Supporting creativity through connection and community
Adobe understands creativity better than anyone. We are the conveyors of the creative community — empowering and supporting emerging and established creators with the tools, inspiration and opportunity they need to solve new problems, to innovate, collaborate, and communicate with impact.
Advancing on this commitment and to mark National Women’s Small Business Month, Adobe is teaming up with Create & Cultivate to launch a mentorship program supporting and inspiring diverse women creators through connection and community.
The mentorship program includes monthly sessions between October 2021 and March 2022, focusing on themes relevant to women in the creative industry who aspire to have, or wish to grow, their own business. As a continuation of Adobe’s Hispanic Heritage Month initiatives, the inaugural mentorship event on October 14 will feature a live conversation with Babba Rivera (CEO and Founder, Ceremonia). Over the coming months sessions will include Jac Vanek (CEO, Jac Vanek designs, co-host of LadyGang), Lolo Spencer (Actress and Disability Advocate), Lisa Lihn (Lifestyle and Wellness Creative), Blair Imani (Educator/Author/Influencer), and Meiko Arquillos (Photographer/Director), with more to be announced at a later date.
We will also launch, “On the Dotted Line, Presented by Acrobat,” a series with influential creators and small business owners, for a thoughtful discussion on the state of small business and creative leadership focusing on the value of entrepreneurship and prominence of hustle culture amongst millennials and Gen Z creators. Beyond events, we will unfold a dedicated Slack channel where entrepreneurs, creators and small business owners can ask questions for the mentors and connect as a creative community. Learn more and sign-up to join the sessions here.
We know that to best serve our community, we need to understand the creative challenges they are facing as well as what motivates them. Adobe recently asked 3,500 small business owners globally where they get their creative inspiration, and what is most important to their future success. The key findings included:
- 85 percent of female small business owners say that they are inspired when they see another business doing well online, and it makes them want to up their game.
- Female small business owners across generations say social media is a source for marketing and creative #inspo (53 percent). Artists like Amanda Rach Lee, who we have featured in our Women Create Wednesday series, use social media to propel their businesses. From TikToks to livestreams, Amanda has grown a community who’s passionate about her stationary business.
- The majority of women who own small businesses say they spend over 6 hours a week thinking creatively about improving their business. While 83 percent noted that creative design will help them stand out and drive their business to be more successful, they lack the time, tools and training to actually get there.
- 75 percent of female business owners face obstacles to spending time on creativity and making their online presence the best it can be, citing their lack of budget (36 percent). Adobe Spark is designed with small business owners, solopreneurs and side-hustlers in mind, and gives them the power to create professional graphics, flyers, menus, videos and animations — the starter plan is free to access.
Creativity is expressing, experimenting, taking risks, and having fun. And we are excited to be helping the next generation of women creators to reach their full potential and thrive in a changing world.
Register for the Create & Cultivate mentorship program here.