StartOut NYC and The Young Leaders Council of the LGBT Community Center, along with event sponsor  Voli Vodka, are proud to present "Entrepreneurship 101: Five Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets For Building A Successful Business". This special evening devoted to entrepreneurship will cover the phases of starting and building a business from the viewpoint of five successful entrepreneurs. Our expert panel will discuss how they turned their ideas and passions into great businesses, from their initial concepts to their present-day business operations. 

Whether you're just thinking of starting a business or you're an experienced entrepreneur looking for new perspectives, join us for an insightful evening of conversation with inspiring entrepreneurs sharing their secrets of how they started and built successful business ventures.

The evening agenda is as follows:

5:30-6:30pm - Networking Cocktail Hour

6:30-8:00pm - Entrepreneurship Panel

8:00-9:00pm - After-Panel Reception

This event will have an OPEN BAR, thanks to our terrific vodka sponsor and cool new startup company, VOLI VODKA.

We are excited to have a diverse group of highly accomplished entrepreneurs on this panel:

Mitchell Gold is the Co-Founder of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, an international furniture company with over 750 employees and a 700,000 sq foot factory with a family-friendly work environment. There is a growing chain of freestanding Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams stores across the country and internationally. In addition to running a $100 million company, Mitchell plays a major role in the national dialogue on gay rights. In 2005, he established Faith In America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people on how bigotry is being used to justify discrimination against gay people. Mitchell is the author of the book "Let's Get Comfortable: How to Furnish and Decorate a Welcoming Home" (Meredith Books, 2007).

Peter Sisson is the Founder and CEO of Toktumi, a digital telecommunications company. Peter is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the telecom and internet industries. He started his career at Bell Labs in 1985 and started his first company, Wineshopper.com, in 1998. Wineshopper, funded by Kleiner Perkins and Amazon.com, was acquired by Wine.com in 2000. Since then, he has launched two successful companies, Mixonic and Teleo (acquired by Microsoft). His current company, Toktumi, offers an app called Line2 that lets consumers add a second phone line to their iPhone or BlackBerry. Peter serves on the MBA Advisory Board of the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and is an advisor to the Blue World Alliance, StartOut, and several start-up companies.

Jim Sherman is the Founder and CEO of Shermans Travel Media LLC, a leading online publisher of editor-screened travel deals and destination advice. Flagship products include Sherman's Top 25 Deals Newsletter (4 million readers), the ShermansTravel.com website (2 million visits per month), a travel deals ad network, and Sherman's Travel Magazine which is positioned around "Smart Luxury". Prior to Shermans Travel, Jim founded WestEnd New Media, a leading internet strategy consulting firm that specialized in advising publishing and media industry clients. His previous work includes the launching of the Internet Division of Martha Stewart Living, an engagement as Director of Corporate Development at Pearson,  corporate marketing work at Time, Inc and consulting work at Bain & Co.  He received his B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Erin Barnes is the Co-Founder and acting Executive Director of ioby.org, a non-profit organization that connects donors and volunteers to environmental projects in their local neighborhoods, in order to inspire local environmental action.  Erin formerly served as the speechwriter for the Natural Resources Defense Council's Executive Director, and was the environmental editor for Men's Journal.  From 2003-2005, she worked as a community organizer and public information officer at the Save Our Wild Salmon coalition in Portland, Oregon. She holds a Masters of Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and received her B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Jonathan Rubinstein is the Founder of Joe - The Art of Coffee, a coffee-centric community that includes five cafe locations throughout Manhattan. In 2002 Jonathan left his career as a talent agent to open a coffee shop that would be obsessively committed to producing a great cup of joe. At Joe, the coffee is the priority: beans from a boutique supplier (Ecco Cafe), top-of-the-line espresso machines (including the $14,000 La Marzocco "Linea", the Rolls Royce of the field), and rigorously trained baristi (some of whom have worked at Seattle's best coffee shops and pour beautiful latte art). Mr. Rubinstein also consults New York restaurants on their coffee service and regularly gives lectures and does radio and TV shows on coffee and espresso.

The panel will be moderated by Darren Spedale, Co-Founder of A-List Global Media LLC, a media and entertainment company that produces consumer products. A-List's first product, PopCardz, has been sold in over 5,000 stores globally including Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart and dozens of other chains. Before business school, he spent two years with a start-up venture that raised funds for non-profit organizations through online activities and unique content. He has served as an advisor to several start-ups. Mr. Spedale was previously an investment banker at Lehman Brothers covering technology companies, and was a co-founder of Lehman's Venture Capital Coverage initiative. Darren also wrote a book on same-sex marriage called "Gay Marriage: For Better or For Worse?" (Oxford University Press, 2006) while on a Fulbright Fellowship in Europe. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, a JD from Stanford Law School, and his BA from Duke University.

StartOut is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering and developing entrepreneurship in the LGBT community.  To hear about upcoming events, REGISTER on our website at www.startout.org!

Voli Vodka is the first and only line of low-calorie, electrolyte-enhanced vodkas featuring a variety of fruit and fusion flavors. Visit www.volispirits.com to learn more!