{"id":1662,"date":"2018-03-29T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1662"},"modified":"2018-03-28T20:25:28","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T00:25:28","slug":"exito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1662","title":{"rendered":"Exito!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seeking Exito!\u00a0<\/em><\/h1>\n

Story and photos provided by the WISE Women\u2019s Business Center<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine yourself as a motivated woman with the desire to own a business, yet faced with language barriers, childcare challenges and the inability to understand laws of a newly-adopted country.<\/p>\n

These challenges and more were addressed in a new program established to assist women in the Central New York Latina community. The program, Exito! (which translates to Success!), created by the WISE Women\u2019s Business Center, was a six-week course established for women in the Latina community who intend to start and grow new businesses.<\/p>\n

The course included online learning, in-classroom training, roundtable discussions, accounting practices training and coaching for a final pitch competition. The weekly courses, based on the DreamBuilder software program, were designed to train women in entrepreneurship, create the first stages of a business plan and clearly articulate that plan in a five-minute pitch to an audience. DreamBuilder, developed in Spanish for female entrepreneurs in South America and for those whose first language is Spanish, is a welcoming beginning to the Exito! program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe women in our group learned so much about owning their own businesses, the challenges they might face and where to access resources to help them achieve this dream of owning or growing a business,\u201d explained Exito! program facilitator Marisol Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cThe WISE Women\u2019s Business Center staff, the Whitman School students and other experts have made a huge impact on these new entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Exito! program began, question such as \u201cHow will we recruit enough women to participate?\u201d arose. Joanne Lenweaver, WISE Women\u2019s Business Center director, knew the key was looping in Marisol Hernandez. With the assistance of Alex Waterbury as the program\u2019s WISE Business Counselor, Marisol gathered 19 women as the 2017 cohorts. Reaching out to her community, Marisol and the media organization CNY Latino tapped into their database of connections, leads, and contacts. When promoting Exito!, the response she received has been so positive, she had to create a waiting list for future Exito! cohorts.<\/p>\n

The program assisted participants in overcoming obstacles and challenges, provided childcare assistance, served as a support and bridge, and offered scholarships to educational events. At the end of the training, interns interviewed some of the graduates. Here are some quotes from participants:<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the Exito! program has been a tremendous blessing. It has helped me define and identify what is my passion and to take the steps necessary to achieve it.\u201d \u2014 Leidis Cruz Espinosa <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI love creating things. My dream is to open an event planning business, to be my own boss. This program gave the tools and the confidence to do it and not give up, even if it\u2019s hard. Now, I know this is possible.\u201d \u2014 Ismari Calderon <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I own a daycare, my passion is cooking, food, gastronomy. This program was perfect because it helped me start a business plan. Before Exito!, any time I shared my idea, they told me I need a business. Now, I know what to do, where to go and I feel confident.\u201d \u2014 Damara Gascon Blanco <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cExito! gave me the necessary tools to put my idea into reality. Before the program, I did not know the laws and regulations that I need to follow with my type of business idea. I came from Cuba wanting to open a Coffee Gallery. With my husband\u2019s talent and my expertise in numbers, I know we can create a caf\u00e9 that also is an art gallery.” \u2014 Elisa Encinosa <\/em><\/p>\n

In the future, the Exito! program will offer an accelerated level for women who have created a business plan and are taking in revenue. No matter the economic impact or level of achievement, the Exito! program aims to instill confidence and empowerment for those seeking support in our unique communities in Central New York. SWM <\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on the WISE Women\u2019s Business Center, visit wisecenter.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seeking Exito!\u00a0 Story and photos provided by the WISE Women\u2019s Business Center Imagine yourself as a motivated woman with the desire to own a business, yet faced with language barriers, childcare challenges and the inability to understand laws of a newly-adopted country. These challenges and more were addressed in a new program established to assist…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[572,581,573,189],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-april-2018","tag-exito","tag-the-entrepreneurship-edition","tag-wise-womens-business-center"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Graduation-Damara.jpg?fit=5200%2C3456&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1679,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1679","url_meta":{"origin":1662,"position":0},"title":"Pragya Murphy","author":"Staff","date":"March 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Funding WISE Women\u00a0 By Carol Radin | Photography by Mary Grace Johnson\u00a0 In her role on the WISE Women\u2019s Business Center\u2019s board of directors, Pragya Murphy takes to heart the words WISE stands for: \u201cWomen Igniting the Spirit of Enterpreneurship.\u201d Pragya, chair of the board\u2019s fundraising committee, is ignited by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?cat=101"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pragya-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C789&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pragya-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C789&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pragya-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C789&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pragya-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C789&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pragya-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C789&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3036,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3036","url_meta":{"origin":1662,"position":1},"title":"The Women of WISE","author":"Staff","date":"April 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Emma Vallelunga \u00a0 At one point in time, business was a man\u2019s world. 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