Exciting Event Sponsored by the Center for Women
A Featured USASBE Pillar Session
Center for Women, Charleston, SC
Dorothy Perrin Moore, Co-Chair, Session Coordinator
United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship
15th Annual USASBE Conference—Saturday, January 15th, 2011, Hilton Head Island, SC
The session showcases five South Carolina based entrepreneurs. Each presenter brings an array of creative approaches to launching, growing and nurturing a venture originating in the rich culture of the Low Country.
William Barclay Hall, one of the world’s foremost authorities on tea, will share the history and marketing strategy of the Charleston Tea Plantation, the only tea plantation in the U.S.A. This plantation provides a fascinating insight into both South Carolina’s colonial past and the vision and persistence of those who worked to see tea grown commercially in the U.S.A. William, a partner in the tea plantation, also owns William Hall Tea Holdings, an international tea trading company. He is also a tea consultant to a major U.S. Supermarket chain and does consulting work around the world. For more information about the tea plantation go to: http://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/about-us/faq's.aspx
Judith Moore, Founder and Owner of the Charleston Cookie Company, a 2011 recipient of the Enterprising Women Award and a 2008 recipient of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Ribbon award. Judith will share her experiences from startup to diversifying her market, from selling seriously good cookies made with heavenly ingredients to people interested in sending cookies to friends and family for birthdays, say "thanks" or "feel better" or just to express love, to her emphasis on wholesale to the food service industry. For more information about the company see http://www.charlestoncookie.com/.
The Charleston Sweet Grass Baskets of Elizabeth Mazyck are displayed in the American Museum of Natural History, featured in the book By Southern Hands, authored by Jan Arnow, and prominently displayed on the cover and in the Teachers Guide, Grass Roots African Origins of an American Art. At the conference, Elizabeth and her cousin Adeline, will display samples of their craft and share the rich story behind basket weaving and how the art has been passed down from generation to generation. Both artists have basket displays at the Artisians Center in Walterboro, South Carolina. Elizabeth is famous for the rectangular basket she creates on an oval foundation by bending, but not breaking, the corners of the bulrush as it is coiled. While called the Charleston Sweetgrass basket, in reality the craft is native to the Mt. Pleasant and outlying island areas, with traditional sale locations active along Highway 17, at the 4 Corners of Law and the old market center in downtown Charleston and, more recently, on the internet. For more information on the origin of the Sweet Grass Basket see Grass Roots: African Origins of American Art http://www.africanart.org/travelling/17/grass_roots_african_origins_of_an_american_art
Jennet Robinson Alterman is the Co-Chair, Moderator and Interactive Discussion Leader for this session. A native of Charleston, Jennet is the Executive Director of the Center for Women. She has worked in television broadcasting, state and federal government and the non-profit sector, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan, Peace Corps Country Director in Swaziland and the Interagency Coordinator for Peace Corps worldwide. In 2002, the Center established the Entrepreneurial Woman Series to provide technical assistance and support to women entrepreneurs and business owners. More than 5000 women have participated in the series. Under her leadership, the Center received numerous grants and awards, including the 2005 Award for Excellence in Non-Profit Management from the S.C. Association of Non-Profit Organizations, Oprah’s Angel Network Grant from Oprah Winfrey in 2006, the Family Circle Cup Tennis Tournament official charity of choice in 2009, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce 1773 award for the Public/Non-Profit Sector and People Against Rape’s Outstanding Victim Service Program in 2009.
