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Maplewood, NJ February 2010-On Tuesday February 9, 2010 Ms. Boss Academy whichis a collaboration between Ms. Boss International and My SistahzKeeper held a small ceremony for Zoey Wiggins who was the first personto graduate from the pilot entrepreneurship program. Zoey attends MySistahz Keeper in Jersey
City, New Jersey through the AWEP/CWEP program for women who are onpublic assistance. There were 13other women who also attended the program and who were enrolled in Ms.Boss Academy, but only Zoeycompleted the 8 week business start-up program. Thewomen who are also on public assistance dropped out of theentrepreneurship program for a variety of reasons. The program walkedZoey through the basics of starting a business right up to creating apresence on the Internet bysetting up a website.

By some standards some may view the entrepreneurship program as a failure because only oneperson graduated,but to Audrey Bell-Kearney who is the CEO of Ms. Boss International andthe creator of the Ms. Boss Academy program she views that one graduateas a success. She states that you have to understand the population thatyou are working with. The goal here is tohelp these women learn how to become self-sufficient so that publicassistance is no longer needed. By helping one person learn how to startand run their own business successfully, this will open updoors of employment for others. Small businesses fuel the economy andright not that economy needs some fuel with thenational unemployment rate around 10%. Kiwan Fitch who is the ExecutiveDirector of My Sistahz Keeper has gone a step further by turning one ofthe office spaces inside the My SistahzKeepers headquarters into a small business incubator for the graduatesof Ms.Boss Academy. Kiwan who is one of the co-founders of My Sistahz Keeper anon-profit organization understandsthat small businesses need to be nurtured so that they can grow. This iswhyshe has opened up another door for these women offering them the spaceso that they can stay connectedto positive people who have goals and dreams that they want to see cometrue. To keep the graduates connected there will be ongoing mentoringfrom Audrey and also from Stephanie Wilson who is theProgram Director at My Sistahz Keeper. Zoey who has only been anentrepreneur for about two months already understandfrom going through the Ms. Boss Academy program how important mentorsare that is why she has stepped up to be amentor with GEN (Gurls Empowerment Network) another program offered byMySistazh Keeper for teenage girls.

The next Ms. Boss Academy is scheduled to start on March 2, 2010. Audrey who created thecurriculum andfacilitates the program hopes that more women take advantage of theprogram this time, but if they don’t as long as we can graduate at leastone the program is still a success.