Celebrate WEALF Entrepreneurs During Women's History Month

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Dear Friends,

Happy Women’s History Month! Of course, all of us at Women’s Enterprise Action Loan Fund (WEALF) know that women’s history should be celebrated every month. Take a look at the most famous women entrepreneurs and revered women inventors of the last century. And, for even more inspiration, look at these rising stars, our very own WEALF entrepreneurs, whose thriving businesses your support helped launch. Thank you! You can view some of those stories below, and more on our website.

This month we made a little WEALF history of our own as our executive committee came together to work on a strategic plan to prepare us for the next decade of our organization in order to serve even more women.

We welcome you to join us on this journey as we continue to grow and provide funding, mentoring, educational and other services for our participants in a community of like-minded women. We thank you for spreading the word about our work to people who believe in our mission and are willing to support it. We invite you to hear our story and more importantly, meet our women.

Over the next few months, we are planning small gatherings to showcase the success stories of our program participants and to invite your personal contacts to become involved. The details are evolving, and we look forward to your feedback. These gatherings are meant to generate more visibility for what we do; to interest more women to become mentors; to ask for more recommendations of entrepreneurs to apply to the program, or to spread the WEALF by encouraging donations.

Thank you for being part of our WEALF family!
Sincerely,
Vicki Weiner
Founder, WEALF

MEET THE NEW WOMEN OF WEALF

We had an exciting start to 2023, welcoming two new companies and three entrepreneurs into our growing family. Please visit the company websites to learn more about their products and why their founders are so passionate about their businesses and the communities they serve.

NADJA FRANK & CARYNE HAYES - PONCHOPROJECT NYC

Founders Nadja Frank and Caryne Hayes met 10 years ago while working together in the hospitality industry. Both had an affinity for well-made thoughtful products including food, wine, and clothing. Nadja, the designer, received her diploma in Fine Arts with honors from Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, Germany in 2008 and her Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 2011. Her sculptures have been exhibited internationally. In 2019 she used her background and talents to start PONCHOPROJECT, a playful outerwear line of ponchos, bags, and pants. Each piece is produced in Brooklyn (in small batches) with rescued or repurposed textiles, meeting the designer's desire for simple, elegantly designed pieces created with minimal impact to the planet. Caryne has a degree in Food Studies from NYU and has worked as a hospitality and lifestyle consultant. She is responsible for the company's marketing and business aspects. Customers love the products, sold in popup markets and online.

ROZANNA WEINBERGER - ROZANNA’S VIOLINS

An award-winning classically trained violist, Rozanna turned her talents to the business of creating beautiful hand-decorated musical instruments. Her unique artistic approach coupled with a vision of what is possible and needed in the string world, led to the launch of her own line of violins, with a variety of themes to appeal to a growing audience. Rozanna Violins were commissioned by the Guitar Center Chain to produce violins with designs inspired by Frozen and Star Wars, among others, to be sold with sheet music from those titles.

The company’s goal is to provide instruments that inspire creative possibilities for 21st century musician. Rozanna has been a guest speaker at Juilliard and panelist at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and has served as a music consultant for the Head Start and New York Pops Music Outreach programs. In the past 11 years her company has gained visibility, including being featured on the Drew Barrymore Show and having recently produced custom violins for the Cover Girls Violin Show and other popular artists. The company's catalogue now includes electro acoustic violins along with violas and cellos, demonstrating the variety of designs available online and at Guitar Center in sizes for adults and children.

WEALF has provided loans to over 100 women entrepreneurs and their businesses. Meet all our women on our WEBSITE

MENTOR SPOTLIGHT

Thank you to our Board of Advisors. These mentors are the heart of WEALF. We invite you to get to know these expert businesswomen and consultants who understand what it is to be a woman entrepreneur. Our mentors are an accessible team dedicated to working one-to-one with our program participants to create a supportive environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish. It's an exciting time to be part of WEALF and we appreciate all of you.

SHAHARA AHMAD-LLEWELLYN

We are pleased and honored to welcome Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn to our Board of Advisors. Shahara is a former owner and Vice Chairman of the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Inc. Prior to the bottling business, she owned and operated a home care company and had a long, groundbreaking and successful career in the home health-care field pioneering the creation of home care in New York City. She is a serial entrepreneur having started, owned, operated, and sold six different companies from 1972 to 2012. In September 2012 she sold her interest in the last company she owned to Samsung. We are looking forward to drawing on her considerable experience and talents as we continue to grow our organization to assist women to become financially self-sufficient through their businesses.

Read Shahara's full biography on our website

MONDAYS SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION WITH ROSLIE LI STUDIOS

Earlier this year Jennifer Fiore and Nina Lalli founders of MONDAYS, took a chance on something new by collaborating with Roslie Li Studios, a lighting company, to create Pilar. PILAR is a new lighting collection inspired by Brancusi's Endless Columns, balancing elemental shapes with crisp metalwork in red, brown, and buff clays coated in a range of earthen glazes and are punctuated by solid brass or Spanish alabaster globes. Sales are taking off. Roslie Li Studios has invited MONDAYS to participate in a trade show where MONDAYS will be able to show some of their other work. This is an exciting creative extension of their regular business.

CELEBRATING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Women have powerful stories to tell; WEALF is celebrating Women’s History Month by telling the business stories of our entrepreneurs who are beating the odds for success. Join us all month on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and LINKEDIN to hear our women, in their own words, describe their entrepreneurial journeys. The story of women cannot be told without addressing their contribution to the community. Join us this month and every month and find out how the women of WEALF are creating business history today.

Celebrate Women's History Month by making a DONATION in honor of that special woman in your life making history now or who is destined to do so in the future. All gifts are greatly appreciated. WEALF has 501(c)(3) status through our affiliation with Accompany Capital.

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Women's Enterprise Action Loan Fund (WEALF)

1160 Park Ave

New York, NY 10128-1212

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