Whitney Johnson left a seven figure Wall Street job in an effort to help women dream. Her BLOG, Dare to Dream, states: “women in the U.S. may be placated, even pampered, but because we aren’t dreaming, we are also desperate and depressed.” Whitney hopes to inspire other women to dream as big as she has. With a degree in music from Brigham Young University, Whitney moved, with her husband, to New York City, where she was promptly told she would be a good secretary. Whitney took the opportunity, but went back to school for accounting, and was soon placed on the administrative track on Wall Street.

Ten years later Whitney left Wall Street ranked among the best investors in the world. “Every time you make a big decision,” says Whitney, “there’s a push and a pull.” The push, she says, was reaching the ceiling of accomplishment in investing. The pull was turning forty, which she calls a “mid-life opportunity.”
Now, she counts blogging, publishing and managing a hedge fund among her pursuits. Organize Magizine, of which she is an investor and member of the advisory board, has a circulation of 100,000, and is available in many major retail outlets. Whitney’s advice for those pursuing their dreams is to simply “go out and try. Don’t be afraid. You have to be willing to take risks to dream.”

Whitney’s BLOG is found at: www.daretodream.typepad.com

Brad Feld, managing director at Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capitol, has been in the technology business for a long time. He started his first company out of his fraternity at MIT, and hasn’t looked back. Since selling his initial company, after 8 years of growth and management, in 1993, Brad now serves to support other entrepreneurs.

Brad has been around for some time, and his advice comes from success, failure and a whole lot of effort. “Passion,” Brad says, “Is critical, but not sufficient,” especially in the way that passion may cloud the process of discussion, or argument.

From starting his own company, to now helping others do the same, Brad has gained an invaluable perspective. “The entrepreneurs I love to work with,” Brad says, “Are guys who have had a success and a failure, and not necessarily in that order.” Brad recognizes that what he has learned from failure, has been infinitely more valuable that what has learned from success. His advice for those looking to enter the world of entrepreneurship? “Try different things.” Don’t set yourself down a single path, when ultimately, many paths could lead to equal success.

KIVA.org is a company that needs little introduction. A micro-financing operation based out of a humble San Francisco office, KIVA.org has grown in a single year from a four-person company with little investment a year ago, to a company with more money than it knows what to do with today. This is a problem, but for co-founder Matthew Flannery, this problem is at least on the better end of the spectrum.

After a premature midlife crisis at 22, Matt spent 4 years working in a job he did not enjoy, but learned from immensely. His entrepreneurial spirit brought him to Los Angeles, and what followed were a series of failed ideas, ranging from DVD vending machines, to a personal online clothing rental service.

Matt’s passion for KIVA comes out of his love for his wife, through her love for Africa. What started as a social entrepreneurship program in Uganda, has now become a service for developing nations all over the world. But even an idea as sound as the one behind KIVA is not invincible; at many points the company seemed on the brink of disaster. National exposure, however, from the New York Times and PBS, has catapulted KIVA to levels of what seems to be socially entrepreneurial stardom.

Visit KIVA.org today, and see how you can personally fund dreams across any divide.