MILWAUKEE — The Women's Entrepreneur Week in Milwaukee is going on now! WEWmke kicked off May 8 and runs through the 12.
The week was created in 2017 to support Milwaukee’s female entrepreneurs. This year, it’s hosted by She Stands Tall, a group lifting up female small business owners.
The owner of She Stands Tall is Stephanie Melnick, an attorney at Melnick & Melnick that works with many small female-owned businesses. She founded the group in 2017.
“We learned in the process that they really need a community, They need the entrepreneurs to lift each other. We didn’t really see that community existed so we decided to build it,” Melnick explained.
Now, the organization is running the 2023 WEWmke. It’s the first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The week is filled with educational workshops and networking opportunities.
Tuesday, several female entrepreneurs gathered to take headshots and network in Walkers Point.
“This another space I can get in because I feel like I’m in a bubble a lot of the times,” Angela Smith, owner of the Zen Dragonfly, said at the event.
Entrepreneur Jenni Yolo started her business I Spy DIY 12 years ago. She flipped the home where the event took place.
“I definitely felt when I moved to Milwaukee that I wasn’t finding that group right away. I’m so glad there’s events like this to connect other women entrepreneurs” Yolo said.
Tuesday night, dozens gathered in Milwaukee’s Third Ward for a panel discussion from some of the female entrepreneurs shaping the city’s food and beverage scene.
“Being a woman entrepreneur has given me so much confidence and changed the way I walk through the world,” Yolo said.
“I want to help other women do that too.”
Mayor Cavalier Johnson presented Melnick with a proclamation marking this week officially as Women’s Entrepreneurship Week for the City of Milwaukee.
A full schedule of events is available on their website.
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