By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
Piazza Della Sole owner Camille Kessler organizes her inventory and stages her shoes in the Upper Montclair store. She’s celebrating her 10-year anniversary as an entrepreneur.
“I think ironically if you’re an entrepreneur and a female it’s the one place where there is no playing field. You’re not playing against men, you’re playing against yourself,” she said.
Motivated by her family and passion for fashion, Kessler jumped into entrepreneurship with confidence. But she thinks that’s something some future female entrepreneurs need.
“I think women have much better intuition about things. Sometimes I think they’re not listening to their intuition because fear prevents them,” Kessler said.
“There are amazingly successful women entrepreneurs, just there are not enough of them,” said Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship Director Dennis Bone.
That’s why the Montclair State University Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship is hosting a free three-day program to cultivate, educate and inspire women entrepreneurs.
“Women entrepreneurs need our help. They are the underdogs, they outperform, they work hard. They just don’t have enough representation in leadership roles,” said FEM Real Estate CEO and owner Mimi Feliciano. “They just don’t believe in themselves.”
“A huge part of it is the mindset. Part of it is trying to help women understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur,” said Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship Program Manager Sharon Waters.
“It just felt right. It was something I wanted to do,” said Watchung Booksellers owner Margot Sage-EL.
Sage-EL knows what it takes. She’s been in business for nearly two decades.
She never imagined 20 years ago she’d own a bookstore. She began her career in the publishing industry. She says in 1996, there were five bookstores in town so she never imagined opening a new one, but when Watchung Booksellers went on the market, she wrote up and business plan and decided to give it a shot.
“Overall we’ve done better and better so that may be difference between a man and woman, a man may have a lot bravado and move forward whereas I want to make sure I’m putting anyone in jeopardy, when I move to the next step,” Sage-EL said. “Cautiously Optimistic.”
Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship’s Bone says not enough women are launching start-ups and it’s those start-ups that are fueling the local economy.
“All net jobs in this country are created by companies less than five years old because large companies continue to downsize because of technology so it’s all the start-ups creating the jobs,” said Bone.
The Women Entrepreneurship Conference runs through tomorrow evening. As for Sage-EL and Kessler, they’re determined to continue running successful businesses.