Faye E. Coleman, PhD
Westover Consultants, Inc.

Faye Coleman has come a long way since starting Westover Consultants in the basement of her home back in 1984. The internationally recognized trainer and planner has more than 30 years of experience managing large-scale training, research, and evaluation projects. Faye’s clients span the globe from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe, and include government agencies, small to mid-sized corporations and Fortune 500 companies, associations, and nonprofits.

From her Maryland headquarters, Faye and her team of nearly 50 employees operate a multidisciplinary consulting firm. Among WBI’s largest contracts are a five-year, $30 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to manage a worldwide project that provides subsidized quality child care for dependents of active-duty and Air National Guard and Reserve members on 71 bases around the world, and a $12.5 million contract to identify and deploy over 600 behavioral health specialists to the Gulf Coast states to offer life-saving mental health counseling services to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

Westover Consultants was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Minority-Owned Businesses in 2007, and Faye received the Enterprising Women of the Year Award in 2005 from Enterprising Women magazine, among her many honors. Her professional and civic board involvement is extensive and ranges from serving on the Board of Trustees for Southeastern University to the Advisory Council for the Washington District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Faye holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Simmons College, a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, and a PhD in Education/Human Development from the University of Maryland.

Maria de Lourdes "Lulu" Sobrino
Lulu's Dessert Corporation

Born and raised in Mexcio City, Maria Sobrino’s first entrepreneurial venture was in the tourism industry. After expanding her travel agency by opening an office in Los Angeles, Maria was faced with unstable economic conditions in Mexico that forced her to get out of the travel business. In 1982, she came up with the idea to offer ready-to-eat gelatin—a staple in her native Mexico—after looking for the popular dessert in the United States. Recognizing a need, she used her own mother’s recipe and introduced it to American grocers in California. Lulu’s Dessert Corporation was born and the company revolutionized the gelatin category of the food industry. Now considered the queen of ready-toeat gelatin, Lulu has become a force in the surging number of Latina entrepreneurs. President Bush called on her leadership to participate in the Economic Forum in Waco, TX, representing small businesses; and Enterprising Women Magazine inducted her into its Hall of Fame. She was one of 40 women honored in Harvard University’s traveling exhibition that paid tribute to 250 years of history of American women in business, sharing the honors with Oprah Winfrey, Meg Whitman, Martha Stewart, and others. Maria’s professional and community service spans involvement with the National Association of Women Business Owners Los Angeles Chapter, advisory boards for Rancho Santiago Community College Foundation, The Institute of Women Entrepreneurs in Orange County, Nacional Financiera (an investment bank in Mexico), as well as the steering committee for Working Families for Wal-Mart. She also serves on advisory boards for two national magazines, Latina Style and Enterprising Women. Her first book, Thriving Latina Entrepreneurs in America, shares her personal story, along with profiles of seven other outstanding Latinas. It is available through Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and other national booksellers.

Joyce Takiguchi
ComStar International

Blazing a trail in an industry that is still considered nontraditional territory for most women, Joyce Takiguchi co-founded ComStar International in 1990 and has played an integral role in the company’s growth over the past 18 years.

ComStar manufactures environmentally safe, industrial-strength chemical products for the air conditioning, heating, plumbing, precision cleaning, and construction industries. The company’s product line includes more than 300 chemical products that are distributed internationally. The company recently established a joint venture in Zhuji, China to manufacture and distribute chemical products to the Chinese market.

With a background in finance, telecommunications and sports in New York and Japan, Joyce has assumed leadership roles in her community through St. Mary’s Foundation for Children and is a founding member of the Women Presidents’ Organization. Joyce received her bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University, performed post-graduate work at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and received her MBA with honors from Fordham University. She resides in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.

Gail Warrior-Lawrence
The Warrior Group, Inc.

Blending a talent for marketing and communications with a career history that spans years as a senior accountant at an oil company, a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and a master’s degree in marketing, Gail Warrior-Lawrence now leads The Warrior Group, a multi-million-dollar provider of premier modular construction.

Gail and her husband Wayne discovered a void in the marketplace for a company that could provide corporations and government agencies with quality modular buildings. They formed their company in 1997 and today, the firm is the largest woman-owned provider of modular buildings in the United States. With more than 30 employees and hundreds of customers nationwide, Gail manages the company with passion, purpose and practicality, striving for world-class customer service and long-term relationships.

A leader in both the women’s business community and in Texas civic organizations, Gail serves on the boards for the Dallas/Fort Worth Minority Business Council, the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Women’s Business Council-Southwest, and the African American Museum. On the national level, she serves on the board of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Women’s Enterprise Leadership Forum, as well as the National Advisory Board for Enterprising Women magazine. Gail and her husband formed The Heart of a Warrior Charitable Foundation in honor of her mother, Dorothy J. Warrior, to serve a variety of charitable and educational purposes.

Her passion, innovation and success have led to dozens of state and national awards, including being named a 2008 Enterprising Women of the Year Award winner. In 2007, she was recognized as a WBENC Business Star, as well as being honored by the Dallas Chamber of Commerce at the Momentum Awards. When she is not leading her company to greatness, she is playing “super hero” with her seven-year-old son or challenging her husband to a game of chess.

Iveth M. Reynolds
Tri-Mar Consulting

As the founder of Tri-Mar Consulting, a staffing company that specializes in information technology talent, Iveth Reynolds has built a dynamic company with clients nationwide. But, her biggest accomplishment may be the leadership she has shown as an outstanding role model to thousands of Latina girls.

Iveth grew up in New York City and received a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University. Relocating to Rochester in 1992, she built a career in the staffing industry with Chase Manhattan Bank. An interest in information technology led to employment opportunities with another firm, and ultimately led her to start her own company that combined her interests in staffing and IT.

In 2006, recognizing the crisis in the Rochester City School District, where teenage pregnancy and poverty rates were at an all-time high, Iveth initiated and spearheaded a collaborative effort to bring prominent, nationally known Latinas to her area to serve as role models for young Latinas. A Professional Latinas Advancement Network (APLAN) was born, with a mission to provide educational opportunities for professional women and expand the visibility of prominent Latinas.

Among Iveth’s other significant accomplishments, she played a crucial role in bringing WorldWit to the Western New York region. The organization is the leading global online and offline network for women in business and technology. Iveth is also actively involved in the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and served as the coordinator of Latino Leadership Development. She and her husband Mark have two children.

Marina Leung
Tasty Eats

Marina Leung likes to snack. Like many Americans, she prefers to eat smaller portions throughout the day. But, snacking on either raw vegetables or high-carb chips wasn’t for her. So, she went searching for a healthy solution to her snacking habit and ended up developing her own healthy snack food.

It took 18 months and considerable trial and error, but she finally came up with a recipe to make a meatless jerky that tastes good and is good for you. She produced a product with the flavor, consistency and texture of meat-based jerky, but one made of soy. This high-energy, high-protein jerky was the talk of the show at Expo Asia in 2002. A year later, it was awarded “Best in Show” by the American Vegetarian Association at Expo East.

Headquartered in Signal Hill, CA, Marina established a manufacturing facility in Clackamas, OR. She oversees operations and is responsible for research and development of new meatless products, strategic planning, hiring great team members, and ensuring the overall vision of the company. Tasty Eats’ mission is to be the leading brand of meat-alternative products in the world.

Tasty Eats can be found in over 600 stores, including Whole Foods Markets on the West Coast, as well as natural food stores and co-ops around the country. It can also be purchased online through retailers such as Amazon.com, VeganEssentials.com, and Pangea.com.

With over 14 years of experience as an entrepreneur, a bachelor’s degree in biology from Cal Poly Pomona, and an MBA from Chapman University, Marina is armed with the know-how to continue building a fast-growth, successful company.