Union Leader: Growing Success, Woman to Woman

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Amy LaBelle was living in Boston and had a comfortable job as a lawyer with Fidelity Investments when a chance visit to a vineyard in Nova Scotia sparked her love of winemaking, driving her to eventually stop practicing law and open her own vineyard in Amherst.

"It hit me like a ton of bricks," the founder of LaBelle Winery said Friday. "I said, 'I really think I'm supposed to be doing this.'"

Ten years later, LaBelle Winery has a 20,000-square-foot winemaking facility and restaurant, which also has become a popular venue for weddings and events.

LaBelle was the featured speaker Friday at a statewide networking event sponsored by Women Inspiring Women at the SERESC Conference Center.

LaBelle's advice: Be as passionate about your business as you were about your first love.

"You just want to immerse in that person and understand them and learn about them, and be with them every minute of every day," LaBelle said. "You have to feel that way about your business."

Leslie Sturgeon, who has been running Women Inspiring Women from Moltonborough for eight years, said the original target audience for the group was women in the Lakes Region.

"Then people were coming from all over the state, and it rapidly grew," she said. "Now we're the largest women's organization in New Hampshire."

Sturgeon said she organized the networking events because she wanted to give women in business opportunities to find mentors, who can be helpful in navigating the unique challenges women face in the business world.

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., stopped by the conference and said she was inspired by all the women she met who were starting their own businesses and creating jobs in New Hampshire.

"I think this is a big growth area for us, so how do we make sure that they can get access to the loans that they need to start that business?" Ayotte said.

In Washington, Ayotte said, she is working to reauthorize the 504 loan program through the Small Business Administration and introduced the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvement Act to ensure small business owners have the tools they need for success.

"This is the heart and soul of our economy," she said. "Getting more small businesses in New Hampshire, more women-owned small businesses, is fantastic for us to have more jobs here."

Sturgeon, who started her own business at age 22 offering office support services, executive suite rentals and association management, still works part-time in her previous career, but has made Women Inspiring Women her primary job. Women attending Friday's event paid from $89 to $129 to attend, depending on when they registered and whether they are members.

"It actually doesn't seem like work, because I get to hang out with the most fabulous women, and I get to figure out ways of helping them reach their potential," Sturgeon said. "I just see them having 'a-ha' moments, and see them connecting or learning something and actually taking action, and I'm just so proud of them."

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