GCFE hosts 2nd annual Women Entrepreneurship Week panel

Center for Entrepreneurship

by Kathleen Overfield-Zook

 
Women in Entrepreneurship Panel - 2019

Pictured (L-R): Kathleen Overfield-Zook, April Armstrong, Angela Keaveny and Brianna Keefe


As part of global Women Entrepreneurship Week, the Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship (GCFE) invited three successful female entrepreneurs to JMU for an evening of inspiring discussion. This year’s group of business women was especially exciting to host as they are also all JMU alumnae.

April Armstrong (’92), CEO of Aha Insight, Angela Keaveny (’94), CEO of RowdyDow BBQ and Brianna Keefe (’16), owner and founder of Toastique were joined on stage by moderator Kathleen Overfield-Zook, GCFE staff member and CEO of The Bloom Trio and Event Musicians.

Topics of resiliency, a need to play outside the lines, the growth of female leadership in the business world and the idea of being “delightfully embarrassed” by your own mistakes rounded out the evening. Lisa Berry, JMU alumna and GCFE Advisory Board member, provided a video where she reminded guests that entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be a noun, just a mindset.

The event was attended by many students from the professional entrepreneurship fraternity Epsilon Nu Tau as well as students from the campus at large, faculty and staff. Afterwards, three all-female, student-owned businesses, two of which had gone through the GCFE’s Student Venture Accelerator last summer, showcased their wares out in the lobby.

Women Entrepreneurship Week was created in 2014 by the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship at Montclair State University in New Jersey. The Feliciano Center has a special mission to support and nurture women entrepreneurs. More than 200 universities and colleges in 30 countries and 43 states in the U.S. hosted WEW 2019 events on their respective campuses. This is the second year that JMU’s GCFE has taken part with plans to participate again next year.

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Published: Thursday, October 24, 2019

Last Updated: Thursday, November 2, 2023

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