Presented by
Antidote Collective + On Belay Business Advisors
In partnership with
Etsy + Re>Think Local
A series of 6 workshops that provide universal tools and ideas for 'craft' entrepreneurs and local businesses at all levels.
With social and environmental (Localism, Triple Bottom Line) and personal values, community vision, inner awareness and community building woven throughout, these workshops do more than give you business tools and tactics. They help you be what you want — with purpose.
Each hands-on workshop — limited to 30 participants — is led by a topic expert (and the series facilitators) and includes a mindfulness exercise, individual exercises, and opportunities to share ideas with your peers throughout.
Craft your impact — for yourself, your venture and your community.
Who Should Attend?
- Etsy sellers
- gallerists
- artisan retailers
- makers/boutique manufacturers
- restaurateurs
- hospitality, lodging, tourism
- local retailers
- service businesses
Limited to 30 participants.
Workshops
Oct 6 / Visioning + Branding
Scott Tillitt
determining purpose and strategic direction, aligning your brand with your purpose, creating a high-impact brand system
Oct 13 / Marketing
Melissa Gibson
sales, advertising, online marketing and social media, marketing plan, marketing your values
Oct 20 / People + Culture
Martin Ping
creating a values-aligned company culture, staff performance, how to recruit, lead, inspire, fire
Oct 27 / Legal Strategies
Gary Schuster
intellectual property, partner contracts, benefit corporations, Community Capital (Direct Public Offerings, crowdfunding)
Nov 3 / Accounting + Finance Issues
Holly Perlowitz
financial statements and analysis, understanding cash flow, business viability, financing (loans)
Nov 10 / Leadership
Colette Ruoff
growing capacity to lead through the art of communicating, listening, self-reflection and self-care
People listed are the lead presenters (bios below). All workshops are co-facilitated by Ajax Greene and Scott Tillitt.
Workshops are Mondays, 6 – 9 PM. Light food and beverages provided.
Attendees of all 6 workshops will receive a certificate of participation.
Investment
Individual workshops: $70
Series: $375 / $300 for Etsy sellers and Re>Think Local and BEAHIVE members **
Scholarships: reduced fee of $150 for the series — up to 15 people by approval (a $225 savings compliments of Etsy).
Application deadline extended: 9 PM, Oct. 5.
Light food and beverages included.
** For the discount, sellers must have an existing shop on Etsy.com.
A portion of the proceeds will support Re>Think Local, a nonprofit collaborative of locally owned independent businesses, artists, farmers, and nonprofits co-creating a better Hudson Valley.
Presenters
Melissa Gibson
President/CEO / New In Town
Melissa is a seasoned marketing and business development professional with over 20 years of experience. With degrees in Agriculture Economics and Management from Cornell University and a Masters of Brand Management from the University of Georgia, Melissa began her career with a pioneering database marketing company and then went on to found her own business development consulting firm, New In Town. She continues to work with individuals, businesses and organizations seeking to acquire new customers and successfully nurture and build brand equity, with a special emphasis on grassroots growth platforms, small business collaborative marketing and innovative idea generation.
Ajax Greene
Founder/CEO / On Belay Business Advisors
Co-founder + Board Member / Re>Think Local
Ajax is a well-known and respected serial social entrepreneur/CSR evangelist/ trusted generalist business advisor/global connector of confidential business transactions. He has turned his abundant creativity, talent and positive energy to building organizations and a community that expresses a deep commitment to being conscious of the triple bottom line of people, planet and prosperity. Ajax is a co-producer of Social Venture Institute / Hudson Valley, a weekend retreat for world-changing social entrepreneurs.
Holly Perlowitz
Business Development Manager / Community Capital New York
A CPA and experienced financial services professional with expertise in lending, operations, compliance and accounting/finance, Holly began her career in public accounting with Deloitte, followed by Chase and then Emigrant Bank, where she held a senior management role at Emigrant Mortgage Company. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from St. Thomas Aquinas College and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has served on the Board of Family Services of Westchester and chairs a committee for the Relay for Life Event in Ossining.
Martin Ping
Executive Director / Hawthorne Valley Association
Martin has been at Hawthorne Valley for more than 20 years. He taught practical arts in the high school, served as director of facilities for 14 years, and managed several multi-million dollar construction projects. As executive director, Martin has balanced his time developing the synergies amongst the Association’s diverse enterprises and the 150 co-workers who carry those initiatives while cultivating collaborative relationships between Hawthorne Valley and other organizations in the Upper Hudson Valley/Berkshire region as well as like-minded initiatives nationally and globally. He is co-founder and storyteller for The Magical Puppet Tree Theater, a founding member of the Slow Money Alliance, and has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations. Currently, Martin sits on the Advisory Board for Ethical Markets.
Colette Ruoff
Founder / Terra Nova Facilitation and Consulting
President / SageArts
Colette is a seasoned Leadership Development specialist with 17 years experience in leading workshops for global corporations such as McKinsey and WPP as well as smaller organizations such as The Robin Hood Foundation, BALLE and New Island Capital. Her organizational consulting firm, Terra Nova, provides consulting services, leadership development and coaching to social entrepreneurs to support them in building their leadership and aligning their people behind their mission. She has a MBA from NYU, is a Gestalt Psychotherapist and is a Certified Integral Coach. In 2014 Colette launched a local nonprofit arts organization called SageArts, which brings singer-songwriters together with local elders to write a song about the elders' lives.
Gary Schuster
Senior Counsel / Jacobowitz & Gubits, LLP
Gary’s varied law practice includes formation, transactions and counseling for corporations, LLCs, partnerships and many kinds of not-for-profiits; purchases and sales of businesses; commercial and residential real estate transactions and leasing; franchising; estate planning, administration and litigation; guardianship proceedings; and media, copyright and trademark. He has been a leader in educating the public about New York’s new benefit corporation. He also has extensive experience in music and art, which includes past employment with ASCAP, The Songwriters Guild of America, Dunvagen Music Publishers (owned by the composer, Philip Glass) and Knoedler Publishing (publishers of the artist, LeRoy Neiman). He has represented clients in art, music, film, video, dance, theater, photography, fashion modeling, publishing, the internet, museums and arts centers.
Scott Tillitt
Founder / Antidote Collective + BEAHIVE
Co-founder + Board Chair / Re>Think Local
Equal parts strategist, publicist, marketer, social entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, and writer, Scott has an insatiable interest in big ideas and the behaviors that drive people, what resonates with them, and how to communicate with them. He has 20 years of experience and a broad perspective promoting ideas, products and services in various culture-shaping domains. He's instrumental in a social enterprise, a nonprofit, and various projects and community engagements that are focused on making the Hudson Valley a more vibrant, sustainable, locally-rooted and human-scale place to live and work. Scott is a co-producer of Social Venture Institute / Hudson Valley, a weekend retreat for world-changing social entrepreneurs.
Promotional Partners
Schumacher Center For New Economics
Hawthorne Valley Association
[Photo: Dion Ogust]