Women Mean Business

History of Women Mean Business
Women Mean Business was the brain child of Suzanne Burrell. She grew up in Cleveland, TN. She regularly would notice men gathering at a local restaurant and would over hear them making business deals over breakfast. Over time, she realized their sons would be brought to the gatherings. Their sons were mentored into the group and as they developed in business, they were then making business deals over breakfast.

Suzanne wished she had the opportunity to be mentored like this. So she went through her contacts list, emailed a few contacts and invited them to lunch. She was surprised to find almost 40 interested Chattanooga business women were meeting her for lunch the summer of 2011!

Leadership Team
A leadership team was formed to plan the monthly lunch meetings. It was decided this group was specifically for women entrepreneurs and sales professionals who want to invest focused time to grow our businesses and become more effective in being profitable. There are many non-profit and civic groups doing great things in every community. This leadership team and future team participants, speakers, and events offer practical business tips to bring dollars to the bottom line of business. Our leadership team brings practical advice and meaningful networking that could build a book of business for meeting attendees.

Denise Reed was there at the original lunch launch. Denise is passionate about helping entrepreneurs be successful, especially if the service is practical. She served faithfully on the leadership team to carry Suzanne Burrell’s dream forward and regularly kept in touch with Suzanne. Denise, along with various other members of the leadership team, kept everyone up to date through social media. Other members of the leadership team help with location selection, speaker topics, bookkeeping, and meeting notifications on a volunteer basis. Suzanne and Denise are passing the leadership baton to Penny Hughey and Beverly Jerman in 2016. The sign of good leadership is allowing others to follow in your footsteps for service to others.