Lori Villegas (Morgan Stanley Smith Barney), Monyka Berrocosa (MyCity4Her Media), Marianne Fischler (Foundry Wealth Advisors)
This morning was the BBJ’s incredibly popular Enterprising Women Breakfast at Martin’s Mansion in the Valley (Cockeysville). Every year hundreds of women in business, as well as the people who want to connect and do business with them convene upon this happening in what can only be described as one of the region’s most popular and well attended networking events. As usual the room filled early and the networking was the focal point. The event’s title sponsor was Susquehana Bank.
The room was filled with some of the women in business community’s movers and shakers including Suzanne Thompson (Health Plan Headquarters), Linda Cromwell (Being There Senior Care), Tammy Schneider (Glass Jacobson), Dr.Karen Proudford (The William E. Proudford Foundation & Morgan State University), Susan Katz (The Growth Coach), Angie Barnett (BBB of Greater Maryland), as well as JoEllen Sosbee (Reliable Repairs/Tool Box Tom Girl), Tracy Steedman (Niles Barton & Wilmer), Hazel Boone (Some Day Vacations), Donna Jacobson (Third Floor Promotions), Rebecca Taeff (Redstart Creative), Leslie Shreve (Productive Day) and Jill Reamer Cranston (Peak Strategy Advisors) among many others.
John Dinkel (Publisher) and Joanna Sullivan (Editor in Chief) were on hand to greet the hundreds of attendees and preside over this year’s panel who discussed the concept of “Leading Change”.
Joanna Sullivan – Editor / John Dinkel – Publisher – The Baltimore Business Journal
This year’s panel was an ecclectic mix including:
Cara Joyce, Owner, Urban Pirates
Ava E. Lias-Booker, Managing partner of Baltimore Office, McGuireWoods LLP
Bonnie Phipps, President/CEO, Saint Agnes Hospital
Cindy Wolf, Executive chef, Charleston and co-owner, Foreman Wolf
When the panelists were asked…”How have you weathered the storm?” in reference to the past years of challenging economy, here are a few of the highlights of what was shared.
“Revenue line is flat and expenses are growing up so I have to be creative, be transparent with my staff, and find ways to diversify expenses” Bonnie Phipps – St Agnes Hospital
We’ve been creative with our marketing and how we incentivize our employees. We do more trade, we find different ways to work with people – instead of pay we do a lot of trade Cara Joyce, Owner, Urban Pirates
The scene at breakfast – waiting for the panel to begin
Guest have to be cared of, my biggest concern is always how is this going to affect my staff? You do very thing you can to support and take care of your staff – hopefully they’ll perform a d the cycle will perpetuate itself. We didn’t cut back on advertising… When other people were not doing it – we continued and it was a strategic decision to continue” Cindy Wolf, Foreman Wolf
“We are reengineer ing our approach to be more client focused in a team setting to stay competitive” Ava E. Lias-Booker, McGuire Woods LLP
Attendees had the following to say…
“Its early in the morning but its always a good crowd, I make it a point to attend when I can” Lori Villegas – Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
“Talk about the power networking pow wow – always a good crowd and great to catch up with many people here” Deborah Gallant – Bold Business Works
The varied panel (designed to represent different view points) was well received and included a mix of very different personalities. Bonnie Phipp’s C-Level insight combined with Cindy Wolf’s signature to the point, no nonsense style were definitely complimented by Cara Joyce’s forward thinking and at times entertaining (but no less valuable) insight; Ava E. Lias-Booker’s clear and focused perspective brought focus and clarity to the panel’s contribution. All insight contributed was useful and quite savvy, there’s a reason these women are successful, and hopefully audience members seeking to be as well – were paying attention.
Our favorite quote of the day was when Cindy Wolf was asked why she became an entrepreneur and she responded “I own my own business because I never liked being told what to do by my mother…” AMEN to that! Chef Cindy Wolf, who is often perceived to be somewhat reclusive, evasive and not super comfortable with being in the public eye was refreshingly candid, open and very straight forward about her visions about entrepreneurship, leadership and the importance of “taking care of your people”. It was a treat to see her out of the kitchen, however the panel couldn’t help but begin with a reference to her legendary friend green tomatoes (a signature menu at Charleston – the Foreman Wolf’s flagship venue for several years now.) Foreman Wolf is opening a new restaurant sometime in the future – and upfront she made it clear, not a peep about what was coming would be shared. As usual our appetites remain whetted…and we wish Ms. Wolf and all of the panelists much continued success.
