Upcoming Event! “What Color Is Your Money?”

Renowned CPA, International Chartered Accountant and our ETS Financial Coach Tope Ganiyah Fajingbesi is officially launching her book entitled “What Color is Your Money?.” The event will be held on Tuesday, May 21st at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW, DC 20001.

The program will begin at 6pm and end at 8pm. Get ready to find out your money color is and how to rock it, hear the story of the “2 Benjamins” and get some free gifts! There will also be opportunities to buy signed copies of the book at the event.

Admission is free and you can bring your friends along, but please take a second to RSVP at

http://ourfinancialcoach.com/events/

The inspiring and motivating effect of ETS: Networking and Power Coaching Class

On Monday, May 6th the ETS class was about Networking and Power Coaching. A very special thanks goes out to our guest speaker, Hope Katz Gibbs of Inkandescent PR and a big shout out to our board members Kate Campbell Stevenson, Shirah Cohen, and Joanne Clark for making it an insightful evening.

All participants introducing themselves in the beginning.

The ETS Networking and Power Coaching Class is designed to show students the personal and professional journeys of successful women entrepreneurs. The session was formatted to address topics ranging from successful careers and businesses, to networking strategies, sales strategies, effective leadership, and overcoming fear and developing confidence.

ETS participants listening attentively to our four panelists

The first part of the session included a panel discussion with each panelist talking about their own strategies, drawbacks, and the secret ingredients they used to become successful. The women also addressed candidly the financial strategies they used to get where they are today. From knowing how to fund their businesses, to getting loans, to using savings, all were important and required savvy and quick thinking to launching their business.

All our panelists (starting second from left) Hope, Kate, Shirah, and Joanne. Shirah inspired students by sharing her personal story. She said she became an entrepreneur the day she declared to herself and the world that she was an Independent Consultant.

The second part of the session consisted of a small group activity in which students had to interact and ask questions to guest speakers and their peers. They spoke of networking, marketing, being effective personally and professionally, overcoming barriers, and most importantly, being an active member of the community at large.

Joanne, power coaching a small group (from left to right), Julie, Joanne, Gabriela, Angela and Sarah.

The last part was exchanging ideas, learning from each other, and reporting back to the rest of the class about what they learned, sharing handouts, teaching tools and resources. The greatest inspiration was the welcoming embrace of the guest speakers and their stories.’ A growing sense of motivation was apparent, to walk the line and reach that end zone, regardless of any drawbacks and barriers.

Kate (second from left) intently listening and power coaching (from left) Tyesha, Annette, Tenisha, and Kira.

Again, thank you Hope Katz Gibbs of Inkandescent PR and board members Kate Campbell Stevenson, Shirah Cohen, and Joanne Clark, who tirelessly galvanize the entrepreneur spirit of our ETS students. Also a huge shout out to our Entrepreneur Coach and Program Manager Alexia Muchisu ,who spices up our ETS classrooms, and our instructor Sharmila Karamachandani, who is constantly sowing the seed of knowledge to our ETS students and beyond. Much love to all of you from the EWI Team!

By Hanna Yamir, Program Associate Intern

Alexia Takes Us Inside the ETS Classrooms

“Our students radiate energy, strength, determination, and hope…seeing them interact engagingly with the instructor, ETS grads and guest speakers is a powerful and rewarding experience!” Those are the words of our new Entrepreneurship Coach & Program Manager Alexia Muchisu Wendel, who, for the last three weeks has been attending our ETS classes in the Alexandria Durant Center.

Alexia Muchisu Wendel, Tope Ganiyah Fajingbesi (Financial Empowerment Instructor) and Sharmila Karamchandani

With 22 students in both Alexandria and Bethesda classrooms, Alexia was able to assess and witness the full evolution of the students. While the topics progressed from simply conveying business ideas to managing personal finances (led by Tope Ganiyah Fajingbesi) and learning marketing strategies to understanding the process of story telling, the students were able to demonstrate a desire for knowledge and the capacity to absorb information useful to launching their businesses.

For the “Telling your Story” session, our former ETS students: Velma Crawford, Lyzbeth Monard, Elda LaRue, Alison Sigethy, and Kudzai Gombakomba were brought in as guest speakers to share their experiences after the program. All had extraordinary stories to tell; from personal struggles to professional triumphs they seem to have seen it all. One of the most beautiful things in life is the ability to turn the saddest story into a positive and rewarding experience, a story that teaches us that mistakes are only a learning process. Our grads have exactly done this and been there, and seeing the reception they were receiving from our current students demonstrates that human interaction coupled with great ideas can foment lasting partnerships and a solid flow of information ultimately leading to success.

“Telling your Story” session with Velma and other ETS grads

According to Alexia, the driving force behind the success of the classes is our coordinator and instructor Sharmila Karamchandani, who infuses knowledge and experience into her teachings and shows a keen understanding of individual students struggles and potentials.

Kudzai Gombakomba, ETS grad and owner of KG Spotless, telling her story in the Bethesda ETS Class

The collaboration among students is stellar, “It makes sense to hear different perspectives even when it’s not within the same industry” says Alexia. Working well together, students made agreements and friendships sprung. Just recently Alexia noticed how two of our students Julie Hyo Park and Angela Sargents (both in the crocheting & knitting industry) agreed to work together since one liked knitting and the other liked finishing products, hence an informal partnership was born out of a simple conversation.

ETS Grads Clementine Simmons (mentor), Elda LaRue, Lyzbeth Monard and current student Floralba Camargo

The classroom allowed them to break the ice, it became a platform for expressing their thoughts and ideas and the confidence is now ceiling high, our students are now few steps away from reaching the tip of the mountain.

Alexandria ETS Class

With two months remaining towards graduation, with the support of our instructors, coordinators, mentors, trainers, and guest speakers and more, our students are ready to take over the world! Thank you Alexia for being there with our students, and thank you all who made this possible!

By Hanna Yamir, Program Associate Intern

ETS Students Share Their Vision

Last night I attended my first ETS class. It was to be a special one, I was told.  I went in partially unsure of what to expect but knew the ladies had some extraordinary talents to share that evening.  As the chairs slowly filled, our lead trainer Sharmela gave an opening speech on how meaningful that evening’s session will be for the women.  The goal was on guiding them to materialize their ideas into concrete business-oriented concepts that can lead them towards entrepreneurial success.

To do that, their homework assignment for the evening was in presenting their vision boards that they had created. A vision board is basically an image-filled platform where they would lay out their ideas, aspirations, inspirations, goals, approaches, tools, and so much more, whatever they want to add to make their dreams a reality.

A few of the vision boards

The homework brought out the best in everyone; I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of energy, inspiration, and talent I was witnessing. As our first presenter Kira laid out her graphic digital artwork, it was clear that the women had all it takes to be both artists and entrepreneurs. From Sarah’s framed butterflies, to Annette’s foam doll displays, and to Cleopatra’s striking quote from her own self-published book, one by one they were unveiling their business ideas, displaying before our eyes boards and cutouts filled with beautiful, artistic and creative images.

Tenisha Campbell’s Clothing/ Styling Creation Frame

Sarah Folts displaying her Mounted & Framed Butterflies Vision Board

Annette McNeil presenting her Images for Earth Art Forms vision board; Sharmila displaying Annette’s foam doll frames.

Time being the only constraint,  they had only two minutes to present their visions. I was pleased to also witness the level of support and interaction as well as their determination not to leave anything vague and unanswered.

Kira Washington displaying her graphic design work; looking on are Sharmila Karamachandani, Charlene Gatewood, Cleopatra Magwaro, and Annette McNeil.

By and large, it was a heart warming as well as an enlightening session. For about an hour I was subconsciously transported into their world, only to be awakened by Sharmela’s call of “time’s up!”  It was indeed a special evening.

Tenisha Campbell demonstrating her clothing creations.

Thank you Sharmila and all our students who made the evening amazing and a huge success.

By Hanna Yamir, Program Associate Intern

Thank You Hilltop Microfinance Initiative!

Last week was the first financial empowerment class and it brought out the best of both our students and our guest speakers, much to the delight of all of us here at EWI!  The session entitled “Building and/or Repairing Your Credit Score” aimed at informing our women on how to manage personal finances before making a leap in the complex entrepreneurial world. As they think about their creative products or services and their marketing skills, needless to say finance will play a great role in their future success.

Dawn, Chris, David, Mike, Sankalp, Laura and Alyssa from The Hilltop Microfinance Initiative, a team of highly professional Georgetown University students were there to present some powerful slides on how to interpret those daunting credit reports among other things. Leaving out jargon and intimidating financial concepts, our guest speakers were able to convey simple yet powerful ideas and approaches on how to fix credit scores, how to deal with debt collectors, and most importantly how to manage finances on a daily basis.

With fresh poise and a dynamic energy, our guest speakers were able to engage our students, patiently answer their questions and share their knowledge in a lively and interactive manner.

Giving accolades to The Hilltop Microfinance Initiative team, lead trainer Sharmila expressed, “You were very approachable and broke down some very intimidating aspects of the financial world into simple-to-understand words… It was a very powerful…positive and engaging session on such a topic most people have a difficult time to speak about.” In concurrence with Sharmila, Marga also noted how the team “all did an outstanding job presenting, engaging and addressing complex questions and real life experiences our women clients are dealing with.”

Overall it was a life changing, community building, and an uplifting session that will lead our students and most of us to financial freedom. Thank you Hilltop Microfinance Initiative!

By Hanna Yamir, Program Associate Intern

Welcome The New ETS Spring Class!

The New ETS Spring Class of Entrepreneurs!

On Saturday, March 23, Empowered Women International hosted a Meet & Greet, the first session of the Entrepreneurship Training for Success (ETS) class. ETS is a series of 23 classes, including business and financial literacy labs, a business plan pitch, and final graduation, which are a part of a three-month intensive entrepreneurship program.

The range of businesses in this class include arts, crafts, apparel, writing, publishing, jewelry, consulting, organizing, cleaning, film, translating, health, child care, cooking, sustainable housing, and irrigation systems.

Marga Fripp, President, discussing the finer points of the ETS program, with Sharmila Karamchandani, Lead Trainer, on the right.

The focus for the Meet & Greet session was on getting to know everyone, as well discuss the program itself, and on spiritual transformations as the beginning of the empowering process. Founder Marga Fripp shared a powerful TED Talk by Ric Elias, a passenger of Flight 1549: the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009, at the beginning of afternoon session.

 

Following this video, the ETS students shared with the group their transforming moments, which got them to this point in their life and why they wanted to be a part of ETS. It is only when a person is ready to make a change in their life that they are really able to change and become empowered.  This time for self-reflection and introspection was a wonderful way for the women to bond together.

Mentor Marcela Kogan and ETS student Kira Washington

ETS students Charmelle Clark and Jane Mwinuka, Mentor Chris Ollis, and ETS student Cleopatra Magwaro

The ETS Team: Mary Louise Marino (Outreach & Operations Manager), Hanna Yamir (Program Associate Intern), Sara Seavey (Monitoring & Evaluation Intern), Marga Fripp (President & Founder), Alexandra Standal (Development Associate), and Sharmila Karamchandani (Lead Trainer)

We are so excited to welcome the new class of entrepreneurs. Onward and Upward Spring ETS class!

By Sara Seavey, Monitoring & Evaluation Intern

Mentors Get Oriented to Spring

Spring is here, and our ETS Mentors are more than ready to jump-start the season with radiating enthusiasm and a sense of fulfillment as they look forward to sharing their knowledge and ideas with our new Spring ETS students. On Monday, March 18, our returning and new volunteer mentors got together to introduce themselves, discuss the program, and how to create an environment of support.

Deborah Blank, Mentor Coordinator, leads the orientation.

The orientation and discussion outlined some of the major components of the program, as well as the importance of building a community of mentors with an emphasis on networking, interacting, and empowering women to express their thoughts, ideas, and boosting their confidence. Along with training women to be business savvy, the focus will also be on supporting their creativity and pushing them to develop clarity with their products and services.

One of the most important lessons I learned from the discussion was how determined women, equipped with the right ideas and creativity, can uplift not just their selves and families but the entire community and nation. While the program will serve as a medium to discover their full potential with their business (with the extraordinary support of our mentors, trainers, and guest speakers), it motivates them to surpass any challenge along the way, and in turn, be more civically engaged.

Clementine Simmons (Mentor), Chris Ollis (Mentor), Eileen Kessler (Mentor), Alexandra Standal (Development Associate), Sharmila Karamchandani (Lead Trainer), Charlene Gatewood, Deborah Blank (Mentor Coordinator and Board Advisory), Mariam Mohamed (2012 ETS Graduate), and Marcela Kogan (Mentor)

Thank you to all our amazing mentors and the time and talents you’re giving to our new class of women entrepreneurs!

By Hanna Yamir, Program Associate Intern

EWI Women Holding up Half the Sky…

Dear Readers,

“Women hold up half the sky” the Chinese saying goes.

   Women also hold together our communities…

I see them in their actions as the keepers of our stories, celebrating our traditions, keeping our history alive and contributing to the cultural fabric of this nation.

   Women are at the forefront of our local economy…

Whether this means they own the corner flower shop or the small neighborhood bakery, or they teach kids in after school programs, women prove to be incredible innovators, problem solvers, and community leaders.

At EWI, we seek those women who might not have the resources needed to make ends meet, yet they have indomitable spirit, determination, and human potential.

We’ve learned that by making a direct investment in women through entrepreneurship, mentoring and support services, often in a time of challenge or opportunity in their lives, we set a new course for their future.

Seventeen women are now enrolled in our Spring Entrepreneur Training for Success.

The program starts on March 23 and is offered in two locations, in Alexandria, VA and Bethesda, MD.

A few more spaces are still available to an immigrant, refugee or a low-income woman ready to launch her micro-business. Scholarships are offered to low-income qualified applicants.

Know of someone who is in need of our assistance? Now is the time to send her our way!
Here is the link to our online application to pass along.

You are about to change someone’s life!

Thank you for all your support.

Onward and Upward!

Currently Accepting ETS Applications!

Do you know an immigrant woman ready to make a living doing what she is passionate about? We can help!

We work with talented and high-potential immigrant, refugee and low-income women and help them monetize their creative or cultural assets, artistic abilities, knowledge and skills.

Perhaps you know someone who loves to bake, cook, make art, design clothes or teach your skills to others? Whatever her passion might be we can help turn it into business.

We are currently accepting applications and conducting intake interviews. The application is free and available online through the link below.

Tuition scholarships are offered based on need and merit to qualified women applying for our program. Learn more and apply now

Join EWI’s BizCorps Team!

Love to Mentor, Advise and Coach Women Entrepreneurs for Success? Only have a few hours to give? We need your services!

MUST HAVE:

• Pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit
• Demonstrated success in business and/or leadership
• Passion for empowering women entrepreneurs
• Cultural competency, empathy, and good coaching abilities

We’re looking for business coaches who have one or more of the following:

• Business coaching or consulting experience
• Entrepreneurial experience
• Industry experience in any of the following: fine art, craft, performing art, photography, graphic design, web design, food, consulting, fashion, beauty, home-based business,
• Functional experience in marketing, sales, social media, product design, strategy, operations, accounting, finance, business plan review

What kind of volunteers are we looking for?!

Business Coach Volunteers

Goal: Provide business advice and guidance to women students in EWI’s entrepreneurial programs to help them develop and launch a small business.

Financial Advisors Volunteers

Goal: Provide financial advice and/or feedback in business or personal finances including pricing products and/or services, record-keeping, tax preparation, cash flow, budgets, breakeven analysis, strategies to improve credit score and other financial matters.

Legal Advisors Volunteers

Goal: Provide legal business advice to helps women students in EWI’s entrepreneurial programs address legal aspects related to their business including but not limited to business registration and licensing, intellectual property, contracts and other matters.

Guest Speaker Volunteers

Goal: Share practical experience, knowledge and wisdom about the topic of discussion. Be open to share your personal experience, talk about failure, learned lessons, and success. Be willing to address questions from students and provide resources you are aware of.

Click here to read more about the responsibilities and roles of our BizCorps team.

APPLY NOW

Apply here to be considered for our Business Corps Volunteer Program.