#dec texas

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Events: Mary Kay, DEC Partner for Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit

Mary Kay announced Tuesday it will host its inaugural Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit Jan. 27 at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas.

“For 53 years Mary Kay has been empowering, mentoring and promoting women entrepreneurs. Our founder, Mary Kay Ash herself was one of the greatest business minds of all time and millions of women around the world have built successful businesses by following her proven leadership and sales techniques,” Mary Kay’s Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green said in a media release. “No one person or company has more experience with women’s entrepreneurship than Mary Kay. We believe that the Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit will help inspire current and future female entrepreneurs.”

“We can think of no better partner than Dallas’ own Mary Kay to provide effective tools and resources for the next generation of women innovators.” TREY BOWLES

Mary Kay is partnering with The DEC (Dallas Entrepreneur Center) to bring together experts and thought leaders for the summit that will focus on women business owners. 

“We have seen a great increase in women entrepreneurs starting businesses in North Texas in recent years, and we believe programs like this Summit are invaluable in helping these companies grow,” co-founder and CEO of The Dallas Entrepreneur Center Trey Bowles said. “We can think of no better partner than Dallas’ own Mary Kay to provide effective tools and resources for the next generation of women innovators. We hope to bring some of the success-proven mindsets, processes, and practices to the women that attend this inaugural Mary Kay Women’s Summit.”

Businesses will get a chance to pitch their ideas in the first-ever “Pink Tank” for a chance to receive seed funding from The DEC. Judges will include Adkins-Green; Abe Minkara, director of business development for Mark Cuban Cos., and fashion designer and CEO Abi Ferrin. If you want to apply to pitch your business, visit this link. 

Gloria Mayfield Banks, internationally renowned motivational speaker and No. 1 U.S.-ranked Mary Kay Independent Elite Executive National Sales Director, will be the featured keynote speaker. There will be breakout sessions throughout the day, as well as opportunities for networking and mentorships. 

Sessions will include:

Why Women Make Great Entrepreneurs — featuring Amber Venz Box of RewardStyle and Valerie Freeman of Imprimis Group.

10 Questions You Need To Answer Before You Become An Entrepreneur — featuring Shama Hyder of Marketing Zen and Yasmeen Tadia of Make Your Life Sweeter.

How To Build the Best Team For Success — featuring Sheryl Chamberlain of Cap Gemini, Kristi Libby of S.W.C./SoCu, and Jill Scigliano of The DEC.

Customer Development: How To Find And Grow Customers — featuring Melissa Youngblood of LCC Management Consulting.

Building Your Brand —  featuring Heather Capps of HCK2; Holly Mason of Mason Baronet; and Jessica Nunez of True Point.

Fundraising: How To Fund Your Business — Julia Taylor Cheek of Everly; Louise Kee of Golden Seeds; Cynthia Nevels of Integrality, and Cristin Thomas of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business.

IF YOU GO

Time: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Date: Jan. 27 Place: Fairmont Hotel, 1717 N. Akard in Dallas. Registration fee:  $100 per person through Jan. 1, includes breakfast, breakout sessions, lunch, keynote speakers, mentorship opportunities, Pink Tank and post-event reception. Starting Jan. 2, the registration fee will be $125 per person and $150 at the door. 

For more information or to register, visit www.marykaywomenssummit.com or [email protected].

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Business: DEC partners

The city of Denton is partnering with the Dallas Entrepreneur Center to launch a collaborative space for area entrepreneurs.

Stoke, located at 608 E. Hickory St., is a product of Connected Denton, a community-based initiative fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in the city of Denton. The 9,216 square-foot space will be located just east of Denton’s Downtown Square. It is expected to open in the summer.

A rendering shows what Stoke will look like once the space is renovated in summer.

“There’s been kind of a grassroots discussion for a couple of years for creating a coworking space and supporting entrepreneurship and high-tech companies,” said Aimee Bissett, Denton’s director of development services, adding that Stoke is the culmination of all those efforts. “It will be that hub or centerpiece for people to come and collaborate.”

 Stoke will be financed by the $220,000 that the city approved in September 2014. The funding was allocated to launch an economic development initiative that would help Denton become a hub for technology. The center aims to serve as the anchor for Denton’s Innovation District.

The city also allocated $75,000 annually to help support the new center. The funds come from the tax increment financing district monies and will cover the lease and staff. The center will also receive a percentage of membership fees collected by the DEC to help support the operating costs.

The DEC will run the programming associated with the center, and the joint venture will function like the Addison Treehouse, a partnership that formed between the town of Addison and the DEC in 2014. However, Stoke will have a Denton twist.

“We’re creating the right programming, the right collaboration community, but this is very much a Denton vibe,” said Trey Bowles, CEO of the DEC. “We are very much trying to figuring out what that community needs for entrepreneurial support so that we are really able to create a way for the city to build Denton’s entrepreneurial brand.”

As in Addison, the DEC will provide entrepreneurs access to training, education, mentorship, promotion and capital to grow their businesses. Stoke will include features such as gigabit fiber Internet, conference room rentals and office resources for members and visitors.

For more on this exciting partnership click HERE.