Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs: How Eleven Women Escaped Poverty and Became Their Own Bosses: Martha Shirk, Anna S. Wadia, John Kerry
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs: How Eleven Women Escaped Poverty and Became Their Own Bosses, journalist Martha Shirk and Ms. Foundation program director Anna S. Wadia celebrate women who went from low-income employees to small business owners. Their stories are inspiring: America Ducasse immigrated from the Dominican Republic and eventually launched a home-based day-care business in Massachusetts, while Lucille Barnett Washington started working as a clerk at an auto parts store in Detroit in 1961 and today runs an auto parts and repair business. Each of the women received assistance from nonprofit organizations supported by the Ms. Foundation for Women. Photos.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In the United States, the number of women-owned companies is growing at twice the rate of all firms and will reach six million this year. This trend is exemplified by the 11 entrepreneurial or micro-enterprise case studies covered here. These female entrepreneurs worked their way out of poverty, often balancing the obligations of single parenthood and work and taking risks to achieve the dream of success for themselves. Their enterprises encompass many different industries, including retail, restaurant, and small manufacturing, and are located throughout the United States. These women were assisted by various nonprofit organizations, like the Ms. Foundation for Women, that support economic development through micro-enterprises. Documentary black-and-white photographs capture the hard work and spirit of the women and their families, and two appendixes provide additional data on micro-enterprise research and resources available to help new businesses. These studies by journalist Shirk and Wadia, a program director at the Ms. Foundation, should be included in business and women’s studies collections in academic and public libraries.
Susan C. Awe, Univ. of New Mexico Lib., Albuquerque
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.