The Skinny

"We are better together!"

Mission: To build a vibrant community of businesswomen who support, inspire, and collaborate with each other to achieve their professional and personal goals.

Core values: Integrity ♥ Respect ♥ Generosity ♥ Collaboration

Our group is open networking and not limited to one person per industry, so you may be in a meeting with a "competitor." We embrace an abundance mindset, meaning there are plenty of customers and need for each business. We believe there's value in learning from, sharing with, and potentially partnering with someone who might initially be perceived as a competitor. Each woman brings unique aspects to their business, and while some target audiences may overlap, you may find areas of focus or specialization that are different.

Our monthly networking meeting agendas are as follows:

• 15-minute educational topic
• 60-second elevator pitches - with an optional creative challenge
• Door prize giveaway, including social media support
• Networking assignments - optional
• Announcements and testimonials

There's never any pressure to join. You are welcome to attend as often as you like as a non-member, provided space is available. If you plan to participate consistently,  whether online or in-person, we invite you to check out the benefits of membership by clicking here.

Educational Speakers

If you would like to share lessons you've learned to support other small business women (not to promote your own business), we invite you to complete our speaker request form. Please click here. Note: Our paid CWIB members are given priority in our speaking schedule.

Her-story

CWIB Meeting Nov 2016

INCEPTION
Cobb Women in Business was started by Molly Khan in 2014. In 2016, Melinda Schmiedeknecht went to an evening event and asked Molly about lunch networking, as at the time, she couldn't find a group that met her needs. With Molly's blessing, she started hosting a monthly lunch event in October of that year.

CHANGE OF VENUE
Due to COVID concerns, we started meeting at a park in the summer of 2020. When weather forced us back indoors that fall, by unanimous vote, we moved our meeting to RISE Coffee & Tea to support their mission of providing employment opportunities to young adults with special needs.

FACEBOOK GROWTH
In May 2021, Molly moved out of state. The Facebook group had a little 1,000 members at the time, but not many were active, and she suggested we start a new group. The new Facebook group grew to 1,000 again fairly quickly, and in 2024, participation escalated rapidly to 5,000+ members resulting in a need for closer management and stricter rules in order for the group to be effective for the in-person networking attendees and paid Insider Members.

ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS
Long-time Insider Member Natalie Patterson was driving 30 minutes to the Roswell chapter (formerly called East Cobb) and shared a desire to start a chapter closer to home. We launched the Smyrna chapter in February of 2024.

Liz Williams visited the Smyrna chapter and asked if we would host a chapter at her studio because she wanted to bless and support fellow businesswomen. She promptly recruited Amanda Berisford and Frankie Croker to be co-leaders, and we launched the Austell chapter in January 2025.

To preserve the intimacy of our networking, we limit attendance to 20-25. With 25 paid Insider Members, we stopped accepting new members to the Roswell chapter in 2023. Recognizing a need and having previously started a networking group for event planners, Alicia Kramer volunteered to lead a second chapter in the East Cobb area. In April of 2025, we launched the Marietta chapter.