On Saturday, June 18, both female and male inventors, entrepreneurs, and aspiring leaders gathered at the Paul Robeson Campus Center on Rutgers’ Newark Campus to take part in an inspiring and powerful conference presented by the Association Of Women Inventors & Entrepreneurs (AOWIE).
Many traveled from all over the country – Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Phoenix – to attend the conference, hosted by some of the most motivated and driven women in the area.
AOWIE was founded by Lisa Ascolese, A.K.A. “The Inventress,” who had once struggled through the complex and unforgiving world of business development and marketing before becoming as immensely successful and knowledgeable as she is today.
“[AOWIE] doesn’t belong to me,” said Ascolese, speaking at the event. “It belongs to all of us.”
[bibblio style=”bib–default bib–hover bib–white-label bib–row-2 bib–title-only bib–size-16 bib–font-arial” query_string_params=”e30=” recommendation_type=”optimised”]
“I’m here to connect each and every one of you to another person in this room who can lift and elevate you to our divine commitments…” she continued. “Every single one of the speakers in this room – every single one of them – every single one of the people coming up to speak on this platform are here to help you, to lift you up and bring you to another level.”
The conference welcomed a number of professional, eloquent speakers; Dr. Loretta Long of Sesame Street, CEO of NJSBDC Brenda Hopper, and designer Mona Stephen were just a few of the high-spirited, influential speakers of the afternoon. Each offered first-hand accounts, insights, and exclusive advice to all of the dedicated inventors and entrepreneurs in attendance.
“You have to have a passion for [your business endeavors] because it’s a struggle,” explains Hopper. “You might not take off right away. So you have to keep at it; you have to be diligent; you have to be able to take rejection, so when the glory comes, you really enjoy it.”
The conference also featured singer Dionne Warwick and actress Jasmine Guy, who shared some heartfelt words with their admirers in attendance. Warwick also presented Humanitarian Awards for kindness to students of the Dionne Warwick Institute.
“My babies are the absolute best,” proclaimed Warwick about her school’s students. “As far as I’m concerned, the instructors at the Warwick Institute go above and beyond the call of duty. They show how much they love the babies; they show how much they want them to learn, how much they want them to excel. And that is exactly what they’re doing, they are excelling.”
This month’s AOWIE conference was a powerful and momentous event for not just the women in the audience but for the men who attended as well. It was an occasion filled with resources, guidance and words of encouragement for all of the businesswomen and men there that afternoon.
“My goal is to teach every single one of these folks in the room how to develop a product or a business and become successful,” Ascolese told Best of NJ. “My mission is to make every single one of these people in this room as successful as a Dionne Warwick or a Jasmine Guy… But the reason I am here today is to teach people that when they believe, they can achieve.”
The Association Of Women Inventors & Entrepreneurs is a tremendous non-profit organization that has helped countless individuals accomplish their goals and continue to grow in their respective fields while encouraging others to persevere and achieve their dreams as well. In that regard, they more than live up to their motto: “Lifting each other up, Two hands at a time.”
All Photos: © Patrick Lombardi / Best of NJ