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Frequently Asked Questions |
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What is the Gala? How do I attend? What is the Honorary Award? How do I apply? What is the WBO Scholarship? How do I apply? What is the Gala? How do I attend?Women own 31% of the Washington metropolitan area's businesses and Maryland, with 28.9% of businesses owned by women, ranks third nationwide. The WBO Women in Business Celebrate Success! Gala is an annual celebration of women in business. Attendance includes business owners, service industries, and local, county and state officials. This celebration is a great opportunity for networking in a festive atmosphere. Start the day by wandering among a showcase of member businesses, community organizations, and business services that will benefit your own company. Don't stop at the showcase: shopping is also available in the marketplace with clothing, flowers, gifts, and numerous other eye-catching booths. During a fabulous luncheon, listen to a keynote address from a dynamic speaker (over the years, speakers included such notables as Lillian Vernon, Helen Thomas (United Press International White House Bureau Chief), Sharon Percy Rockefeller (public broadcasting community, former President and CEO of WETA) and Kathleen Matthews (WJLA-TV News 7). The presentation of the annual Athena award and the WBO scholarship are also made at the Gala. Attendance is by reservation which is online here. What is the Honorary Award? This award was established to honor individual leaders and corporations that open the doors of opportunity for women in the workplace and beyond. Recipients are chosen not only for their professional achievement and community service, but also for the consistent manner in which they strive toward professional excellence. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's award winner. Nominations open annually in June and close mid-September. Past winners are: 1999 - Sharon Friedman, Executive Director, Montgomery County Mental Health Association 2000 - Mary Francis leMat, CEO, Social & Scientific Systems 2001 - Anne Sanderoff-Walker, Owner of Designer Fabrications, past commissioner and president of Montgomery County Commission for Women, WBO past president and current member 2002 - Evelyne Steward, vice president, Work-Life Initiatives, Discovery Communications, Inc. 2003 - Nancy Regelin, Esq., Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, PA 2004 - Julie Lenzer Kirk, Applied Creative Technologies, Inc. 2005 - Barbara Krumsiek, The Calvert Group What is the WBO Scholarship? How do I apply? WBO sponsors a named scholarship that is awarded annually, usually in conjunction with Montgomery College. It is intended for a woman returning to college to re-enter the work force or to change her career path. (The applications we receive are typically from divorced or widowed women who now need to build their careers or women that took time off to be at home with their children and are now ready to begin working again.) The process is simple. An applicant fills out a form provided by Montgomery College which is submitted to the WBO Board of Directors. Value of and criteria for scholarship are determined by the Board annually (usually at a spring Board meeting). Traditionally, the value of scholarship is $1,000 and criteria are as stated above.
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