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“When we're younger, and we're hungry for these opportunities, there's always this tendency to feel like you have to compromise more, or that you need to let somebody else define your value or your worth.” - Cheval
On this episode of Entreprenista, we welcome back the talented Cheval, who was one of our very first guests on the podcast. When we initially connected with Cheval, she was selling bridal dresses as a head designer with her name being used for the collections. As a designer, she brought over 10 bridal product lines to market and dressed noteworthy female icons like Dove Cameron, Chrissy Teigen, and Carrie Underwood. Except, living this dream came with a lofty price when she signed away the right for her name to be trademarked, without first properly consulting legal counsel. After seeking to renegotiate this one-sided contract, her former employers served her with a lawsuit in federal court that forced her out of the trade she loved and prohibited her from using her own name in any business, commerce, or public social media page. Now, life has changed, business has changed, and Cheval has certainly evolved through, what she calls, her reckless optimism and turned it into a responsible optimism. In today’s episode, she shares how that original contract is still currently being enforced and interpreted in ways that she never could’ve imagined. She discusses how she began picking up the pieces to move forward and allow her lesson learned to be of value to someone else. Learn about how this experience inspired the founding of her non-profit called A Girl You Might Know, which aims to foster a community and network that provides a safe and encouraging environment for artists to create without being subjected to unfair terms. And hear how she now finds herself in the shoemaking business, her secrets to resilience, why we should all honor our mistakes, and so much more!
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Guests
Cheval
Hosts
Stephanie Cartin
Co-founder of Socialfly and Entreprenista.
Stephanie Cartin is the co-founder and CEO of Entreprenista, an all-in-one platform – which includes a private community & business membership called The Entreprenista League that's made up of over 2,000 women founders at all stages of business, a weekly newsletter received by 60,000 readers, two podcasts, in-person educational & networking events, and an award program – that women founders at all stages can turn to for everything they need to grow.
Stephanie is also the co-founder of Socialfly (acquired by Truform Media Group in 2024), Markid, and Pearl Influential Capital. She has won countless awards, including the SmartCEO Brava award, which recognizes the top women CEOs in New York, and a Stevie Award for Women-Run Workplace of the Year. She has also appeared in Bloomberg, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Refinery29, and more.
Courtney Spritzer
Co-founder of Entreprenista.
Courtney Spritzer is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, and community builder with a passion for creating brands and platforms that empower women to lead, grow, and thrive.
In 2012, she co-founded Socialfly, a leading social-first digital and influencer marketing agency. Over the course of a decade, she helped scale the business into an award-winning agency working with Fortune 500 brands and emerging startups, building a powerhouse team and culture along the way. In 2024, Socialfly was acquired.
In 2018, Courtney launched the Entreprenista Podcast to spotlight the stories of inspiring women founders. That passion evolved into Entreprenista Media in 2021, a media platform and community supporting women entrepreneurs at every stage of growth. She now co-leads the continued expansion of The Entreprenista League, a membership-driven community and ecosystem for founders.
As an angel investor, Courtney supports female-led and mission-driven startups aligned with her vision for a more inclusive and equitable business landscape.
She is the co-author of Like, Love, Follow: The Entreprenista’s Guide to Using Social Media to Grow Your Business (2015), a strategic guide for leveraging social platforms to drive business success.
Her work and ventures have been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and The New York Times. She is committed to championing visionary founders and helping build the next generation of impactful, community-driven businesses.
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