If you drove past the Stone Pony on Monday, October 21st around 6 pm, you might have wondered what band was playing on a Monday night that was so popular the line was out the door. Well, it wasn’t a band but it was just as rockin’. It was the 6th Annual Women Entrepreneurs Rock (WER6) event hosted by the Monmouth and Ocean Small Business Development Center (MOSBDC) out of Brookdale Community College. If you are a female in business but have never heard of it, I suggest you put it on your calendar for the third Monday in October next year! It is a fantastic evening of business advice, great life stories and work strategies for the female entrepreneur of today.
This year’s theme was philanthropy and the speakers and panelists discussed their involvement in their communities and they also gave back to their fellow entrepreneurs throughout the night. There was also an undercurrent of “badassery” throughout the legendary Stone Pony that night. Why badassery?
As Award Recipient Donnalyn Giegerich put it, B.A.D. — be Bold, Agile, and Determined. The number of women entrepreneurs is increasing in the United States every year because more of us are being bold and forging into leadership roles. We are agile because we can bob and weave and dodge and duck no matter what comes our way. And, we are determined to foster relationships both personal and business to lead and succeed.
Change was a common thread in all of the panelists’ journeys to where they are today. They spoke about being on one path in life and being derailed by job loss, illness, divorce to then find themselves heading in a different direction. Panelists Alexis Castellano, Claribel Cortes, Roseanne Tobey, Lara Nikola, and Marcy Ragan showed off their philosophies at WER6 by sharing their experiences – both good and bad – and knowledge with a crowd that walked away motivated to follow our paths through all the hills and valleys, twists and turns of life and of business.
A huge thank you to them and to MOSBDC, NJ Small Business Association, TD Bank, M.C. Carol Gabel, Award winner Donnalyn Giegerich, and, Keynote speaker Tracey Abby-White for an informative, entertaining and uplifting evening.
