another woman entrepreneur
I had coffee with Stephanie Webster this week who is the entrepreneur behind CTBites. I loved meeting with Stephanie and our conversation about world food domination in Connecticut. But at the end of the day what I really loved is her story.
Stephanie moved back to Connecticut with her husband and three kids from Seattle a few years back. She had worked in the tech industry. I believe she worked at Microsoft if my memory is still in tact from last week. Stephanie grew up in NYC. She found herself with three kids under the age of 10 years old living in Westport, CT thinking to herself that she needed something to keep her mind occupied particularly between the hours of 10 and 3. That would be the hours the kids are in school and perhaps after an hour of exercise and the morning errands. I so know that story. So she began CTBites.
She began writing reviews of restaurants in the Fairfield country area. Soon people found her site and women contacted her to see if she wanted them to send their reviews in to her too. Before she knew it she had created a community and grew the site into eating in, eating out, kids bites, ingredients, gadgets and food talks. Not only that, she has 55,000 uniques a month and is growing. Wow!
Stephanie came to talk to me about how she should grow the business. It was a fruitful conversation, no pun intended. For all the people in Connecticut you will soon see other CT counties grow on the site, more crowd sourcing from her community including weekend events and possibly information on Inns for those coming to CT for a relaxing weekend.
Before Stephanie knows it, she will have a revenue steam and more viewers than she ever dreamed of. Maybe a life style business or maybe a business that large media companies might be interested in purchasing. Regardless, like Jill, we won't be seeing Stephanie at tech networking events because she has 3 kids under 10 and lives in Westport, CT. Her evenings probably consist of homework, feeding the family and managing everything else for the family that needs to happen. What is impressive is that during the hours of 10-3 she has created a platform for the Fairfield county community.
Another women entrepreneur success story….
Comments (Archived):
Joanne,Artists, like me, are another kind of non-tech entrepreneur. Here I am, writing to you on the computer before I go to work in my studio doing, decidedly, low-tech work (i.e. hand worked etching press, paint, paper, etc.). Finding new ways (as you mentioned) to get the work out there is challenging and certainly involves tech related doings. On-line galleries, blogs, websites, etc. And if you don’t blog or tweet, don’t give up, get other people to shout out for you. Living in a very high tech family (Brad Feld, Dan Feld, Stan Feld) makes me love going to work everyday without being plugged in all the time. You’ll get a kick out of Brad’s post about me on brad.feld.comBest to you always,Cecelia Feld http://www.studio7310.com
Congratulations Stephanie, work/family/self balance is not an easy task. I love reading about how other moms are making their dreams flow. Perfect read to start the week!
Congratulations on a great story and example of work-mom-self balance. Thank you!
thanks Julie…I love all these women. The balance thing is one of the mostdifficult things in the world.
Joanne, Stephanie, I am a mother of 2 kids under 6 and having the same envy of re-creating myself and using my skills as successfully and creatively as you did. Your example is so inspiring. Now let’s hope I can make it happen with as much entertainment as Stephanie. Writing restaurant review is such fun ! 🙂
We have to have role models and mentors for all the women doing the mostimportant work….raising the next generation for when you are ready to geton the ramp [email protected]@thegothamgalgothamgal.comgothamgalry.com
Joanne – I just found you through a client of mine, Rooibee Red Tea. The CTeaO of that company and I work together, and through work have become friends. Great friends, I might add – but keeping the phone calls to either work or fun… we try to keep it separate. We constantly discuss the challenge of work/life balance – the fun of it all. We are both women with husbands who work crazy hours, children who are 4 and 6 and we are constantly each going a million miles an hour. There’s just no time to slow down. And we love it. Thanks for this great post. I look forward to continue reading your blog.
thanks. i know exactly what you are talking about. the insanity of it allis exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.
The issue of location compounds that of life/work balance. When it goes to women, industry recognition tends to focus on hot areas like Silicon Valley, or New York, in addition to some of the more visible and networked types. Great entrepreneurs and women who have advanced industry thinking come from all over and live all over the place.
Well [email protected]@thegothamgalgothamgal.comgothamgalry.com
here it is. great mention but GG can’t begin to describe Stephanie’s energy and intuitive briliance! go to http://www.ctbites.com to see what it is all about.
check out this great mention of Steph and go to http://www.ctbites.com to see what it is all about!