Empowered Women International

June 14-18, 2010 — Marga Fripp, EWI’s President, had a busy spring season running a series of three successful marketing seminars, sponsored by the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council and tailored for creative artists and entrepreneurs.

Her acclaimed art marketing boot camp is taking her this June to the sunny island of Barbados. Marga will continue to help talented artists and artisans learn how to market their work and empower them to become successful creative entrepreneurs.

The project is supported and presented by The National Cultural Foundation in Barbados in association with the Creative Artworx Design Group.

Write a review of EWI!

June 8, 2010 — During the month of May, GreatNonprofits.org, an online place to find trustworthy nonprofits, ran a campaign to find the top-rated nonprofits empowering women. Thank you to all of you who reviewed EWI. We are grateful for your feedback and encourage all who have not done this yet to take a moment and submit your review.

What really makes us great and our organization so special is the quality and dedication of the people that serve with EWI. From our dedicated board members to our most extraordinary staff, everyone on our team works with passion to deliver the very best service and impart knowledge to our clients.

This month, I want to take a moment to feature our volunteer staff who work tirelessly every day to provide vital services that help new immigrant women, refugees, and their families get started on the path to self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.

Michelle Somerday, our Development Volunteer, works 15-20 hours a week to help EWI better define, support, and communicate its programs and services. Michelle is a self-employed independent business consultant.

Laura Usrey, our Volunteer Summer Intern, is a senior at T.C. Williams High School. She is about to finish her internship with EWI and will have given over 75 hours of service. One of her projects was to assist us in building an online Graduate Directory to feature our talented and successful artists and entrepreneurs.

Juliana Kerrest, our full-time AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, is an amazingly gifted person with incredible dedication, passion and energy to empower women. One of the many projects Juliana is leading is the EWI online Etsy gift shop, that features more than 30 exquisite jewelry designs, hand painted silk scarves and notecards made by our beneficiaries and graduates. Check out our online Etsy Shop and support EWI!

Sharmila Karamchandani, our Client Services Manager, is a graduate of our Entrepreneur Training for Success and a dedicated educator. Sharmila conducts the client intake interviews and provides career and business coaching to help immigrant and refugee women achieve their career and business goals.

Kudos to these and all of our amazing volunteers who contribute thousands of service hours every year to empower women and transform their livelihoods. We couldn’t have done it without you! You continue to empower and inspire me to pursue my vision and lead EWI to success!

Warmest Wishes,

Marga Fripp 
President EWI

Application Deadline: Monday, June 28

APPLY TODAY for this program! It is designed specifically for low-income and/or at-risk immigrant and refugee women to teach them the felting process and basic entrepreneurship skills and career and market readiness. This course will focus on felt soap and will include instruction on technique, patterns and designs, production, pricing, and labeling.

Our Basic Felting and Entrepreneurship Course runs from July 10 – August 7 and the course fee is $150 (scholarships may be available). Graduates may become felt soap producers in EWI’s Micro-Enterprise Program, from which they can earn supplemental income. They will also gain access to advanced felting courses and future projects.

To learn more about this course, the registration process, and scholarship availabilities, click here.

Feb. 17, 23, March 23, 2010, Montgomery County, MD – Learn 7 winning strategies to market your art, generate more clients, and grow your business in these tough economic times!

This is a dynamic two-hour workshop on arts and crafts marketing strategies and practical approaches to success, marketing your arts and crafts creations.

The workshop is a must for artists and crafts entrepreneurs who desire to maximize their marketing efforts and reap the returns. Creative entrepreneurs working in visual arts, crafts, and even performers can benefit from this valuable workshop.  If your creativity is expressed through needlework, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, fine woodworking, illustration and visual arts, printing, glasswork, or other arts and crafts, this workshop is for you!

Workshop presenter Marga Fripp has extensive experience training and coaching thousands of foreign-born and American-born artists to think outside the box, stand out from the competition, turn fans into buyers, and build a following.

Lear more and register for classes

Saturday, February 20 from 1-3pm — Celebrate your wishes and promises for this new year and store them in your own handmade amulet book! Come listen to the story of the Buddhist prayer wheel from Ladakh, a mountainous region in India, which inspired Sushmita Mazumdar’s amulet book. Then learn to make your own amulet book and fill it with promises and wishes for yourself. You can wear it, hide it away under your pillow, or display it in a frame for all to read. read more »