February 7, 2013
Written by Brad Harper@bradMGM on Twitter
Small business owner Vernalisa Bruce expected to take away a lot of
important information from a women-focused networking event Thursday at
Alabama State University, and she wasn’t disappointed.“I was taking notes, and I’ve just written all over the program,” Bruce said.
Businesswomen
from Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Maxwell Air Force Base,
Alabama Power and more spoke to the crowd of professionals and students
at the annual Women 2 Women conference inside the ASU Acadome. Andrea
Price of the school’s Small Business Development Center said the
speakers’ stories help show the path to success, a message that has
become even more important as new opportunities arise.
“There’s always what we call the glass ceiling, but some of those
ceilings are starting to go away now,” Price said. “Women are moving
into those top-level management positions.“There
are a lot of (federal) programs that are set aside for women. The door
is really open for us right now, and we just have to step through it.”
One
of the speakers, Denise Baylor of Maxwell Air Force Base’s Gunter
Annex, talked about how more of those opportunities have surfaced in
information technology amid a federal push to involve more women in the
industry.
Another speaker, Montgomery Advertiser
Executive Editor Wanda Lloyd, emphasized the importance telling
employers what you really want to do and then pursuing those goals.
It
was a message that rang true for Bruce. “I could tell my mom ‘They said
no,’ and she’d tell me ‘No, honey, you keep going,’” Bruce said. “I
have a right to be happy and pursue my dreams.”
Bruce
followed that advice to start her own company, Two of Me Errand and
Concierge Service. “There are a lot of busy, two-income families where
nobody can pick up the dry cleaning, get the oil changed, get the
license and tags,” Bruce said. “If you forgot to get a gift, we’ll go
get it and your wife will never know you missed it.”
She
said one of the most important things she got at the conference was
reassurance from other successful women that Two of Me was a good
business idea, and she was among many people there who were anxious to
establish business ties with the speakers and other fellow
professionals.
The
convention’s “Designed for Success” title wasn’t just a metaphor — it
ended with a fashion show that featured everything from office styles to
outfits designed for after-hours networking.
Price
said the goal of the show was to clear up confusion about different
types of business attire, especially among the younger aspiring
professionals in attendance.
“We
have some young students in the audience from Montgomery Public Schools
and also some ASU College of Business Administration students,” Price
said. “We want to show them the business appearance and what you should
look like. Everyone gets confused on business casual, what it really
is.”