How exciting. A movie filmed in Sacramento - no, a great movie filmed in Sacramento, written and produced by people from Sacramento and you can watch it on the Women's Entertainment Channel on Friday. Check your local listings and set the Tivo. I love this movie. It's funny and cute and you can pick out lots of Sacramento landmarks.

Want to read more about the movie, Her Minor Thing. Here's what Wikipedia has to say. Or check out the trailer.

Don't miss it!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen.com

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Congratulations to Rebecca Reichardt, Tazzina Bistro, Woodland, CA

Tazzina Bistro is a full service restaurant and bar focused on creativity and quality ingredients. By tying in with local producers, we are able to provide a superior dining experience that is at once upscale and welcoming.

She competed in the Make Mine A Million $ Contest and was one of the 10 nationwide winners. This is what she received:

Coaching, Mentoring, Financing and Community
Up to $50,000 in financing from OPEN from American Express and Count Me In.
Cisco® Smart Business Communication network from Cisco Systems valued at up to $20,000 for select awardees.
Discounts from FedEx select shipping and office and print services.
A marketing consultation from QVC.
A $500 credit for hotel stays at any Marriott in the U.S.
Dell Vostro notebook™, built exclusively for small business valued up to $1000
A round trip ticket to any of the 54 cities served by Jet Blue.

Rebecca is most excited about the coaching which is already spurring her to think big. Read the whole story in Bob Shallit's column.

And if you are feeling mad/sad/blue that you weren't the winner because you didn't even apply, this is an I told you so....I highlighted this contest in a post in November!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Don't forget to RSVP for the joint SacWomen/SAGE event scheduled for Wednesday, January 23, 2008.

The event will be held at Mulvaney's new catering space at 1215 19th Street, Sacramento from 6-9PM. A fabulous buffet is planned topped off by a sumptous selection of petite tartlets. Our speaker, Cloteal Herron, will discuss Female Stereotypes in the Media. There will be plenty of time to catch up with old friends and make new ones as well as forge some strong business contacts for the future.

We have an amazing array of prizes to be given away - totalling more than $1500. And because the group attendance isn't very big, your chances of coming away a winner are high! So bring your business cards to drop into the various prize raffles.

If you are attending, please register using the link at the top of this page. If registration is closed, give me a call at 916-747-4140.

Looking forward to another great evening with a superb group of women.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

If you are a Sacramento entrepreneur, check out the great, free resource provided by the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance. Free mentoring, free coaching, free feedback by professionals who have been in the business for years. This is invaluable. You owe yourself to check it out.
See all the details on Sacramento Executive.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

If you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur or currently engaged as one, The Key Factors To Success For Women Entrepreneurs, by Tamara Monosoff, owner of www.MomInvestors.com and author of "Secrets of Millionaire Moms" is a must read.

The article discusses three keys:

1. Clarity regarding your life goals. 2. Understanding what you seek to build. 3. Drive, passion and the will to do whatever it takes.

Read more.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Words of advice from Oprah on managing a startup's growth:

The biggest mistake in the beginning was not understanding that you need infrastructure and systems in orer to run a business. And that there's a reason why there's a hierarchy in reporting systems in business. You can't handle a business like a friendship. I started out with four or five of us, and then there were eight, and then there were 22. And I kept trying to manage it as though there were still the four of us. And it wasn't until 1994 that I actually brought in someone to be president and organize the systems. I was a crazy person trying to do it all.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Another note in the mail:

I had a fabulous time, met dynanic women and thoroughly enjoyed speaker. I am looking forward to future events.

Gillian
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:14 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Learn from the best how to turn your business idea into a succinct plan that investors will want to read .

Both speakers are partners of well-respected VC funds in Sacramento and both have real-life experience working in startups and both have spent many, many hours working with entrepreneurs.

This is a definite-attend event.

Date: Wednesday, November 7th Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Location: AOB IV Room 174 (Graduate School of Management Building), UC Davis Campus http://www.cevs.ucdavis.edu/map/

EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Learn the secrets to building a successful business plan. Discover how to commercialize your next great idea. This workshop will present you with valuable tools for creating a business plan. We are pleased to present Dr. Barbara Grant, Managing Director at American River Ventures and Scott Lenet, Managing Director of DFJ Frontier, as presenters for this year's workshop.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS...
Dr. Barbara Grant is a Managing Director of American River Ventures, a $100M, early stage venture capital firm headquartered in Sacramento. Prior to joining ARV in 2004, she was CEO of Siros Technologies, a Silicon Valley start-up company developing laser light sources, where she raised funding from top-tier investors. Prior to joining Siros, Barbara was at IBM for 21 years, where she held numerous executive positions , most recently as VP and General Manager in the Data Storage Solutions Business. Grant and her teams have been responsible for the development and introduction of over 50 new products over the course of her career. She was elected to the inaugural group of the Women in Technology Hall of Fame in 1996.

Scott Lenet is a founder and Managing Director of DFJ Frontier, a Draper Fisher Jurvetson affiliate and early stage technology venture capital fund. At Frontier, he leads fund management, fundraising and portfolio management efforts. Mr. Lenet has significant experience in the technology industry as an entrepreneur and as a venture capitalist. He was the founder and CEO of SmartFrog.com, purchased in 1999 by Cybergold (acquired by UAL).

For more information, visit the Big Bang! web site or email the Big Bang! at bigbang@ucdavis.edu.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Here is the text of the brief address I made at the first meeting of SacWomen on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 wherein I tried to answer the question - why SacWomen?:

Welcome to the first SacWomen event. Thank you so much for being here. The last time anything this surprising happened to me – meeting-wise - was in 1973 when as Vice President of Programs and Education for Parents Without Partners and the monthly bulletin deadline looming I decided (in desperation) to list a Women’s Conscience Raising Group meeting. 70 people showed up at my apartment on the appointed night. I am glad I am a little more prepared tonight.

That core group of 10 from that initial night continued to meet from the next 20 years. We nurtured and supported each other. Later it was women I worked with, the very few women I served with on Boards, and even more recently a book club I started here in Sacramento – several of the fabulous members of which are here tonight.

And through all of this I cherished the friendship and the support and marveled at the influence we could exert to help each other’s causes – we recommended people for jobs, we supported each other’s philanthropic efforts, we mentored and coached, and we even got a ballot measure passed with more than 70% of the vote.

So, this is what I hope will come from SacWomen, starting tonight. A ground swell of support for each other – personally, politically, economically, academically, philanthropically, culturally, socially, environmentally - and any other way we can think of to include.

Please read the SacWomen blog, check out the Power Women 50 where we compare the stock price of women-led public companies with the S&P in general. Please comment on and contribute to the blog, and please tell your friends and acquaintances about SacWomen as we begin this exciting new step in an on-going journey for women in Sacramento.

This journey picks up from a few years ago when we all got so much out of another extraordinary organization – the Sacramento chapter of Web Grrls – started by Vicky Blocker, whom I am delighted to say is here tonight…

And let me also recognize Susan Wheeler and JT Long, whom I met through WebGrrls and whom, when I suggested recently I wanted to start another women’s group in Sacramento, didn’t act like I was crazy, but instead actively encouraged me. Thank you.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

I am thrilled to report that 75 women attended the first meeting of SacWomen. I have posted the photos on the SacWomen group Facebook page.

The assembled crowd, I was very glad to see, was diverse in terms of age, although I would hope we can add more diversity in terms of race in the future. Megan Seely, the Sacramento author of How to Fight Like A Girl, gave an empassioned speech interspered with readings from her book. She told of her first experience of being an activist - a fabulous scene that culminated in her holding a bunch of grapes high in the air in a grocery store when she was 14, and screaming to the crowd that assembled, "these grapes have blood on them," before she rushed from the store with her shocked, but supportive, mother, in pursuit.

She then discussed the negative terms that are given to feminists - bra-burners, angry, man-haters, ugly, and many others. And then she named many of the stats that should make us very, very angry.

Today I heard from an attendee who had brought with her a young business owner, whom I will call, Carole. She wrote:

What hit home for her about Megan's talk was her comment that because things have gotten better for women and people like Carole can have her own business, she was thinking that things are pretty good for women, overall. But the statistics made her think about how far we still need to go to even be on par with men. She is going to use Megan's book for the book club she does at her business. I thought that was neat. Also, several people she met at the meeting said they would visit her business.

Megan ended up with a quote from a poem by Alix Olsen:

....cause if this is a movement we're making, we have got to get the moving. In this crazy maze we've been handed, we've got to quit losing ourselves. We gotta use our big fat mouths to talk, We gotta use our big thick things to walk. We got to follow those who choose a different way to knock.

Personal moments that stood out for me:

What an amazing group of women I am lucky enough to know in Sacramento. What fabulous support I received for the event from all of them, and especially my book club, who while I was up at the podium, planned a book club weekend in Tahoe for early December. I was so excited about it, I called my daughter and told her to tell her husband he has full responsibility for my grandchildren and she must come down and join us and meet this amazing group of women. She sounded very positive. And when Megan talked about the huge size of the Women's March on Washington of 2004 and later my step-daughter stood by my side and told Megan that I had taken her there - OK, I felt pretty proud.

My desires for this group: that our 'amplified voices' will allow us to 'change the world' ...beginning with the world we know, Sacramento. That by coming together we can cause:

A ground swell of support for each other – personally, politically, economically, academically, philanthropically, culturally, socially, environmentally..and any other way that we figure out along the way!

Thanks go out wholeheartedly to our sponsors: Caroline Jensen of Coldwell Banker, Michelle Hallsten of Pillsbury Winthrop, Shaw Pittman, Jack Crawford of Velocity Ventures on behalf of Velcity's 3 women partners, Marilyn Edling, Judith Kjelstrom et moi, and Kristen Harlow of Comerica Bank. And to the several organizations that donated over $600 of prizes for the event (winners tomorrow, I promise). And as always to Amplify for donating the very professional registration and Customer Mining for the e-blasts they donate. How did I get to be this lucky with such generous folks around me?

And what an amazing venue. The Casa Garden Restaurant. Fabulous volunteers who hosted the event and served the great food - one of them was 80 years old - all to provide funds for the Sacramento Children's Home. I hope many of us are still volunteering so vigorously at that age.

Watch for the next event toward the end of January. If you want your friends to be added to the mailing list have them mail me at Gillian@sacramentoexecutive.com.

And sign up for the RSS feed for the website to be sure to receive every blog and news of all future events.

Thanks for being a part of it.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Much has been made of the increase in women-owned businesses. And much has been made of the disparity in venture funds being invested in women-owned businesses, with vague references about how women choose to grow their businesses more slowly and don't ask for the money as frequently (easily?) as men. All statistics to make us feel positive about women-owned businesses.

But now a study undertaken by the SBA shows something very different. Eight-seven percent of women sole-proprietorships have revenues of less than $50,000. Only 2.7 percent of women-owned sole proprietorships produced $200,000 and above annually.

Nell Merlino, Co-Founder, President & CEO of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, is trying to get these businesses to think bigger. Through its Make Mine a Million $ Business program, Count Me In provides access to business loans, consultation and education. Using a unique women-friendly credit scoring system, Count Me In makes loans of $500 to $10,000 available to women across the United States. The organization also provides access to networks that expand contacts, markets, skills and confidence.

Women helping women. It works for me!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

From Sacramento Bee writer M.S. Enkoji (menkoji@sacbee.com):

A museum geared for visitors 8 years old and younger could open within a year in Sacramento, becoming the region's only comprehensive children's museum and the latest in a rich collection of regional offerings.

For two years, a group of parent volunteers and other supporters worked to establish a hands-on style museum that will expose young minds to science, the arts and culture.

"We kind of have everything we need but a location," said Mary Teichert Rotelli, board president of the Sacramento Children's Museum.

State legislators have passed a bill that essentially teams the state Department of Parks and Recreation with a nonprofit group in the effort and designates the Old Sacramento area as a location. The bill, which had no opposition, needs to be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

......A pint-sized grocery store at Berkeley's Habitot Children's Museum gives children the chance to select and buy foods and ring them up at a cash register. Using foam rubber models of cans and bottles, children learn how to sort recycled items.

A visit to Hobitot inspired a Roseville mother of two and former teacher to launch the effort to open a children's museum closer to home.

Kathleen Palley thought the children in the Sacramento area needed the same kind of place.

"I've seen how children learn. They learn quickly by touching, playing and exploring," she said.

Palley enlisted others until she had a 12-member board of directors.

"It will be such a tourist attraction in Old Sacramento. It's going to draw the suburban families downtown," she said.

Rotelli, a mother of two in the target age group of 8 years old and younger, said the museum will develop in stages, with the initial one opening possibly in a temporary location within a year. The first-phase site could be in Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Roseville or Sacramento, she said.

The Sacramento Junior League has pledged money for the museum, but Rotelli declined to say how much has been raised for the museum.

Envisioned as large as 40,000 square feet at its permanent stage, the museum is already collecting and storing exhibits, she said.

Rather than focusing solely on science for children in elementary grades and beyond, such as the Explorit Science Museum in Davis, the Sacramento Children's Museum will encompass other disciplines, including the state's rich cultural heritage for younger children.

"It will provide a spark for lifelong learning," Rotelli said.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

As many as 78% of the U.S.' more than 26 million companies are one-person businesses, the Census Bureau found, but being a solo small-business owner doesn't mean having to work in a vacuum, an expert said. Some tips for getting valuable input include building a board of advisers, staying in touch with old contacts and getting involved in organizations and associations.

Not to be too self-promoting, but attending SacWomen events sounds like a perfect way to counter the vacuum problem. Check the top of the home page of SacWomen to see the details of our meeting on 10/23.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop died suddenly of a massive brain hemmorhage. She was 64. She opened her first store in the south of England in 1976 with no plans to expand.

But over the next 26 years, she grew the first store into more than 2000 in 50 countries. Anita Roddick was green before anyone know anything about green. She introduced us to refilling containers, she employed poor women around the world to make her products, she ensured there was no animal testing of her products and that the ingredients were natural.

In 2002 she stepped down from actively running the company, acting as a consultant and in 2003 she was awarded the title of Dame by Queen Elizabeth.

She was certainly an inspiration to me and many other women who were trying to forge their way while attempting to raise half-way normal children!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Sacramento boasts its own women's full tackle football club - the Sacramento Sirens. This year, they were beaten in the semi-finals by the Detroit Demolition -one of only two losses the whole season. The Sirens are three time national champions in the IWFL league.

The IWFL was started in 2000 by a group of women dedicated to making the sport a household name. The IWFL currently has over 1000 women playing the sport for 30 teams across North America from Southern California to Montreal and Oregon to Florida with consistent expansion into to new markets.

The Sacramento Sirens home games are played at Foothill High School.

Keep your eye on the website for news of the tryouts for the 2008 season and for the upcoming game schedule.

Go Sirens. We are proud of your accomplishments and even prouder to have you as SacWomen!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

Today, I am very excited to announce the launch of our latest endeavor, SacWomen. SacWomen is a great new website, dedicated to amplifying the voices of women in Sacramento. SacWomen is also a networking group that will periodically bring together women in Sacramento to meet and support each other through referrals and mentoring. Once in a while we will even throw in a speaker on a topic important to women in Sacramento.

Many of you will remember WebGrrls, a remarkable group in Sacramento a few years ago, founded by Vicky Blocker. It was a place that so many long-lasting valuable connections, both personal and business, were made between women in town. Personally, I still have strong relationships with many of the women I met. I am still a mentor to one of the younger women in the group and take great pride is seeing her career advance as I continue to provide advice. I have invested in a company of one of the women I met during that time and watch as she moves ever closer to being a force to be reckoned with on the national stage. My book club, an important support structure in my life, was formed by members of WebGrrls. Some of the members went on to work on a bond measure in 2004 that won by a remarkable percentage. And lastly, an amazing organization, Sacramento Advocates for Girls Empowerment (SAGE), entirely devoted to the encouragement and empowerment of middle-school and high-school girls in pursuit of careers in computer-related technology, life sciences, engineering, science, math and law, was formed under the auspices of WebGrrls and continues to flourish and grow and make a huge difference in the lives of girls in Sacramento. WebGrrls Sacramento was a magical organization that affected, and continues to affect, so many in a very positive way. SacWomen hopes to recreate that special bond between women in Sacramento.

So, keep an eye on this site for news of our first event –coming in October. Send an email to gillian@sacramentoexecutive.com with your name and email address to join our mailing and event invitation list. Tell your friends. Submit blogs of interest. Comment on the blogs we publish. Send ideas for speakers, venues, great philanthropic causes looking for smart women, etc. etc.

Let’s get a buzz going in this town. Let’s be a strong voice in the future of Sacramento. And let’s not forget to support, mentor and nurture the women in our lives.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2)

Here are the facts:

Women own nearly half of all privately held companies - an increase of 20% compared to the overall total increaseof 9%. That's progress.

Men get 90% of the funds handed out by Angel investors. But before you label the Angels investment organizations sexist pigs, the research shows that only 8.9% of the applications come from women. Once the pitch is made, women do almost equally as well as men in securing funding (13.3% vs. 14.8%).

Lessons learned:

Pitching to Angel groups generates a low chance of getting funding, but pretty equally low for women and men. Get your pitch together, try to get recommended (and coached) by a member of the group and go for it. If you don't apply, you miss out on a 13% chance of getting funding.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Hat tip to Justin Ewers at US News and World Report

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)

A women-owned and led Sacramento company has made it onto Entrepreneur' Magazine's Hot 500 list of America's fastest growing small businesses. Response 1 Medical Staffing of El Dorado Hills met the exceedingly difficult growth criteria to finish 130th out of a pool of more than 19 million businesses. The company had a revenue increase of 235% from 2003 to 2005.

Response 1 Medical Staffing, Inc. was founded in April 2002 by Cheree Love, a woman with experience as a nurse and a recruiter. She began her business from her home with little money. She credits her phenomenal success to treating her recruits with excellence and they, in turn, refer other nurses to the company. The company website shows mostly women in leadership roles.

Cheree, despite having a high flying company and raising two teenage daughters, has found time to devote to great philanthropic causes in Sacramento. She serves on the Board of the American Heart Association and is in training to run a fundraiser marathon. A touch I really enjoyed on her website - she lists her phone number and email address and encourages people to contact her.

Congratulations Cheree and your team. You are a great example of the professionalism and drive of women in Sacramento. We are proud to call you a SacWoman!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0)