San Diego, CA, August 14, 2019 – Female-focused coworking space and business accelerator Hera Hub hosted a 48-Hour Business Launch Bootcamp, led by Felena Hanson, founder of Hera Hub. Laurie Itkin, “The Options Lady,” generously provided scholarships to support two new business launches through the boot camp. Laurie Itkin is a financial advisor, certified divorce financial analyst (CDFA), and author of the Amazon best seller, Every Woman Should Know Her Options.
“After launching The Options Lady seven years ago, I learned how to successfully grow my business through my involvement with the Hera Hub community. As a way to show my appreciation, this year I funded scholarships to the Hera Hub 48-Hour Business Launch Boot Camp for two new female-owned businesses,” said Laurie. “I look forward to seeing the founders also support the entrepreneurial community as their businesses grow.”
The boot camp was a full weekend of hashing out every component of starting a dream business. The weekend provided the space, templates, and a safe/supportive community for attendees to get their ideas in motion. From the scholarships that Laurie provided, the two companies that were launched were Cha’an Event Planning, founded by recipient Carmen Valdez, and Growing Forth Divorce Ceremonies, founded by recipient Phoenix Coverley.
Cha’an Event Planning specializes in creating, designing, and executing corporate and office events. As office catering experts, Cha’an Event Planning is used to bring people together over delicious experiences every day – but they’ve also got a knack for planning a great party, at any size or budget.
Growing Forth Divorce Ceremonies offer couples a chance to rewrite the script on divorce, stepping away from shame and anger, toward healing and positive growth for their family and community. This allows parting couples to create a strong foundation going forward.
Felena Hanson, Hera Hub’s founder, shares,
“This sense of community that was created in the 48-hour workshop is exactly why I started Hera Hub. Thanks to the generosity of Laurie, we were able to have two additional women start businesses. Her dedication to using her success to empower other women is a testament to what mentorship and collaboration can do to build a community.”
Hear what participants of this year’s 48-Hour Business Launch had to say.
Bootcamp Success Story
Throughout the weekend we welcomed several guest speakers, to come mentor and share their entrepreneurial journey with our cohort. Debbie Chen, PhD founded her business at the 48-hour Business Launch Bootcamp in 2017. Shortly after, she left her career in science to launch www.hydrostasis.com – a personalized hydration monitoring system that provides athletes the freedom to sustain and evolve their bodies and minds.
About the Options Lady
Laurie Itkin is a financial advisor, wealth manager, and certified divorce financial analyst (CDFA). She is also the author of the Amazon best-seller, Every Woman Should Know Her Options: Invest Your Way to Financial Empowerment. Investopedia named Ms. Itkin one of the top 100 most influential financial advisors in the country. As a wealth manager at Coastwise Capital Group, which has received the annual Five Star award for “Best in Client Satisfaction” for the past seven years, Ms. Itkin manages the investments of clients’ brokerage, trust and retirement accounts. Through her financial consulting company, The Options Lady, she provides divorce-related financial planning and analysis to individuals and couples throughout all stages of the divorce process.
Ms. Itkin frequently appears as a guest expert on investing and personal finance on television, radio and podcasts. She has been quoted in numerous publications including the San Diego Union Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News and World Reports, Redbook, and Forbes. She was a contributing writer for AOL’s Daily Finance and currently writes for Worthy.
Ms. Itkin is a national expert on women and investing and speaks at conferences and seminars throughout the country. She has a talent for communicating arcane economic and investing subjects in language that everyone can understand. She volunteers as a pro-bono financial planner for the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, as a speaker for the Second Saturday and Divorce 101 workshops, and as a mentor to women launching new businesses in her capacity as a board member for Hera Labs’ Business Accelerator. She earned her B.S. in economics with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
