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January
5, 2008
MANISTEE
-- The Women’s Economic Resource Center (WERC) will host Yodit
Mesfin at their first luncheon of the new year Thursday January
17th at the Tuscan Grille in Manistee beginning at
11:45.
Yodit
Mesfin is currently the Program Manager for the Michigan
Women’s Marketplace, an initiative of The Center for
Empowerment and Economic Development, a non-profit organization
based in Ann Arbor. She is also founder of “All for You”; a
company dedicated to the empowerment of women through
professional image consulting.
Yodit
was educated at Eastern Michigan University where she studied
Marketing and Public Relations. Her career began with Honeywell,
Inc. where she was promoted to many positions including Customer
Service Manager for Michigan and northern Ohio. Her
responsibilities included measuring service performance and
identifying customer retention strategies. While managing
Operations of the local service center, she acted as a one of
three satellite managers for the Honeywell’s national Customer
Monitoring Center in Minneapolis, MN. While in this capacity she
played a fundamental role in the implementation of a multi
million dollar national software conversion.
In
2000, she accepted the position of Closing Department Manager
for Edward Surovell Realtors. Responsibilities included managing
Real Estate Closing services for 10 offices and over 300 agents.
Her duties included serving as a liaison for services to the
agents, balancing a multi-million dollar escrow fund and
management of the Closing department and its staff.
An
entrepreneurial spirit at heart, Yodit has been the visionary
for several start up businesses. In 2003, Yodit founded All For
You an Image Consulting firm.
The company’s mission is to empower women who have
struggled with personal branding in the chaos of their
professional success, absence from the work force, or lack of
employment in general. In many cases, their personal image had
been put aside and replaced by their professional pursuits. This
resonated with Yodit. Slowly she has built a business based on
trust and honesty. She is not afraid to tell her clients the
truth about their images, and the messages those images send.
By
2004 she had decided to pursue this endeavor full time. While in
that pursuit, she learned about CEED and its service to women
and minorities in Michigan. It was a natural fit. An alumni of
CEED’s business class, she began volunteering at CEED. In
2004, CEED utilized Yodit’s event planning background and
hired her as a consultant for the 4th Annual Michigan Women’s
Business Conference and Expo. In early 2005, she was offered the
position of Program Manager for the Michigan Women’s
Marketplace (www.miwomen.com).
The Marketplace is a statewide online women’s business
community. In addition to the speaking about the Marketplace and
women’s issues, Yodit works with other non-profit
organizations to support and advocate for
their mutual customer; the woman business owner.
Yodit
is a drum major for women business owners and a dedicated
entrepreneur with a vast skill set and a dynamic personality.
The luncheon is open to anyone interested in learning more about
tools available to women in business.
To
register for the WERC Thursday, January 17, 2008 luncheon, see
the WERC web site at www.manisteewerc.org
or send an RSVP to manisteewomen@yahoo.com.
The cost for the luncheon is $10 payable at the door.
Doors open at 11:30.
WERC
is organized to support the professional development and
leadership of women and girls in Manistee County and the
surrounding areas. Luncheons are held the third Thursday of each
month. See web site for details.
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