Event puts women in focus

It may not be jumping out of a plane like she did, but Joleene D. Des Rosiers encouraged women to take a risk to lead to their own happiness at the Business of Women conference Monday.

“You can have whatever you want, do whatever you want and be whatever you want,” she told the audience at the keynote address.

Ms. Des Rosiers talked about her recent career, which started 10 years ago at WWTI-TV 50 as a reporter, then led to selling mortgages and working for Time Warner Cable at News 10 Now, now YNN.

“I had a good job, but I didn’t like it,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was unhappy, but I didn’t know why. I knew it had to do with what I was doing.”

When some relatives were going skydiving, she agreed to go along. The skydiving experience pushed her to embark on her own freelancing and public-speaking career, she said.

“I told myself, ‘If I can jump out of an airplane at 10,000 feet, I can quit my job,’” she said.

Instead of letting fear grow from the size of a sidewalk crack to a chasm, we can overcome it by taking risks in other areas before approaching the major fear, she said.

“It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you get from A to B,” Ms. Des Rosiers said. “If you do that little thing, take that risk, it’s going to lead you to bigger things.”

About 60 women attended the eighth annual conference that has a focus on networking, learning and empowering businesswomen.

“A lot of small businesses are represented here,” said organizer Sarah C. O’Connell, business adviser for the Small Business Development Center at Jefferson Community College. “Small businesses can be somewhat isolated, so this is a chance to really find support from each other and find valuable connections.”

The conference included sessions on networking, blogging and the legalities of hiring and firing. The day also included chances to network, get a manicure and buy produce, jewelry and accessories from local small businesses.

Heather L. da Silva, who runs a chocolate party business through Dove Chocolate Discoveries, came to network and learn. She especially profited from the blogging session.

“I’m not good at it, but it would be beneficial for the type of business I’m doing,” she said. Speaker Mandee Widrick “talked about patience. She said it takes time, which was good for me to hear.”