The 8th annual Women Entrepreneurship Week (WEW) at Montclair State was kicked off by cosmetics giant Bobbi Brown in conversation with friend and award-winning WNBC-TV reporter Tracie Strahan on October 20.<\/p>\n
Brown was one of a dozen speakers who shared their stories of pivoting, as well as of failures and successes along their entrepreneurial journeys with the in-person and virtual audience. “WEW is a global event, as students and attendees from 250 universities in 40 countries and 48 states participated this year,” said Mimi Feliciano, a ÌÇÐÄvlog Advisory Board Member for The Mimi & Edwin Feliciano School of Business and board member of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (FCE&I), which hosted the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen Entrepreneurship Week 2021 was our biggest year ever!\u201d said Liz Rich, FCE&I Acting Director. \u201cOur event was exceptional and brought together really inspirational, creative and powerful female founders from all walks of life and backgrounds, in a shared sense of celebration and community.\u201d<\/p>\n
WEW was created in 2014 by FCE&I as a way to nurture, inspire and energize female founders around the world. This year\u2019s theme centered on the pivots many women entrepreneurs had to make during the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last 19 months, we have all been yearning for a sense of connection, and I think that for a few hours on Wednesday we all really felt that we were part of something bigger that was really special,\u201d Rich said. \u201cI cannot say enough about how amazing the speakers were, not only in sharing their stories, but also showing some true vulnerability. It was really heartwarming to see how everyone showed up to help one another, share their insights and wisdom, and to ultimately propel us all forward \u2014 together as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former makeup artist who founded a cosmetics empire, Brown told the audience she\u2019s known for her success in the cosmetics world but that she\u2019s also had failures. She noted that she launched other brands that didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had an eyeglass line that was amazing that I had to walk away from,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen things go bad, and they do, it\u2019s up to you what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown, who holds an honorary doctorate from Montclair State and whose latest cosmetics venture Jones Road opens soon in Montclair, said \u201cIt\u2019s all in your attitude. Be positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebekah Borucki, founder of Row House Publishing an \u201cauthors first\u201d book publisher focusing on authors from diverse ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds, orientations, and identifications, urged would-be entrepreneurs to lead with their values.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that combining my values\u2026with something new, that it would change the [publishing] industry forever,\u201d she said. \u201cKnow your values and write them down.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also encouraged entrepreneurs to consider their hires and allow employees to be who they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about not only who you\u2019re hiring but how you\u2019re allowing them to show up for the world \u2014 with their ideas, with their personalities, with their accents, with their culture, with their way of dress,\u201d Borucki said. \u201cTo me professionalism is showing up and doing the job and that\u2019s all that counts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexandra Bernard-Simmons, author and founder of Think Like a Boss, a women\u2019s empowerment organization that also includes a TV show on YouTube and a podcast, and whose latest venture is Seneca Markets, a grocery store chain in the tri-state area, challenged audience members to pivot \u201cinto authenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you pivoting into your true authentic self?\u201d she asked, adding that many entrepreneurs struggle with branding until they do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to business, what is your why?\u201d Bernard-Simmons said. \u201cWhen you figure out what matters, when you figure out your why, then you can focus on your branding.\u201d<\/p>\n
In closing, she reminded the audience that the pandemic has shown that \u201cIt\u2019s not always about money. Fulfillment is the new success, not money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Melissa Gorga of the Real Housewives of NJ and founder of Envy by Melissa Gorga and the online retail store EnvybyMG.com, who urged students to \u201cstay away from slackers\u201d and to take chances even if they are scared. Gorga is doing just that, she said, in announcing a new deal for a podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI may fail but I\u2019m trying it. I\u2019m insecure and out of my comfort zone, but I\u2019m doing it,\u201d Gorga said. \u201cGo and try. Listen to yourself, listen to your heart and you will be good at whatever you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monica Martinez Milan, co-owner of two real estate development companies and franchise owner of Stumpy\u2019s Hatchet House of Green Brook, Brooklyn, shared her personal struggle of trying to find herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep moving,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019m extremely grateful for the pain of the journey as there\u2019s always a lesson to be learned from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez Milan appealed to people to \u201cTake a crisis and change it into an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
She encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to ground themselves and also challenged them to think about how they can serve others.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you give back? Even if you can\u2019t give financially? What can you do?\u201d Martinez Milan said. She urged students and entrepreneurs to \u201cdiscover your tribe\u201d and to network. \u201cWe have to have our tribe of people who encourage and support us as we encourage and support them,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there are those who cannot support you, that\u2019s okay, just move them out of your circle of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachael Grochowski, founder and principal of RHG Architecture+Design, as well as an artist and artisan, spoke about the art of intentional living and the importance of keeping physical and mental well-being in mind when creating spaces. \u201cDuring the pandemic, we thought a lot about how we want to live our lives, what our values are \u2026coming back to who we are,\u201d she said. \u201cLiving and designing with intention is the future and the past. We can design spaces that take care of our mind, our and our relationship, making our design spiritual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel Maeng Brown, co-founder and CEO of Loot Agency, a talent management firm for digital creators, was named \u201cNYC Top 20 in their 20\u2019s\u201d (2021) by Crain\u2019s New York Business. She shared her personal mantra of having \u201ccrazy faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said women founders and entrepreneurs can expect to experience hardships, which makes crazy faith that much more important.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is crazy faith? It\u2019s trusting fully in what you believe and what you can explicitly prove. It\u2019s unwavering. It\u2019s unbreakable. And, in my opinion, it lacks understanding,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cWhat if the only thing you needed today to change the trajectory of your legacy was crazy faith? My call to action is: The best time to walk in crazy faith was yesterday but the second-best time is today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event wrapped up with a panel discussion about the challenges, victories and passions of women entrepreneurs, including Moderator Jessica Gonzalez, founder and CEO of InCharged, VendX and LuxDisinfect; Melissa Walker, founder and president of Jazz House Kids; S. Nadia Hussain, cofounder of the Bangladeshi-American Women\u2019s Development Initiative; Elisa Charters, co-founder of Latina Surge National, a women\u2019s empowerment organization; and Diamonique Lundy \u201920 founder of SoLo\u2019s Food, which reclaims ancestral foods and recipes, making them healthier and available in communities where healthy foods are not as easily accessible.<\/p>\n
The Feliciano Center\u2019s Rich also thanked University staff who helped put on WEW. \u201cIt was a true campus collaboration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
WEW sponsors included: Lightbridge Academy, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, The Co-Co, NJEDA, PNC Financial Services Group and Gearhart Law.<\/p>\n
For those who missed the event or livestream, it is available on the Center\u2019s\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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