Dynamic Business Owner "Dishes" on Her Formula for Success
April 16, 2007 (Des Moines, Iowa) — As a dedicated partner to women business owners, the Principal Financial Group® has enlisted Katrina Markoff, owner and creator of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, as the speaker for the complimentary teleclass, "Good to Great: Secrets of Success from a Savvy Woman Business Owner." The program, to be held April 24, is part of the award-winning educational series that provides tangible advice to entrepreneurs.
"With her savvy, global approach, Katrina shares her remarkable business story of how to take a company from average to excellent," said Michelle Swanda, advertising officer, The Principal®. "Women business owners have a rare opportunity to walk away with practical tricks of the trade told from a woman who built her business from the ground up."
The teleclass series, launched in 2003, features frequent and diverse speakers from bestselling author Suzy Welch, to internationally-renowned organization and time management expert Julie Morgenstern.
According to the Center for Women's Business Research, one in 18 women owns a business, which is why The Principal believes it's essential to partner with speakers that have a respected name in the industry and can provide up-and-coming owners tips for how to get ahead.
Held on "Teleclass Tuesdays," the sessions are exclusively designed to respect the busy schedules of a growing business owner, while allowing the audience unique interaction in a casual format with nationally-recognized business leaders and thinkers, many of whom are women entrepreneurs themselves.
Meet the Speaker
Markoff began her career in the gourmet food industry after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She noticed a lack of creativity in the chocolate market, so she took an idea and turned it into a multi-million dollar success story. She opened her first retail shop in Chicago in 1998 with a loan backed by the Small Business Administration and started selling chocolates at specialty boutiques and Neiman Marcus one year later. Vosges Haut-Chocolat, now with locations in New York City and Las Vegas, specializes in creating a luxury chocolate with influences and ingriedients from all points of the globe. Her inspiration comes from her extensive travels to France, Spain, Italy, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a $4.5 million dollar company, has 30 employees and a booming e-commerce business. The company is certified as a women's business enterprise through the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC.)
Markoff's accomplishments include articles and TV appearances in: Chicago Sun-Times, Good Housekeeping, O Magazine, Time, Vogue, The Food Network's "Iron Chef." She was named one of Inc. magazine's "26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs" and Crain's Chicago Business, "40 under 40," which showcases 40 entrepreneurs under the age 40 making a splash in their industry.
How to Get Involved:
Register for teleclasses, hear audio of past classes, and garner leading resources on a wealth of salient growing business issues from fellow business owners at www.principal.com/women. Classes are held at 12 p.m. Central (1 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Mountain and 10 a.m. Pacific) on the dates scheduled.
About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)1 is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies and national network of financial professionals. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $256.9 billion in assets under management2 and serves some 17.6 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.
1) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered trademarks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
2) As of September 30, 2006.
