Celebrating Ruth McBride at NEW

4 June 2014June 4, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Time flies when you’re having fun, and so it has been with NEW. We founded the Network of Entrepreneurial Women to incorporate some fun in networking while being truly supportive of our members, and add some geographic scope to our business endeavors. More than a year later, we have 159 Meetup members and 61 ‘likes’ on Facebook.

Next week we will celebrate our first birthday and reflect on all we’ve accomplished in the past year. We will party at the host of our inaugural NEW event, Avalon Salon Day & Spa.

We want to pay our joy and celebration forward, and have partnered with NEW member Chris Pierucci of Final Draft Business Support Services to support the Ruth McBride Memorial Scholarship for Girls in the Game with a silent auction and raffle. While we bid on member-donated pieces, we will munch on festive goodies, sip on teas, tour the fabulous themed massage areas and hair salon, and celebrate our milestone with relaxing mini hand and neck massages.

Ruth, Chris’ mother, was a teacher’s aide tutoring special education children for almost 40 years and an enthusiastic sports fan. Being handicapped herself, Ruth had a special connection with the children she taught. Girls in the Game scholarships unites both of Ruth’s passions: education and sports.

The Ruth McBride Girls in the Game Scholarship is a named four-year scholarship and will change the game for at least one Chicago high school girl. During her four years of high school, along with other teen girls from all over Chicago, the recipient of the Ruth McBride Scholarship will be trained in a variety of energizing sports and games, study yoga, learn to eat smart, and develop new strategies to help her resolve conflicts and reduce whatever violence is in her life.

The Team Squad is coached by Girls in the Game’s award-winning staff to develop their skills as strong and confident leaders. As trained leaders, they will lead workshops and teach what they have learned about living a healthier lifestyle to younger girls. In exchange for making a difference in the lives of other young girls, the recipients of the Ruth McBride Scholarship will earn significant scholarship dollars for college tuition, textbooks, or the technical training of her choice. 100% of the girls who received scholarships in our 2013 Teen Squad high school program have gone on to college.

Our fundraiser includes a silent auction with gift certificates for a photography session or massage therapy, jewelry by yours truly, and other items we will post on our Facebook page in the coming week. To donate an auction item by Monday, June 9, please review this document. The Ruth McBride Scholarship will sponsor at least one four-year scholarship in 2014. However, the more we raise, the more girls we can sponsor. It is a unique, exciting and inspiring force for change, just like Ruth herself.

Aurora Rose Boutique is donating a gift basket for the raffle. You can purchase raffle prizes online via this link. You do not have to be present for the raffle, however, attendance is required for the silent auction.

“When I moved here two years ago, I automatically drifted to the usual and customary networking events that I found to be effective in Colorado. I really didn’t think that driving 30 miles downtown was going to be that big of a deal. Boy, was I wrong! Living in the Northwest Suburbs and driving 30 miles in each direction was kind of fun at first, but after a while, not so much fun!

I did however meet some great people who, like me, thought that there might be some better options. And because we were all veterans of women’s networking, we knew what we wanted and didn’t want to do. Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard was…”if you don’t like the way something is being done, do it yourself, or be quiet.” And so we did.

Erica Thomas, Maike van Wijk and I came up with a concept: suburban meetings, rotating locations, alternating afternoon and evenings, and–the best part– it should be free or very low cost. No membership or attendance requirements and women supporting other women in their efforts. Cool locations, fun and uplifting environments without stress involved!

Whether they are seasoned business owners, entrepreneurial spirits or just beginners, everyone who attends could learn from and teach others!

We divided the minimal tasks involved in running a small, volunteer organization and with hosts donating their space and often refreshments, advertising on Constant Contact, Facebook, and later Meetup, we were off and running.

Fast forward one year and we have found that the model works! There are regular faces at meeting month after month, some that show up when we’re in their suburb, and new faces all the time. We support small suburban business owners by meeting and shopping in their stores. We share our stories and our resources.

So what does NEW mean to me? It is, as intended, a different way to approach networking and one that has allowed me to meet many absolutely wonderful women in a diverse variety of occupations. I’ve developed friendships, business relationships and travelled around the surrounding areas enough that I feel like I’m almost a native! And I’ve enjoyed the collaboration with my NEW Co-founders who still make it fun.”

~ Karen McCormack, McCormack Consulting

The NEW Anniversary Party and Charity Raffle is Wednesday, June 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Avalon Salon & Day Spa, 20530 North Rand Road in Deer Park. Avalon Spa has been named in the top 200 salons in Salon Today for the last 9 years. As an Aveda Salon, the spa participated in the Guinness Book of Records challenge of providing the most charity haircuts in 24 hours.

“There’s a real community of encouragement at NEW, and I think that’s especially vital for women entrepreneurs – sometimes we tend to disappear in front of our computers, smartphones and tablets, and it’s so great to have this opportunity, twice a month, to just be around other women business owners and get your mental energy recharged.

Every month, every event, we’re meeting new women entrepreneurs. But it’s also inspiring to see how much we all have in common – because there are new women at every event, it’s a somewhat different crowd at every event, and yet we fall into the same patterns of support and helpfulness.

We’ve been all over Chicagoland in one year – all throughout the Suburbs, and a few Chicago neighborhoods as well, and it creates an opportunity for our members to spread their businesses’ reach just by going to a new town and meeting fellow businesswomen there.   

Cofounders

The other greatest thing about NEW, of course, is the great team I get to work with in leadership. Maike & Karen are such amazing businesswomen individually, and bring so much creativity and wisdom to the table. It really is the best team in the world to work with – it’s the Dream Team of networking.   

It’s just restorative, to get your mental energy recharged around fellow women entrepreneurs, some you’ve never met, some you saw last month – and they’re all cheering for you. Each of us – we’re all cheering each other on to further greatness.”

~ Erica Thomas, NetworkHoncho.com

Our events have been a blast, and we’ve always walked away enriched, whether with a dozen new business cards to follow up on or through in-depth one-on-one conversations within smaller groups.

It’s been a wonderful way to connect with other entrepreneurial women, get to know the diversity of women-owned and women-managed business in the burbs, and explore the suburbs of Chicagoland. Come and join our celebration!

Escaping to Glen Ellyn

28 May 2014May 28, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

I’ve had some introspective weeks where it felt like I was working on lots of things in the background and mulling over much more in my head. So it was nice to get out of my head and venture to Escape Salon & Spa for a spell.

Located in one of NEW’s favorite suburbs, Glen Ellyn, we cozied up on the sofa and chatted about our latest business ventures.

New member Joanne of Red Hare Photography fits right in with her desire to empower women by highlighting their natural beauty through photography. Clemens Enterprises is going strong after 19 years of direct mailing services. Author Barbara Joan Zeitz will be featured in Glancer Magazine’s July issue, is working on her second book, and will be at the Printer’s Row book fair next month. Networkhoncho.com keeps adding features to its social media site that is in beta launch.

Founded 5 years ago, Escape is a full-service spa offering hair, nail and skin care; massage; makeup and body waxing. We were treated to hand-massages which made my wire-bending fingers quite happy. Some ladies also opted for the upper lip waxing.

I’m intrigued by the bamboo massage and look forward to making a spa day of my next Glen Ellyn outing.

We’re also looking forward to our anniversary party benefiting Girls in the Game.

Click here to see how you can help us, and mark your calendar for this festive event on June 11 that is featured in Crain’s.

The co-founders hung out for a post-networking snack at Shannon’s Irish Pub, which was a great way to launch the Memorial Day Holiday weekend.

Photos courtesy NetworkHoncho.com

NEW – The Network of Entrepreneurial Women is a group of Chicagoland business women who are upgrading business networking with fun and creative events that inspire attendees to work together, refer each other and most of all cheer each other on as the membership succeeds. Events rotate around various suburbs on a semimonthly basis, usually the 2nd Wednesday and 4th Thursday of the month. RSVP for our upcoming events at Meetup, or like us on Facebook and check up on the calendar there.

American History Re-learned

19 May 2014May 19, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Last Summer I randomly discovered the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian here in Evanston, and made a mental note to visit it. So when we were looking for places to host NEW events, I decided to give our cultural knowledge a boost and book our Meet & Munch there.

The museum was founded in 1977, when John and Betty Mitchell decided to make the Indian artifacts they had collected available to the public. John Mitchell met Native Americans during his summer work on a farm and wanted to introduce others to their rich culture. Initially the museum was part of Kendall college but eventually became an independent non-profit organization.

The Mitchell Museum’s mission is to promote and share a deeper understanding of Native American peoples through the collection, preservation, and interpretation of their traditional and contemporary art and material culture.

We were taken across the country with exhibits of the Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Northwest Coast, and Arctic regions of the United States and Canada. We learned that the relationships to tribes by early settlers varied by nationality, some more eager to collaborate and intermingle (the French), others merely seeing native Americans as a labor force (Spaniards) and others wishing to convert the tribes (British).

Our docent Barbara Johnson shed light on the misrepresentations of history and how our vocabulary for the tribes are a result of biased perspectives and things getting lost in translation.

Wigwam, for example means a house made from birchwood, but has come to be a generic term. Teepee translates as ‘where they live’ when we associate it with a particular type of structure (home vs. castle/bungalow/cottage etc.).

Some of the tribal names are based on the feuds between tribes, Apache meaning Enemy and Sioux meaning little rattlesnakes. True tribal nomenclature will take some time to take hold.

Beads are one way to determine when Native American tribes interacted with European settlers, as this was an object not indigenous to Native American Art. We perused a lovely collection of garments, tools, kachina dolls, jewelry and other artifacts that mesmerized us.

Tawa is my favorite from my Arizona days.

The clown kachinas are quite reminiscent of other mischievous characters in pop culture.

Upstairs, where temporary exhibits are located, we discussed the art of storytelling and the parallels of tribal tales to other cultures trying to figure out the origin of the earth and the elements that are part of life.

To cap off the delightful visit we made a God’s Eye out of chopsticks and wool. Tribes would create a God’s Eye for a child, wrapping one round for each year of its life until it was five years old, when it was assumed the child would survive. The ritual is intended to serve as protection and teach the child spirituality.

Crafting in communion is such a joy.

Our next NEW event is this Thursday, May 22 at Escape Salon and Spa from 6 to 8 p.m. Join us at 505 Crescent Blvd, Glen Ellyn, IL for soothing mini spa treatments, joyous networking, and a sip of relaxing wine.

While we kicked off NEW in May last year, our birthday party will be in June, at our original host Avalon Salon & Day Spa. Join us for a party and charity raffle on Wednesday, June 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. 20530 North Rand Road in Deer Park.

We believe in paying it forward, so in lieu of birthday presents to ourselves, we want to offer young ladies in need the opportunity to live their dreams with a charity raffle and silent auction to raise funds for the Ruth McBride Memorial Scholarship for Girls in the Game. While we bid on member-donated pieces, we will munch on festive goodies, sip on teas, tour the fabulous themed massage areas and hair salon, and celebrate our milestone with relaxing mini hand and neck massages. Please consider donating to our raffle and auction via this form.

On June 16 we will discuss how to brag; Self Marketing for the Women’s Business Owner in Hyde Park at 57h Street Books. Mark your calendars for these fabulous events and more on Meetup or Facebook.

People Photos courtesy NetworkHoncho.com

Joyful Dining at Symphony’s

2 May 2014May 2, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Last week the Network of Entrepreneurial Women gathered at Symphony’s for a joyous dinner.

Since our group was intimate we skipped the anticipated progressive dinner and conversed about business challenges and joys instead.

We brainstormed where to promote ourselves, celebrated one attendee’s milestone of needing to hire, and discussed our goals for the year.

It is exciting to watch our members’ businesses evolve and I look forward to seeing dreams achieved as we move forward.

Next up is a visit to the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, one of only a few museums in the nation that focuses exclusively on the history, culture, and arts of the American Indian and First Nation peoples of the United States and Canada.

We will gather at the museum for a docent-led tour ($10 charge) and then explore our creative side with a craft, after which we will network with each other. You can RSVP here.

Photos courtesy NetworkHoncho.com. She Wore Blue Coat from Hello Holiday, sweater dress from Style & Co, spiral collar by Maike’s Marvels.

Crystal Clay demo at A Bella Bead

16 April 2014April 16, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Last Wednesday the Network of Entrepreneurial Women had its Meet & Munch at A Bella Bead in Glen Ellyn. Since I am getting back into beading, I knew this was going to be a risky event for my wallet.

Sharon Dotson started out making jewelry when she wanted something to go with an outfit for a wedding. As she created pieces people would follow her in grocery stores and buy her necklaces right there.

After doing trunk shows and fairs, Sharon opened a shop selling her jewelry, but when the owner sold her building after two years, it was time to make a change.

In October 2013 Sharon opened A Bella Bead, which provides beading supplies, beading classes, and handmade jewelry by Sharon. Sharon likes to re-purpose vintage pieces and matches crystals and other accoutrements of that time period to the base piece. She can also do jewelry repair of vintage and not-so-vintage pieces.

Sharon also believes in supporting the community and teaches classes at schools and churches. She hosts open tables on Saturdays where people can come in and play with beads for a set time frame.

We quickly started discussing the challenges of solopreneurship in a retail store, and Sharon credits her family members and friends with keeping her going. They volunteer their time and offer business insights that help her innovate and brainstorm new offerings.

Our group discussed goal setting and how to determine whether to hire an intern or staff member. That theme continued in my inbox that evening when I came across Leonie Dawson’s How To Hire Staff When You Want To Do It All Yourself article.

One member suggested taking 90 days as a “year” planning cycle, and setting milestones for those 3 months at a time. She said that just by doing one thing on that list, other tasks may work themselves out as an effect of that first action item.

Sharon’s Wine cork classes and Cystal Clay classes are the most popular, and I can see why. She led us through a demonstration which has me itching to buy a kit and get sparkly.

The kit comes with an epoxy (gray) and clay (white in this case but available in all kinds of colors), and a small stick with beeswax for crystal setting. Sharon prefers using the magical pick for her crystals, and who wouldn’t want a touch of magic?

You mix equal parts epoxy to clay and rub it together for it to adhere. Then you place the clay into the surface you wish to embellish, a bezel, ring, bracelet, earring, pen, brush, comb, etc. They can be metal or plastic backings.

Then you set the crystals into the clay, either forming a design or just as inspiration strikes. Sharon recommends Swarovski crystals as other crystals don’t have the same lustre. One has 2 hours to set the crystals before the clay starts to harden.

After all the stones are set, a little crystal dust is applied, which also comes in various colors. This gives the piece a shimmer rather than the matte clay finish.

Et voila, a pendant is born. This will now dry for 24-48 hours.

This could easily become a new addiction! I opted for a few crystal beads to embed in a vision I had before entering the store, and I will leave the Crystal Clay kit for a time when I have made room for new tools in my overflowing supply drawers.

A Bella Bead’s calendar is updated on its Facebook page. We might have to do a wine cork class next!

We also happily took some promotional photos to aid Sharon in her social media needs.

Next week we’ll be dining at Symphony’s in Evanston and rotating after each course to get some quality networking time in with each other. (Last year’s progressive dinner was a blast). NEW’s May events are up on the calendar. We’ll be exploring Native American Culture at our next Meet & Munch and escaping to a spa during Wine Women and Wellness. Join us!

Some photos courtesy NetworkHoncho.com, others by Maike’s Marvels

Oh yeah, we had delicious munchies too!

Beer, Women and Speednetworking

7 April 2014April 7, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Last Thursday we had a blast speednetworking at Shannon’s Irish Pub for Beer Women and Wellness.

The Network of Entrepreneurial Women gathered in Glen Ellyn to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with pints and pub grub.

When our first round of beverages was ordered (we have our priorities straight!), we engaged in 4-minute introductions of our businesses to each other.

After the bell we switched places to meet the next person, until everyone had met everyone.

All that talking needed to be fortified with dinner, which won rave reviews. Shannon’s Irish Pub offers fantastic service, delicious food, and a well-varied bar.

Some of us lingered over beer and dessert afterward.

Join us for more meet and greets at our next Meet & Munch among beads. We will return to Glen Ellyn on Wednesday, April 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. at A Bella Bead. Open since October 2013, the store offers beading supplies for jewelry making, including loose beads, strand beads, clasps, findings, Swarovski crystals and lamp beads. Owner Sharon Dotson also provides a venue for beading classes, such as Resin Jewelry, Wiring, Stamping, Beading and Crystal. You can come in and fix jewelry at open table sessions, or throw a private BYOB party.

Join us as we learn about crystal clay and spark our creativity with sparkly, colorful jewelry accoutrements. A Bella Bead Boutique is located at 485 Main Street, Banyan Tree Mall Unit D in Glen Ellyn, Il 60137.

Celebrating Character, Courage and Commitment

4 April 2014April 4, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

“There is no royal flower-strewn path to success.
And if there is, I have not found it f
or if I have accomplished anything in life
it is because I have been willing to work hard.
Perseverance is my motto.”
~ Madame C.J. Walker

Women’s History Month has come to a close, but women continue to make history on a daily basis. At NEW‘s last Meet & Munch women’s historian Barbara Joan Zeitz provided us with a list of inspirational business women. While Barbara generally focuses on unsung heroes in her books, she made an exception for this presentation and mentioned trailblazers who have been recognized in the business world.

Nonetheless, a few of the women mentioned were new to me. Our attendees, ranging from business consultants to communicators to social media specialists were all keen on empowering women. Barbara’s mission is to share women’s history so each woman can learn and own her own history.

“We’re not competitors, we are compatriots.
Read your history.
Know your past, know your present, because it is your future.”
~ Barbara Joan Zeitz

Madame C. J. Walker ‎ was one of the first female millionaires in U.S. History, founding a hair product business in the 1920s after losing her hair and then training other African American women to become ‘franchisees’ before franchising was a concept. She trained agents in South America and focused on teaching black women to be self-sufficient.

Julia Morgan was the first female to graduate Berkeley with a civil engineering degree and the first female licensed architect in California. She rebuilt the Fairmont Hotel in 1906 and designed 700 buildings in her life time, including Hearst Castle. In spite of her status as one of the most distinguished women architects in America who pioneered the use of steel- reinforced concrete, Julia Morgan was listed as Hearst’s secretary, rather than the designer of his castle and the surrounding 127 acres.

Muriel Siebert moved to New York in a used car with $500 in her pocket. She changed jobs three times because men earned more than her. When she applied with her initials rather than her full name she had more employment success. Upon applying for the New York Stock Exchange she was turned down by 9 sponsors, which put her in a catch-22 because the bank insisted she have a sponsor and the sponsors insisted she have a loan. She became the first woman on the New York Stock Exchange and subsequently the first female Superintendent of Banks in New York (an SOB, as she called it). She started a personal finance program for High School Students in New York, which became a model for nationwide programs.

“If you find that you don’t like what you’re doing you can change it.
There’s no law that says
you have to continue to do the same job if you’re not feeling satisfied.
Your mind is capable of doing a lot of things.”
~ Muriel Siebert

Lena Himmelstein-Bryant ‎ was widowed with a young child after 16 months of marriage to David Bryant. She designed maternity wear at a time when women were placed in seclusion. She sold out the day her ad was published. The letters in her name were transposed at a bank, and she didn’t correct it, thus becoming Lane Bryant. She moved on to full-figured women’s wear and was the first to offer employee benefits.

Coco Chanel was placed in an orphanage at a young age who became a store clerk when she grew up. She built a fashion and perfume empire, took women out of corsets, and made slacks acceptable high fashion for women. She was fiercely independent and moved in elite circles where she networked very well. Barbara said she exemplifies the value of women and how to embrace your gender.

Elizabeth Arden ‎ started her career as a nurse. She learned of a cream that treated burns and combined science and technology for beauty. Her first salon was opened in 1910 which expanded to a $20 million empire. She marched for women’s rights with 15,000 Suffragettes and was the first woman to be featured on the cover of time in 1946.

Meg Whitman joined eBay reluctantly in 1998 when it had 30 employees. Her restructuring and management grew it to 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue by 2008. She was noted for redefining business principles by implementing procedures that steer and influence rather than control, focusing on conversing rather than commanding, and asking questions instead of giving answers. She was noted for saying that bottom line success comes from experimenting and failing rather than doing nothing when bold action is needed.

“My rules in life are to believe in myself,
keep a positive attitude and
hold on to my integrity.”
~ Maria de Lourdes Sobrino

Carrie Marcus Neiman was a fashion buyer with her brother for the Neiman Marcus store her husband owned. She brought ready to wear to the Dallas market and transformed it into a fashion capital.

Maggie Lena Walker dreamed of owning a bank at a time when women couldn’t own property. She founded the first women-owned bank, St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, which after merging with two other banks in the 1930s continues to be the oldest continuously operated African American owned bank.

Maria de Lourdes Sobrino came from a family of lawyers but had no interest in law school. She instead became a serial entrepreneur by starting a flower shop, which failed, a travel business that tanked during an economic downturn, imported crafts that didn’t prove lucrative, and opened a sandwich shop. In 1982 she put her savings into 300 cups of Gelatina, which became the multimillion dollar Lulu’s Desserts. As the owner of the fastest-growing Hispanic-owned business in the U.S., she served on the board of NAWBO-LA, Latina Style Magazine, D.C., Working Families for Wal-Mart.

We chatted more about these women of Character, Courage, and Commitment and left encouraged and enlightened. A Thesaurus of Women: From Cherry Blossoms to Cell Phones, is available on Amazon, via Barbara herself (who is working on her second book), and at our event host, Town House Books.

Join us for Meet & Munch among Beads at A Bella Bead next Wednesday, April 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. in Glen Ellyn. Open since October 2013, the store offers beading supplies for jewelry making, including loose beads, strand beads, clasps, findings, Swarovski crystals and lamp beads. Owner Sharon Dotson will demonstrate crystal clay, and we can peruse all her sparklies while we network. A Bella Bead Boutique is located at 485 Main Street, Banyan Tree Mall Unit D in Glen Ellyn, Il 60137.

“My life didn’t please me, so I created my life.”
― Coco Chanel

NEW – The Network of Entrepreneurial Women is a group of Chicagoland business women who are upgrading business networking with fun and creative events that inspire attendees to work together, refer each other and most of all cheer each other on as the membership succeeds. Events rotate around various suburbs on a semimonthly basis, usually the 2nd Wednesday and 4th Thursday of the month. RSVP for our upcoming events at Meetup or Facebook.

Networking photos courtesy NetworkHoncho.com, with the historic women’s headshots pulled from Google.

Charmed by books

25 March 2014March 25, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Last week we celebrated Women’s History Month at the quaint Town House Books in St. Charles.

It was a sunny day and we enjoyed a healthy lunch at the Town House Books Cafe, which was merged (from Al’s Cafe and Creamery) and attached to the building in 1996.

The menu is in chapter format.

Owner David frequented this book store during his teens. Formerly the home of St. Charles’ second mayor, the Greek Revival style building was built in 1853. It became an antique shop and then a beauty shop, whose proprietors gave the upstairs its 70’s era decor.

In 1974 Mary Lou Kelly opened the book store, which became David’s dream. He asked “Mrs. Kelly” if she would consider letting him take over the store if she was ever interested in retiring, and the answer was no.

After some time, however, Mary reconsidered and in 1992 David took on full ownership while Mary planned to stay on for one year. David learned everything about the book business, and over time modernized from the pain-staking paper-based inventory tracking to computerized equipment, while maintaining the traditional book store charm.

Mary retired in 2013, after having reduced her hours over time. The book store was awarded 1999 “Best of the Best” by the Sunday Post Magazine.

After our delicious lunch Barbara Joan Zeitz presented a fabulous program which warrants another post. Her books are located in the Women’s section at Town House Books.

On Thursday we raise pints to St. Patrick and our latest accomplishments at Shannon’s Irish Pub in Glen Ellyn. Join us from 6 to 8 at 428 N Main St, Glen Ellyn and enjoy some speed networking.

Speednetworking with chocolate

3 March 2014March 3, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

We had a blast closing out Galentine’s month at Anna Shea’s Chocolate Lounge last week.

In spite of another polar vortex front several suburban ladies were lured by the chocolate bar, and we cozied up to the fireplace to imbibe.

The Pistachio Pomegranate cupcake was delicious, and I opted for a Bailey’s Chocolate cocktail this time.

Erica and I had done some chocolate research and found some great nuggets to present as chocolate trivia.

Then Karen launched us into speed networking, which was energizing and inspirational. Due to an odd number of attendees I sat out most rounds, which introverted me didn’t mind at all. It was great watching the energy build and connections grow.

We are super-duper excited to celebrate Women’s History Month with a women’s history expert, Barbara Joan Zeitz for our Meet & Munch on Wednesday, March 12.

Spending time with my Galentines is always so uplifting.

Seeing Curly Girl Design represented was a bonus surprise.

Here’s to a delightful week for everyone.

Photos by Maike’s Marvels and NetworkHoncho.com

Galentine’s Day at Salon Four 14

17 February 2014February 17, 2014Maike van WijkLeave a comment

Last Wednesday NEW visited Salon Four 14 for some pre-Galentine’s Day pampering. It was sunny day and the temperature had increased significantly, making us all giddy with joy.

Co-Founder Karen had brought a 12-pack of cupcakes from The Sugar Path as well as some chocolate.

We toured the cozy space owned by Heather Haftl, and learned that we can relax our scalps in the lather lounge with a head massage, pamper our hands with paraffin treatments, and watch our hair color get mixed at the color bar, after which it gets cut and styled of course.

The salon, which has been in business for four years, also offers custom make-up blends. Dipping our hands in warm wax after a hand massage was delicious.