Eva Longoria Parker: Hardly Just An Actress

What do you think of when you see the name Eva Logoria Parker (pictured)? I immediately think of Gabrielle Solis on ABC’s Desperate Housewives, one of the craziest and sauciest characters in a show full of them.

But did you know?

Using Housewives as her foundation, Longoria Parker, 34, has leveraged her notoriety and growing wealth in areas well outside the acting realm, becoming a legitimate businesswoman and philanthropist and positioning herself to become the equivalent of the CEO of a multi-industry conglomerate. She’s started a production company, UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, to develop projects. She co-owns Beso, a 150-seat Hollywood restaurant that includes some of her own recipes on the menu (try the tortilla soup), and just opened a second lo-cation in Las Vegas along with a nightclub called Eve.

She is also part of The GreenVille Project, a real estate development initiative dedicated to building environ-mentally neutral retail spaces. She’s working on a fragrance. She’s a spokesperson for L’Oreal, Pepsi and Heineken Light. She has also founded Eva’s Heroes, a charity that provides an after-school program for children with developmental disabilities and support for their families. Longoria Parker is also national spokes-person for PADRES Contra El Cáncer, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of Latino children with cancer.

Enough said about her entrepreneurial drive. Read more here.

The Entrepreneur Next Door

The National Center for Women’s Business Research knows its stuff when it comes to women entrepreneurs.

Among its findings:

• Women-owned firms are growing at nearly two times the rate of all firms;

• Women-owned businesses spend an estimated $546 billion annually on salaries and benefits;

• Sales for women-owned firms increased 66 percent between 1997 and 2004, compared to 42 percent for all firms.

"Women emphasize relationship-building as well as fact gathering and are more likely to consult with experts, employees and fellow business owners" in managing their companies, the center reported in its Web site.

It seems that for women entrepreneurs, it’s truly a matter of who you know.

Agree or disagree? Find out more here.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 31
Mother Teresa

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. ~ Mother Teresa