CHICAGO, IL(TIP): The Womens Empowerment Campaign of Chicago (WE) organized the very first Womens Business Expo & Job Fair on Sunday Sept 16th, 2018 at the Waterford Banquets, Elmhurst IL. The goal was to serve as a platform for women-owned businesses & women professionals. The event was a huge success including a business expo, job fair, motivational speakers, high-level public officials, personality pageant, fashion show, dance performances, youth forum & more. WE is a networking & empowerment platform for Indian women in Chicagoland with over 1700 members. Council General of India Neeta Bhushan was the chief guest of the event. “What organizations like WE is doing for the women of our community is commendable. Platforms like WE are very needed. For our community to prosper women business owners must be supported” said Neeta Bhushan.
WE was launched by Rita Singh, Shital Daftari & Dr. Anuja Gupta in Nov 2017. “We wanted to form a group that showed the power of Indian women in Chicago” said the founders. The philosophy of the founders and leadership team was to build a powerful community of support for Indian women in Chicagoland thru this platform. The founders are prominent businesswomen & community leaders in Chicagoland. “I was looking for a networking platform specifically for Indians in Chicago. There was no major networks & the existing organizations seemed small. That’s when I thought there’s definitely a need for a big organized network” says Dr. Anuja Gupta who is a physician and real estate developer of Verandah Retirement Community. Rita Singh who is an IT business owner and also has experience in show business says, “I had a very gratifying experience mentoring other people who wanted to start their own business and wanted to do it on a larger scale thru this platform. I wanted to make a meaningful difference in the Indian community”. Shital Daftari who is an e-commerce business owner of Saris & Things had a different perspective, “when I came to this country on an H1B visa I didn’t know where to start to find friends and other like-minded people. Having a network like this makes it easy”.
The WE Womens Expo 2018 was the first of its kind to serve as a platform for women-owned businesses. Over 75 women-owned businesses were present including a wide range of businesses such as clothes, jewelry, home products, professional services & women’s organizations. Even the food vendors at the event were women-owned services. “It was very important for us to limit the businesses to women-owned only. Most other community events have 90% men-owned businesses present. At our event we wanted to give full opportunity to women business owners” says Dr. Anuja Gupta, one of the founders of WE. Rita Singh, another founder of WE, added “Empowering small businesses owned by women is one of the best services we can provide on our platform. As business-owners ourselves we know the barriers other women business owners face & our event was specially designed to overcome some of the challenges.
The event was combined with a Job Fair presented by GEC Council, a company specializing in job fairs supported by private & public companies. Nazneen Begum is president of the company which offers job fairs all over the state of IL. “For GEC Council it was a great opportunity to team up with WE to do the job fair. The WE platform attracts a crowd known for women professionals & business owners” said Nazneen Begum. Over 25 recruiters from private & public companies were present at the event. The type of companies represented included public and private job openings. To supplement the job fair GEC Council organized a Jobs Workshop with high-level speakers including Syed Hussiani, banker at Wintrust Bank who does a lot of business with small business owners, Dr John Kalares from State of IL and Chicago Bears player Desmond Clark. “Presenting a diversity women’s job fair was a good opportunity for GEC Council” said Nazneen Begum
The kind of vendors represented at the business expo included small & medium sized women-owned businesses. For many vendors this was the first opportunity to showcase their business.The pageant was sponsored by Malabar Gold and Diamonds, US, having its presence in 9 countries with 230 Stores Globally. Malabar Gold and Diamonds is shortly opening up its 1st Showroom in Chicago thereby making its presence in the 10th Country. The group is amongst the top 5 Jewelers in the world. Mr. William Menezes, Marketing for US said “Malabar Gold and Diamonds is a very exclusive brand. The members of the WE group are the perfect kind of clientele that our jewelry is made for”. “My business sells Pashmina shawls and this expo was a good opportunity for many people who have never touched real Pashmina to know what it feels like” said Meenu Mann owner of Kashmina Shawls Inc. Sarla’s Skillet was another business for whom this was the first expo. “I got a lot of useful feedback from a niche clientele that I would like to service” said Sarla Verma, owner of Sarla’s Skillet. The two food vendors present at the event were both women-owned businesses. “This is a very well-organized event which got us great exposure for our business” said Nala, owner of Nala’s Delight a food catering business based in Schaumburg IL.
The business expo & job fair was accompanied by thought-fully organized stage activities to keep the visitors engaged. This included motivational speakers, high-level dignitaries, a beauty with purpose pageant, fashion show, youth forum and dance performances performed by local children’s groups. Cosmetic & Reconstructive surgeon Dr. Tripti Burt was one of the speakers. Her topic was “Look Your Best” focused on newer plastic surgery procedures & beauty tips. Shirley Hogsett, president of Destiny Speaks & founder of Women2020 was another speaker at the event. “Women leadership is very important in our community. Events like this focus the highlight on women leaders & women in business” said Shirley Hogsett.
The keynote speaker of the event was Jayshree Patel from New York Life Insurance. Jayshree was selected as she recently was awarded the top agent award from New York Life. It was the first time in the 173-year-old history of the company that the award went to a woman and to an Indian. Her speech titled, “Shattering the ceiling – My journey to the Top” was very well received by the audience. “Winning the top spot at a company like New York Life is a sign that Indian women are rising to the very top in big American corporations. It reflects the changing status of Indian women in American society” said Jayshree Patel. The event was opened by a special “Ganesh Vandana” presented by the Maharashtra Mandal. There were 6 dance performances by local dance groups including women & children.
The dignitaries attending the event included top-level public officials from both the Republican & Democrat parties. IL First Lady Diana Rauner, Lieutenant Governor Evelynn Sanguinetti, Attorney General candidate Erika Harold, Congresswomen Laura Murphy, Congresswomen Michelle Mussman, State Representative Karina Villa & more were in attendance. “It is very important for women, especially minority-women to vote and also to consider public office as a career. Women are the backbone of our system and highly underrepresented in public office. It is very encouraging that organizations like WE support women public candidates” said Diana Rauner, First Lady of IL. Other dignitaries present included Raees Yawer, Trustee of Village of Streamwood & Dupage County judge Linda Davenport. “Women voters are a very important segment that is often over-looked. Each one of you present has the potential to choose the next President, Vice-President or Judge” said Linda Davenport.
For entertaining the visitors, the event had thought-fully planned beauty with a purpose pageant, fashion show and dance performances. The beauty pageant attracted a good level of professional women as candidates. “The WE Woman of Substance pageant is a beauty with a purpose pageant to celebrate the modern woman who lives her life with grace & intelligence” said Sonica Singh, one of the WE Team members who helped to organize the pageant. The Fashion Show at the event was presented by Yamini Kalra Saggar owner of The Purpple Closet boutique. “I wanted to participate in the event to showcase bold new Indian looks that my customers find stylish but comfortable” said Yamini Kalra Saggar.
More information about WE is available on their website www.ChicagoWE.comand their facebook page @ChicagoWE