Women Are Turning Visions Into Ventures

The Center for Women Entrepreneurs at Texas Woman’s University, which provides a variety of financial programs, training and advising services for women-owned businesses, offered both virtually and in person – celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a Visions into Ventures milestone event, highlighting the successes of women business owners who have utilized its resources.  

Since 2018, the CWE has awarded over $2.3 million in grants to women entrepreneurs, Irby said. Grant-funded opportunities include the Veteran Woman Entrepreneur grant, the StartHER and Texas Rural Woman Entrepreneur grants, which are available to women-owned startups or small businesses. 

As one woman business owner says, "In the world in which we live right now, being a woman can be hard and finding community with women makes it worth it."

Enough said.

Happy 15-Year Anniversary to the Escape From Corporate America Blog!

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

For all of you who have been following our Escape From Corporate America (EFCA) adventures, you know it's been quite some time since we have been blogging -- some 15 years!  For the newcomers, can you believe it?  We can't because time flies when you are having fun, living your dream, and helping others live their dream too with starting a business.

We launched Escape From Corporate America officially on July 2, 2004 and since then, we have had more than 806,000 readers (not quite a million but we'll get there thanks to you).  We average about 10,000-15,000 readers a month now!  Take a look at our second post in 2004 talking about why EFCA was established.  It reads as follows:

This blog has been set up for businesswomen to voice their experiences working in Corporate America. Many women have expressed concern that Corporate America is actively pushing out its most talented women. Have you encountered something similar? What have you done about it?

Has the glass ceiling issue been a major reason for leaving your position? Are you thinking of striking out on your own to start your own business -- as a result of job dissatisfaction?

These are some of the kinds of issues that need to be openly discussed. If we do not challenge the system, no improvements will ever be made. Feel free to weigh-in with your comments. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

So grab your tall glass filled with your favorite beverage and toast to the Escape From Corporate America blog:  "To many more blog posts about helping female entrepreneurs go from corporate America to starting their own business!"  And to you dear reader, I thank you for your readership and for starting a business.  Read on!

Happy 20th Birthday Escape From Corporate America (2024)!

When I started this blog in 2004 (here's one of the first posts), people didn't know what a blog was.  Now they do and everyone recognizes the importance of sharing your knowledge with the world for others to grow from your experience.

Take a walk down memory lane with some of my posts celebrating Happy Birthday Escape From Corporate and Happy Anniversary Escape From Corporate America.

And remember y'all, it started with an article I submitted to The Conference Board in 2003 and from there, I started this blog, and from there, well the rest is history.  Here's what I said when I launched and it still is at the core of the my thinking day in and day out:

When I authored "Escape From Corporate America!" published by the Conference Board in 2003, I had no idea the reaction to it would be so profound and overwhelming. My inbox was flooded with email messages from gifted women who could not say enough about their dissatisfaction at work. Apparently, I underestimated just how fed up women are with Corporate America. EFCA offers a comprehensive look at why women are leaving BIG companies for entrepreneurship. Hint: They want freedom, flexibility, recognition, more money, and opportunities to leave a legacy -- all the things they once thought they would find within corporations. Are you ready to ... "Escape From Corporate America?"  

This blog serves as a beacon of hope for women entrepreneurs who aspire to create their own destiny.  Hooray to you for continuing your readership here which I thank you for.  We started with a handful of readers a month and now we range anywhere from 30,000-60,000.

Let's keep this good vibe going.

Start Small, Work Hard

Two Westport female entrepreneurs are celebrating their thirty-second anniversary at the locations where they started, Top Drawer on the Post Road and Pathfinders Travel on Riverside Avenue.

Two local women, Janet Bangser at Pathfinders and Joan Rotman at Top Drawer, find themselves in this happy position.  Conversations with both tend to indicate three fundamental ingredients to success.  There is always the so-called X factor but basically for these women it came down to a familiarity with the business going in, an affinity for detail, a pretty good idea of their customer base, and service, service, service.

Read the entire article here.

Illustration credit:  Pathfinders Travel

Escape From Corporate America Blog Celebrates Its 18th Anniversary!

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Eighteen (18) years ago today – July 2, 2004 – I [Laurel J. Delaney] started this blog, Escape From Corporate America.

Thank you for your engagement and readership all these years. We have more than 20,000 visitors a month who want to know more about breaking away from Corporate America and starting a business.  I look forward to many more years together.

• 1st post July 2, 2004 – trying to figure things out
• 2nd post July 2, 2004 – still trying to figure things out
• 3rd post July 7, 2004 – deciding we should state why we are here!

Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® Celebrates 10 Years of Success in Chicago 11/6/25

Join Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® in Chicago on November 6, 2025, as we celebrate 10 years of success! 

Enjoy exceptional food, signature cocktails, lively conversation, and a soundtrack curated entirely by women artists—plus gift bags filled with products made by women. And to top it all off, the evening will be emceed by the sensational Whitney Reynolds!

To learn more and to attend, visit: https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/about/10yr-anniversary/

Happy Independence Day America and Happy 17th Anniversary EFCA!

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

We hope you are having liberty celebrations across America.  It's a chance to unite with family and friends and appreciate the moment when the Declaration of Independence was signed 245 years ago.  Your patriotism matters and is appreciated.

And at the same time, we celebrate with you the birth of Escape From Corporate America – some 17 years ago – on July 7, 2004.  Thank you for your readership.  Your engagement keeps me going.

Happy Independence Day!

This week we celebrate our one-year anniversary of both our
Escape From Corporate America website and blog! Thank you for your kind readership. We look forward to spending more time with you in the future.

And as we all gather today to celebrate this Fourth of July, let's remember the Declaration of Independence (freedom) and one of it's famous lines: "the pursuit of happiness" because it ties in nicely here. After all, our Founding Fathers encouraged it and we do too! Thomas Jefferson conceived of the pursuit of happiness as an "unalienable right" and a "self evident truth." We can all interpret it different ways because happiness ultimately lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Freedom is a choice. Go find your freedom and happiness today. Enjoy!

Celebrating Women's Achievements and Possibilities

In Knowledge at Wharton (K@W)

Wharton Women in Business celebrated its 25th anniversary in November with a conference that focused on "Celebrating Achievements and Possibilities." While a keynote presentation by Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO of Avon Products, confirmed the (alleged) success that women are having in corporate America, panels entitled "Walking the Leadership Tightrope" and "Navigating through Interpersonal Conflict" suggested the challenges women still face in today's tough business environment. In this special section, K@W covers Jung's speech, the "Leadership Tightrope" panel and a second panel on "Building a Brand and Making Your Mark in the Luxury and Retail Sectors." In addition, they include coverage of a talk on leadership given earlier this fall by Sarah Nash, vice chairman of investment banking at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

To read the special report, visit:
Women in Business: Report from the Trenches