As you might expect, I get invited to a lot of business-related events in Westchester—regrettably, far more than my work schedule allows me to attend. One of the events I was able to make was a February meeting of the Alliance of Hudson Valley Women Business Owners, where I was invited to participate in a panel discussion with other local media professionals.
Listening to the stories of so many Westchester women business owners in the audience—how they got their ideas, the obstacles they had to overcome, how they got their fledgling companies off the ground, and, ultimately, how they found success—was at once gratifying and immensely inspiring. So infectious was their entrepreneurial spirit and camaraderie that I remember leaving the meeting that night brimming with excitement and motivation to start my own business—if only I had a good idea.
This is why we opted to shine our spotlight on Westchester’s women entrepreneurs in this issue’s cover story (page 61). While the shattering of the proverbial glass ceiling in the corporate world is definitely something to laud, smaller companies, not Fortune 500 firms, comprise the majority of the county business community—and, as our Bottom Line page of business stats reveals (page 124), nearly 30 percent of them are women-owned.
If you’d like to join in the celebration, please come to our luncheon to honor Westchester’s Accomplished Women Entrepreneurs on December 8 at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains, where design mogul (and AWE honoree) Chris Madden will be our keynote speaker. (Visit westchestermagazine.com/womeninbusiness for more info and to purchase tickets.) After reading the stories of our 28 successful women —maybe you, too, will be inspired to launch a business or two.
Hope to see you at the luncheon.
