The Program

Ladies Who Launch is a movement. Yes, it’s an in-person and online network for women to connect, grow, and celebrate. But it’s also a way of thinking and being that discards the idea that there is only one way to launch, one way to live, or one way to be creative. Ladies Who Launch is an agreement between a woman and herself that says, “No matter what, I want my life to keep moving forward, keep getting better, and keep being closer to my dreams.”

We’ve designed a four-step program called the Incubator to propel the intrinsic yearning every woman has to launch her life, to embrace her creativity, to move forward into territory only she has the desire to claim for herself. The Ladies Who Launch program is a conduit for creativity. Women place their dreams inside this virtual greenhouse and discover a supportive environment for their precious thoughts, ideas, and visions. The imaginings can take any form—great relationships, a fulfilling career, a creative outlet, an enriching family experience, financial freedom, or being the queen of your kingdom (however you define that)—and through the Ladies Who Launch Incubator program, the dreams grow until they are hatched into reality.

Any desire can be put into this Incubator model and expanded. Some of the real women whose lives are bigger and better than they ever imagined by utilizing the Ladies Who Launch Incubator include:

• Karen Mudrick, who moves to a new city and wants to expand her social life, spice up her nightlife, and befriend a more diverse crowd. She bravely jumps into the Ladies Who Launch Incubator and within days finds herself out at chic parties, spending weekends in a beach house, and creating a Rolodex of close friends.

• Robin Wilson, a former executive recruiter who decides she wants to build a business as an owner’s representative for home renovation—an unusual role in the world of construction and architecture. With only a couple of clients under her belt, she joins the Ladies Who Launch Incubator, and within three months has more than twenty clients for her company, Robin Wilson Home, as well as feature articles on her business in magazines and newspapers across the country. Ultimately, this led to a whole new launch project of giant proportions: Robin was selected by Hearst Magazines to be its spokesperson for its home-oriented publications. This lady can’t be stopped!

• A corporate executive, Carolynn Kutz has a dream of breaking out of her cubicle and getting behind the camera to shoot a movie. With only an inkling of an idea about what, where, and how, she pitches her story to the women in the Ladies Who Launch Incubator, who receive it with wild appreciation and excitement. Amazingly, several others in the group also want to get into the film game. Carolynn is soon on the sidewalks of New York, collaborating with the women in Ladies Who Launch to act, write, and produce the movie for a film competition she courageously dares to enter. Lights, camera, action, she comes in second place!

• Emily Farber is tired of working for a PR agency, uninspired by her daily routine and lethargic lunches over a keyboard. She envisions pitching the press from a grand marble desk in her home, spending time with her new puppy, and continuing her work in communications but on her own time and terms. In a few short months she has her own PR business, Hudson Communications, with a growing client list that appreciates her boutique (independent) agency. They respect and appreciate her at-home work environment and ability to be flexible and execute outside the normal confines of the agency-client contract.

• Jennifer Bessier has a love affair with cooking and decides to grow her culinary hobby into a Web site for the kitchen-challenged. Her Web site, www.chefsline.com, has a mission to empower people in the kitchen. Its flagship offering is a national culinary hotline that offers personalized menu planning, cooking, and wine consultations for busy people seeking to have more fun (and success) in the kitchen and make cooking a more integral part of their lives.

• Ann Greenberg starts her own sweater company, Rouge, in the face of a saturated retail market. Despite warnings from others, she launches with tremendous success, and within a year is selling in Bloomingdale’s By Mail and Neiman Marcus Direct. She has been featured in Women’s Wear Daily and is now free to pursue other press outlets. Indicators said no but the Incubator said yes.

Are any of these dreams like your own? You could easily be one of these stories but not if you let your ideas remain dormant because of an overcommitted schedule, fear of failure, or a world-weary approach to life.

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