The Tec-KNOW! Girls
“Biz Whiz” Be Miz Independent Conference

How do you get girls psyched about money, math and business? The ninth annual Girls Unlimited! / Zoey's Room Tec-KNOW! Conference did just that by turning creative girls into money-making entrepreneurs.

Held at the Kennebec Valley Community College on April 7, 2007, the day started off with an inspiring keynote speech by Gabrielle Melchionda, owner and president of Mad Gabs! Dressed in a black sweater and ripped jeans, she admitted that in college she knew how to make little tins of natural beeswax lip balm, but had no idea how to run a business. “I traveled around, I slept on people's couches.” It took a move to San Francisco, and working with Anita Roddick's socially responsible nonprofit for her to truly see how running a business could fit with her values. “This was a huge awakening,” she recalled to an audience of girls. “These were huge multi-million dollar companies and I'm still making lip balm in my mom's kitchen, so it was world's apart, but it was still very inspiring.”

When a business is too small to survive on its own, its owner can go into a business incubator, which is like a larger “nest” with resources to help the smaller business thrive on its own. Through the help of such an incubator, Mad Gabs! transformed into the well-known, progressive company it is today—a powerful message for the girls who were there to spend an entire day in the incubator environment of the Tec-KNOW! Conference.

By the end of Melchionda's speech, girls were jazzed up to get moving on their innovative business ideas, three of which would win the afternoon's big cash prizes. While half the group split up to take a workshop on finding the best business partner and combining each other's skills titled “How To Find Your Biz Buddy,” the other group participated in a workshop titled “Plan, Plan, Plan” where girls could create a business plan as well as a “product” from mystery items in a box. "I liked when we had everybody in a circle and we had to come up with a product that we were going to sell and then come up with a commercial for it,” said Samantha, 11 from Cumberland, ME. “I liked that because I do “Odyssey of the Mind” and I really liked working as a group with other people.”

“I think having a biz buddy is a good idea because you can compromise and see things from different points of view,” said Holland, 12 from Kingfield, ME. Business ideas generated from these two workshops ranged from babysitting and training horses to making new innovative cell phones. “Girls can do it all on their own,” said Samantha. “It's not like boys can do everything and girls are the weaklings, it's like we can do it by ourselves.”

After lunch in which EVE, the Colby Ethnic Vocal Ensemble a cappella singers, treated the girls to a lunchtime serenade, several girls got down to business…literally. The afternoon was an entire business incubator in the form of fun, hands-on workshops all designed around money, business skills, marketing and computer skills. In the "Stash The Cash” workshops: Jessica Morgan and Alyssa Matthews from Hardy Girls took jewelry making to the next level discussing ways the girls could make their own product at home to sell while Deb from KeyBank got them to think about budgets. In the “She's Got Skillz” workshops: Kate O'Holloran from the Colby College Goldfarb Center showed girls how to obtain resources for their new businesses on a shoestring and created business cards to hand out to the judges and Susan Neale, from the Maine Women's Journal offered ideas on how to turn a hobby into a full-fledged business. Moving on to the “Profess Your Passion” workshops: Debra Kantor from Heart at Work illustrated how girls' interests and personalities could merge into one business idea. Finally, in the “Shout Out” workshops: Jessica Skillings from KNOW Technology demonstrated how computers could be used for cool websites, marketing and advertising and Morgan Frame former GU! participant, summer sports camp creator and graduating senior of Waterville High School immersed girls into making colorful brochures for their business.

Parents and educators who accompanied the girls were not left twiddling their thumbs; they participated in adult-focused workshops on a variety of subjects including: “Think Like An Entrepreneur: profiling successful women in business; “Creating Safe, Equitable and Inclusive Environments for GLBTQ Youth,” to make schools safe for Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Questioning youth; “Business Building Blocks” for women who have their own business ideas that they wanted to explore and “Mentoring and Protecting Girls Online,” an informative look at today's tween culture of cyberbullying and how to prevent it.

Possibly one of the most energizing workshops to solidify the sense of personal power that girls were developing that day culminated in some martial arts moves led by Master Julienne Begin of Blue Wave Tae Kwon Do. As the girls learned to punch, kick and learn self-defense, the room became electric. Having good discipline comes from having good mentors, and on this day, all those ingredients were available: creativity, collaboration, passion, and discipline.

The incredible level of support from the sponsors was another special ingredient to this year's conference making the day fun and absolutely memorable. Time Warner Cable awarded every single girl a one-year Zoey's Room membership. And due to the generosity of KeyBank, Midcoast Maine Women's Network and Women Unlimited, three cash prizes were awarded at the ending ceremony to the girls with the most innovative business plan with the $150 grand prize going to Brooke,14 and Mikele, 14 for their customized make-up accessorized cell phone holder idea called Glam Phones.

In the end, the girls felt the power of the business incubator. “My favorite part was the three-legged race because it was fun and because we partnered up and we showed how we could work together as a team,” said Jamillette, 11, from Lawrence, MA. Asked what was the best part of the conference, Paola, 11, also from Lawrence, MA thought about it for a moment and said: “I would like to be my own boss.”