Enterprising Women Names Tressa Smallwood, Dr. Sandi Webster and Dr. Lynn Yanyo to its Advisory Board

RALEIGH, N.C., April 26 – Monica Smiley, CEO and publisher of Enterprising Women magazine, has appointed Tressa “Azarel" Smallwood, Dr. Sandi Webster and Dr. Lynn Yanyo to the Enterprising Women Advisory Board.

“Tressa, Sandi and Lynn are each dynamic entrepreneurial powerhouses who have built multiple businesses and revenue streams while propelling other women leaders to prominence and success. They exemplify the generosity of women entrepreneurs who live their principles by sharing their expertise, insights and vast professional experience with other women. As such they exemplify the core values of our organization and Enterprising Women is proud to welcome them as members of our Advisory Board,” said Smiley.

Enterprising Women, the nation’s only women-owned magazine published exclusively for women business owners, chronicles the growing political, economic, and social influence and power of entrepreneurial women in 185 countries.

Tressa "Azarel" Smallwood is an award-winning producer and Founder of MegaMind Media, a production company specializing in creating compelling original content for female audiences. She resigned from teaching tenure to fulfill her writing dreams in 2003. A true trailblazer, she turned her debut bestseller into a multi-million-dollar publishing company with more than 162 titles that have amassed thousands of fans worldwide. Known for her razor-sharp business acumen and as a businesswoman who practices the hustle she preaches, she deeply understands what it takes to create success from scraps, and how to build highly profitable ventures from the ground up.

A female filmmaker making strategic moves in the film and TV industry, Smallwood’s self-funded movie projects can be seen on major networks such BET, Hulu, AMC Networks, BET Plus, Fox’s Tubi TV streaming platform and more. Striking a production deal with BET Networks, she has produced over 11 films including Secrets, Holiday Heartbreak, All In, Dear Best Friend, and The Available Wife. An advocate for mental health, her latest projects, The Waiting Room and The Couch series, address these issues. While bringing beloved actors such as Lamman Rucker, LisaRaye McCoy, Sheryl Lee Ralph, KJ Smith, Clifton Powell and more to the big screen, she is contributing to the creative economy by employing hundreds of independent artists, creatives and entrepreneurs. Her films have also given unprecedented opportunities for noteworthy actors such as Vivica Fox, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Victoria Rowell, Meagan Good and Kim Fields to step behind the camera as directors, paving a path for the diversity that the world deserves.

In 2019, Smallwood’s films received awards from the American Black Film Festival and BET Networks.
Smallwood spends her time juggling motherhood, marriage, and business. She is currently developing Greenwood Avenue, Executive Produced by Morris Chesnut and four of her scripted TV series, Caught Up, Positions, Cole Records, and Dirty (based on the best-selling book series, The Dirty Divorce). https://www.tressaazarel.com/

Dr. Sandi Webster is Founder and CEO of Sandi Webster LLC. After successfully creating, scaling and selling her 150-employee marketing and analytics consulting company to a private equity firm, she fulfills her passion of ensuring that women are fully prepared for business through her online education and advisory services company.
As Chief Learning Officer of her brand, Sandi Webster Coachsulting, she develops and delivers curriculum for workshops and retreats, and creates customized advisory experiences for her coaching clients. Her new online business course, “How To Form An Advisory Board,” targets entrepreneurs who need external help and advice via a course plus online Live Sessions.

Dr. Webster, a serial entrepreneur, with a Family Office that includes a partnership in Pandi-App LLC that invests in small businesses and Pre-IPO stocks, sits on boards, builds marketing apps, and hosts her publishing company.
She’s an author of Black and White Strike Gold: Practical Nuggets to Grow Your Business from the Women Who Launched Consultants 2 Go, a Multi- Million Dollar Company.

She authored a chapter in the recently-published book, Immigrant Hustle: How 50 Entrepreneurs Came to America and Built Something Out of Nothing.

Dr. Webster holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Temple University's Fox School of Business, researching technology’s impact on flexible work arrangements for millennials and baby boomers. She coaches women business owners to understand further how to work from home while scaling their businesses. She also has an MBA from Dowling College in General Management (International) and a BS degree in Marketing from Marymount College at Fordham University.

As a member of NAWBO-NYC, she is an ex-Board member who helped to start the Mentoring Program (NAWBO-NYC.org); is a member of WPO-NEXT, where she speaks and organizes workshops for women with multi-million-dollar businesses; and is an Ambassador of the International Women’s Enterprise Challenge (www.iwecfoundation.org), who travels internationally to recognize and meet with women business owners in countries including Peru, Sweden, Spain, and India.

Dr. Webster volunteers with the Carter Burden Network, helping seniors to stay healthy through their luncheon club. In response to COVID, she leads Zoom workshops and vision board and budgeting classes to the elderly, disadvantaged women, and churches. https://linktr.ee/sandiwebster

Dr. Lynn C. Yanyo is Co-Founder of Jade Lending, along with Carrie Peele. Dr. Yanyo is a serial entrepreneur, consultant for other start-ups, angel and venture capital investor, and Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at The Pennsylvania State University.

Her technical background includes both broad and deep science and engineering experience including degrees in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in Polymer Science from the University of Akron as well as 20 years of fundamental research and product development including eight US patents and foreign equivalents.

Dr. Yanyo transitioned from technology to business management in 1997 as she managed the long-term, multi-disciplinary research and product/process development of magneto-rheological (MR) fluids, eventually becoming the Sales and Marketing Manager for magnetorheological (MR) technology. This new, proprietary material technology was successfully commercialized in steering systems and automotive suspensions and engine mounts for major OEMS (including Cadillac, Buick, Audi and Porsche) and created entirely new businesses and markets for LORD Corporation.

While at LORD, she went on to direct several other businesses including industrial and commercial coatings and electronics materials, where she had responsibility for creating and marketing the high technology materials solutions for tomorrow’s smaller, faster and hotter chips and packages.

From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Yanyo was the Customer Engagement Process Owner for LORD, responsible for all marketing and customer facing processes and training. Under her leadership, LORD implemented a state-of-the-art customer inquiry phone system integrated with a new CRM system for issue and lead management. Co-planning efforts with customers led to the highest levels of on-time delivery ever achieved in the 90-year history of LORD.

Dr. Yanyo founded De Novo Ground in 2013 and supports several companies through launch to commercial success. Through structured, clearly defined, problem identification supported by technology and market research, De Novo Ground resets a company’s foundation for profitable growth and establishes clear, actionable metrics for tracking and adjustment to gain and maintain momentum.

She has also founded eight companies, co-founded a venture capital fund and purchased a company as a foundation for manufacturing and online sales, www.slateplate.com. Other on-line companies are: www.pearlicity.com, www.tree4all.org, velvettoke.com and bliss.moda.

Dr. Yanyo is also the Executive Director for the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, ISBM, founded and headquartered at Penn State in 1983 and the world’s only B2B Think Tank. ISBM, a nonprofit, global network of researchers and practitioners, is focused solely on improving the knowledge and execution practices of B2B marketers. Supported by 40 of the world’s largest corporations, ISBM funds research in B2B markets and disseminates that knowledge to the membership through individual support, executive education and peer networking events.

She is regularly invited to speak on topics ranging from chemistry and inventions to career choices to entrepreneurism to women in leadership. She has recently focused on talking to young adults, particularly young women, about entrepreneurial careers. Dr. Yanyo has published numerous articles on materials development, modeling, new business development, branding and customer engagement; received numerous awards for her publications, presentations and marketing communications; and holds eight US Patents with five additional pending. She serves on several university and corporate advisory boards. Philanthropically, she is active in National Charity League, serves as the MC for all NC FIRST Robotics Competitions and she regularly volunteers to teach or speak to student groups from K-12 and universities. JadeLending.com

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LinkedIn company page for anyone that supports and identifies as a woman entrepreneur: https://www.linkedin.com/company/enterprising-women-magazine/
LinkedIn group (for women entrepreneurs and their supporters to join and engage with one another): https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4470189/
LinkedIn group for award winners (for winners only so they can connect and engage with each other): https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4944775/

ABOUT ENTERPRISING WOMEN MAGAZINE:
Enterprising Women, with headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, is the nation’s only women-owned magazine published exclusively for women business owners that chronicles the growing political, economic and social influence and power of entrepreneurial women. The magazine provides a friendly meeting place, a public forum and a national stage for the critical issues confronting women’s businesses and daily lives from the unique perspectives and experiences of entrepreneurial women. Published in both print and digital editions, the online edition of the magazine reaches one million readers in 185 countries. For more information, please visit https://enterprisingwomen.com or call (919) 362-1551.