White and Holmes and WOSBs, Oh My!

January 4, 2022

What a Week of Women from this Women-Owned Business

Lions and tigers and tigers and bears – yes, I love me some Judy.  A woman who was a talent and a trailblazer.  If you know me, you know that I love Judy’s daughter Liza more than most things and I often say our company is Advize with a “Z.”  If you get this reference, we should be friends.  Just joking, I believe only my friends read my babbling, so let me get back to the point of this blog.

If you are not in the contracting world, I will first define what a WOSB actually is.  WOSB: A Women-Owned Small Business.  The program benefits include helping “provide a level playing field for women business owners, the government limits competition for certain contracts to businesses that participate in the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting program.”

I bought Advize in 2015, and the idea of going out to my clients to tell them that I was the new owner scared me.  My clients at the time were large payers, and I feared that if they knew we were small enough to have a person like me run it, we would be cooked.  I was still in my twenties and I have that crazy Long Island accent.  I mean, how could they seriously do business with us?  Now, as it just turned 7 years since I bought Advize, I feel very different about saying that I run it.  Sure, a mentor had to coach me through changing my title, but I finally am feeling better about it.  Why is important to talk about woman-owned businesses and women leaders now?  This was such a big week for women. We have a high and a low (by the way, I do love that High Point of Your Day, Low Point of Your Day conversation game). 

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, I read a meme that said you are now all enjoying cheesecake in heaven, and I saw a picture of The Golden Girls.  If I could buy all my friends A Dozen Red Roses, I would.  Betty White, the icon, was an early TV pioneer and remained relevant for the next 7 decades.  She was the right kind of role model and legend for women.  The low point of this week was losing her right before she turned 100.

On the other hand, the highpoint brings us to yesterday’s newsflash, which brings us to another “pioneer” – NOT!  If you have read any of my blogs (like Groundbreaking Week in Healthcare Fraud or Killing People: Mount Carmel Doctor & Elizabeth Holmes to just name my favorite two, but naturally, I have written so many), you know I am obsessed with this case. 

I once looked up to Elizabeth Holmes because I was so into the pioneer in healthcare idea.  Less about the girl boss, but more about the positive changes this could have on healthcare and proactive treatment.  Unfortunately, it was not so much fake it ‘til you make it, but more-so, committing large fraud and lying to not only investors, but also patients. The high of this week is seeing that she was found guilty. 

Now, guilty on 4 of 11 federal charges is not enough, but at least it is a start.  If you Google her name this morning, we see that being found guilty of fraud is already associated with the direct quote, “Elizabeth Anne Holmes is an American former businesswoman found guilty of fraud in 2022, who was the founder and chief executive of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company that soared.”

To you, I say, “Happy New Year,” and I am looking forward to what else 2022 has in store for women-owned businesses and pioneers.

Jeanmarie Loria

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