Fortitude Founder

Allen County
Founder Profile

Traci Henning-Kolberg &

Stephanie Gottesman

Business

Monstrous Regiment Media

Founded

March 2019

Grant Date

January 2020

Idea

To produces inspiring digital content promoting diversity, inclusion, and progressive thought.

Creating powerful digital content off the beaten path. 

After moving to Fort Wayne, Stephanie Gottesman discovered that she had more time to focus on personal and professional projects. But she also ran into a dilemma that many women in Fort Wayne face: How could she get the word out about her new adventures?

When Stephanie realized platforms for women to share their experiences at work and at play were lacking in Fort Wayne, she teamed up with Traci Henning-Kolberg to do something about it.

Monstrous Regiment Media was born as a way to provide diverse, witty, well-informed, and humanistic content through podcasting.

Although Monstrous Regiment Media will eventually encompass more, the production company’s first brand is Women Are…, a project that creates local podcasts highlighting the big picture issues faced by women.

The flagship show is Women Are: Fort Wayne, a podcast that shines a light on the accomplishments of women in northeastern Indiana.

The goal of Women Are: Fort Wayne is to be as inclusive as possible, featuring women from many different pockets of community and building bridges between parts of the city that wouldn’t ordinarily have reasons to connect.

Through a strategic partnership with NPR, Stephanie and Traci hope to expand the Women Are… project to expand to more cities throughout America, allowing local women to share their stories with their own communities, and connecting women on a national level.

For now, you can listen to their podcast Stitcher, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and WBOI.org, as well as on their website at womenare.us.

Connect with Women Are: Fort Wayne on social media

Business Updates

Podcast series on Fort Wayne women wins SOUP funding

Stephanie Gottesman, creator of the podcast called Women are Fort Wayne, was voted winner of Fort Wayne SOUP’s May 2 event.

The nonprofit group, SOUP — using an acronym that stands for socializing, organizing, uniting people — collects $5 from everyone attending its quarterly micro-grant dinners and invites the diners to vote on their favorite of four or five funding pitches they hear from startup businesses or nonprofits.

Building sisterhood: Why an ex-LA resident is launching a podcast about Fort Wayne women

When Stephanie Gottesman tells people she chose to move from Los Angeles to Fort Wayne, she often gets a befuddled response.

Why? They ask.

But to Gottesman, the answer is simple. Beyond falling in love with Fort Wayne, she discovered how much the city could save her in money and time.

New podcast! How Fort Wayne women are supporting each other as entrepreneurs

Welcome to “Women Are: Fort Wayne,” a podcast by Stephanie Gottesman and Traci Henning-Kolberg. Each week for 10 weeks, “Women Are” interviews local women in Fort Wayne about their creative pursuits and ideas, as well as the big-picture issues that all women face in achieving their goals.

This week, Andie Hines of Own Your Success shares her insights and wisdom into female entrepreneurship in northeast Indiana and the importance of women having a supportive community around them as they launch and run businesses.

Podcast: 10 ways to move toward a zero-waste lifestyle in Fort Wayne

This week, Jodi Leamon joins “Women Are: Fort Wayne” for a conversation about the work she does helping Allen County residents learn to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost their waste.

Leamon is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Allen County Department of Environmental Management and founder of the local chapter of Food Rescue US. She has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and a master’s in Biology.

Contact Women Are: Fort Wayne