The Online Startup School for Women is Enabling the Launch of Hundreds of New Female-Founded Companies

Brit + Co and Office Depot today announced that Office Depot will continue their sponsorship of Selfmade, Brit + Co’s 10-week virtual startup school for women. The course is hosted by Brit + Co founder Brit Morin, with over a dozen other female founders, experts and investors signed on to help teach. Past notable instructors include Katrina Lake (founder and CEO of Stitch Fix), Toni Ko (founder of NYX), and Arlan Hamilton (founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital). The course includes highly personalized skill development to enable each student to start or grow her own business.

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To help drive educational change, Office Depot’s sponsorship will enable the course to be made free for up to 200 women, focusing on women of color, women from underserved and underrepresented communities, and women in need of support to help them trailblaze. As Selfmade’s founding sponsor, Office Depot has provided 800 talented women with full scholarships thus far. In addition, Office Depot has curated special promotions for businesses, plus created a custom starter guide packed with lessons, templates and solutions to help all business owners navigate the start, growth and “keep business going” phases of their entrepreneurial journeys with tips on branding, marketing, fundraising and more.

“Since Selfmade’s inception, nearly 1,400 incredible women have catapulted their entrepreneurial journeys. Selfmade acts as a launchpad and jumping-off point, enabling female founders to conceptualize and monetize business opportunities -- and do so on their own terms," said Morin. "Through imagination, innovation, and grit, these women are rebuilding the future of enterprise in a post-pandemic world. In sync with the startup boom ignited by the economic crisis, our students are bringing women's unique perspectives and talents to the table. Whether it's cultivating community, combating climate change, treating mental health, or reimagining products to provide unique solutions for everyday challenges, Selfmade students are purposefully creating companies with huge impact," Morin added.

Office Depot-sponsored student Vanessa Perry founded Autumn, a line of comfortable and supportive undergarments designed for women with loose skin after weight loss. “I’ve always wanted to start a business but didn’t know where to start. I was looking for hands-on training where I could build community with other people with the same goals I had. Selfmade provided both,'' Perry noted. "The program helped me conceptualize my business quickly. I'm in a pod with a strong group of budding entrepreneurs. We share ideas with one another and get the support we need every step of the way. Office Depot also sent over a curated box of business supplies - everything from planners and pens and more - and that has been so helpful in keeping me on track.”

“We’re proud to continue our collaboration with Brit + Co to help more women start and grow the businesses of their dreams,” said Wesley Brinkhurst, vice president of marketing for Office Depot. “There are so many talented female entrepreneurs who could benefit from the business development and networking opportunities available through this program. Being Selfmade doesn’t mean doing it all by yourself which is why we are so excited to provide this opportunity to another 200 women during this next session.”

Features and benefits of Selfmade include:

• 15+ hours of live instruction in all facets of how to start a company
• 1:1 mentoring and group chats with like-minded entrepreneurs
• Customizable templates for P&Ls, pitch decks, marketing assets and more
• Access to world class experts in tech, finance, marketing, sales, and investing

Selfmade scholarship registration is currently open through Friday, September 24, and class will kick off on Monday, October 11. For more information on Selfmade, visit TrySelfmade.com and to nominate yourself or someone you know for a scholarship, visit officedepot.com/scholarship.

About Brit + Co

Founded by Brit Morin, Brit + Co is on a mission to give women the courage and creativity to live life at their fullest potential. Through our inspirational content, educational online classes and useful products, she is enabled to shape her future. Over the past nine years, Brit + Co has become one of the largest digital brands for women, now reaching an engaged community of over 115 million monthly users across its website and platforms. It is a top 5 global publisher on Pinterest, has garnered over a billion video views and has produced more than 60,000 pieces of content. The brand extends offline as well, with permanent retail experiences, classes, events, and physical products sold at mass retail stores nationwide. Visit Brit.co for more information.

About Office Depot

Office Depot, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The ODP Corporation (NASDAQ:ODP), a leading provider of business services, products and digital workplace technology solutions to small, medium and enterprise businesses. Through its banner brands Office Depot® and OfficeMax®, as well as others, the company offers its customers the tools and resources they need to focus on their passion of starting, growing and running their business through approximately 1,100 stores, an online presence and thousands of dedicated sales professionals. For more information, visit news.theodpcorp.com and follow @officedepot on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

ODP and Office Depot are trademarks of The Office Club, Inc. OfficeMax is a trademark of OMX,Inc. ©2021 Office Depot, LLC. All rights reserved. Any other product or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

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