelink.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelink_official/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngeLinkofficial/
- Twitter: https://x.com/Angelinkinc?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
