Survivor-led Entrepreneurship: Storytelling for Business and Community Engagement

“Survivor-led Entrepreneurship: Storytelling for Business and Community Engagement” is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Pratt Institute’s faculty, students, and entrepreneurs who are also survivors of gender-based violence (affiliated with Sanctuary For Families). Sanctuary For Families offers free services to all survivors living in New York City, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, marital or immigration status.

This project sets in motion a program that supports survivor-led entrepreneurships as a viable path to financial independence and stability, a key to long-term safety, and a means for building a sustainable future for themselves and their families. Survivor-led entrepreneurship refers to businesses founded and operated by individuals who have overcome significant adversity, such as domestic violence, sex trafficking, and/or related forms of trauma.

When entrepreneurs come from multiple underserved and disadvantaged groups overcoming barriers makes success more challenging. As such, entrepreneurships are not just a means of economic empowerment for survivors, but serve as a powerful tool for healing, rebuilding self-esteem and confidence, disrupting harmful systems and advocating for justice, breaking intergenerational violence and abuse, and connecting with diverse communities.

Amplifying a sense of agency, purpose, and control over one's life after experiencing trauma, storytelling is a tool that survivors can use to build their business and connect with communities and social causes that are important to them by aligning their branding and marketing strategies. Designed as a series of workshops, this project provides a space for survivor-led entrepreneurships to explore the power of their stories as they examine their goals, company/brand values, and desired community partnerships and collaborations.