WIN! conference brought together women business owners for an inspirational gathering

Women business owners say they were encouraged by the words of the speakers and each other's success stories during the Women Inspiring eNtrepreneurship, or WIN! conference, Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University.

"The reason we want to have an event like this is we know women business owners are very busy and don't have a lot of time to meet other women doing the same thing they do because they're so busy in their shops or with their family life, so we want to give them a chance to be inspired and find camaraderie with other women," said event organizer Gina Harper, project coordinator at The Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Topics covered ranged from search engine optimization for company websites, to business financing to opportunities for women owned businesses to obtain government contracts.

The keynote speaker was Jaclyn Rowe, a speaker, personality expert and author of Potosi, Mo.

"She was inspiring and to the point," said Charlotte Matthews, a financial adviser with Edward Jones in Cape Girardeau who attended the WIN! conference for the first time. "She gave us some great ideas and new ways to think about business and how to apply yourself."

Other speakers included many local women business owners: Carole Moore of Life-Style Design, Jennifer Hendrickson of Hendrickson Business Advisors, Mary Ann Sample of Imagine That and Crystal Cowgirl, Elizabeth Shelton of Write Results Marketing, Carolyn Kempf of Elite Travel, Inc. and Robyn Walker, executive director of Cultural Exchange Network.

"One of the things I really like is meeting people and learning their stories," said Olisa Gravney, owner of K.O. Designs LLC who came from Kansas City to attend the WIN! conference. Gravney founded her own interior design and special event decor company in 2009.

"There's always new technology or a new resource you can use to better yourself. These conferences give you exposure to that," she said.

The WIN! conference also gives exposure to potential new clients, Harper said.

"Whatever they're selling, there's other women in this room that need what they have, that need their products or services so we're giving them an outlet for customers as well," Harper said.

Women business owners have unique challenges, including trying to juggle too much.

"Men are maybe excellent at their job or excellent at their family, but they're not excellent at everything. Women are challenged every single day to be excellent at everything. It's impossible to do, and we want to show them that there are other women out there going through the things they are going through. They understand and they can rely on them for help," Harper said.

This was the third-annual WIN! conference, sponsored by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, to kick off Global Entrepreneurship Week activities which will continue throughout the week. These include a film festival, presentations and panel discussions by successful entrepreneurs. A complete list of activities can be found at semo.edu/cie.

mmiller@semissourian.com

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