Women Entrepreneurs

Piece Description

Guest Info:

Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur, Chief Executive and author. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge University. In 2004, Margaret published “The Naked Truth: A Working Woman’s Manifesto about Business and What Really Matters” and in 2007 she brought out “How She Does It: How Female Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules for Business Success“.  She is Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Simmons College in Boston and Executive in Residence at Babson College. She sits on the Council of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the UK as well as one the boards of several private companies. Margaret blogs for the Huffington Post and writes for Fast Company, Real Business, MORE, and other magazines around the world.

Amy Nichols

An avid dog lover and hard-working businesswoman, Amy empathized with other dog owners who worked long hours and did not always have enough time in the day to adequately exercise their dogs. With her understanding of dog enthusiasts and a keen business sense, Amy capitalized on the opportunity to work within the evolving pet care industry. After researching industry trends and carefully planning the venture to serve dogs and their busy owners, Amy founded the first Dogtopia®, a full-service dog day care, spa and boutique, in 2002. In 2005, Amy franchised Dogtopia® nationally, making it possible for entrepreneurs who enjoy dogs to launch the business in their own communities.

Nancy Procunier

Nancy Procunier is the founder of Sparksprite.com, a gift-by-mail service that helps people stay connected to kids in their family. Having been in promotional product sales for over 18 years, she started sending her neices letters, accompanied by little surprises, on a regular basis. After sharing her secret with others and hearing their experiences, the idea hit – kids love receiving mail (and of course, surprises). The aim of Sparksprite is to spark a smile on children’s faces and our way of doing that is by having a sprite deliver the mail. Our hope is to also generate a stronger connection between adults and the children in their life. Sparksprite provides an original way to help people attempting to be the best grandma, uncle, godparent, or friend they can be and strengthen relationships with wonderful youngsters.

Simone Brummelhuis

Simone Brummelhuis is the founder and CEO of The NextWomen, the First Women’s Internet Business Magazine and Community. She worked for 10 years as a successful lawyer before becoming an entrepreneur by setting up her own B2B publishing company Brummsbooks. Thereafter, as co-owner and managing director IENS, she developed this start-up into the number one user-generated-content database publisher of restaurant guides in The Netherlands. With the Europeanmuseumguide.com, she intends to do the same. She is in the jury of the Accenture Media Innovation Awards 2008, she presents the internet program SHE (interviews with business women) on Blueshotstv, she is on the UK Advisory Board of Astia.org, supporting women led high-growth companies. She sits on the NCL Committee, and is a frequent speaker through Women.Inc and TheNextSpeaker.

Jill Salzman

From her position as CFO (Chief Five-Year Old) at her first lemonade stand, Jill has come a long way. In high school, Jill created a music fanzine culling advertisers and distributing it throughout her hometown, just so she could land on the guest lists to her favorite concerts. A graduate of Brown University and law school after that, she started Paperwork Media LLC, a music media firm. Her parents still wonder why she opted for the music business over the seductive and alluring career of a bankruptcy attorney. She went on to co-create The Bumble Brand, LLC, which currently sells Bumble Bells, audible anklewear for the newest of human beings. Upon starting The Momtrepreneur Maven and its free job board, Mommster.com, the response from moms continues to be as overwhelming as ever. Jill consults with momtrepreneurs, writes a column for The Dabbling Mum, and speaks to corporations, universities and other organizations about social media and why everyone should be paying more attention to their mothers.

Susan Wilson Solovic

Susan Wilson Solovic is CEO of SBTV.com – Small Business Television. SBTV.com is the first and only video news and information destination site for America’s small businesses. Solovic began her professional career as a television news anchor and reporter for NBC and CBS affiliates. Subsequently, she joined a Fortune 100 company where she was named vice president, director of corporate marketing, of the firm’s international asset-based lending division. While working in an executive capacity, she attended Saint Louis University Law School and graduated with honors. Her legal background provides her with a unique view of American business.

Solovic is the author of “The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million Dollar Business” which is consistently ranked among the top 25 books for women in business on Amazon and was listed as a “must read” in Entrepreneur magazine. Solovic made her debut as an author with “The Girls’ Guide to Power and Success,” which was originally released in June 2001 and was re-released in paperback in 2003. Her other books incluse, “Reinvent Your Career: Attain the Success You Deserve and Desire” and “Hanging onto the American Dream: A Story of Business Leadership and Leaving a Legacy.”