SHEConnect to host networking event ‘SheInfluence’ Oct. 19 in San Juan
Puerto Rican businesswomen and entrepreneurs come together to achieve their professional goals.
SHEConnect, a support and advisory network for Puerto Rican women in the development of their professional careers and businesses, will host a networking event called “SheInfluence” as a prelude to its first anniversary, organizers said.
The event will take place on Oct. 19 at 11 a.m. at Saffra CoWork in San Juan, and will feature an “Empowertalk” by entrepreneurs Lizbeth Palacios, Vanessa Soto and Desireé Charieli.
It will also include four conferences: “Rebuilding from Failure,” “The Power of Alliances Among Businesswomen,” “Legal Dose, Dose of Faith,” and “From Inspiration to Influence,” led by entrepreneur Jovany Marrero, known as “El Profe.”
What began spontaneously as mutual support among friends during casual encounters has now evolved into a network that supports hundreds of Puerto Rican women in developing their careers and businesses.
Nearly a year after expanding its meetings and support network, SHEConnect has connected around 250 entrepreneurs and businesswomen, fostering mutually beneficial relationships and project development through collaboration, according to Gretchen Rodríguez, president of SHEConnect, who co-founded the organization with four friends.
“There are many women in Puerto Rico who have great business ideas and who have the skills to develop them, but sometimes their ideas remain just that due to a lack of knowledge on how to establish a business, a lack of advice or simply a lack of support,” said Rodríguez.
“We come to fill that void, to offer women the support and coaching they need to transform their ideas into reality,” she said.
Since its founding in November 2023, SHEConnect has held six events “that have impacted the lives of women who, for the most part, are businesswomen and entrepreneurs between 35 and 54 years old,” she noted.
“We want women to know that they’re not alone, that we have the power to support each other to grow, to undertake, to lead and to gain access to resources that would be difficult to find if we were alone,” Rodríguez said, adding that the organization is already planning future events to expand its impact.
SHEConnect’s events have covered topics such as networking, self-love, entrepreneurship, accounting, legal aspects, strategic alliances, permitting, and business promotion among participants.
The group has also collaborated with businesswomen across sectors such as leadership, business development, sales, marketing, public relations, law, accounting, coaching and education.
