These Women Mean Business

Nearly 400 participate in Connecticut’s women’s entrepreneurship conference seeking to gain business development, leadership expertise

This article first appeared in the UConn Business magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1 (Winter 2014)

When Jennifer Mastriano‘s in-laws founded MGM Carting and Recycling 20 years ago, friendly and reliable service was the bedrock of their North Haven business.

Today it still is. 

Pictured (left, l-r): Helen Mastriano, Stephanie Mastriano, and Jennifer Mastriano of MGM Carting & Recycling Corp.
Pictured (left, l-r): Helen Mastriano, Stephanie Mastriano, and Jennifer Mastriano of MGM Carting & Recycling Corp.

But now the women-owned and family-operated waste-removal business is under tremendous pressure to be mindful of expenses. Mastriano, the company’s financial officer, said they try to keep a lid on customer prices, while upgrading office technology and designing a web site and brochures.

As women in a male-dominated business, they know people take notice of their company, which has pink lettering on the side of its garbage trucks.

“When two women walk in to a business and want to discuss garbage, that’s not something that happens every day,” Mastriano said. “But for most customers, price is all that matters. We have to work as hard as everyone else.”

Women-owned Businesses Growing in Connecticut

Conference attendees interact with event speakers.
Conference attendees interact with event speakers.

Mastriano was one of nearly 400 women who attended the sold-out “Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs” event in September, hosted by the University of Connecticut School of Business in Stamford.

The program, which featured keynote speaker Cindi Bigelow, CEO of Fairfield-based Bigelow Tea, was designed as a forum for discussion, support, and identifying resources for helping women-owned businesses, such as MGM Carting & Recycling Corp., to thrive in Connecticut.

The program not only recognized the vast contributions of entrepreneurial women in the state but also included workshops to help them advance their businesses, said co-creator Valarie A. Gelb, CEO of TheBarnYardGroup.

“Our goal was to concentrate on the areas of most importance to entrepreneurial women, which is access to capital, access to client/customer networks, and confidence in promoting themselves and their company,” Gelb said. “We were able to accomplish our goals and we had over 375 attendees who rated the event as a huge success.”

“In 2012, Connecticut had almost 98,000 women-owned businesses, up 35 percent in the past 10 years,” said Brian Brady, director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator at the UConn School of Business and Instructor-in-Residence. The event drew women from across the state and across the spectrum. Participants ranged from women with startup businesses to those with multimillion dollar budgets, longevity and dozens of employees, he said.

Where Creativity and Business Align

Conference attendees stop at the booth of Operation Fuel, one of the many businesses exhibiting at the event.
Conference attendees stop at the booth of Operation Fuel, one of the many businesses exhibiting at the event.

As the owner of American Flora, an online boutique, Mary Brewster creates and sells luxurious, environmentally-responsible active wear, including beautiful wraps and dresses. Her biggest goal right now is to increase awareness of her business.

“I’ve been an ‘art’ person all my life,” said Brewster, of Redding, whose career has included work as a dancer and teacher. “The creative parts of my business are not hard for me, but the business part is more challenging.”

All of American Flora’s products are designed, manufactured and packaged in the United States, which resonates well with her customers, Brewster said.

She has used the resources of the UConn School of Business to fine-tune her business plan. September’s event gave her an opportunity to showcase her two-year-old company, while also meeting other business-savvy women.

“The conference paired well with the University’s mission to work with entrepreneurs and mentor businesses,” said Professor Tim Dowding, associate director of the International Business Accelerator.

CEO Talks About Necessity of Embracing Change

Cindi Bigelow (left) speaks at the conference alongside John Elliott (right).
Cindi Bigelow (left) speaks at the conference alongside John Elliott (right).

Many of the women who attended the event said that Bigelow’s talk was one of the highlights.  During a 45-minute question-and-answer session, Bigelow tackled the importance of change, growth and the need to constantly “reinvent” a business. She told moderator John Elliott, dean of the School of Business, and the rest of the audience about how it has impacted her career.

Bigelow Tea, the U.S. market leader of specialty teas, was started by Cindi Bigelow’s grandmother in 1945. The company currently produces more than 1.6 billion tea bags a year.

She talked about how her parents were reluctant to “pass the baton” to her after nurturing the business for many years. “A family company is a gem, it’s like a piece of jewelry,” she said, noting that she now understands how difficult it was for her parents—who still work there many days—to let go of the leadership role.

It is important to surround yourself with people who will ask tough questions and force you to excel, Bigelow said. For her, that group is her Board of Directors.

Several years ago, she determined that consumers didn’t recognize that Bigelow was a family corporation. The company is now creating new packaging that emphasizes its family roots, quality, environmental and recycling efforts and reputation.

Change was inevitable but it doesn’t help alleviate the stress which was “over the top” in the production department, she said. Bigelow said she uses gut instinct, coupled with solid business practices, to make her decisions. She accepts failure, she said, but only if it is a learning experience.

Despite the pressure of having 330 families relying on her for their livelihood, Bigelow said she has to find time to laugh and have fun during her work day, which she said starts when she wakes and ends when she goes to bed.

The mother of two young adults, she said she worked an abbreviated schedule when her children were young and she still makes it a rule to always be home by 7 p.m. She told the audience that she believes a woman can be both a phenomenal mother and a successful CEO.

‘Energized with the Conversations of Women’

Dr. Sharon White, director of the UConn Stamford campus, addresses the audience.
Dr. Sharon White, director of the UConn Stamford campus, addresses the audience.

Bigelow wasn’t the only well-known woman at the conference. Other guest speakers included Catherine Smith, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and Dr. Mary Holz-Clause, vice president for economic development at UConn.

In addition, a dozen senior executive women, dubbed “ambassadors” were available to share their expertise in marketing, finance and other aspects of business.

“Female entrepreneurs are driving much of the innovation in our local marketplace and beyond the borders of our state,” said Judith Pennington, a vice president at Wells Fargo Advisors and an event ambassador.

“Conferences like this one not only provide a rich forum for the attendees, but showcase the resources and the reach of the School of Business. The business school was energized with the conversation of women who are making things happen,” she said.

“Female entrepreneurs bring all their intelligence, creativity and experience to bear on solving business problems and creating innovative products and services for the marketplace.  At the same time, some are doing this while being the primary caretaker of their children or elderly parents.

“My hope is that conferences like this one will spur more women to follow their dreams and create something new,” Pennington said. “After all, they have so many role models right here in Connecticut!


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