Back in September, Colleen and I, both self-employed Realtors and principals of Portland Maine Living Group, were brainstorming about building a community for women who own businesses and those who are aspiring business owners. We felt that such a group would serve as a nurturing and supportive community for women with a common focus – their businesses.
Currently, women all across the country and in larger numbers than ever are stepping into leadership roles to help improve the lives of others. Whether they are running for political office, or opening their own businesses – women are taking charge! Here in Maine, the state has realized the largest growth of women owned businesses in the country over the past 10 years. Equally remarkable is that sales revenues from those businesses grew from $3.2 billion in 2002 to $13.68 billion in 2018. More and more women are leading the way.
With this in mind, Colleen and I decided to build our community on women’s initiatives. We first met with Meredith Brockington, a local, creative entrepreneur and owner of Amie. Meredith was extremely excited about the concept of women in business and wanted to get on board. She immediately connected us to Meghan Lambert, owner of Meghan Lambert Design, who developed the design of the Together brand. With Meredith and Meghan on board, we started meeting weekly, compiling a list of potential members, and planning our first event.
Together’s soft launch was held on January 24th at the offices of RE/MAX Shoreline in Portland. The event was catered beautifully by Curate Maine, owned by Alex Parisi and photographed by Greta Tucker Photography. There was much interest in this new venture. The energy in the room that night was a strong affirmation that the Together community can be a vibrant and supportive resource for many women business owners.
Our next event is scheduled for Thursday, February 21st at the RE/MAX Shoreline office, 88 Middle St.(behind Hugo’s) from 5:30-7:30. The topic of this event is Health and Wellness and presenters are Jennifer Brave, owner of Portland Health Coaching and Chelsea Barringer, owner of Nutrition Simplified. Feel free to bring a friend!
We have more events planned for the remainder of the year. To stay informed, sign up for our newsletter at TOGETHER.