Brazen, a network of female entrepreneurs, launches in Philly

Jennifer Ehlen, the founder of and CEO of membership network Brazen Global was one of many out-of-state guests that came to the city for Philly Tech Week 2018 presented by Comcast — like Backstage Capital’s Arlan Hamilton, who flew in from L.A., or emocha Health’s Katrina Rios, who came in from Baltimore.

Ehlen, who is based in St. Louis, came to support the Philly launch of her network, which looks to support female entrepreneurs and help them grow their businesses. After four years operating in Missouri, in 2018 Brazen expanded to six other U.S. cities like Chicago, Dallas and Detroit.

Incredible night at the @BrazenPhilly launch with Director @bonnie. TY to all of the #womenentrepreneurs (and the fellas!) who came out to celebrate with us. HUGE TY to our Founders Committee members and the team at @Perpay_inc for hosting! Excited to #bebrazen with you, Philly! pic.twitter.com/0fibDtQ7EK

— Jennifer Ehlen (@JenniferEhlen) May 4, 2018

Locally, the chapter will be run by Bonnie Bogle, a Philly-area native who’s returned to her hometown after starting and running operations at two D.C.-based startups in the tech space: mapping platform Mapbox and tech consulting company Development Seed.

“If I had access to a resource like Brazen, it would have made figuring out how to scale the companies a lot faster,” said Bogle, who’ll be leading the organization’s business strategy and networking offerings. Similar to Delaware’s Great Dames, the group has an initial free tier of membership, with additional services available for monthly fees that range from $10 to $79 a month. The higher tiers include access to “Growth Group Software” and invites to “Brazen Champions Dinners.”

“We’re different than what’s out there in Philly in that we’re industry- and stage-agnostic,” Bogle said in an email. “We don’t just target tech or high growth companies but rather companies before they get to that stage or ones that might never be high growth at all.”