Training Events

weVENTURE WBC is proud to partner with the ATHENA Leadership Institute for a ninth year! Today, the ATHENA Leadership Model® can help women transform their leadership skills and empower them to step up during these times of economic turmoil, and a worldwide movement for economic and racial justice, to be the leaders we need them to be. 

Based on the Eight Principles of Enlightened Leadership™ identified by ATHENA International, this course is designed to help emerging female leaders grow in confidence and clarity of purpose. Each class session is a dedicated deep dive into one of the principles with engaging discussion and activities that cultivate women on their personal growth journey while inspiring them to connect and share with others. 

LIVE AUTHENTICALLY -  LEARN CONSTANTLY  - BUILD RELATIONSHIPS - FOSTER COLLABORATION -  ACT COURAGEOUSLY  - ADVOCATE FIERCELY  -  GIVE BACK - CELEBRATE

Now more than ever, businesses are looking for tangible ways to diversify their workforce and equip emerging leaders with the tools they need to rise into management roles.  Traditional leadership development is focused on teaching people management. However, we know management is very different than true leadership. Management-focused programs don’t teach individuals how to foster personal growth and development in themselves and others, or walk them through the process of self-discovery. ATHENA bridges this crucial gap.

Sponsoring an emerging leader from your business is a great way to invest in her career development and connect her to the weVENTURE WBC and ATHENA International network of women. This provides supplemental ongoing  enrichment opportunities during and after participants in the ATHENA Leadership Program learn core curriculum competencies. 

The ATHENA Leadership Program is designed to create stronger female leaders. Join a dynamic cohort of women from across all industries as we study the 8 principles of ATHENA leadership.  This program is an inspiring and uplifting series that will motivate you to connect, share and grow.

8-Month program, meets one time per month on the 4th Thursday of the month. Also includes registration fee for 2025 IMPACT Summit, date TBA.

2025 dates:  Jan. 23; Feb. 27; Mar. 27; Apr. 24; May 22; Jun. 26; Aug. 28; Sep. 25; Oct. TBD

All sessions are from 1:30pm-3:30pm. 

The Treasure Coast Cohort will alternate between meeting in St. Lucie and Martin Counties, to make the program accessible to women from both communities. We are finalizing locations, but the schedule will be the following:

January 23 - St. Lucie County - optional informational session for prospective participants

February 27th - Martin County - Session One:  Build Relationships

March 27th - St. Lucie County - Session Two:  Foster Collaboration

April 24th - Martin County - Session Three:  Act Courageously

May 22nd - St. Lucie County - Session Four:  Live Authentically

June 26th - VIRTUAL - Session Five:  Advocate Fiercely

August 28th - Martin County - Session Six:  Learn Constantly

September 25th - St. Lucie County - Session Seven:  Give Back

October - IMPACT Summit and/or class date TBD - Session Eight:  Celebrate

St. Lucie County location:  St. Lucie EDC Office, 1790 SW Gatlin Blvd, fl 202, Port St. Lucie, FL  34953

Martin County location:  Palm City Community Center, 2701 SW Cornell Ave, Palm City, FL  34990

Scholarship opportunities are available.  To apply, please email weventure@fit.edu.  If you are interested in sponsoring a woman through ATHENA, or sponsoring the program, email krudloff@fit.edu to discuss how your business can help bring this fantastic program to local women. 

Cost:  $1000.  An Early Registration discount of $100 is available up to one week before first session date.

Learn the basics and necessities of personal credit to ensure you have a strong foundational backbone for your business finances. This free virtual webinar is a wealth of knowledge aimed to help you succeed from Fifth Third Bank.

This panel discussion will cover Transparency and Explainability, Accountability and Responsibility, Impact on the Workforce, Ethical Development and Deployment.

REGISTER VIA THIS LINK

Schedule

11:00 am - 11:30 am Light Refreshments

11:30 am - 1:00 pm Panel Discussion

Panelists

• Dr. Wes Sumner, Moderator
• Dr. Ted Richardson, Dean of the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business and Director of the Center for Ethics and Leadership
• Dr. Abram Walton Center for Innovation, Management, and Business Analytics
• Dr. Brandon May, Assistant Professor College of Psychology
• Keith Nugent, Founder, Strategist Camberlion
• Letwan Sutton, Manager Aviation Tax
• Mr. Mike Marks Indian River Consulting

The Center for Ethics and Leadership fosters the practice of ethical behavior and effective leadership by developing related skills through research and discussion. The mission of promoting ethical behavior and leadership standards is integrated throughout our educational and community outreach programs.

Are you thinking about starting a business but need help breaking down the steps so you don't get overwhelmed? Join weVENTURE Women's Business Center coach, Sondee Lima, in person and learn how. Sondee is offering this session in English at 1pm. (en Espanol at 2pm.)

Cómo Empezar Tu Negocio en 12 Pasos en Espanol (En Persona)

¿Estás pensando en empezar un negocio pero necesitas ayuda para desglosar los pasos y no sentirte abrumado? Únete en persona a la coach de weVENTURE Women's Business Center, Sondee Lima, y aprende cómo hacerlo. Sondee ofrecerá esta sesión en español a las 2 p.m.

Marketing Your Business to the Federal Government with the Small Business Administration (SBA)

This class focuses on improving your probability of being “found” by Federal contracting offices and large Federal Prime Contractors.

The discussion includes:

· Which website is used by contracting entities to source contractors

· Which NAICS codes and how many should you use

· What is a good “Capability Statement”

· What is most important to a Contracting Officer and Selecting Official

· How to improve your website

Registration is through this Eventbrite Link- please note: time is 10-11:30am Eastern Standard Time if different time listed on this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/work-for-yourself50-virtual-workshop-florida-weventure-tickets-1245889843059?aff=oddtdtcreator  

Work for Yourself@50+ is a Virtual- Workshop to help you gain the knowledge, support, and resources you need to make informed decisions about working for yourself and take the right first steps toward successful self-employment. The decision to start your own business can be both exciting and daunting. Work for Yourself@50+ breaks the choices down for older adults in an approachable way through five steps:

1. A careful consideration of the potential benefits and risks of working for yourself
2. Exercises to help develop the self-employment idea
3. A realistic overview of what it takes to pursue a self-employment opportunity
4. Guidance to help avoid pitfalls and scams
5. Ways to find trustworthy support and service

As a registered participant, you will receive by physical mail, a copy of the Work For Yourself@50+ 5 Simple Steps Toolkit. Please ensure that you use your desired mailing address when completing the registration.

About The Facilitator

weVENTURE Women's Business Center in the Florida Tech Bisk College of Business is the leading voice and resource for professional women on the Space and Treasure Coasts. We Provide FREE Business Education and Coaching to over 700 Unique clients a year. But our program is about so much more than education. We Venture to Ignite the Economic Power of Women.

Questions? Email: Jeannette Kraar jkraar@fit.edu Phone: 321-674-7007

Thank you!

QuickBooks for Small Businesses: Part 1

Learn the steps to start using QuickBooks for your small business and make it work for you. Managing your business finances and budget is key to your success. CPA Kathy Emerson will help you get everything you need in place in this informative, free, 2-part series!

weVENTURE WBC is proud to partner with the ATHENA Leadership Institute for a ninth year! Today, the ATHENA Leadership Model® can help women transform their leadership skills and empower them to step up during these times of economic turmoil, and a worldwide movement for economic and racial justice, to be the leaders we need them to be. 

Based on the Eight Principles of Enlightened Leadership™ identified by ATHENA International, this course is designed to help emerging female leaders grow in confidence and clarity of purpose. Each class session is a dedicated deep dive into one of the principles with engaging discussion and activities that cultivate women on their personal growth journey while inspiring them to connect and share with others. 

LIVE AUTHENTICALLY -  LEARN CONSTANTLY  - BUILD RELATIONSHIPS - FOSTER COLLABORATION -  ACT COURAGEOUSLY  - ADVOCATE FIERCELY  -  GIVE BACK - CELEBRATE

Now more than ever, businesses are looking for tangible ways to diversify their workforce and equip emerging leaders with the tools they need to rise into management roles.  Traditional leadership development is focused on teaching people management. However, we know management is very different than true leadership. Management-focused programs don’t teach individuals how to foster personal growth and development in themselves and others, or walk them through the process of self-discovery. ATHENA bridges this crucial gap.

Sponsoring an emerging leader from your business is a great way to invest in her career development and connect her to the weVENTURE WBC and ATHENA International network of women. This provides supplemental ongoing  enrichment opportunities during and after participants in the ATHENA Leadership Program learn core curriculum competencies. 

The ATHENA Leadership Program is designed to create stronger female leaders. Join a dynamic cohort of women from across all industries as we study the 8 principles of ATHENA leadership.  This program is an inspiring and uplifting series that will motivate you to connect, share and grow.

8 Month program, meets one time per month on the 4th Thursday of the month. Also includes registration fee for 2025 IMPACT Summit, date TBA.

2025 dates: Apr. 24; May 22; Jun. 26; Jul. 24; Aug. 28; Sep. 25; Oct. 23 and Nov. 20.

All sessions are from 8:30am-10:30am at Florida Tech's Center for Aeronautics and Innovation, 1050 W. Nasa Blvd, Melbourne. Breakfast and networking available at 8:00am. 

Scholarship opportunities are available.  To apply, please email weventure@fit.edu.  If you are interested in sponsoring a woman through ATHENA, or sponsoring the program, email krudloff@fit.edu to discuss how your business can help bring this fantastic program to local women. 

Cost:  $1000  - Discount for $100 OFF available up to one month before first session date.

Join weVENTURE Women's Business center for a Strong Coffee Strong Women Purposeful networking event.

Enjoy coffee and light breakfast with other ambitious women in our network. 

Thanks to the SBA Growth Accelerator Fund, this event is FREE to attend!! 

Agenda:

8:30-9:00 AM Networking and Coffee

9:00 AM Welcome Remarks

9:15-10:00 AM Main Event

Topic details coming soon!

Learn how to overcome anxiety in networking and sales situations by learning how to leverage the principles of improv to respond confidently and make positive connections.

Learn how to apply the rules of improv to energize your sales meetings—and become more confident at networking events.

Improv “rules” can help train you to approach every conversation as a positive opportunity to engage with others.

For example,

• Rule #1: Say "YES, AND" ... learn how to further the conversation.
• Rule #2: Build up, don't block conversations. Foster positive interactions!  
• Rule #3: There Are No Wrong Answers. Learn to make the best out of any conversation!
• Rule #4: Make Space For Everyone to Participate. Learn to really engage with new contacts and have meaningful interactions

Anybody interested in improving their communication skills or becoming more comfortable at networking is welcome to register.

A class for the reluctant networker!

Light refreshments will be provided. Space is limited to 15 attendees. This is a FREE event!

Led and hosted by Kelly Swartz of Widerman Malek and Funky Dog Improv. This informal training will be located at the Widerman Malek office, 1990 W New Haven Ave #201, Melbourne, FL 32904.

QuickBooks for Small Businesses: Part 2

Continue to learn the steps to using QuickBooks for your small business and make it work for you. Managing your business finances and budget is key to your success. CPA Kathy Emerson will help you get everything you need in place in this informative, free, 2-part series!

Come network with the weVENTURE Women's Business Center community for a one of a kind networking event! When is the last time you and your girlfriends got to go out dancing? This event will start with networking and then we will dominate the dance floor, busting our moves with our business besties. 

DJ Brittany Traxler, AKA 'Salt Shaker' will be spinning our favorite dance music.

This event is for girls who just wanna have fun, but have important sh*t to do in the morning and want to be in bed by 10!

💃 Theme: Professional Chic Meets Dance Floor
🎶 Music: Throwback hits (80s, 90s, early 2000s), diva anthems, and pop dance hits
🍸 Signature Drink
✨ Power Pose Photo Op

 Tickets:

• $20
• Register and pay online ahead of time or $20 cash at the door. Preregistration is appreciated!
• Includes (1) drink ticket for either the Power Moves signature cocktail or limited wine/beer option. Light appetizers provided.
• Sponsorships available at $150 or $250. Email weventure@fit.edu to have your business be part of this fabulous new networking event in Brevard.

 Special thanks to our venue host, Nomad's Canteen! Their full food and drinks menu will be available for purchase.