Connecting with a New Network of Women Business Owners

We had 66 connectors and 120 clients join us for the first SuccessLink Connect event of the year “Building Powerful Referrals to Increase your Client Base.”  The keynote was Joanne Black, author of No More Cold Calling who shared wisdom about networking.  We also had Elena Miramar of Visión Hispana Newspaper give a seminar to Latina entrepreneurs in our lovely space provided by IBM

A Loss for All
Sheila J. Cohen passed away on January 24, 2008 after a long illness. Her family, friends, and Miss Tilly will miss her. Sheila loved San Francisco, hated tyranny, and enjoyed a good joke and a good time. (Published in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1/30/2008).

heila Cohen graduated from the Women’s Initiative Simple Steps business management training course in May 2003 and took it again as a refresher in July 2007. Sheila’s original business idea was a travel apparel business called Damselfly, but she instead pursued an interior color consulting business called Color Conspiracy. Most recently, she began applying her design and color skills to creating wearable art, and her products were highlighted at a graduate fashion show at the 2007 Women's Initiative Business Conference. Sheila is pictured above second from the left in a still from the 2007 Women’s Initiative video “Women Thrive, Societies Prosper.” Nika Quirk, Women’s Initiative trainer, remembers Sheila: “Sheila was a fiercely resilient and creative woman who, when faced with each succeeding health challenge, would call me as her coach saying ‘I’m not going to let this stop me. Help me create an action plan for what I’m doing next in my business.’ Sheila’s work studio was an outer reflection of her – colorful, purposeful, playful, and imaginative – and her mission was to bring that joyful whimsy to everyone else.” Sheila Cohen will surely be missed.

Ana Smith's Pick
Mixcoatl Arts and Crafts
Fruitvale Public Market
3340 E. 12th Street, Oakland 94602
I love learning about the many Women’s Initiative businesses in Oakland, where I moved a year ago. I also enjoy discovering stores that sell unique gifts, which is why I was happy to see that Mixcoatl Arts and Crafts has now opened at the Fruitvale Public Market, located conveniently near the Fruitvale BART Station. Like its San Francisco location, the Fruitvale location offers colorful, quality handmade art and silver and stone jewelry imported from Latin America. There is a lot of merchandise: they have a variety of ponchos, ceramic figurines, papel picado decorative papers, greeting cards, T-shirts, huarache sandals, scarves, bookmarks, bags, Huichol yarn paintings and I also noticed a lovely chess set featuring hand painted Mexican warrior figurines. I recently purchased a small decorative print printed on tree bark as a gift, and look forward to discovering the other treasures that this great shop offers.

photo credit: Nancy Rothstein, Women's Initiative graduate

Guisell Osorio
Sabores del Sur

At eight years old, Chilean-born Guisell Osorio did not appear to be destined for her mastery of cooking. She was more likely to be found in the kitchen organizing cilantro or playing with a piece of dough while her grandmother, a meticulous and well-experienced cook, prepared delicious meals for the family. Even so, she enjoyed paying attention to her elders’ cookery and often plagued them with questions of why they added certain ingredients.

In 2002, Guisell, now a thirty-something entrepreneur, launched a South American cuisine catering company called Sabores del Sur (flavors from the South, in Spanish). These days, she is renowned for her alfajores­—shortbread cookies filled with dulce de leche carameland topped with powdered sugar—and is fulfilling orders around the clock. Her daily operations include checking email, conversing with clients, preparing dishes, making deliveries, attending meetings, writing and sending proposals and teaching classes on food preparation. She works seven days a week and occasionally does a few 24 hour days when her adrenaline is high and she is excited about what she is doing. Although her schedule is hectic, she makes it a point to take long morning walks with her German Sheppard.

Although Guisell is successful at her craft and offers catering services for birthdays, office and home parties, anniversaries, and weddings, she did not really start cooking until her early thirties. Before then, she humbly admitted to burning boiling water, “I’ve ruined more than one teapot because I just forgot about it.” However, her biggest challenge was her role as a salesperson for her business. Although she earned a brown belt in judo, she expressed that she is not aggressive in seeking to win people over. She would rather “stay with the pots and pans, cooking and preparing the treats, rather than be out selling.”

Guisell credits Women’s Initiative with assisting her to overcome challenges and reach her goal of business ownership.  Guisell graduated from the Women's Initiative business management training course taught in Spanish, Alternativas para Latinas en Autosuficiencia (ALAS), in 2004. After that, her business doubled and then later tripled in quantity. She remains active with Women's Initiative and is affiliated with the Graduate Leadership Council.  She has also received many referrals and new clients through her listing in the Women's Initiative Business Directory.  In the last 20 years that the institution has been operative there have been over 16,000 women served by the agency--women vying to start a business. Says Guisell, “The word for ‘wings’ in Spanish is ‘alas’, and the Women’s Initiative ALAS program helped me by providing me with huge wings! The program was a great opportunity for me, and I took full advantage of it!”

For more information on Guisell’s business and menu selection, go to http://www.saborsur.com.

     -Mieasha Harris, Women's Initiative graduate and owner of WIP Magazine