Why We’re Launching Solena — and Why We Need Your Help

Hi! We’re Janice and Ruth — two women from two very different parts of the world who met through the Y Combinator co-founder search and immediately recognized the same truth: across countries and cultures, women are navigating systems that were never built for them to thrive.

In Western Kenya, Ruth saw girls pushed out of school, young mothers with almost no support, women facing violence and safety concerns, and whole communities with limited access to stable income opportunities. None of these challenges reflect a lack of strength or talent — they reflect the reality that the systems around them were never designed with women’s wellbeing or potential in mind.

In France, the US, and in so many other countries, Janice kept hearing different versions of the same story: women pushed to their limits by domestic violence, caregiving, economic pressure, insecurity, burnout, and shrinking rights — often without community or spaces where they could build power together.

While we may live in different contexts and struggle with varying challenges, it's the same underlying reality: nothing will change unless we organize to change it.

That’s why we created The Solena Collective — a global network of small, locally led Circles where women come together to build community, take action on the issues that matter locally, and learn from one another across borders.

We’re launching the first Circles in:

Your support helps us build the shared structure, tools, and early partnerships needed for this movement to grow across the world.

Why Solena? Why now?

Across countries, women are facing versions of the same structural pressures:

Whether it’s a young mother in rural Kenya, a woman balancing work and caregiving in France, or an American watching her rights erode, the global story is the same:

Women everywhere are reaching the same breaking point — carrying too much on their own, with no clear path to change.

We want to build a collective way forward.

Kenya, France & the U.S.: Three different contexts, one shared need

Bungoma County, Kenya

Women are organizing around issues they identify as most urgent, including:

Local women lead these Circles, choose the priorities, and design the solutions.

Paris, France

Women are shaping Circles focused on:

United States

With rights under attack, social systems eroding, and burnout at record levels, many women are looking for structure and community to turn concern into action. As we begin our conversations in early 2026, we're excited to see what American women want to change!

Different challenges, same pattern.

Solena connects these efforts so women can learn from one another and build power together.

What makes Solena different

Solena Circles are:

Circles choose their own issues and run their own projects.

The global network provides structure, training, tools, small grants, and cross-country learning.

How Solena Sustains Itself

Every Circle contributes monthly dues based on their local context.

These dues flow into the Shared Fund — a global pool that supports all Circles with:

Higher-resource Circles contribute more, lower-resource Circles contribute less, but every Circle benefits.

This creates a self-sustaining global movement that’s not dependent on unstable grants.

Our First Goal: $10,000 to Launch Solena

We’re starting with a goal of $10,000, which covers critical startup work across Kenya, France, and the U.S. It will also cover several microgrants to support the work of our first Circles.

As we gain momentum, we’ll introduce stretch goals to support the next phase of expansion.

Founding Stewards

As we launch Solena, we’re inviting a small group of people to contribute $500 as Founding Stewards to help make this first year possible.

These early contributions help underwrite Solena’s shared infrastructure at launch, allowing the first Circles to begin with real support behind them.

Founding Stewards are people who believed in the vision early and helped make this first year possible. During Solena’s first year, Founding Stewards will receive personal updates and be invited to a few small-group conversations, offering transparency into how the model unfolds as the first Circles launch in Kenya, France, and the U.S.

This is a time-limited, year-one role. Founding Stewards do not hold governance or decision-making authority, and participation does not confer any special role within Circles. It is simply a way to help build the foundation and stay close to the learning emerging during Solena’s earliest phase.

What your support builds

Your contribution helps create:

By supporting our launch, you’re helping to build a movement that will empower women across the world.

Reach out to get involved!

We’re building a movement, and we’d love for you to be part of it.

We are looking for:

About the Co-Founders

**Janice Levenhagen — Co-Founder & Global Lead

Janice is a gender equality and community-building leader with 13+ years of experience creating programs that expand opportunity for women and girls. She founded ChickTech, which grew into one of the most visible women-in-tech nonprofits in the U.S., reaching tens of thousands across 25+ cities.

Her work has spanned the U.S., Europe, and Africa, focusing on mentoring systems, leadership development, and designing community-driven models that support women long-term. At Solena, she leads global strategy, model development, partnerships, and international expansion.

**Ruth Ibrahim — Co-Founder & Kenya Lead

Ruth is a community organizer and women’s empowerment practitioner from Western Kenya. She has led grassroots projects supporting young mothers, teenage girls pushed out of school, and women working to build stable livelihoods.

Her leadership is deeply rooted in local realities, shaped by strong relationships with women’s groups across all nine sub-counties of Bungoma County. At Solena, she leads Circle development in Kenya and ensures the model is grounded in the needs of women in low-resource contexts.

Join us

Thank you for helping launch The Solena Collective. Together we can build a global movement where women organize for change.

Download our 2-page overview