Heather Latter
Local men, women, businesspeople, and entrepreneurs are invited to a dinner featuring keynote speaker Barbara Stegemann, an inspirational entrepreneur and author from Halifax, N.S., who will be celebrating International Women’s Day tomorrow (March 8) at La Place Rendez-Vous from 5:30-9:30 p.m.
“It’s a pretty rare opportunity,” said Diane Schwartz-Williams, manager of the Northwest Business Centre.
“She’s very excited about coming, which is pretty neat.
“I’ve talked to her on the phone a few times, and her energy and her passion just blows off the phone lines,” Schwartz-Williams added.
The event is being hosted by the Northwest Business Centre, in co-operation with the local Business Women’s Network, and also is sponsored by the RBC Royal Bank.
Stegemann is the CEO and founder of The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc., a company that sources organic oils from Afghanistan, Haiti, and other countries experiencing turmoil to encourage change and reverse issues of war and poverty.
Not only will Stegemann share her business model that allowed her to transform her vision into reality, but there also will be fragrances available for testing and purchase.
Her book, “The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen: a Woman’s Guide to Living and Leading in an Illogical World,” also will be for sale.
“It’s going to be a really great event,” stressed Angela Halvorsen of the BWN. “I’m looking forward to it.
‘I think she’s going to be a very dynamic speaker based on what she was able to accomplish in just a few minutes on the ‘Dragons’ Den.’”
The “Dragons’ Den” is a CBC reality show “where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how make it happen.”
Stegemann is called the “woman who slayed the ‘Dragons’” because she is the first woman from Atlantic Canada to get a venture capital deal in the history of the show when she made the “Dragons” cry with her compelling pitch back in February, 2011.
“I think everyone will find something about her they can connect with, even if it’s just being Canadian or female,” Halvorsen reasoned.
“She’s down-to-earth, smart, and has high energy—she’s everything someone should be who is speaking on International Women’s Day,” added Schwartz-Williams.
“She’s entrepreneurial, she’s successful, she gives back, she’s caring, she’s innovative, she has a good heart.
“What more do you want to exemplify all the great things that women can be?”
Stegemann has strong ties to International Women’s Day since it was on that day in 2008 that she launched her book.
And on International Women’s Day in 2010, her company launched its first fragrance, Afghanistan Orange Blossom.
A nominee for Chatelaine’s Women of the Year 2011 entrepreneur award, Stegemann recently received the “Women Innovators” award from the U.S. State Department.
Tickets for the dinner cost $30 each, which are available at the RBC here and Northwoods Gallery & Gifts.
For more information, contact Schwartz-Williams at 1-807-467-4643 or via e-mail at diane@nwbiz.ca
