Her Story
About Funmilola
I've been in nonprofit for about 10 years now, and I started Dare Ambitious Girl in 2016. My passion for community impact and creating opportunities for others is what led me to build this organization. At its core, Dare Ambitious Girl was created to provide intentional spaces for growth, connection, and empowerment. While we initially started with a focus on young women, our work has evolved to serve a broader community through programs centered around health and wellness, education, personal and professional development, financial literacy, and community engagement. One of our largest areas of focus today is menstrual equity and women's health. We have a flagship initiative called the Wellness Cycle, where we've worked to ensure that girls and women have access to menstrual products, education, and resources that allow them to manage their periods with dignity and confidence. What started as a small idea has now expanded internationally. Today, we've supported more than 15,100 girls globally and distributed over 36,000 menstrual products through our programs and partnerships across the United States, Nigeria, and this year we're expanding to the Caribbean, which is exciting. Beyond product access, we're also focused on education because access alone isn't enough. We're creating opportunities for personal and professional growth through workshops, networking experiences, mentorship opportunities, wellness events, scholarships, and initiatives. In addition to being the founder of a nonprofit, I am also a senior UX designer in the healthcare space, so I have my 9 to 5 and then the 5 to 9 as well. My day is pretty busy and stretched, but I have a team of 14 people that help manage the tasks for DAG, which has been such a great help.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Funmilola
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think definitely belief in myself and just being true to the goals that I set forward. A lot of people kind of get stuck in having a vision or setting out these plans, but it's really about getting to the action part, which a lot of people are kind of scared to do. So I think it's all a part of that fail-forward sort of ideology of just doing it. Doing it scared, doing it brave, just doing it is the main point. Me just believing in myself and knowing that what I want to achieve is possible has definitely been a big attribute to my success.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to fail forward. I think a lot of people are always scared to mess up or to make sure everything is super perfect. There's no such thing as perfect. I think the best way to learn and to just be better at the things that you're doing is to fail forward, is to find out the mistakes so that you know what you can do better next time. And so, it also allows you to give yourself grace as you're navigating these spaces. So, I would definitely say the best advice I've received is to fail forward and just give myself grace.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say take it one day at a time. It's not easy to have a full nonprofit and then a whole 9-to-5 as well and try to navigate the two. I think there are women who do it gracefully and just are really great at time management and time boxing and things like that, but I would say, you know, if you particularly aren't, to just learn as you go. There's no perfect path to getting your goals across.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think it seems to be oversaturated, but that can be a weakness and a strength at the same time. I think the strength is in collaborating with people. I love to collaborate and work smarter, not harder. A lot of people feel like they have to start something from scratch and it has to be the best idea ever, but sometimes you can just build upon what somebody else is doing or partner with another organization who may have strengths that you may not particularly have. Collaboration and tapping into your network is super important. When I started the organization, there weren't that many nonprofits that were focused specifically on women of color, providing them resources and education and opportunities. Now, fast forward to 2025, there's so many. But instead of using that and saying my organization doesn't matter anymore, I've seen the opportunity to connect with other orgs and network and do a lot of amazing events and partnerships, and it definitely helped with my growth.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say integrity and impact is very important to me. I think impact is a word that spreads across everything that I do, and it's true to the nature of who I am. Whether it's being a UX designer at my 9 to 5, I'm impacting by creating the digital experiences, making sure that users are able to navigate whatever digital product they're on in a seamless way. Providing impact through my nonprofit, and then just me in my own personal life, I love to just be of value, be a resource to people in my life. So, I would say impact, authenticity, staying true to yourself, and definitely integrity.
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