Syracuse Entrepreneur is Giving Back to Rising Businesswomen Syracuse Entrepreneur is Giving Back to Rising Businesswomen

Joanne Lenweaver has forty years of experience in business. This includes work as an advertising firm in Syracuse for 19 years and serving as a beta tester for Apple. However, she has always been an entrepreneur at heart.

“When you think about entrepreneurship, you think about someone who basically can’t do it any other way,” Lenweaver said. “They feel like they have to do it their way.”

Through her work, Lenweaver has started several startups, with her most recent work being salad dressing and honey (she even has a bee farm on her home property). Her drive to grow as an entrepreneur has led her to try and help other women trying to start their careers as entrepreneurs. Through her work at the WISE (Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) Women’s Business Center in Syracuse, Lenweaver has helped many female entrepreneurs in Central New York start their careers.

The Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management launched WISE in 2003 with hopes of supporting female entrepreneurs in Central New York. This expanded to launching the WISE Women’s Business Center in 2006. The center has served 145,415 clients since opening, with 17,435 new businesses formed. Recently, the organization moved to the AXA Towers lobby on 100 Madison Street in Syracuse.

Lenweaver has served as the Director of the Center since 2009. Currently, she lets two seminars a month, entitled The Building Blocks for Starting a Business, to introduce women to the center. Her seminars serve as a way for women to start making connections.

“Entrepreneurship is something that even if you’re just going to be on your own, it’s just a consultancy it’s just you, you need a lawyer, you need an accountant, maybe a banker,” Lenweaver said, “You’re going to need a team.”

Lenweaver knows the benefits of partnerships, mainly due to the work she has done with her husband, Dave Lenweaver. The pair started Lenweaver Advertising and Design in 1982 and worked together on the project for 19 years. They recently started selling blended balsamic vinegars and honey (taken from a bee farm on their own property). Lenweaver feels as though she has gained from working with her husband.

This experience working with her husband allows her  to relate better to the young women just starting their journey. Through the WISE Center, Lenweaver has been able to work on a wider variety of startups. One firm helped by WISE is Kin Architecture Studio, formed by an Architect from Ecuador who had to learn English and act as a single mom while earning her degree. Another is Mindful Equestrian, started by a woman who wanted to people to be more positive and mindful of their actions while riding horses. A hypnotist who worked at a center used her talents to form a business to help people quit smoking, lose weight, and improve sleep to name a few. A chef born without hands not only started her own catering company, she also became a national sensation through her “Chef’s Challenge,” in which chefs have to try and cook with their fingers duck taped together.

All in all, Lenweaver is happy to support rising female entrepreneurs in Central New York and start building connections.

“It’s only to get you a foundation, to get you excited about entrepreneurship, but also really to say you know what, don’t jump into the cold water without a few skills,” Lenweaver said. “And don’t do it alone.”