NEW YORK—Nell Merlino has one simple message for women everywhere: “Believe in YOU.” She travels the world spreading this message to inspire confidence in women.
To listen to her speak and interact with the women she helps is reminiscent of Oprah—that is, if Oprah gave business advice with a New York attitude. Instead of giving away cars, Merlino gives women advice on how to be successful businesswomen so they can buy their own car.
Merlino is a powerful force with a boisterous voice, her passionate spirit perfectly matching her shoulder-length red hair.
“I have a vision of the world that requires that women be economically independent. And by that I don’t mean being independent or separate from their spouses or families,” Merlino said, “But whatever circumstances they find themselves in, they are able to pay their way and take care of whatever they need to take care of.”
She is the founder and president of Count Me In, a group that provides resources, business education, and community support for women entrepreneurs. It is one of many highly successful projects Merlino has helped build.
The Epoch Times sat down to hear Merlino’s story in mid-July at The Brownstone in Harlem—a business whose owner, Princess Jenkins, has benefited from following Merlino’s advice.
The Early Years
Merlino grew up in Trenton, N.J, as one of five children. Her father, Joe, was a politician in the New Jersey legislature, and from a young age, Merlino witnessed the rise of women in what was once a man’s world.
She knew Millicent Fenwick, dubbed by Walter Cronkite as the “conscience of Congress,” and one of the first women to serve in the New Jersey legislature. Fenwick smoked cigars with Merlino’s father while they conversed in Italian.
While spending time at her father’s office, Merlino also interacted with Wynona Lipman, the first African-American woman to be elected to the Senate, and Anne Martindell, who, like Fenwick, was a late bloomer to politics, and also one of the first women in the New Jersey legislature.
“I was very aware of the opportunities that were opening up to women,” Merlino said. “It certainly gave me a sense that there might be a place for me in things other than what we had been taught in school—which was to be a teacher, maybe a nurse, and a mommy.”
Maximum Reach
Merlino did not follow in her father’s footsteps by running for office, but she did spend 10 years in state and presidential politics.
Merlino said she worked 100 days straight while working on the 1984 Walter Mondale presidential campaign. She spent hours with a phone in one hand, and often an egg salad sandwich or pizza slice in the other. “It was terrible,” she said with a laugh, “but it was fascinating. Now I know my capacity for work.”
The decade in the political arena expanded her vision from one that had been focused on New Jersey, to really understanding how important it was to reach people on a national level.
“Most of the work I have done has been national or international, not on a neighborhood or local scale, although I would say the things I do influence neighborhoods,” Merlino said. “Why, if you are going to spend the effort or the time, not reach out to as many people as you can with whatever the information or message is?”
In 1992 the Ms. Foundation asked for Merlino’s input on a project to help raise self-esteem in young girls. Merlino recalled the days of her youth watching those powerful women working alongside her father and thought about how to bring that experience to young girls.
She helped create Take Your Daughter to Work Day, a program in which young girls accompany their mothers or fathers to work and learn what career opportunities are possible. In 1993, the Internet had limited reach, so word spread through print media and fax machines. Despite the low-tech means, the event went viral—before people had any idea what “going viral” meant.
In New York City, Mayor David Dinkins sent out a letter to 250,000 city employees urging participation. On April 29, 1993, Merlino, Mayor Dinkins, and hundreds of city employees along with their daughters, filled up the Blue room at City Hall for a press conference. “It was a riotously fun atmosphere and also clearly historic,” Merlino said. “It was electric to see people respond. Men and women being aware that women and girls didn’t get a fair shake. That was also what was very apparent. It is why parents did it.”
In 2003 the event was expanded to include boys. This April, Take Your Daughter to Work Day celebrated 20 years.
Count Me In
Merlino continues her life-long mission of helping women to not only believe in themselves but to reach for the stars when it comes to business.
In 1999 she founded Count Me In, and later the Make Mine a Million $ Business initiative, both acting as platforms for women to educate themselves about running a successful business and offering support to each other.
“One of the themes of my life is the importance of women and girls seeing themselves doing things that are in a leadership or teaching kind of way,” Merlino said. “The more women and girls see themselves and see each other in positions of leadership, growth, strength, and courage, it encourages all of that in the rest of us.”
Merlino saw too many instances of women having to juggle impossible hours between work and children. She said a key to gaining independence is for women to own their own business—“it is your business, you make the rules, but you also should make as much money as you can.”
In 2002, 50 percent of all privately-held companies and start-ups were women-owned, yet only 2.6 percent of them had $1 million in annual revenue, compared to 6 percent of men-owned companies, according to statistics on the Count Me In website. Merlino hopes to change that.
Women-owned businesses apply online to the Make Mine a Million $ Business and finalists are invited to give a two-minute pitch on their business. The winners receive a $1,000 gift card from American Express and six months of business coaching. Hundreds of businesses have won. Online support from the Count Me In network comes free of charge, offering a networking platform for like-minded women.
“One of the most important messages I have is the importance of surrounding yourself with people that you learn things from that are better at things than you are and who know different things,” Merlino said.
The last few years have been tough economically, but Merlino and the women who have won Make Mine a Million $ Business have continued to grow.
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