Business & Tech

'It's All Been Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends'

Tracy Mate operated out of the basement of her Monroe home for three years, while selling tote bags from Thirty-One Gifts.

"I never got involved in the community in Monroe and, as my husband would attest, there was too much traffic and too many phone calls at home," Mate said.

Last November, Mate leased 1,000-square-feet of meeting space on the second floor of Gaslight Square, 500 Monroe Turnpike. The space can accomodate chairs for 30 people, a kitchen, rolling demonstration racks for presentations, private work stations and a TV with video equipment.

Mate's husband Glenn, the deputy fire marshall in Monroe, knew of the available space from doing building inspections in town and recommended it to her.

Knowing other female entrepreneurs in Monroe have similar situations, Mate started the Collaborative Women's Center there. It has been up and running since January.

"The center is a small business incubator for women entrepreneurs," Mate said, adding women can meet with clients and have meetings there.

Classes, Demonstrations, Networking ...

Direct sellers like Thirty-One Gifts and Pampered Chef depend on people to host parties where they can sell their products, but Mate said some may not want people going in and out of their house. The Collaborative Women's Center can host those parties.

On Thursday, the center had "Ladies Night", a vendor event. Among the businesses were Tiny Fuzzies, which makes knitted and crocheted baby and children's hats and scarves — including the Sandy Hook scarves; Trunkets by Teri and Alison Luciana with Top Tier Cakes.

The center hosted the Trendy Trunk Children's Summer/Spring Clothing Sale.

Getting Work Done

The Collaborative Women's Center is another place for people with home-based businesses to get work done.

"People could leave their busy families and come here and work, have home demonstrations, product lunches and networking events," Mate said. "Two women rent desks here and the Monroe Chamber of Commerce is considering moving in."

Ten Drop-In members come to the center when they need Internet access, according to Mate.

Carissa Black of Monroe is a member who designs handbags, sews purses and teaches sewing at the Collaborative Women's Center. "She's amazing," Mate said.

Cubes on a shelf at the center can rented out for $25 a month as a place to advertise a business. Tiny Fuzzies keeps an inventory inside its cube.

Reducing the Overhead

"If I have a growing membership, I will expand and make the center larger," Mate said. 

The center wants to hire an event manager, which is an independent position. Those who are interested in the opening or in becoming a member of the Collaborative Women's Center should call Mate at 203-880-4051.

"It's all been word of mouth," she said of advertising for the center. "It's all been girlfriends helping girlfriends. If we all just band together, we can have a community presence without all the overhead."


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