Make Mine a Million $ Business Program(TM) Returns to Atlanta and Awards Eight Women with Tools to Help Fulfill Million-Dollar Potential

The Make Mine a Million $ Business program returned to Atlanta to select eight high-potential women entrepreneurs to receive money, marketing, mentoring and technology resources in order to realize their million-dollar dreams. The eight Atlanta awardees join a class of 87 women in the program and are standard-bearers for the more than 19,000 entrepreneurs who are striving to grow a million-dollar enterprise. The Make Mine a Million $ Business program is inspiring one million women to declare their intent to build million-dollar businesses. By recognizing the unmet needs of post-start-up, women-owned businesses for mentoring, the support of a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and tangible resources focused directly on driving revenue growth, the Make Mine a Million $ Business program is helping women from across the country build and sustain successful companies and create jobs in their communities. Women entrepreneurs at all stages of development are encouraged to join the community at www.makemineamillion.org. "Right now, there are only 243,000 women who have a million-dollar business in the entire United States,” said Nell Merlino, founder and president, Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence. "If you have a little business, you don't even know someone who has made it to $1 million. We're making it so you're going to know someone, so you can follow someone.” "The Make Mine a Million $ Business program celebrates the most promising women entrepreneurs in America and equips them with proven resources including mentoring and growth capital to bring their businesses to the next level of performance,” said Michelle Thompson-Dolberry, director, advocacy marketing at OPEN from American Express. "As the program attracts the most talented entrepreneurs from every corner of the country, we are pleased to showcase their successes in order to inspire one million women to join the movement.” More than 200 women applied to compete in Atlanta and 15 finalists were chosen to vie for the eight awards packages. A panel of judges, women entrepreneurs and an audience at the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Annual Conference selected the awardees based on elevator pitches explaining why their business plans had million-dollar potential. Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence and founding partner OPEN from American Express® launched Make Mine a Million $ Business as the only program of its kind dedicated to helping women-owned businesses reach the million-dollar mark. Their visionary leadership has broadened the movement and brought in blue chip sponsors including AIG, Cisco Systems, FedEx, and Intuit. These sponsors believe in the power of women’s entrepreneurship and provide services and products to help businesses succeed. Currently, 3% of the 10.4 million women-owned businesses in the US generate $1 million in revenues annually. In Georgia alone, there are 260,865 women-owned firms with 6,883 operating over one million dollars in annual revenues.* Count Me In and OPEN from American Express see this as an enormous opportunity for the state and the nation. The new class of eight women business owners are now a part of a network of 87 Make Mine a Million $ Business awardees from across the country, including two Georgia-based winners selected in 2005: Adrienne Simpson, founder of Smooth Mooove Senior Relocation Services, Inc., and Janice Cairns, founder of Breeze Home Fashions. Ten Make Mine a Million $ Business awardees have already crossed the million Dollar threshold. Atlanta Awardees The following eight women were Atlanta awardees: Charisa Antigua is CEO of Chicago, IL-based Oscar Newman, LLC, a luxury pet couture company that creates pet apparel and accessories; Carmina O’Connor, partner. Kathryn Arbour is co-president of Westminster, CO-based Capabilities, a retail store specializing in senior lifestyle products for health, comfort and independence.; Pam Pressel, partner. Karen Bevels is owner of Hayward, CA-based Karen Bevels Custom Catering and Events, a full-service catering company offering food, event coordinating, and staff resources for catered events. Sharon Brown is CEO of Pleasantville, NY-based Selona, manufacturer of luxury bath and body products. Lynn Do is president of Atlanta, GA-based RenovoData, Inc., a provider of online backup and disaster recovery solutions. Ashleigh Hansberger is a principal of Myrtle Beach, SC-based Motto Agency, Inc., a full-service design and brand development firm; Sunny Bonnell, partner. Shaparak Kamarei, M.D., is co-founder of Orange County, CA- based Solaris Laser Institute which specializes exclusively in laser hair removal; Marjaneh Hedayat, M.D., partner. Jen Lyles is co-founder of Smyrna, GA-based FireSign, Inc., a full service promotional product & consulting firm. About Count Me In Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence is the leading national not-for-profit provider of on-line business loans and resources for women to grow their micro businesses into $million enterprises. Find us at www.countmein.org or call 212-245-1245. About OPEN from American Express® OPEN from American Express is the team dedicated exclusively to the success of small business owners and their companies. The OPEN team supports business owners with unparalleled service. With tailored products and services, the team delivers purchasing power, flexibility, control and rewards to help customers run their business. Specifically, business owner customers can leverage an enhanced set of products, tools, services and savings, including charge and credit cards, convenient access to working capital, robust online account management capabilities and savings on business services from an expanded lineup of partners. To obtain more information about OPEN, visit OPEN.com, or call 1-800-NOW-OPEN to apply for a card or loan. Terms and conditions apply. American Express Company (www.americanexpress.com) is a leading global payments, network and travel company founded in 1850. * Data source: US Census Bureau. Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners: Women-Owned Firms, 2002. Published January 2006. (SB02-00CS-WMN). Prepared by Julie Weeks, President and CEO of Womenable, www.womenable.com.