Description

Please join ICAD + the Business Partnership and the University of Iowa's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) for a great opportunity to network with other women entrepreneurs in the area and make lasting business connections. Let's empower each other and define what it means to be a woman doing business in Iowa City. This event is free, and lunch will be served. PLEASE REGISTER.

This quarter's Women's Entrepreneurship Lunch is extra special, as we're hosting the event as a part of Welcome IC Area's 2023 Welcoming Week celebrations. Welcoming Week is an annual campaign that celebrates the work in communities to become welcoming places for all, including immigrants. Launched in 2012 by Welcoming America and its members, Welcoming Week provides individuals and organizations the opportunity to showcase their values through events and initiatives that foster connections and collaboration between immigrants and non-immigrants, as well as belonging for all.

In honor of this special week, we have curated a panel including female immigrant entrepreneurs who will share their unique entrepreneurial journeys. Panelists include:

• Ying Sa, Founder + CEO, Community CPA
• Shrravonii Paul, Founder + CEO, Neuworldz.com
• Marcela Hurtado and Deb Dunkhase, Open Heartland
• Teepeu, Owner of Tee's Liberian Dish Restaurant
• More panelists being announced soon!

We look forward to seeing you there! PLEASE REGISTER BY 9/6/23 by 8pm in order to receive a lunch.

Meet our panelists:

Ying Sa

Ying Sa is the CEO & Managing Partner of Community CPA. Born in Beijing, China, she immigrated to Canada before relocating to the United States. Ying started Community CPA in 1998, providing tax, audit, accounting, business consultations and IT solutions to businesses and individuals. The firm has received many awards for excellence. Ying is a published author of Appointment with Ying at 8am on starting a business, and is releasing her newest book, Appointment with Ying at 10am, on growing a business.

Shrravonii Paul

Shrravonni Paul is a qualified Organizational Development Specialist with an advanced post graduate Masters Degree in Organizational Industrial Psychology and soft skills , specialising in Organizational Effectiveness and Change Management for people, process and platform. Shrravonii is also certified coach-speaker -trainer and member of world renowned and prestigious Maxwell Leadership Certified Team

Deb Dunkase
For over thirty years, Deb Dunkhase dedicated herself to education in the state of Iowa. Her work has involved direct teaching with elementary level students and leadership roles working closely with parent and teacher groups to bridge the gap between formal and informal education. In 2019, Deb retired from 21 years serving as the Executive Director for The Iowa Children’s Museum, a successful nonprofit organization in Coralville that served over 180,000 children and adults annually inspiring every child to imagine, create, discover, and explore through the power of play. Dunkhase is a strong advocate for the transformative power of play and it’s link to creativity and lifelong learning. In March 2019, Deb co-founded a new nonprofit called Open Heartland serving over 400 Central American and Mexican immigrant families in Johnson County as they navigate through poverty, lack of food, housing insecurity, and the daily threat of deportation and separation from their children. Dunkhase also leads the annual Rotary District 6000 Iowa MOST (Miles of Smiles) cleft palate and cataract medical mission to serve the indigenous people of Guatemala and serves on the Board of Directors of Casa Colibri, a medical clinic in the remote Western Highlands of Guatemala. Deb strongly believes in Service Above Self and changing the world one small act of kindness at a time.

Marcela Hurtado