WING August Featured Member ~ Carla Thompson, Sharp Skirts

Name: Carla Thompson

Business Name:  Sharp Skirts

Contact Info:  www.sharpskirts.com  /  carla@sharpskirts.com  /  512.827.9256

What I Do:  I run a network for women entrepreneurs, Sharp Skirts. We provide online and offline resources to help women build smarter businesses.

How Long I’ve Been in Business:  I launched Sharp Skirts in May 2010. Prior to that, I worked in emerging technology for over  15 years, helping all manner of startups build smarter businesses.

Why I Love What I Do:  It’s extremely good for the soul to help people empower themselves. I receive a pretty regular stream of communications along the lines of, “Thank you so much for trying to make a difference in the world”  when I feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle – and that is pretty regular too.  Those kind of sentiments get me through.

A Little Something Else I’d Like to Share with the World:  The empowerment of women in business can effect a profound shift in economic fortunes around the world. More and more people are realizing that, which is fantastic! But we’re not even close to finished.  When the old-school establishment finally wakes up to this fact, the business landscape will be changed permanently and for the better.

Why I Love WING:  For obvious reasons, I belong to very few women’s groups. Due to the nature of my business I don’t want to show favoritism to one over the others. And by the end of the day, frankly, I want to think about anything but!  When I spoke at WING a few months go, though, I immediately loved the energy of the group and the enthusiasm they bring to their businesses.  It’s now a must-attend on my calendar!

Tags: Carla Thompson, Sharp Skirts

WING February Featured Member ~ Maggie Goen Jewelry

Name: Maggie Goen

Business Name: Maggie Goen Jewelry

Contact Info: www.maggiegoen.com /  maggiegoen@gmail.com  /  {Facebook}  Maggie Goen Jewelry

What You Do: Jewelry Designer

How Long You’ve Been in Business: 1 very exciting year

Why You Love What You Do: I have always loved creating unique jewelry for myself and now I am able to share that with other women.  Everyone has certain things that make them happy and I think jewelry is one of them! I love using my creativity to explore and experiment to come up with fun pieces of jewelry that sometimes seem more like a piece of art.  I see fashion as art and jewelry as wearable art.  I love finding unique gemstones and fusing them with vintage accents while concentrating on color in texture… in a way the outcome is combining past with present.

Anything Else You’d Like to Tell the World: We will be having a trunk show at Touch of Sass on Thursday February 24th.  Should be a fun night so come by if you can and bring friends!  Currie Bucher has a fabulous store!

Why You Love WING: I attended my first WING meeting in January and was so thrilled to meet such a dynamic group of women!  WING is a great organization and I am looking forward to getting more involved in 2011.  Being around these women is very motivating and inspiring, and I believe will help with important business decisions and resources.  I enjoy hearing about each person’s business and it is comforting to know others who face similar obstacles.  What a fun environment to share experiences and learn from each other!

{Author’s Note:  Next month, be sure and pick up the March issue of Austin Monthly magazine to see Maggie Goen Jewelry featured as one of Austin’s “Designers to Watch”! Congrats Maggie!}

Tags: austin monthly magazine, jewelry design austin, maggie goen, Maggie Goen Jewelry, touch of sass

{WING Gives Back} 2010 We Are GIRLS! Conference

This past weekend, WING members had the fabulous opportunity to share some of our experiences with an amazing group of young women at the annual We Are GIRLS! Conference at the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.  Hosted by genAustin, a local girls empowerment networking group, the conference kicked off Saturday morning as an all day event to teach Junior High and High School aged girls that “being a girl shouldn’t be so hard.”

WING was invited to host one of the breakout sessions, and our topic was “Just a Girl? How girls everywhere are changing the world, and YOU can too!“  Opening the session with an attention grabbing video from The Girl Effect, we discussed global issues that face girls every day – from poverty to lack of education, the participants were prompted to develop a plan of action to raise awareness about these issues and implement these actions in their schools and communities.  Take a look at some photos from the event:

{WING members Rebekah Sills Lamm and Carly Gallagher set up for the participants}

{Participants made lists of issues that they face every day and compared those to issues that girls face globally}

{Then they came up with solutions to raise awareness and help girls around the world!}

{WING member facilitators:  Rebekah Sills Lamm, Casey Rowe, Carly Gallagher, and Catherine Cottingham}

 

And a very special thank you to all the other WING members that made this amazing opportunity possible:

Rachel Titsworth of Titsworth Creative

Bethany Hanson of 36th Street Events

 

Tags: 36th Street Events, Ann Richards School, Carly Gallagher, Casey Rowe Consulting, Catherine Nicole, genAustin, Rebekah Lamm, Titsworth Creative, We Are GIRLS! Conference, WING of Austin

WING November Featured Member ~ Casey Rowe Consulting

Name: Casey Rowe

Business Name: Casey Rowe Consulting

Contact Info: www.caseyroweconsulting.com /  casey@caseyroweconsulting.com  /  512.796.1033

What You Do:  I specialize in helping people identify their career interests through needs and values identification and creating individualized, strategic career plans for my clients.

I also focus on helping small businesses with the process of selecting the right employees for their job openings and aligning the goals of the organization and the professional goals of the individual to optimize effectiveness.

How Long You’ve Been in Business: For a little over 2 years

Why You Love What You Do: I enjoy helping people through a rough time if they have been let go from a previous position or are searching to find the right job for themselves.  I love seeing the transformation and awareness of their own skills and talents when they take the time to look within and make big decisions – its incredibly inspiring to see someone find the career they have always been looking for or become brave enough to go after it!

Anything Else You’d Like To Tell the World: I am running a new program this month that starts on Nov. 30^th called 21 Days Before the Holidays: Get Your Career in Gear. They say it takes 21 days to break a habit – so I am transferring that to 21 days to make something happen!  I recently completed a separate 21 day program and found that time frame to be extremely beneficial in order to get things accomplished – short enough to be focused and keep away distractions yet long enough to make big strides toward your goals.

This program will focus on all it takes to be prepared for a new career path or improve the one you already have.  It’s a great introduction to the benefits of career planning and could make a great holiday gift

Why You Love WING: As a co-founder of WING, I can say that it has exceeded my greatest expectations for a women’s group of creative entrepreneurs who look to each other for resources and support as we all navigate through the world of being self-employed.  We always have a great time together, enjoy each other’s successes, and are here for each other when we need that hard to find info.

Tags: career consulting Austin, Casey Rowe Consulting

WING’s 1st Birthday Bash

In case you missed our October meeting, we wanted to share a little preview of the fun WING members had celebrating our first, very successful, year together!

{WING members entered their business cards to win fabulous prizes from Myo Massage, Empower Yoga, Brandy Norman and Milk+Honey Spa}

 

{Our beautiful – and oh, so delish – birthday cake from the talented Sybil Slate}

 

{The goodie bags were chock full of all sorts of amazing samples, coupons, and treats. Aren’t you sad you missed these?}

 

{More yummy treats from Sybil Slate!}

{Checking out WING member Catherine Cottingham’s jewelry line, Catherine Nicole, featured in Austin Living Magazine.  Congrats Catherine!}

 

{WING members doing what we do best – mingle, mingle, mingle!}

 

{WING members Emily Kleinsorge, owner of Lucy Skyrocket, and Sara Barney, owner of Little Wex Beauty and Design}

 

{Talented WING member Meredith Merritt showing off an art piece she made for fellow WING woman Christie Mueller of CLM Business Etiquette Consulting}

 

{Founding WING members celebrating a year of success! Casey Rowe, owner of Casey Rowe Consulting; Bethany Hanson, owner of 36th Street Events; Meredith Merritt, owner of Meredith Merritt Art; Rachel Titsworth, owner of Titsworth Creative}

Happy birthday WING! We can’t wait to see what the next year holds in store for such an amazing and inspirational group of women!

Tags: 36th Street Events, Brandy Norma, Casey Rowe Consulting, Catherine Nicole, CLM Business Etiquette Consulting, Empower Yoga, Little Wex Beauty and Design, Lucy Skyrocket, Meredith Merritt, Milk+Honey Spa, Myo Massage, Sybil Slate, Titsworth Creative, WING of Austin

WING is turning 1!

It’s hard to believe that our first brainstorming session “Women’s Group” meeting was a year ago already, and we’re so very excited about how much WING has grown in the past year and how much we’ve accomplished.

To celebrate, we’re throwing an all out birthday bash, complete with cocktails, drawings, and delicious birthday cake from the talented Sybil Slate.

 

 

And don’t forget to grab a goodie bag as well with free stuff from:
Inner Strength {personal training}
Little Wex Beauty and Design {hair & makeup}
Stella and Dot {jewelry}
Titsworth Creative {graphic design}
Casey Rowe Consulting {career consulting}
CLM Business Consulting {business etiquette consulting}
Kim Fry with JB Goodwin {real estate}
Posey Floral and Event Design {floral design and beyond}

Milk+Honey {spa and salon}

We will also have a raffle giveaway so bring those business cards to enter to win! 
BONUS: If you bring a friend to this WING event, you can double your chances of winning by putting two of your cards in the drawing!
Prizes will include:
{Gift Certificate to Myo Massage}
{Facial from Brandy Norman}
{60 minute massage from Milk+Honey}


We look forward to celebrating with everyone and to seeing some new faces!

As always, this event will be BYOB, in addition to some of the treats we’ll provide.

**If you would like to attend this event, please email wingofaustin@gmail.com and you will be added to the email list for monthly meetings **

WING September Meeting

Join the ladies of WING for our September meeting and get together!

{Marketing Research 101 for Small Business Owners}

How to conduct free/inexpensive marketing research on your own and when to call in an expert

Speaker:  Casey Bernard of CB Research Services

So you have your website up and running. You’re on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.  You update your blog religiously.  But how do you know if what you’re doing is reaching the people you want to reach? Casey Bernard is a skilled researcher and professional communicator with experience in both quantitative and qualitative marketing research methodologies, and at this month’s WING meeting she’ll be sharing some of her tips and tricks on easy marketing research for the independent business owner – as well as helping us know when you should bring in a professional to take care of the job for you.

Location: 501 Studios

Date: Wednesday, September 22

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

{Parking is available in the lot across 5th Street or on the street if available.  Please use the entrance to the studios on Brushy Street (not the one on San Marcos)}

If you would like to attend this meeting, please email wingofaustin@gmail.com to be added to the evite.
We look forward to seeing everyone’s happy faces and hope to see some new faces too!

Your fellow WING Women

WING August Featured Member ~ Little Wex Beauty & Design

Name: Sara Barney

Business Name: Little Wex Beauty & Design

Contact Info:  www.littlewex.com  /  sara@littlewex.com  /  512.529.9466

What You Do: Little Wex is a one-stop creative shop for your beauty and design needs that offers professional makeup artistry and affordable custom graphic design.

How Long You’ve Been in Business:  Started in Los Angeles in 2008, now in Austin for over 1 year, so 2+ years total!

Why You Love What You Do:  What a big question! Simply, I love making women (and the occasional man) look and feel beautiful.  It’s really cool being part of someone’s special day and being one of the people who helps them look their best.  I’m also a life-long product junkie… this way I get to write it off as a business expense!

Anything Else You’d Like to Tell the World:  Little Wex Beauty will be hosting its first ever Open House on Thursday, August 26 at 7pm.  We’re doing a Back-to-School Night and talking about fall beauty trends. WING member Marisa Williams will also be on hand, showcasing Stella & Dot’s fall jewelry line.

Why You Love WING:  If you ever needed an example of how to use the group to the fullest, you can turn to me – I was introduced to WING by my wedding coordinator and founding member, Bethany Childress Hanson.  There I met Casey Rowe (another founding member), who I introduced to my husband, who in turn she introduced to her husband who is an actor that will now be staring in my husband’s play this fall.  At the first WING meeting, I met my realtor (and now good friend), Kim Fry, who sold us our first home! She brought Carly Gallagher to a meeting and now Carly and I are pilates buddies.  I also met Shannon Cunningham at WING and we now share a studio space with a handful of other lovely and talented ladies.  Oh, and of course, last meeting I met Marisa Williams, who will now be part of my open house.  Phew! Who’s next?

WING July Featured Member ~ CLM Business Etiquette Consulting

Name: Christie Mueller

Business Name:  CLM Business Etiquette Consulting

Contact Info:  www.CLMetiquette.com  /  christie@CLMetiquette.com  / 502.648.4609

What you do:  CLM Etiquette trains individuals, executives and corporations on modern business etiquette. Our focus is on conveying to clients that “business IS personal” and providing the up-to-date etiquette skills to establish a personal business relationship.

How long you’ve been in business:  Est.  July 2009

Why you love what you do:  I love helping people change from being timid, scared and confused in business situations to radiating confidence and instantly becoming empowered and motivated by my training.
So many people have the academic background that is appealing on a resume but lack soft skills in the work force.  From dining etiquette, to shaking someone’s hand, people rarely realize their daily actions are prohibitive to promotion and success.  It is extremely rewarding to be a part of my client’s transitions as a person and professional.

Anything else you’d like to tell the world:  Come to the August WING meeting and learn the do’s and don’ts of business etiquette with some of Austin’s fabulous professional women!

Why you love WING:  WING has been one of my favorite things about moving to Austin! There is a profound comfort in being associated with women facing the same challenges as I am.  Each month I have the opportunity to share and learn with like minded, motivated women – the support and encouragement is unparalleled.  Immediate friends and instant free consulting; it doesn’t get much better than WING!

Lucy Skyrocket Grand Opening!

One of our very own talented WING ladies, Emily Kleinsorge, is excited to share the news about the grand opening of her studio that offers hair and makeup services, Lucy Skyrocket!!  Check out the flyer for details!