WOVEN fuels economic independence among military-connected women by facilitating professional alliances, entrepreneurial guidance and informal mentoring.
Women Veterans Make Good Business Owners
Sincere thanks to One West and First Republic Bank for making this video possible.
Entrepreneurship offers veterans – and especially women veterans and veterans with disabilities – increased opportunities to maximize their strengths and skills, to achieve their financial and career goals, and to customize their employment to accommodate their challenges. Microbusiness and self-employment are often the most appropriate option for returning veterans because of the technology available and the flexibility afforded.
CAMEO wants to expose and encourage as many female veterans and veterans’ spouses to business ownership and encourage their success.
WOVEN (Women Veteran Entrepreneur Network) fuels economic independence among military-connected women by facilitating professional alliances, entrepreneurial guidance and informal mentoring. Participants hold each other accountable to achieve growth milestones. Melanie Rae of the GUIDED Business Plan™ and WOVEN’s program director, connects participants with no-cost resources like local SBDCs to connect with subject-matter experts for ongoing support.
- WOVEN Meetups take place on the third Saturday of each month (currently in Los Angeles but expanding to other locations), start-ups and existing businesses are welcome!
- WOVEN Online Q&A for Start-ups happen on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
- WOVEN Connects participants with professional networking and social events, dates and times vary.
- WOVEN Classes: participants are sponsored to attend classes at Pacific Coast Regional SBDC in Los Angeles (also a CAMEO member).
To refer a women veteran entrepreneur email woven@guidedbusinessplan.com.
In 2016, we partnered with The Jonas Project to expand the WOVEN program into three communities in Southern California: Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego. Here’s a sampling of previous classes:
- Download a WOVEN LA Flyer business plan classes at RISE Financial Pathways.
- Download a WOVEN San Diego July Flyer at the San Diego Small Business Development Center.
- A special 2-day Think Like A Negotiator workshop presented by Eldonna Lewis Fernandez took place at the WOVEN Inland Empire WBC.
To make an investment of $1000 or less to help women veterans become business owners, donate to CAMEO through PayPal.
If you are an institutional donor and want to be more involved, please contact Carolina Martinez.
Why is our approach different?
California has 1.8 million veterans, the highest number of any state; 9% are women, with African American women making up 12%. While veteran entrepreneurship programs exist across the country, the substantial population of women veterans in California calls for a regionally focused program, specifically catered to veteran women business owners in their communities. Also, CAMEO builds bridges between veteran service groups and our network of 87 business assistance and financing programs committed to promoting economic opportunity through microbusiness development.
Resources
Download a WOVEN Continuing Community flyer
Read about 2014’s WOVEN program.
Read about 2015’s WOVEN program.
*WOVEN Advisory Council
California Department of Veteran Affairs
CDC Small Business Finance
Disabled Veteran Business Alliance
GC Green
The Jonas Project
Military Home Loans
The Sanberg Group
Think Like A Negotiator
Women Veterans Unity Group
CAMEO thanks our following supporters:
