Group aims to help women entrepreneurs crack the glass ceiling

By Jocelyn Newman Special to the Jewish Times

Bonnie Ross-Parker is an entrepreneur. Intrigued by the business world, the former teacher turned in her chalk in 1983 to become the area developer for Mailboxes Etc. in the Washington area, opening 28 franchises and owning six.

She came to Atlanta in 1995 when her husband, Phil, was offered a CEO opportunity.

Businesswomen like Ross-Parker of Smyrna are not alone. Women-owned companies are opening at twice the rate of all other U.S. companies, according to the Center for Women's Business Research.

And according to Julie R. Weeks, executive director of the National Women's Business Council, Atlanta ranks No. 9. in the nation in its numbers of women-owned businesses.

For all of that, women still face many obstacles in starting a business — a fact of life that led to the formation of the Women's Leadership Exchange.

The organization has scheduled a workshop for women business owners at the Cobb Galleria Sept. 17.

The group's founders, New Yorkers Leslie Grossman, Andrea March and Geri Stengel, are entrepreneurs who recognized a need for a multi-channel business program for women.

“Our purpose is to connect women who own or run growth companies with the knowledge, tools and people they need to crank up the volume and grow,” reads the Web site's mission statement.

“The way the Exchange came about was two-fold,” said Grossman. A business owner herself, she found there were not many resources to help her learn what she needed to know.

“This started at the same time as the dot-com crash and 9-11. I was not prepared to address the challenges that came when the economy was down,” said Grossman. “There was something missing. Then it was like we were hit by a huge light bulb. We knew we needed to create something.”

At first, the group operated only in New York. The founders soon realized, however, that women's networking was needed everywhere, so they named advisory committees in other states.

Several Jewish women serve on the Exchange's Atlanta advisory board, including Ross-Parker and Connie Glaser, an author, lecturer and business communications consultant.

Glaser recently wrote the book “What Queen Esther Knew: Business Strategies From a Biblical Sage,” detailing the ways the biblical queen took risks and achieved her goals.

Women's Leadership Exchange founders Leslie Grossman (left), Andrea March and Geri Stengel.

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She writes that the queen's fortitude makes her an ideal role model for women today.

Esther's decision “demonstrates tremendous courage and conviction,” Glaser said in a Jewish Times interview in June. “She takes on the mantle of responsibility and everything changes for her.”

Glaser believes that women need to make their voices heard and “toot their own horns.”

Ross-Parker was named to the Exchange's advisory board after receiving the Atlanta Women in Business Athena award for her leadership in supporting women entrepreneurs.

When Ross-Parker moved to Atlanta, she created a women's section as associate publisher of the Gazette, a bi-weekly newspaper serving 20 communities in metro Atlanta. “I became excited about my following and the strong response I got from women,” she said. “We were cultivating our community and relating woman to woman.”

Ross-Parker's love of helping and working with entrepreneurial women led her to begin a free mentoring program that evolved into monthly gatherings and networking meetings that reflect what she calls “the joy of connecting.”

“We meet in my home over dinner,” she said. “It's a gathering of like-minded women who come together to share who they are, what they do and ways to support one another.

Being an entrepreneur can be lonely, but I have learned the joy that comes when we connect with ourselves, with one another and with the

world and I have learned that that is the greatest joy in my life.”

Ross-Parker's passion for networking led her to write a book, “Walk in My Boots — the Joy of Connecting.”

Ross-Parker's monthly gatherings draw a diverse group, including Jewish women such as Wendy Nagel and Sherri Danzig.

Nagel's business is helping other people. She sets appointments for busy salespeople through Telepoint telemarketing. The Dunwoody entrepreneur attends all of Ross-Parker's meetings, where she finds support and networking as well as friendship.

“The meetings keep me motivated and positive,” she said, adding that she has made connections through Ross-Parker that have led to a growth in clients.

Danzig, who lives in Norcross, also makes sure she doesn't miss a Ross-Parker meeting. The wellness consultant finds that all of her new business revolves around marketing. “Women network with each other differently [than men],” she said.

“We are mutually supportive and mutually beneficial. Networking takes off the competitive edge because everyone knows, the more you can help someone, the more they can help you.”

Not everyone starts out with such support. When Debbie Wolf started All Medical Personnel 12 years ago, “it was very scary,” she recalled. “It would have been nice to have other resources” such as a support network, said Wolf, who also started Atlanta's branch of Dress for Success in 1997, dressing women for job interviews. “If I had a question, I'd have known where to go.”

The Atlanta conference will offer just that kind of support, with in-depth seminars and networking. “We want to create more women leaders in the world,” said Exchange co-founder Grossman. “If we can help them grow big, they'll be able to lead without hitting glass ceilings.”