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Women’s organization aims to expand outreach

The Park City Women’s Business Network has a simple mission: to support, promote and educate local businesswomen.

But what if the organization could expand its outreach and help more women? That’s the question Kathleen Barlow, a local financial advisor who recently became the organization’s president, wants to answer. One of her goals is to double membership, from about 75 to 150. And she wants to provide more for them.

"We want to offer more educational meetings," she said. "That means more speakers, more opportunities for our members to learn some new things."

Barlow said it’s imperative for businesswomen in the area to come together because they share similar experiences.

"It’s really important for us to support each other in our businesses," she said, adding that the organization has members in several fields, including the health industry, real estate and consulting. "And in order to do that, we have to know each other. It’s also important to share our successes as well as our challenges, because we can learn from each other."

One of the main challenges local businesswomen face, Barlow said, is finding ways to capitalize on the resources available to them. Just 30 minutes from a major metro area in Salt Lake City, Park City’s business community is rife with opportunity.

"It’s important from a financial standpoint because a lot of these resources are free," she said. "We have a lot of women who open their businesses because they have a passion for what they do, but they might not have expertise in, say, accounting or human resource issues or marketing. There are resources out there that can help them with that, but you have to be able to find them."

Apart from gaining members and better serving them, the organization also hopes to raise $10,000 this year for scholarships for girls at Park City High School who want to go into male-dominated fields.

"It’s really important for us to support them in that effort," Barlow said. "It’s women giving to up-and-coming successful women. It’s great to be able to do that and to offer advice. Because most of us have been there."

The organization’s meetings are held the second Tuesday of every month, and Barlow encourages those who are interested to visit pcwbn.org or call Barlow at 435-649-6008 for more information. The next meeting will be held Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. at Ruth’s Chris Prime Steakhouse Restaurant. It is free for members and $10 for guests.


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