What is the Professional BusinessWomen of California

Founded in 1989, The Professional BusinessWomen of California is a 501-C3, non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the advancement of women in the workplace. The focal event produced by the organization is an annual conference designed to give business women access to the tools and connections that they need. The conference has grown in size and popularity since its inception with the 12th Annual Conference of PBWC scheduled to take place at the San Jose Convention Center on May 2, 2001. The conference will bring together over 5,000 dynamic professional women with the products, services, and business experts they need to reach their goals.

Goals

PBWC's mission is fulfilled by the continued realization of several goals. The annual conference is PBWC's main forum for women leaders to mentor and role model, foster upward career mobility and gain instant access to a large network of other professionals. The conference also serves to ignite new thinking and offer alternative life-balance options, support diversity in the work place and allow companies a new channel for product marketing. In these ways, PBWC believes that women will be inspired to recognize their dreams and reinforce confidence in the pursuit of those dreams. In addition, plans are underway to continue extending PBWC's reach beyond the annual conference by developing additional programs to maintain momentum throughout the year.

Audience

More than 30,000 women from the Bay Area have benefited from past conferences. Typically, conference attendees are employed by major corporations (64%) with another 25% who are entrepreneurs or employees of small businesses. Another segment comprises professionals, non-profit and public sector employees. The average annual income of these women is $79,000. 90% of our audience falls in the age range of 26-55 years with the majority in between 36-45 years of age. 79% of our audience are funded by their companies to attend the conference; 98% have access to the World Wide Web.