Connect
To Top

Conversations with the Inspiring Hope Hartman

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hope Hartman.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Hope. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m often asked, “How did you come up with this idea?” and my response is multi-faceted. When I was an executive at two software companies, often times I was the only woman sitting at the leadership table. Also, when I would attend business conferences, I would see this phenomenon and kept thinking, “Where are the women?” We need more balance and it would make our businesses stronger if there were more women and men working together. Therefore I believed working to empower women was a good first step and started thinking about how to create programs. These are the influences that shaped what happened next:

1. Experience – Reflecting on the life experiences that have had the most impact on my life and makes me who I am today. These experiences include speech and drama, music, teaching, mindfulness, martial arts and personal development.

2. Teaching – I used to be a public school teacher and I believe in the intelligence, creativity, power and compassion of our youth.

3. Entrepreneurship – I set out to provide services for entrepreneurial women; however, when I started researching what held women back, the resounding answer was confidence. As I set out to learn when the initial breakdown in confidence occurs, I was shocked to learn it starts as early as age eight and rapidly declines between 8-12 years of age. It was then I realized I had to start planting seeds with girls while they are young so they can start building their toolkit.

I left my job as the COO of a local software startup company to pursue my business idea. I came up with Girls in the Spotlight four months after leaving that position and launched a pilot program two months later at one school. To my surprise, 18 girls signed up and the first Girls in the Spotlight after school enrichment program was born. By August there was interest and requests to be in 11 schools in our local district after our successful summer programs. Literally, I couldn’t serve all of the schools and therefore, I quickly recruited and trained the first program coaches. This all happened within eight months of launching the initial program.

By our one year anniversary, I had recruited 12 coaches to service eight schools and had talks underway with neighboring districts and local charter middle schools. Then COVID-19 happened. We immediately took our programs online and that opened the door to servicing girls where ever they may be located – it created an opportunity that we are still exploring.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not always been a smooth road, however, I would like to note that more positivity came my way pursuing the development of Girls in the Spotlight than any other life endeavor thus far. Doors kept opening and I knew in my gut, regardless of the challenges, that I was doing something good in the world and it kept me going. The reality of pursuing your passion is you have to learn all aspects of business whether it’s your strength or not because if you don’t take action, nothing is going to happen. The minute you figure out one part of the business, an obstacle appears. There is a constant challenge on some level when you’re trying to establish a new organization.

Then there’s, funding, surprise, surprise. Operating as a non-profit has tax exemption perks and the potential to attract donors who believe in your cause; however, it is hard to obtain grant money in the early years when you really need it the most. Granting agencies and foundations want to see traction and are, for the most part, risk-averse, despite early traction in the market.

Finally, being a non-profit is not easy. Everyone assumes you give everything away, or everything you’re doing is free. Running any kind of program for kids costs money, especially if you want to do it right and have resources (I used to be a public school teacher, so have a strong opinion on this.) People also think leaders of non-profits don’t need to be paid fair market value. It’s infuriating and makes the transition to being a leader in the non-profit space versus for-profit still challenging for me.

Advice I have for other women, especially young women, includes:

1. Identify a personal advisory team – people you trust, people you can learn from and people who have your best interest at heart.

2. Focus on your strengths – I wish someone would have told me this sooner because I spent a long time trying to be good at many things and spread myself too thin. I could have been cultivating my strengths to put them to use sooner.

3. Keep learning – this can be from a book, an article, a podcast, a TEDtalk, an online course – it doesn’t have to be another degree. We are never too old to learn something new and it gives the advantage to keep a fresh perspective and see things from different angles which is important when you work with a diverse group of people.

4. Honor your values – if a job or business venture pulls you away from your core, in the end, it will bite you and you will need to invest time to pick the pieces back up and honor your true self.

5. Prioritize wellness – this involves a handful of aspects to include physical, mental, spiritual, social and financial. You cannot be of service to others a operate at your optimal level when you are depleted.

We’d love to hear more about Girls in the Spotlight.
I create programs for girls ages 8-12 to help them find their voice. My goal is to help girls reach their full potential and part of the approach is creating a girl-centric, supportive environment where girls can safely explore their ideas, thoughts and feelings while developing positive relationships with other girls. I use creative and performing arts combined with wellness and leadership aspects to inform my curriculum.

I am most proud of the Girls in the Spotlight brand. People connect to the vision and seem to understand how important it is to empower our girls and help them build skills at an early age. A few things that set us apart include the following:

– The creative writing and presentations that the girls share are all original. Girls have a choice within the theme or topic. Therefore they are able to tune into their interests and passions, which makes the work personal.

– The use of POWER words to remind girls that the words they choose and use in writing or when speaking can truly affect others. When you choose positivity, it spreads.

– Exploring leadership through creative techniques and creating the building blocks for being a leader. For example, communication – the more we practice, the better we become.

Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
From a very young age, I was nominated by my classmates to be a co-director for a grade level play. Then by middle school, I took on leadership roles with enrichment clubs. By the time I reached high school, I was elected to be class president for two consecutive years. All of those early leadership experiences gave me hands-on exposure to working with people, problem-solving, building community and relationships.

In addition, theater was a big part of my life from the ages of 11-21. At the time, I didn’t realize all the skills I was building and developing to include communicating with a diverse group of people to work towards the end goal, taking initiative and trying new things and perhaps most importantly, building empathy.

FInally, the experience of being part of a loving, supportive family was the bedrock of my foundation. They taught me simple values such as being kind to everyone, putting myself in someone else’s shoes, choose my words carefully and working hard towards any goal I had. My mother and father may not have always understood my interests, however they supported me to explore and learn, even from mistakes or failures by encouraging me to chalk it up to “the big E” (E= experience.) They definitely helped shape who I grew up to be.

Pricing:

  • World Adventures – group warmups, storytelling and public speaking online summer program. One hour, M-F, for one week. Girls choose their destination, programs limited to 10 girls, registration closes July 1st. Only $75.
  • Girls Jam – movement, minfulness and music making online summer program. One hour, M-F, for one week. Programs limited to 10 girls, registration closes July 1st. Only $75

Contact Info:

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in