SAN JOSE, Calif. — On Nov. 28, as Americans marked the annual Black Friday kickoff to the holiday shopping season, comedian turned philanthropic TEDx speaker Stacey Lauren hosted an online charity auction aimed at reframing the day’s meaning by emphasizing giving to those in need.
Lauren organized the auction to symbolize an alternative vision of Black Friday, channeling consumer energy toward philanthropy. At first glance, the auction appeared to feature “Real Housewives”-style participants from affluent neighborhoods who seemed disconnected from the struggles faced by the women they supported. They sold never-before-seen self-help and entrepreneurial training classes for small, female-owned businesses designed to help other women succeed in opening their own companies, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs, which operates through a Facebook-based community.
WHWE is a Facebook group where women entrepreneurs can find social support networks designed to help female entrepreneurs prosper by sharing resources, experiences and successes to lift one another up. The group focuses on helping women in key areas of their lives, including business development, personal growth and balancing family and career responsibilities, with the goal of providing the tools, resources and skills women need to succeed.
Founder Christina Rowe said the nonprofit has purchased specialized equipment to help one woman remain in business, assisted a woman living in her car with her autistic son in finding housing, bought Christmas presents for the children of a woman escaping domestic violence and helped cancer patients afford treatment. Half of the proceeds from this auction, Rowe said, went specifically toward peptide treatment for a former recipient of the charity, Shannan Lavenia.
Lavenia was an orphan by age 7, having grown up without a father and losing her mother to a cocaine overdose. Despite being told by her grandmother that she was worthless and would “never amount to anything,” Lavenia went on to become a speaker, personal coach and entrepreneur.
Breast cancer, however, repeatedly returned to threaten her life. Lavenia decided to pursue peptide treatments after other options failed.
Insurance companies would not cover the treatment because it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, making the cost prohibitive. In recognition of women entrepreneurs and the barriers they face, the auction proceeds were used to help Lavenia pay for her cancer treatment.
Rowe said she started WHWE following an abusive divorce in which her husband twisted her wrist and threatened to kill her. After that experience and witnessing the trauma many women endure during divorce, Rowe said she wanted to help others facing similar circumstances.
In her book Seven Secrets to a Successful Divorce, Rowe wrote, “I had little cash when my husband moved out. I was unprepared. I lived on credit cards. I charged everything from groceries to monthly bills. When I reached my credit limit, I had to borrow money from my family. Let my experience be a lesson.”
Unlike Rowe, who had family support to rely on when leaving an abusive marriage, many women experiencing domestic violence lack the financial stability needed to escape.
In a 2017 report, The Guardian found that one in four women in the United States will experience severe violence at the hands of an intimate partner and that among those who flee, about 50% lose custody of their children.
Law student Sonya Passi said she first encountered these realities during her legal studies. She cited a case in which “the abusive partner was given custody of his three-year-old child despite the fact that he had molested her,” according to The Guardian’s reporting.
“One of the main reasons was that the abuser was the more financially secure parent,” Passi told The Guardian.
During the auction, Karen Taylor underscored the importance of WHWE’s work, saying, “Without really feeling yourself and the identity you’re stepping in, you can’t sell your products; you cannot be yourself; you cannot act in a way you’re supposed to act in your life,” echoing language The Guardian attributed to a domestic violence survivor describing what she needed to survive.
That survivor told The Guardian, “(I needed) the opportunity to be myself and be good at something. My whole life I’ve been told ‘you can’t do this or that, but I can and I’m doing it.’”
Lauren said she wanted to leverage community support to create tangible impact, and she did so by donating half of all auction proceeds to WHWE, allowing the organization to further support women entrepreneurs and promote their businesses through Facebook outreach.
Lauren’s next event is scheduled for Jan. 8–9 in San Diego.
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