Empower Me! is a professional lifestyle brand for Black Women who epitomize and strive for professional success. Our mission is to lead by example, motivate and inspire, and to be the catalyst in effecting Empowered Black Women to reach back and empower others for professional and entrepreneurial success. It is the premiere Empowered Black Women's Network©™ that is actively, agressively and continuously promoting the initiatives of Black Women in the corporate and business world.

Empower Me has two agendas: the development and support of Career Professionals and Business Owners. Although under the same umbrella, the Professional and Business Networks function separately. Empower Me! is about Black Women connecting and effectively netWORKING for the empowerment and success of self and others. As one member put it, being part of this network is synonymous with being able to open your palm pilot and find a Black Woman who is an accountant, lawyer, dentist, designer, caterer, professor, etc, and knowing she will be able to help you. This is for the "I can do" people, not the "I'll think about it or maybe I can" people. Building relationships is vital. THAT is empowering. "Your success is my success" is the attitude we live by.

THE PROFESSIONAL NETWORK

The Professional Network is designed to assist professional women in mentoring, networking, career advancement and leadership development. We host a variety of events to include career fairs, meet & greet networking events, workshops & seminars, symposiums, and career development courses through the Empower Me! Institute. We also offer career coaching services, career portfolio development (including professional resume development), and we have a brand new career shop opening soon, which will include everything from resume cards (business card sized "resumes"), networking journals, career development workbooks, career portfolios and more. The Professional Network is less about helping you "find out what you want to do" and more about helping you GET to where you want to be. We have recently aligned with some major employers to post jobs on our site. Network members get advanced notification of the jobs before they hit the public (website). There are many more initiatives under development including corporate Lunch & Learn sessions and Corporate Development Programs like Rising Star.

THE BUSINESS NETWORK

The Business Network was designed to assist new entrepreneurs and veteran entrepreneurs in mentoring, networking, business development, and business growth. We host a variety of meet & greet networking events, workshops & seminars, business development and planning courses, and business coaching. The focus is on building our own businesses by utilizing the next woman/member as a "partner" or vendor thus recycling the black dollars. The mentor program in this division is key because it is important to help an incoming entreprenurial sister realize her dream, and at the same time, learn all you can about business. We are currently developing a business leads database where members can go to a private section and search for business leads. Our networking events are structured and focused and nobody leaves the table without taking something with them. We have plans in the works to align with organizations such as the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Part of new exclusive members benefits, we have formed a Consulting Consortium to provide members with some free consulting time per year (which then leads into business relationships) and an exclusive Virtual Assistant service.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

There are of course several other things we have going on as a whole. There is the Empower Me! Institute, the Business Directory (which will be built online first then brought to CD later this year, there is a pajama line in development for the stay at home professional, the Empower Me! NetNotes Journal®, and several other products. We also plan to expand our Empowerment Partners list and are aggressively seeking alliances. We have tons going on and are passionate about expanding this network. Members are automatically entitled to generous discounts on services, events and products. Some members even offer discounts to members!

HOW DO I JOIN?

What do we ask in return? One hour of dedicated time per month to attend member meetings, $35 one time membership fee (for either network, or $45 for the Dual Membership), and a committment to netWORK. An organization is only as strong as its members, and it begins with you. This is not a "sistergirl" kind of network. It's about business, but by the same token, building relationships often leads to friendships. And if that happens, then great. But if you join for the sake of having an organization on your resume, this is not the network for you.

Please go to the website and have a look around. If you are ready to do your part to grow this network, please feel free to contact me. I make it an effort to respond to everyone and my "door" is always open. I lead by being involved, not sitting up in an ivory tower.

Stay EMPOWERED!

Adrienne Graham
Empower Me! Corporation
"The Empowered Black Woman"™
www.empowerme.org
(678) 698-6206 (ph) (303) 253-8100 (fax)
adrienne@empowerme.org