Last week I played my first hand at Poker in Vegas and WON

Full disclaimer, I do not play cards, other than Go Fish and Kings in the Corner with my granddaughter.   When I tried my hand at Euchre years ago, I could not keep track of the cards and, as for Bridge, forget it.

So, imagine my surprise when I won the first game, after claiming to know nothing about Poker.

There was no money involved, as it was all practice led by Ellen Leikind, founder of Poker Divas, and author of PokerWoman: How To Win At Love, Life and Business Using the Principles of Poker.

LeiKind was one of the keynote speakers at the three-day Women Presidents Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum held at The Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Sitting in front of a tall stack of poker chips, my fellow Women Presidents Organization (WPO) members claimed I was a shark.

And I guess in some respects, shark does define me in that I always focus on what will bring success to Pink Fund. I know what I want, and I go after it.

I was first introduced to the WPO in 2009. I happened to catch a post on Facebook, where marketing guru and prolific author, Seth Godin was inviting 50 nonprofits to a complimentary two-day seminar in New York City. I had read one of Godin’s early books, The Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, and applied. Godin was looking for small nonprofits with big ideas. And that certainly matched Pink Fund, and me.

To my surprise, I was accepted.

On the first day of the seminar, Godin talked about his books and asked if anyone in the theatre was writing a book. I threw up my hand and shared my working title, to which Godin invited me on stage to talk about Pink Fund. He later shared with me that he was fascinated by the mission and business model because his mother, Lenore, had breast cancer and died from the disease 10 years earlier.

On my way back to my seat, a woman, whose name I have forgotten, waved me over and said, “You need to meet Marsha Firestone, the Founder and President of WPO and a breast cancer survivor. I’ll arrange for us to have coffee tomorrow morning.”

The next morning, I am sitting in a posh hotel, with the larger-than-life Marsha, telling me all about WPO and why I should join. The caveat, in terms of revenue at Pink Fund, was well out of reach for me, until 2021, when the subject came up again and I found myself pitching Pink Fund’s mission to Nicole Cober, as part of an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow prize package. Cober showed up on Zoom bald and wearing a pink sweater. She had just completed treatment for breast cancer.

During our session, Cober mentioned her WPO membership, and I shared my Marsha story with her.  

She then held up a copy of a Women’s Entrepreneurial Magazine with Marsha on the cover. Marsha had retired, passing the torch to the capable, competent, and confident Camille Burns.

That spring I applied for membership and in the last two years under my Chapter Chair, Blair Miller’s leadership, I have met and benefitted from the experience and wisdom of a remarkable group of women.

What separates WPO from other professional women’s groups in which I have been a part of is their Core Values: Supportive, Tenacious, Thoughtful, Insatiably Curious and Community Minded.  And I take the liberty to add, confidentiality.

The confidentiality agreement we all sign as members, is what separates WPO from the rest of the women pack. We all know that we can share openly, vulnerably, and confidently that what happens in our monthly three-hour meetings (just like Vegas) stays there.

Under the leadership of Camille Burns, WPO has grown exponentially. If you are a female entrepreneur with annual revenue of at least $2 million, looking to join, consider a membership.

It is truly an organization For Us.