23Apr

Be a Mentor! Check Out Cowboy Couture!

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Profile of IEEW Mentor Marion Marshall:
Giving Back is Simply Part of Her World
For Marion Marshall, creative director and artist at AbsolutelyBlooming!, a Dallas-based full-service event planning and design production firm, serving as an IEEW mentor was a natural fit for her. She remembers the women who mentored her when she launched her company nine years ago, and she will never forget how they helped her on the road to entrepreneurship and success.
“My friends helped shape what my life was about, by providing guidance and showing me what it was like to work in something that you have a passion for,” says Marshall, who first heard about IEEW and its needs for mentors in an e-mail from a friend back in 2009. “I knew about Rwanda and what was happening there, and felt that I could help these women; it was my job to give back and do for others. We live in a great country with a lot of opportunities and many times we take that for granted.”
As of this summer, Marshall will have mentored on a one-to-one basis four women from Rwanda who are interested in similar businesses—either in the catering or event planning arena. For instance, last year she mentored a Rwandan woman in the event planning business who had never been to a large party supply store.
“A world was opened up to her, with all kinds of possibilities,” Marshall says. “We went to a Party City store and to a company that rents lounge furniture. She took pictures everywhere, and she was in awe of the possibilities out there.”
She added: “She saw what could be available to her online and went back to Rwanda with a new perspective. This energized her.”
In addition to mentoring PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® students in person, Marshall hosted parties for the women who were visiting from both Rwanda and Afghanistan. She also did e-mentoring via the Internet this year, and has stayed in touch with women she mentored in person from IEEW. Marshall hopes to mentor two more PTB graduates this summer who will be visiting from Rwanda.
Marshall’s company began as a retail florist, and she still offers just floral services for some clients. She came to the floral business from the fashion design world. As Marshall provided flowers for weddings and other occasions, she began to move into other aspects of planning and eventually became an event planning company. With an assistant and a team of contract workers that can number up to 10, AbsolutelyBlooming! handles everything from 10-person elegant home dinners to 50-person corporate events to 500-person weddings.
“When it comes to women in business, these women don’t come from places where they have role models,” Marshall notes. “It’s great if we could help fill that gap and give of ourselves.”
Interested in being a mentor to a PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® Program student?
Go to our website to learn more.
Statistics on New Businesses
Did you know……..
  • More than half of new businesses will disappear within the first five years, and eight out of 10 new businesses fail in the first five years, according to the Small Business Administration.
  • Businesses started by PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® graduates have an 80 percent success rate.
  • The impact that women-owned businesses have on national economies is enormous and far-reaching. Nearly 10.4 million businesses in the U.S. are owned by women (with a 50 percent or more ownership stake), employing 13 million people and generating nearly $2 trillion in sales, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. These account for 41 percent of all privately-held businesses.
  • The number of businesses owned by women of color grew five times faster than all privately held companies.
  • One in five firms with revenues of $1 million or more is woman-owned.
Always in Fashion:
EDEN Salon and Spa’s Third Annual Oklahoma City Benefit Fashion Show
to Take Place on July 17
You don’t have to travel to Seventh Avenue in New York City to see the latest and greatest trends in the fashion world. We can have a taste of haute couture right here in Oklahoma City, as we prepare for the Third Annual Benefit Fashion Show called “Cowboy & Couture.”
This exciting event will be hosted by Eden Salon and Spa of Oklahoma City, and will be held at 6 pm on July 17, 2012 at the Historic OKC Farmer’s Public Market. All proceeds are donated to the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® program.
“IEEW board member Jan Hill, owner of Eden Salon and Spa, goes all out in planning and organizing this one-of-a-kind event that attracts and excites so many who want to see the latest and greatest in fashion,” says Dr. Terry Neese, IEEW’s founder and chief executive officer. “I was absolutely blown away at the professionalism of this event; I felt like I was watching a fashion show in New York or Paris.”
Eden Salon is a full-service salon and spa that offers everything from manicures to facials to haircuts and hair coloring. It was originally co-founded by Jan Hill in 1982 under the name My Sister’s Scissors. The business has been included in ELLE Magazine’s “Top 100 Salons Across America.”
“I couldn’t think of a better program and better cause to donate to than PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS®,” Hill says. “We are helping our sisters in business in Afghanistan and Rwanda realize their dream of entrepreneurship, and at the same time we are hosting a fun event that the public can enjoy and appreciate.”
Tickets cost $100 for VIP seating and one drink, $35 for reserved general admission, and $40 for general admission at the door. There will be refreshments and a cash bar for all those who attend.
To get tickets to the fashion show, please log on to www.edenfashionshow.com.
See you on the runway!
Insights on Women’s History Month
This Q&A is in honor of WHM—March 2012.
We espouse the views of WHM all year long at IEEW
1.) What do you feel is the most significant part of Women’s History Month (WHM), which is honored during the month of March?

It makes me step back and realize where we have come in the past 92 years.On Aug. 26, 1920, women were given the right to vote. That was only 92 years ago. My own mother will be 91 in November, so relating this milestone to her age is a reality check for me.

The legacy that these women who fought for this right leave with us is something we should think about every day. Every woman should go exercise her hard-won right to vote. Unfortunately, not every woman understands the power that she has at the voting booth. We have so much history to share — women getting elected to office, more females in board rooms, more women opening businesses, and more of us giving back to help those in the next generation. This is a historical time for us.
2.) How does the work of the IEEW reflect this significance?
Working in Afghanistan and Rwanda reminds us here at IEEW how important it is to empower women. Women in Rwanda now hold the most elective offices in their land! Afghanistan’s new constitution requires that 25 percent of the lower parliament be women! The United States only stands at 16.8 percent of the seats being held by women in the House of Representatives, and 17 percent in the Senate, according to the Center for American Women in Politics.
Our significance and relevance is teaching our women business owners how important it is for them to be involved in public policy. We teach this every year and two of our graduates in Afghanistan have run for Parliament. Two of our women graduates in Rwanda have been appointed to the Parliament by President Kagame. We believe “if you run a business and you’re not involved in politics, then politics will run your business.”
3.) What can women business owners around the world learn from Women’s History Month?
They can learn the significance that history has had on our ability to succeed and prosper today, both as professionals and entrepreneurs. For example, the Afghans and Rwandans learn a great deal from each other in the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® program. Afghan women had never heard of Rwanda, so they learn of the genocide and how women have stepped up to help rebuild their country. The Rwandans learn how difficult it is for women in Afghanistan, compared to issues that Rwanda faces. Both countries are stunned when they learn that right here in the United States, women only got the right to vote 92 years ago—our numbers in Congress are lower than theirs, and more. The bottom line is that we all share very similar problems. It’s how we tackle them that counts. History can teach us a great deal on this.
4.) What can women biz owners domestically learn from this?
That while we are the trailblazers here, our knowledge must be passed on to war-torn countries so civil societies will emerge around the world. When civil societies emerge, peace is around the corner for all of us. As Americans, we should be proud of our young country. We are free to come and go as we please, to develop businesses, to drive, to demonstrate if we so choose, and paying forward our knowledge to others is our path to greater freedom.
5.) How do we keep the momentum and good feelings from WHM last long after March is over?
Our March (no pun intended) is a daily march forward. Every day is a day to empower women and men around the world – in small ways and in large ways. We teach our children to be freedom lovers, we teach our business owners to be freedom lovers.
Bottom line: when you educate a woman, you educate a nation. And, that is a lesson that can last a lifetime.
IEEW is proud to acknowledge our 2012 Rwanda and Afghanistan PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® class. 30 women entrepreneurs graduated from our program this month! Be sure to check out our photos from the in-country Graduations on Facebook!