Women’s Independent Press

“ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED
OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME”
UN Women, UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

A startling statistic

World Wide, one in three women will experience some type violence
in their lifetime including battering rape, or assault. According to
UN Women, UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women because it is so prevalent, “violence against women has become as much a pandemic as HIV/AIDS or malaria”. This violence, unfortunately, continues to be minimized by the general public and by the legislators who fail to create and fund programs i.e. the Violence Against Women Act, to eliminate this violence.

Around the world, women and girls and those who loved them joined a campaign on Feb. 14 called One Billion Rising: a movement to bring attention to violence against women and girls through dance. Over 180 countries participated. Organizers of the global campaign, V-Day, a movement founded by Eve Ensler, invited one billion women to walk out, dance, rise up and demand an end to violence, often with flash mobs, including one in Pittsburgh. This movement grew out of that startling statistic: One in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. Watch live One Billion Rising events around the world.
In Pittsburgh, One Billion Rising was organized by LaTasha Mayes, the Executive director of New Voices, Women of Color for Reproductive Rights. More than 500 women girls and men converged on Market Square at noon on February 14, 2013 to lift up their voices and demand an end to violence. It was several hours filled with positive energy lots of good music and dancing.
NPR and Positively Pittsburgh Live promoted the event with limited coverage from some of the independent news sources and no coverage from any of the other radio or TV stations, including the
Post Gazette.

We need to keep the momentum strong. Violence against women is real and all of us are at risk. Be diligent and demand an end to this violence here and around the world. Unless all of us are safe, none of us are.

Media Contact: Amanda Leff Ritchie,
Senior Public Relations Specialist
412-365-1125, aritchie@chatham.edu

The Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University
launches semi-virtual mentoring program for women business owners.

PITTSBURGH (February 12, 2013) … The Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) at Chatham University is pleased to announce the successful January 2013 launch of the
CWE MyBoardSM program. This program, funded primarily by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation with additional support from both the Alcoa Foundation and Bridgeway Capital, matches advanced women business owners with a team, or board,
of experienced mentors. The CWE MyBoard program will help women entrepreneurs build capacity, gain confidence, and access capital, giving them the tools they need to take their businesses to the next level.

The program serves women business owners who need assistance with all areas of business development: from going through their first SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
analysis, to developing inventory control systems and implementing effective social media strategies.
Designed with a virtual meeting capability, the program accommodates long-distance participation and busy schedules.

The launch of this blended virtual/in-person program complements current CWE product offerings and provides key means for women business owners in greater Pittsburgh region to reach the elusive $1M dollar sales mark.

For more information about this program, visit www.chatham.edu/cwe/myboard or call 412-365-1384.

About the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship
The mission of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship is to educate, create economic opportunities, and foster entrepreneurial thinking for women entrepreneurs, women in business, and students. CWE provides opportunities for women entrepreneurs in all stages of businesses to start and grow their companies by utilizing Chatham resources, programs, and expertise. CWE programming is also designed to teach regional businesswomen how to think and act entrepreneurially by focusing on innovation and creativity in the workplace. CWE also offers specific programs for both undergraduate and graduate students that help develop the skills needed to become successful businesswomen.

Founded in 2005, CWE has expanded its reach throughout Southwestern PA to help an increasing number of businesswomen learn, network, connect, and achieve their business goals. Current and initial funding for CWE provided by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, with additional support provided by the Alcoa Foundation. Initial funding for CWE was also provided by the Lois Tack Thompson Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation. For more information about programs offered by CWE call 412-365-1253 or visit www.chatham.edu/cwe.

About Chatham University
Chatham University, founded in 1869, is located in the vibrant Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pa. Preparing students from around the world, Chatham’s enrollment throughout the past decade was the fastest growing in the Pittsburgh region. With enrollment of over 2,300 students and consisting of an undergraduate women’s college and co-educational graduate and online programs, Chatham has consistently been ranked among the top master’s level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Offering challenging academics and innovative programming in the fields of sustainability and the environment, health and lab sciences, creative and liberal arts, and business and entrepreneurship, a Chatham education is designed to meet the needs of tomorrow’s economy, today.

For more information, call 412-365-1139 or visit www.chatham.edu

www.Web.com and NAWBO survey reveals the primary factors impacting women business owners

WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 11, 2013 – A national survey of women business owners (WBOs) conducted by [3]Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWWW) and the [4]National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) found a pervasive sense of economic optimism, including a prediction by most WBOs (85 percent) that more women will become entrepreneurs in 2013 than in past years. WBOs also plan to invest more (38 percent) or the same (54 percent) in hiring this year than they did in 2012 – a positive sign for the economy.

2013, the Year of the Female Entrepreneur
The State of Women-Owned Businesses survey found that the large
majority of WBOs were optimistic about their business’ overall
performance (81 percent) for the year ahead. They were also
optimistic, though slightly less so, about the broader economic
outlook (74 percent) in 2013.

“The 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Survey reveals that even in these tough economic times, women entrepreneurs are optimistic about business opportunities for the year ahead,” said NAWBO President & CEO, Diane L. Tomb. “This survey informs us of the challenges and opportunities facing NAWBO members as well as women business owners in general. At NAWBO we will strive to address these issues on behalf of all women entrepreneurs.”

The survey also uncovered serious challenges facing WBOs, including the need to reach new customers. Web.com and NAWBO developed the survey to better understand the state of women entrepreneurship, including: women business owners’ (WBO) motivations for starting their businesses, what business challenges they face, what and how micro- and macroeconomic factors impact their businesses, what investment plans they have for the year ahead and what public policy issues are of greatest concern.

What Keeps Women Business Owners Up at Night?
With regard to public policy matters, the top four issues on the
minds of WBOs are: the state of the economy (57 percent), health
insurance cost and affordability (40 percent), business tax issues
(36 percent), and access to a quality workforce (36 percent). Though two in five WBOs said that health insurance costs and affordability are important issues to them, many (71 percent) feel that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) will have no impact upon the way they do business.

Financing Options to Meet Business Capital Needs
More than three quarters (78 percent) of WBOs did not seek a new or extended line of credit in the past year. Of these 78 percent, more than half (68 percent) indicated they did not want additional credit in the first place, and the others (32 percent) did not think they could get credit if they tried. Most WBOs financed their businesses through credit cards (45 percent), business earnings (40 percent), or private sources such as personal savings or contributions from family or friends (37 percent).

Who Should Become an Entrepreneur?
Survey respondents assert that women start their own businesses for a variety of reasons, including: having a vision for a business idea or a passion for solving a specific industry problem, wanting
control or a more flexible work-life balance, and being in the right
place at the right time. When asked the biggest motivation for
starting their business, the most common answer was that they were following their vision (28 percent), followed by finding an idea
that allowed them to become an entrepreneur (21 percent). The survey found that the most important traits for running a successful
business are to have a passion for an idea to have a vision
to succeed long-term after the business is launched and a
willingness and attitude to fail before you succeed and to take
risks.

Finding New Customers through Online Investments and Social Media
Marketing
When asked what they see as their biggest challenge to running their business in 2013, nearly two in five (39 percent) of WBOs said that it was gaining new customers. To gain customers, nearly three quarters (73 percent) of WBOs plan to invest more in marketing in 2013. Specifically, they will invest in social media marketing (36 percent) and search engine optimization (SEO) (36 percent). This is not surprising, as nearly half (44 percent) predict that social media and SEO are the future of small business marketing.
Conversely, WBOs anticipated that traditional outreach approaches,
including print and direct mail (1.6 percent), online advertising
(4.4 percent) and email marketing (6.2 percent), will have less
impact on small business marketing in the future.

When considering what marketing tactics currently have the greatest impact on a business’ bottom line, more than half (52 percent) of respondents indicated that website design and maintenance was very important, followed by social media marketing and SEO (38 percent) and email marketing (25 percent). And WBOs indicated that LinkedIn (27 percent) is the most valuable social media platform to them, followed by Facebook (26 percent), YouTube (18 percent) and Twitter (17 percent).

“Women business owners are laser focused on reaching new customers, and their strategy for doing so is focused on improving their businesses’ online presence,” said www.Web.com executive vice president and chief people officer, Roseann Duran. “This is great news for time-strapped consumers, as they can expect to have an improved and more socially engaged online experience with many of their favorite businesses in 2013.”

The State of Women-Owned Businesses Survey Infographic
For full survey results and to view and share the 2013 State of
Women-Owned Businesses infographic, visit www.web.com/community.

Methodology
The survey was conducted online within 552 NAWBO members between December 14, 2012 and January 4, 2013. For complete survey methodology, please contact Lab42 at info@lab42.com.

About www.Web.com
Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWWW) is a leading provider of online marketing for small businesses. Web.com meets the needs of small businesses anywhere along their lifecycle by offering a full range of online services and support, including domain name registration services, website design, logo design, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and local sales leads, email marketing,

general contractor leads, franchise and homeowner association
websites, shopping cart software, eCommerce website design and call center services. For more information on the company, please visit http://www.web.com.

About NAWBO®
Founded in 1975, NAWBO is the voice of America’s more than 10
million women-owned businesses. By representing the interests of
women entrepreneurs across various industries from state capitols to our nation’s capitol, NAWBO strives to advocate on behalf of women business owners on matters of public policy as well as develop programs to navigate women entrepreneurs through the various stages of business growth and provide networking opportunities where members can share best practices. Learn more at www.nawbo.org