PRESS RELEASE
Local Member Wins National Recognition
LOCAL WRITER WINS NATIONAL
WOMEN'S BUSINESS AWARD
Diane Sears named National Member of the Year
during San Francisco NAWBO Conference
June 13, 2006 (Orlando, FL)
The National Association of Women Business Owners awarded Orlando writer and publisher Diane Sears with the coveted National NAWBO Member of the Year title during its annual conference on Saturday, June 3, in San Francisco, CA. Sears won the award from the 8,000-member organization for her strong commitment to leadership and her work to advance and mentor women business owners.
Sears is the founder and president of DiVerse Media, LLC, in Orlando, Florida, where she helps authors write and publish nonfiction books and is preparing to publish an online career-based magazine. She is the author of Tapping Your Inner Entrepreneur: Making the Move From Employee to Business Owner, a 2005 book commissioned by NAWBO.
A journalist for more than 20 years, Sears is the Travel and Health Editor for Florida Trend magazine, where she also covers Central Florida news. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Venture Woman, a national magazine for women business owners, and the former Workplace reporter for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. Sears is an accomplished writer with news journalism experience as an assistant city editor, a government reporter, a copy editor and a copy desk chief for daily newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today. For more information, log onto the web site at http://www.di-verse-media.com/.
Sears served as 2004-05 president of the Orlando Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners. In the nomination, NAWBO noted that Sears has been active in the NAWBO Orlando chapter and on the national level since 1999. She has participated on the NAWBO Orlando board every year, serving as programs director, marketing director, president-elect, president, awards chair, and special events chair. Twice in 2005, Diane was nominated to serve on the national board. Locally, she is a board member of the Minority/Women's Business Enterprise Alliance; a governing board member of the Orlando area Athena PowerLink program; and an advisory board member for The YaYa Network.
About NAWBO
Founded in 1975, NAWBO propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide. It is the voice of America's 10.6 million women-owned businesses and the only dues-based national organization that represents the interests of women entrepreneurs in all industries. For details, visit http://www.nawbo.org/ or http://www.nawboorlando.org/.