As a special addition to our member promotion services, the Chamber is now offering a free Featured Member Profile, which will be printed in the Chamber View and posted on the website for a month, then moved into a prominently-placed online archive for the remainder of the year.  To win this free publicity, just drop your business card into the Featured Member Fishbowl at each monthly Networking Mixer and be present for the drawing.  For more information, call the Chamber, 410-719-9609.

Featured Member

Transforming Visions into Businesses:
Patsy Anderson Focuses on the Possible - November 2008

Her personal history is studded with accomplishments and awards, but today Patsy Anderson’s eyes are firmly focused on the next adventure.

Catching up with the founder of the eight-year-old Women’s Expo Forum for a quick interview – one of many meetings packed into her day – the award-winning event designer/ promoter was overflowing with news about her newest partnership with the formidable Captain DEE-Fense and their plans for a children’s foundation.

Only hours earlier, the Children’s Home had granted the Captain DEE Foundation permission to use the Catonsville nonprofit facility as its headquarters. With the high-powered Ravens fan as its founder, face, and voice, the foundation will offer a day-long “Boot Camp for Life" teaching essential skills for mental and physical health to at-risk youth.

There’s a magical tinge to the story as Ms. Anderson tells it. For the past year she had witnessed her son’s service as housefather to nine boys at The Children’s Home. During that same period, she was approached by Captain DEE-Fense, a retired Navy Seal with a passion for helping children and a vision for developing a nonprofit foundation.

“I couldn’t have gotten his message if I had not had that experience with my son,” Ms. Anderson says, “I needed to be part of this program for the children, so I became a co-founder. It was the same work I’ve done for years now – helping a talented person with a big heart and a big vision.”

That, in fact, was how her entrepreneurial career had started with the Carpenter’s Daughter Craft Show, precursor to the Women’s Expo. “I was seeing these women who were extremely talented in their crafts, but just didn’t know how to be in business,” she says.

“So I imagined taking the energy of the craft show, and putting the women’s businesses on exhibit.” With that vision in mind, Ms. Anderson closed the craft show and began to plan her next career.

When CCBC called her shortly afterward to set up a fundraiser for the American Association of Community Colleges, she says, “I realized that this was my window. I went to them and told them what I had in mind…detail by detail, the vision was crystal clear as I described it.”

CCBC accepted her proposal – and the Women’s Expo was launched. Since then, the Expo has evolved from being an annual two-day event to incorporate “Well Connected Networking,” an ongoing online network providing resources and valuable business connections. Since then, Ms. Anderson has added the annual Teen Expo Maryland, and Arena Expos to the network.

As a result of her dedication, the American Association of Women in Community Colleges honored her in 2006 with their Award of Excellence. On Purpose Networking followed suit in 2007, naming her the recipient of their Woman of Purpose Award. Most recently, Soroptimist International of Arbutus honored her as their 2008 Woman Helping Women.

Today, while the Women’s Expo and network remain very much a part of Ms. Anderson’s life, her focus is moving now to new concerns. Her eyes mist over as she talks of her son’s year as a housefather and mentor at the Children’s Home, and the caring and commitment she saw in his farewell to the boys there.

These are the children who will benefit first from the “Get Ready – Get Set – Go” program of the Captain DEE-Fense “Bootcamp for Life,” which incorporates physical fitness through basic-training calisthenics, a motivational/inspirational talk from Captain DEE, and training in strategic thinking through competitive chess-playing.

An important piece of the Foundation is its fundraising arm, a tug-of-war program called Pull for a Cause, based on the principle that it takes teamwork to build a life, a career, or a community, or to achieve a higher goal. Participants pay to register, with each team selecting a cause to benefit, and part of the proceeds benefiting the Captain DEE Foundation.

“I wanted to show that we’re compassionate to all the different causes that can touch families. Captain DEE cares about all of these, so we’re not limiting ourselves with this type of fundraiser,” Ms Anderson says. She suggests that organizations interested in using the Pull for a Cause program contact Foundation co-founder and agent Vickie Richards at 443-851-3658.

 Past Featured Members