Tweezerman Founder Dal LaMagna Keynote Speaker at WEDC's 14th Annual Women's Business Networking Event

Celebrated Entrepreneur to Discuss "The Power of Failure"

Dal LaMagna started dozens of businesses, most of which were epic failures.  Never defeated by his mistakes, he founded Tweezerman in the late 1970s and sold the international beauty products company for $30 million in 2004. Clearly, no failure there. Now, LaMagna, will share his sage entrepreneurial advice about “The Power of Failure,” as the keynote speaker at the Women's Enterprise Development Center’s (WEDC) 14th Annual Women's Business Networking Event. The program will take place on Wednesday, November 14, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, at Graziella's Italian Bistro, 99 Church Street, White Plains.

"Dal LaMagna’s story is a prime example of the trials and tribulations faced by entrepreneurs. The fact that he was able to achieve such enormous success through operating a socially responsible business is very inspiring," said Anne Janiak, executive director of WEDC. "Because our organization is devoted to providing women – and men – with the services and programs they need to start and grow their businesses, we wanted to offer a forum for Dal to share his unique journey to success."

At the event, LaMagna will sell and sign copies of his book, Raising Eyebrows, A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). The book shares insight into LaMagna's success and aims at inspiring others to start and run responsible businesses. As he says in his book, "Great moneymaking ideas are a dime a dozen. What makes a great idea valuable is not the imagined concept, but your real capacity to implement it."

In addition, WEDC will present the 2012 Lillian Vernon Award. This prestigious award is given annually to a woman entrepreneur who, like Lillian Vernon, has demonstrated a strong commitment to community service. Participants will also have the opportunity to network and take advantage of business building opportunities at the event. 

Tickets to WEDC's 14th Annual Women's Business Networking Event are $65 each, and include parking, a light buffet, and wine. Proceeds from this event will be used to support vital programs and services to help emerging women-owned businesses achieve success. For further information or to purchase tickets, visit www.wedcbiz.org or call (914) 948-6098, x13. 

About the Women's Enterprise Development Center Inc.

Since 1997, the nonprofit Women’s Enterprise Development Center Inc. has provided entrepreneurs with the skills, tools and resources they need to start their own businesses, to expand them and to achieve economic self-sufficiency. WEDC offers a wide array of entrepreneurial training programs and services, including one-on-one counseling, access to capital, networking events and small business seminars. WEDC is the designated women’s business center of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for Westchester County and the lower Hudson Valley. WEDC is also the NY Empire State Development Corporation’s Entrepreneurial Assistance Program (EAP) Center for Westchester County.

About Dal LaMagna

A devotee of "responsible capitalism," Dal LaMagna stipulated that his U.S. employees keep their jobs and share in the $10 million in capital gains when he sold Tweezerman to the J.A. Henckels Company. He is now the CEO and president of IceStoneUSA, a company that makes sustainable countertops out of recycled glass and cement in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. There, he is empowering employees and implementing other socially responsible practices to lead them to success.

LaMagna is a trustee and major donor to the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, which awards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in sustainable business. He received an MBA in 1971 and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) in 2001, both from Harvard.