Our episode this week revolves around the transformative power of women's entrepreneurship and the critical importance of amplifying women's voices in the business sphere. We are privileged to host Wendy Diamond, a distinguished entrepreneur and advocate for compassionate capitalism, who has dedicated her career to empowering women globally. She elucidates her journey of creating Women's Entrepreneurship Day, an initiative aimed at fostering economic empowerment and systemic change for women entrepreneurs.

Through her numerous ventures, Wendy highlights the significant impact that women-led enterprises can have on societal progress and economic development. This episode serves as a rallying call for listeners to engage with and support the movement towards gender equality in business, emphasizing the vital role of collaboration and community in achieving these goals.

Our Guest This Week:

In this week’s episode of #WisdomofWomen we have a 🌟 Trailblazing Visionary of Compassionate Capitalism 🌟 in our midst!  She is a Legendary Firestarter for Women Worldwide!

Wendy Diamond is a serial entrepreneur, impact investor, and global changemaker whose ventures span business, philanthropy, and media. She is the founder of LDP Ventures and the visionary behind the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO), a movement celebrated in 144 countries and 65 universities to empower women in business worldwide. Wendy also pioneered the pet lifestyle industry as Chief Pet Officer of Animal Fair Media, Inc., where she built the first-ever media company devoted to animal rescue and the pet–human bond. As an author of 10 books, sought-after global speaker, and frequent media guest, she has amplified conversations around purpose-driven business, women’s leadership, and social good. Recognized by the United Nations, she continues to convene heads of state, investors, and women founders to drive systemic change through entrepreneurship.

Takeaways:

• Women's Entrepreneurship Day, established in 2013, aims to empower women globally through entrepreneurship.
• Wendy's initiatives focus on providing microloans to impoverished women, fostering economic empowerment.
• The collaboration of governments and business leaders is essential to create systemic change for women entrepreneurs.
• Empathy and community are critical for successful entrepreneurship, as demonstrated by Wendy Diamond's journey.
• The Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization actively seeks to engage women in meaningful collaborations worldwide.

Burning Questions Answered:

1.What actually happens when you join WEDO — beyond the feel-good impact?

2.How has Wendy designed WEDO so members get access, education, and community that genuinely moves their businesses forward?

3.What kinds of rooms does WEDO open for women — from the UN to hedge fund salons to maximum security prisons?

4.How can you contribute as an ambassador, member, or founder in a way that feels aligned and sustainable?

Chapters:

05:24 The Birth of Women's Entrepreneurship Day

15:11 Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

16:51 The Impact of Women's Entrepreneurship Day

26:08 Shifting Focus to Impactful Causes

Favorite Quotes:

“You’d rather have a little of something huge than a lot of nothing.”

“Wherever you are in this world, you can make a difference.”

Guest Offers & Contact Information:

Attend the WEDO Summit on November 14th – Virtual or in NYC at the United Nations:  

https://tinyurl.com/ytepawth

Become a WEDO member:  http://joinwedo.org

https://wendydiamond.com/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendydiamond/ 

Join the Win-Win-Win Challenge!

Create your 2026 Growth Plan and A Force for Good will donate $100 to WEDO

https://courses.aforceforgood.biz/WEDO-Celebration 

Follow the #WisdomOfWomen show for more inspiring stories and insights from trailblazing women founders, investors, and experts in growth and prosperity.

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/yja3w7nh

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4tak8ajk 

Amazon Prime: https://tinyurl.com/366syddj 

Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/bdhananz 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.captivate.fm/womengetfunded/ 

Coco Sellman, the host of #WisdomOfWomen, believes business is a force for good, especially with visionary women at the helm. With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, she has launched five companies and guided over 500 startups. As Founder & CEO of A Force for Good, Coco supports purpose-driven women founders in unlocking exponential growth and prosperity. Her recent venture, Allumé Home Care, reached eight-figure revenues and seven-figure profits in just four years before a successful exit in 2024. A venture investor and board director, Coco’s upcoming book, *A Force for Good*, reveals a roadmap for women to lead high-impact, high-growth companies.

Learn more about A Force for Good:

Website: https://aforceforgood.biz/

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#WisdomOfWomen Show: https://aforceforgood.biz/podcast-wow

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Welcome to the Wisdom of Women show.

We are dedicated to amplifying the voice of women in business.

A new model of leadership is emerging and we are here to amplify the voices of women leading the way.

I am your host, Coco Salman, five time founder, impact investor and creator of the Force for Good system.

Thank you for joining us today as we illuminate the path to unlocking opportunities and prosperity for women led enterprises by amplifying the voice and wisdom of women.

Today we have a trailblazing visionary of compassionate capitalism in our midst.

She is a legendary firestarter for women.

Wendy diamond is a serial entrepreneur, impact investor and global change maker whose ventures span business, philanthropy and media.

She is the founder of LDP Ventures and the visionary behind the Women's Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Day organization, a movement celebrated in 144 countries and 65 universities to empower women in business.

Wendy also pioneered the pet lifestyle industry as chief pet Officer of Animal Fair Media Inc. Where she built the first ever media company devoted to animal rescue and the pet human bond.

As an author of 10 books, sought after global speaker and frequent media guest, she has amplified conversations around purpose driven business, women's leadership and social good.

Recognized by the United nations, she continues to convene heads of state, investors and women founders to drive systemic change through entrepreneurship.

Wendy, we are so happy to have you here.

Oh my God.

Well, now I gotta live up to everything you said.

Thank you.

You so grateful.

So what is a book or movie written by a woman that has significantly influenced your life?

A movie I recently watched which changed who I speak about all the time now at least a couple times a week is Cabrini.

Mother Cabrini.

The first American saints in America.

This woman came in the eight I just love amazing women that have made impact.

Why we created Women's Entrepreneurship day, right?

And literally there was one summit called the most Powerful Women by Fortune, but there were no corporations having women's groups and things like that.

Right.

She was a nun in Italy and she wanted to come to America to help the homeless children in New York City that were from Italy.

She created a billion dollar empire of orphanages and hospitals.

And this woman, to me, if you Google Cabrini, you'll see all the hospitals with her name on it.

But no one knew who she was because she didn't care about fame, money and power.

And that's what I really believe in this world, that we have to get out of our equation.

Because when you do things for true passion and purpose, you don't care about those things.

Right.

You definitely may benefit financially, but you're going to definitely feel so much better about yourself and have less mental health issues.

Definitely.

So that's why I just love stories about women like that who have really made such an important impact and who've never gotten the notoriety and have been forgotten in history.

So tell us, is it called Mother Cabrini?

Is that the name of the film?

The movie's called Cabrini.

And it's a true story about one of the most incredible women in history.

And yeah, it's called Cabrini.

And you can watch it on Amazon Prime.

I love it.

We should have like a screening of it.

I mean, that's amazing.

I love that.

And I really want to.

I've been getting to know you over the last year, and I am just starting to understand what it is that you've created here.

So first tell us, what is Women's Entrepreneurship Day?

What is it?

First of all, Coppa, you're amazing.

I just love your energy and everything.

At that time, I ended up in Honduras on vacation, not realizing it was the murder capital of the world.

And I ended up, you know, I was supposed to.

I ended up volunteering for an organization that gives microloans to poor women.

I was supposed to spend a couple, couple hours, spent three days dirt floor, met with all the women entrepreneurs.

And that's when I realized, wow, 388 million women and girls are living in poverty.

One out of eight women in America live in poverty at that time.

Women and to this day are paying back microloans.

At a 98% rate, which 90% goes to educate their children, provide for their families.

You know, I realized, like, you know, when women are empowered in business, they have self confidence, they have dignity.

They don't allow human rights violations.

By giving a hand up, not a hand out, we can truly change the world.

That was when I realized, if I create a day, I'll create the conversation.

So I came back to New York, I went to Governor Cuomo at the time, and Mayor de Blasio and I went to the United Nations.

I said, hey, we're going to create an official day in the world.

Would you officially proclaim it?

Because I knew if they proclaimed it, we launched at the United nations, we partnered with the U.S. state Department, and that's when we launched in 144 countries.

And I knew we would create the conversation.

So that was when a lot of the companies you see today that have women's movements came to the United nations, including MasterCard and, and JP Morgan.

And that's where you saw everyone starting women's groups and stuff like that.

So by bringing the awareness towards the importance of women entrepreneurs and women in business is the key to creating gender equality.

We're a capitalist society.

Give a hand up, not a hand out.

Teach and give education about entrepreneurship to create systematic change and help the millions of people living in poverty that are unbanked, especially women.

I love this.

And so, okay, you just told your story, and I love it.

And what, what, what is sort of like you're skipping over some pretty big moments here that I think are important for our listeners.

A lot of us get inspired, we have our experiences, and we go, wow, the world could really use a little more women entrepreneurship.

But you took, and I've watched you over the past year witnessing Wendy in action.

You are fearless.

You go and talk to whoever and ask for whatever, and it's definitely one of your superpowers.

So tell us more about what it took to reach out to those members.

You talked to the mayor, you talked to the governor.

You went to the U.N. how did you even know what to do?

I've been an entrepreneur my whole life.

Whatever women entrepreneurs have gone through, I've gone through it.

Being an entrepreneur, you do what you have to do to make it happen, right?

You've got to have grit, right?

You have to have purpose.

You have to have persistence.

You have to have absolute perseverance, right?

With my background in the animal rescue world, when I learned 12 million animals euthanized a year and nobody was talking about adoption or rescue, I created the first media company to bring celebrities in pop culture, the animal rescue world.

If everyone knew you could adopt any breed, any size, any age, they would choose to adopt versus buy, I went on that journey.

And let me tell you something, it wasn't easy because you know, when you think about, like, if you look back, you know, we were the first people ever to bring celebrities and pop culture to the animal rescue world.

We created the first ever pet fashion show in history with rescue dogs being, you know, you know, like put in fashion designer outfits and you know, walk down the Runway by famous people and the whole thing, you know, I created the word yappy hour so we could bring people together with their pets to socialize, support animal rescue.

I knew everybody wants to help.

You just have to make it really easy for them.

Yeah.

And I was so passionate because I experienced being in Honduras, I witnessed these women that were, you know, earning a dollar a day, getting these a hundred dollar microloans and being so proud to create their, you know, you know, their store and their one room hut where they lived, right.

And it's like when you, you know, so for me, when I work on something and I'm so passionate about it, whatever you do, you're talking about it and bringing people together and people want to, you know, and if you make it easy, people will help you.

Yeah, no, I think it's really powerful and you just have that tenacity.

We're not going to go into the full story of Wendy diamond today because it is such a story.

Google her.

Google Wendy Diamond.

Like, you'll see her pet world was big, big capital B, booming.

She was with like Madonna and like crazy very well known humans, George Michael.

Like there was tremendous.

And so she is really unique in that she is able to create all of this and ask for what she wants, which we all need to integrate.

So you created this day.

You were fueled by this idea that women who are entrepreneurs can fuel the economy of the world, change things for the better.

And so you created the day and now you also have the organization.

And I want to talk about the organization from two facets.

So first, Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization is a nonprofit 501c3 organization that gives to women around the world.

So I want to unpack what the impact is of the dollars that you receive and do with those dollars.

And then separately I want to talk to you about what happens when you join wedo, and what do you.

What do I get?

The entrepreneur.

So let's talk first about the impact of your organization.

What does the organization do, and how does it serve women all over the world?

So, first of all, our foundation, when we created it, the idea was to bring governments, business leaders, civil society entrepreneurs, investors together to collaborate to find solutions to economically empower women to start their entrepreneurial journeys.

Right?

And so, you know, when we began, we created a toolkit, we went around the world and found the most successful women entrepreneurs.

And we said, hey, will you be our ambassador?

Will you bring governments, business leaders, civil society together?

Right.

To collaborate, to find solutions.

Right.

And so that was the whole reason behind it.

So our ambassadors around the world are given a toolkit.

They're usually successful women.

They don't have to be the most successful women, but they have to have empathy.

Because what I realize a lot is people who get super successful people ask, well, the entrepreneurs I know, they're always like, men are so much easier.

They're always wanting to help.

And you know what?

That's the same thing for our foundation as well.

Because I think what the problem is is women have such a hard time getting there.

Right.

And they're fighting so hard, by the time they get there, they don't want to look back down.

Right.

So the whole thing is about finding people that still have empathy, that want to support those less fortunate.

Right.

You know, be able to bring together and honor the most successful women entrepreneurs around the world.

Because at the end of the day, you know, women literally have.

We're not in the media.

Like, we don't even realize how many women entrepreneurs have changed the way we live today, right?

Totally.

So that was the whole idea behind it.

And then it kind of warped into, oh, wow.

If we create initiatives and bills, we can really support women entrepreneurs.

Right?

So that's how we collaborated with Congresswoman Grace Meng from Queens.

She's been such a support of our foundation, and we've been helping pass bills to support women entrepreneurs.

We created the first ever women in disability startup cohort.

At that time, there were no startups for disabled women and girls.

None.

You'll love this.

And that all happened because I'm obsessed with watching movies that are impactful, right?

And I ended up watching a movie called Crip Camp documentary about the first ever camp for disabled children, which led to the American Disabilities act in the United States.

It was really about this woman named Judy Heumann who was behind this whole thing.

I got obsessed during COVID with Judy Human And I learned all about her and I met her and it was like such an honor.

And it inspired me to create the first ever women in disability startup cohort.

And that was where we ended up partnering and we got Google for startups to fund the whole thing.

So that's now all over the world.

And the other programs we support is we partnered with an organization called Defy Ventures, which is teaching entrepreneurship in prison.

People don't realize this to incarcerated women and men, but we support women.

This program is 84% successful.

The women incarcerated that goes through this program, literally 84% don't go back to prison.

As Americans, we pay $100,000 a year for people to be in prison.

They can live in an amazing apartment in New York City for that kind of money.

These programs are so important because this program only costs $2,000 per incarcerated women.

And it's super impactful.

Right?

It's created a lot of these partnerships.

In honor of why we were founded, we fund Adelante foundation, which is in Honduras, that gives microloans to impoverished women.

In Honduras, the murder capital of the world.

We also support and partnered with Opportunity International who administer these microloans and funding 10,000 impoverished women to get microloans to start their entrepreneurial journeys.

And then we work with media companies and we just did a partnership with iHeartMedia, the largest radio network.

They're doing a PSA campaign to ask everyone to support women entrepreneurs in their community.

This year on November 19th, we're working on so many different initiatives.

I have ADD, like I want to do everything right.

I'm not corporate, I'm an entrepreneur.

I'm scrappy, I get stuff done.

Our health foundation is finding like minded people who really do wanna make a difference in the world.

And it's not just about them.

It's about helping those less fortunate to start their entrepreneurial journeys.

And you know, our AI program to help.

Literally, if anybody's listening to this right now, we have a AI program with the most successful AI experts in the entire world.

We're talking unicorns.

Like the guy that created Siri and Alexa for Amazon is part of our program.

He sold it to Amazon.

Okay.

You know, we have the most successful AI experts and we've made the most simple, easy way for people to learn AI.

And we're coming up with a course for decentralization.

We have girls in Afghanistan going through this program that are forbidden to go to school.

So we're just working on important things that are changing the world.

And you just got back from Kazakhstan Right.

Yeah.

Woohoo.

And so that's what's so exciting.

We're doing is really making an impact around the world.

Yeah.

Countries where women were suppressed are now celebrating Women's Entrepreneurship Day.

Governments are recognizing Women's Entrepreneurship Day.

But we're not just a day, we are a movement.

Right.

Because day we need to support women entrepreneurs every day and women in business, because there's no guarantee you're going to work for a company for 20 years anymore.

You need not at all those entrepreneurship skills, skills to survive a hundred percent.

And so what I love, and it's taken me a year to fully digest this, is that by joining my dollars go to all of those causes you just described, which are extraordinary.

But what I also love is that as a member I get a kickass experience.

So this is what I, what I love about WEDO is the, it creates these win wins.

And so I learned about WEDO about a year ago through a mutual friend, Ann Olson, who is a friend of mine through another organization.

She said, you've got to go to this, to this WEDO thing.

And so I signed up and I, I didn't even get to go.

Okay.

I didn't even get to go.

Ann told me, so I'll do this.

But then I became a member and the membership allowed me to do all of these really cool things through the year.

I just want to share with our listeners.

For example, I got to go to this Defy Ventures.

I went up to women's jail in ted.

You were in prison?

I was in prison.

Maximum security prison.

Maximum security prison.

And with Defy Ventures, it was one of the best days of my decade.

It was transformative and healing to me.

And I hope that the women that I spoke to got something out of it.

I know they do.

I really know.

And there's huge.

So I got to do that.

I got to go to an event at UBS where there were very important family office people who spoke about what they're investing in across the board and their importance of investing in women.

I got to go to the former home of Bob Dylan and learn about crypto, which I didn't know anything about.

And by the way, I made a big investment because of what you told me.

Yeah, welcome to the club.

I know.

And then I actually hosted an event at my house and I got to meet Jamie, what's her last name?

Jamie, who's a big time hedge fund investor.

She's one of the first women to ever create a hedge fund.

How crazy.

And that's the whole Thing about our foundation.

Right.

Because I look at, like, you know, you know, just, you know, for people who are listening that don't live in New York, there's so many events, there's so many groups.

None of these groups existed before we launched.

Yes.

All I say to people is, I want to make sure you're going to benefit.

Yeah.

When you're at the end of the year.

Because I do this for free.

Right.

Because I do.

Totally.

Right.

And so I look at it like, okay, would I donate to this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

When people donate, they don't realize.

But you're in the room with the most incredible people.

Like you.

You're in the room with some of the most incredible people in this world.

Yes.

Going to meet and learn from the smartest people in the world.

You're going to get to a summit and meet the craziest people in the world.

Our summit has seven unicorn women founders.

That's crazy.

There's what?

There's 12, literally.

Our summit has three influencers that are clean.

I made sure the influencers that are coming to our summit are not dirty.

They haven't done anything wrong.

They're not famous for their butt.

They're not famous for their boots.

They're literally famous for making an impact, whether it's for entertainment, whether it's for school, you know, education, or whether it's Through Fitness.

There's three of the most impactful influencers, including Chloe Ting with 25 million followers, Mackenzie Brooke, who was on Disney with 25 million followers, and the incredible Jenny Hoyos who's like 19 years old and killing it with, you know, million followers on YouTube and all over the world.

We have the biggest investors in the world, family offices that have over 10, $12 billion looking to invest in women.

We have women from Defi Ventures that went through our program that are now thriving.

We have these girls that are disadvantaged, that are disabled, that are going to come there that created the awards for our Pioneer Award honorees.

This is a room where everyone is on an equal playing ground, and you're.

And you're there.

And by the end of that day, you're friends with everyone.

And that's what we want.

And you're collaborating, you're.

You're, you're making impact.

You're figuring out ways to make this world a better place.

It's exactly right.

In my experience, over this year, I've gone to all these events, and it is so cool to learn from these extraordinary, impactful investors, entrepreneurs, people.

Right.

It's a common group of people who come to all the events because we're all members.

So I have, maybe for me, the biggest, most wonderful part is I make friends.

It becomes like the golf club for men, except it's a lot less expensive than that.

Right.

There's no food minimum.

I come to these events.

They are fun, fascinating, and dripping with interesting people.

And then I meet, I have made friends, and now I'm starting to do collaborations.

This is really special to me.

I hope everybody you can, you can attend the summit virtually or you can come in person.

I think there's like no tickets left, but you may be able to come in person if you hurry and go to joinwedo.org and get a ticket.

When you do that, though, you also get a membership.

There's plenty of virtual access, but it's important to come.

One of the things we created is an amazing startup education program and platform.

You can find investors everything you need to start your entrepreneurial journey.

All you have to do is be a member and you can be a virtual member.

You know, we.

And like our AI program, it's free.

It's literally free.

And you actually graduate.

And what's cool about it is we made it super fun, easy.

So if, even if you're intimidated and you're like, I don't get it, I don't understand it.

I have super high, low iq and I get it now because I went through the program and so I think, you know, like these kind of things and bringing and making it really simple and easy for people to embrace entrepreneurship and those entrepreneurship skills, whether you're an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur is the key.

Yeah, I love it, Wendy.

I love it.

And I just want invite all of our listeners to just dive into wedo joinwido.org and check it out.

So as a founder, as an investor, as a advocate, what wisdom would you share with visionary women scaling companies of substance and value today?

The thing I would do if I was starting a new company, Surround yourself by the greatest people.

Yeah, right.

You'd rather have a little of something huge than a lot of nothing.

Give equity.

Give.

If you can't pay people, give equity.

Do things, get advisors.

Build your community.

You don't want to do this alone.

Yeah.

And you have done that so brilliantly.

It's such an honor.

So I would like to shift now to a fast fire round where I ask you five questions and answer them in five words or less.

You ready?

Yeah, go ahead.

Dogs or cats?

Both.

What's the boldest risk you've ever taken?

I climbed to the Lost City in Columbia.

And I didn't know it was a trek and I didn't understand what trek meant.

And that probably was the craziest physical, mentally thing I've ever done in my life.

Awesome.

What's your secret to connecting global leaders so effortlessly?

Being authentic.

What's one cause you'd love the world to rally around next?

I think continue in the sense of, number one, rescuing animals.

Right.

When I started women's or when I started animal fair, 12 million animals euthanized a year.

Now there's only 2 million.

So if we keep doing it and bringing awareness towards adoption, what they do for us mentally and the unconditional love they provide is the greatest gift.

Right.

So I think that and supporting women entrepreneurs and ways to support the 388 million women and girls living in poverty and really finding ways to make a difference in the world.

If everyone found a cause that they really cared about, whether it's fighting cancer, whatever it might be.

Right.

A purpose in life.

What is your personal definition of outrageous success?

I think to always be humble and never think of success.

I love that.

Yeah, just keep going.

Right?

That's beautiful.

Just being humble.

I love that.

Right?

Yeah, it's so great.

So.

So it's such a pleasure to be with you and be a part of your movement.

I wanted to share with our listeners that I've launched the Win Win Win challenge.

So I'm inviting a hundred founders to create a hundred growth plans for your business.

Together we can raise $10,000 through November 19th.

I invite you to go to a ForceForGood biz, Win Dash.

You can sign up.

It's a hundred percent free.

When you sign up, submit your plan and there's a template.

You just send it in.

When you do, I immediately give $100 to WEDO and I want to get a hundred founders to do this.

In the meantime, make sure that you go to join wedo.

J O I N W E D o dot org and sign up to be a member.

Sign up to come to the summit and become a part of this incredible journey of helping other women and leveling up yourself.

What's our final word here?

What's our lasting thing?

You want to share?

Wherever you are in this world, you can make a difference.

We have ambassadors all over the country, all over the world, so join their different groups and things like that.

Thank you so much, seriously, for having me on your show.

I love it.

Woohoo.

Woohoo.

Okay everybody, thank you for being here today.

Thank you for being a world changer.

Be sure to like, follow and share the wisdom of women.

Show on whatever your favorite listening reviewing platform is and to infuse more wisdom into your business, be sure to take the Growth Readiness quiz at a ForceForGood biz quiz and uncover where your insight is needed most.

The world is made better by women led business.

Let's all go make the world a better place.