Success Secrets of Women
Entrepreneurs

Founder Lois Carter Fay is passionate about helping women entrepreneurs improve their businesses and has been doing this since she started her own marketing and PR company in 1990. Lois was instrumental in establishing the Milwaukee Chapter of Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs (now part of NAWBO-Wisconsin), serving as its first president. She later served as the state president for Wisconsin Entrepreneurs, and she was one of the primary forces in helping WWE become part of NAWBO.

After moving to Virginia, she served two terms as president of NAWBO-Southeastern Virginia Chapter from 1998 to 2000, helping to grow its membership from about 20 members to over 80. Now that she lives in Massanutten, where there is no NAWBO chapter nearby, Lois continues as a member-at-large and is contemplating starting a chapter in Harrisonburg.

Lois holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has studied accounting and business management, and is an accredited public relations professional (APR). In 2001, she also graduated from the CIVIC Leadership Institute in Hampton Roads, Va. She is currently studying everything she can about Internet marketing to improve her ability to help her clients create and implement effective, integrated online and offline marketing plans.

Lois is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Public Relations Council, the Shenandoah Valley Technology Council, and the Working Women's Forum.

She is the author or co-author of five ebooks:

• 52 Ready-to-Go Sales Meetings: 52 Ways to Help Your Salespeople and Yourself Win at the Game of Sales;
• Sales Success! Strategies for Women;
• Marketing Plan Essentials: Online & Off; and
• Business Success Tactics: Hardworking Tactics & Resources.
• Public Relations 101 for Service Professionals, Solopreneurs, Coaches and Speakers: Down-to-Earth Ideas to Help You and Your Company Get Famous and Attract More Business

Lois is a full-service public relations and marketing communications specialist with nearly 30 years of experience. Prior to jumping into the world of self-employment, she worked for advertising/PR agencies in Milwaukee, Wis. and Chicago, Ill.

Her public relations efforts have resulted in the placement of numerous features and news briefs with local, regional, and national media, including the cover of Inc. magazine and a feature story in Southern Living magazine. Lois is also a newsletter editor, designer and writer; brochure and direct-mail writer; magazine columnist; and the author of business-related features that have appeared in such publications as the (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspapers, Virginia Business magazine, Technology Virginia, Inside Business, and The Small Business Times, as well as many Internet publications and websites.

During 1995, Lois served as a delegate to the national White House Conference on Small Business, as well as the Wisconsin Delegation PR Co-Chair. She has won many awards over the years, including the SBA's Women in Business Advocate of the Year for Virginia in 2001, and a similar award from the Virginia Penninsula Chamber of Commerce in 1999. During 1995 and 2001, she was chosen to receive the President's Award from her NAWBO chapter, too.

Lois lives in Massanutten, Va. with her husband, Don Crawford, and two of their four children (if she makes it through the teenage years!), Roni and Nessa. She is a member of the Valley Friends (Quakers) Meeting (which is why she continues to be non-violent despite the teenage situation). Her household also includes Abelgirk the cat, Lulu the dog, and Bunny (obviously, the bunny).

Daughter Erin graduated in May 2003 from Marquette University Law School and is now a full-fledged attorney. Abbi, the oldest, is an elementary school teacher. In 2003, she and her husband Brian blessed Lois and Don with a beautiful grandbaby, Madeline Rose.

Our chief financial officer and business manager is Donald S. Crawford. Don has over 30 years selling and sales management experience in a wide variety of industries. Don has sold large, complex engineered systems as well as commodity products. He has successfully guided sales teams to achieve their individual and company goals and has managed both direct employees and manufacturers' representatives. Don is currently employed full-time as the Sales & Marketing Manager at Shickel Corp., a metal fabricating company in Bridgewater, Va.

Don holds an MBA from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and he obtained his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Military Institute. He is also a professional engineer and an adjunct marketing professor at James Madison University.