New CEO brings passion for health and extensive customer service management background to local company striving to combat national weight crisis

LINDON, Utah (Aug. 18, 2010)—Utah-based weight loss company IdealShape (www.idealshape.com) today announced it has named Carla Meine as CEO. Meine is founder and former CEO of inbound telemarketing company, O’Currance Teleservices, and founder and former managing director of VAST Equity, a private equity firm that invests in women-owned or operated businesses in the U.S.

Since the launch of IdealShape’s latest product line and website in December 2009, the company has expanded its customer base, staff and services. “We think our approach to weight loss is unique in the industry, and people are finding it an effective solution to weight challenges they have struggled with for a long time,” said David Meine, IdealShape VP of Product Development and Technology. The IdealShape Body Shaping Program is based on a holistic three-pronged approach to weight loss that covers nutrition, exercise and mindset.

IdealShape anticipates that its concept of “brain food” for weight loss will catch on, and tapped Carla Meine to spearhead its next phase of growth. “Carla is the perfect candidate to take us into the future as a unique provider and thought leader in the face of the obesity epidemic,” said Skyler Meine, VP of Sales and Marketing at IdealShape.

Carla Meine’s extensive customer service management background will benefit IdealShape, which serves its national customer base primarily via Internet and phone. In 2003, Meine was named Utah Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Consumer and Business Services category. In 2004, her company O’Currance Teleservices was named Utah Best of State in the customer service/call center category.

After selling O’Currance in 2007, Meine started VAST Equity with two partners to support women-run business ventures. She made Utah Business magazine’s Top 10 Women-Owned Businesses list for nine consecutive years, and in 2009, Utah Business named her one of the “30 Women to Watch.” Meine has mentored female entrepreneurs through the Salt Lake Chamber and the Women Tech Council. She currently chairs the National Advisory Council at the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University.

Meine has also demonstrated a strong commitment to helping others reach their fitness goals, and offers healthy recipes and advice on her personal cooking blog (www.carlameine.com). “After achieving success on my own weight loss journey, I’ve had a desire to help others discover the same passion for a healthy lifestyle,” Meine explained. “I’m excited to join IdealShape in sharing the tools that will help people achieve lifelong health and fitness.”

Under Carla Meine’s leadership, IdealShape will continue to offer its holistic Body Shaping Program, as well as personalized service from its team of weight loss industry experts. “As more and more people turn away from fad diets and unsafe weight loss pills, we expect to see tremendous positive response to our approach,” said Skyler Meine. “We think Carla’s direction will be instrumental in helping IdealShape make weight management, fitness and ultimate health accessible to a greater number of people.”

About IdealShape

IdealShape is a family-owned body shaping company that serves customers across the U.S. in various stages of weight loss. Founded in 2003, IdealShape teaches its clients to “master the mind” in order to achieve successful, long-term weight management. IdealShape’s Body Shaping Program includes a weight loss protein shake, weight loss support supplement, exercise and nutrition guide, exercise equipment and weight loss hypnotherapy CD series. Customers can order products online at www.idealshape.com or by phone at 800-515-0896. IdealShape also offers personal training and weight loss boot camps at its Lindon, Utah studio.

In addition to its commercial website and weight loss blog, IdealShape sponsors nationally-acclaimed website Ask a Fitness Coach (www.askfitnesscoach.com), which was created to provide general and personalized fitness guidance to the public free of charge.

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Press Contact
Nicole Sadeghi
IdealShape
801-228-0013
nicole@idealshape.com

“In tough economic times Small Business Owners are struck by a double edged sword. They urgently need to take action on Marketing, but they do not have money to spend on it,” states Janet W. Christy, author of the newly released book 101 Winning Marketing Actions for Small Businesses. “That’s why I accelerated the completion of this book.”

This book is based on the questions, concerns and obstacles Christy has heard and seen during her eight years of working with Small Businesses, especially Woman and Minority Owned. It is available in both print and ebook versions.

Christy shared that as she conducted workshops and consulting sessions based on her first book Capitalizing On Being Woman Owned, she saw that it was difficult for women business owners to take time away from running their business to market it. “So, I broke down the things that need to be done into Actions and included explanations, guidance and even forms.”

Susan Repka, Executive Director of Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance, said, “What an awesome book! I believe that everyone who is interested in starting a business should read this first. It should also be required reading for any company that gets certified as a MBE or a WBE.”

Janet W. Christy is Owner and President of Leverage & Development, LLC. She provides marketing consulting, research and training for small businesses. Additional information on Christy’s firm and books is available at www.leverageanddevelopment.com.

SEATTLE – The Women Business Owners (WBO), Puget Sound’s leading organization for women entrepreneurs, has named the five finalists in the 2010 Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of the Year Awards Competition. This year marks the 28th anniversary of the Nellie Cashman (‘The Nellie’) award competition, which recognizes and honors women business owners who have enhanced the status of women entrepreneurs through their vision, perseverance, and fearless, relentless leadership in business and the community. To qualify a nominee must own at least 51% of the business, gross more than $1million in annual revenue and have three or more employees.

Candidates for The Nellie are judged based on their entrepreneurial spirit, ethics and community spirit, financial and management skills, and the difficulty and risk they have endured to achieve their success. The 2010 Nellie finalists represent an amazing and inspiring collection of women, all of whom have not only built successful businesses but who also give generously of their time to the community. The winner will be announced at a gala awards banquet on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Meeghan Black, host of Evening Magazine, and a remarkable woman herself, is presiding over the ceremonies.

The five finalists are:
• Barbara Bollinger, Senior Salons, LLC www.seniorsalons.com
• Jody Hall, Cupcake Royale & Vérité Coffee Inc. www.cupcakeroyale.com
• Andrea Heuston, Artitudes Design, Inc. www.artitudesdesign.com
• Susan Kaufman, Serafina, Inc www.serafinaseattle.com
• Liz Lasater, Red Arrow Logistics www.redarrowlogistics.com

Lovingly Helping Seniors Look Their Best
Barbara Bollinger, Senior Salons, LLC
Barbara Bollinger’s first job after attaining her license was in a beauty salon with a largely senior clientele. After four years she opened her own salon, which she later sold to build another in her home so she could raise her children while continuing an active business. In 1998, Barbara opened her first senior salon, in an assisted living community that had been built down the street, and rediscovered the enjoyment she had found working with seniors in her very first job. When a back injury forced her out of hair styling, instead of giving up her business, Barbara decided to take on more salons and hire staff to provide a unique service – hair care exclusively for seniors. Senior Salons now has a staff of 35 and growing, plus a management team of 3, serving over 1500 residents in 34+ salons in senior communities in the Greater Seattle area. Each salon embodies her loving spirit, reflected in her fabulous decorations for every season. A wife and mother of three teenagers, Barbara is an active, enthusiastic PTA member and double PTA Golden Apple and Golden Acorn recipient. She is also a major volunteer and leader in her community, in the Northshore Girls Slowpitch Softball Association, Cedar Park Christian School, and Evergreen Community Church in Bothell.

Cupcakes with a Conscience
Jody Hall, Cupcake Royale & Vérité Coffee
Hall embarked on her first business venture at the age of eight. It involved her grandfather’s pumpkins, a stealthy fleet of wagons, and a modest cut of the neighborhood kids’ earnings. After graduating from Seattle University with a marketing degree in business and 13 years of work in corporate America (including Starbucks and REI), she decided to step out on her own. In 2003, she took the plunge, and opened Cupcake Royale & Vérité Coffee – the first cupcake shop in the US outside of New York City – in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle.

Cupcake Royale & Verite Coffee now includes four neighborhood locations, an expanding wholesale business, an online ordering and delivery service, and all natural cupcake recipes that are made with local and sustainable ingredients In 2009 Seattle Magazine readers voted Cupcake Royale Seattle’s Best Cupcakes as did The Seattle Weekly. Hall is passionately committed to the community and the environment and has been recognized for her work including receiving the Mayor’s Small Business Award, the Deanna Knudson Grassroots Leadership Award and Seattle’s Best Local Crusader. The past year proved to be particularly busy as Jody advocated for affordable health care as a member of the Washington CAN! Small Business for Secure Health Care Coalition. She championed her cause to politicians and was invited to the White House to attend a round-table discussion to help the Obama administration understand the perspective of small business regarding health care reform.

Visual Storytelling for Clients and Kids
Andrea Heuston, Artitudes Design Inc.
Heuston, founder and CEO of Artitudes Design Inc., is an award-winning graphic designer and consultant with over 20 years of experience in the design industry. Her unique approach to design management and relationship building has helped to make her firm a leader in the arena of visual storytelling. Her expertise and the amazing skills of her employees have connected her with such companies as Microsoft, Starbucks, Avanade, Big Fish Games, and many others.

In 2009, she was honored by the Puget Sound Business Journal as one of the Top 40 Business Leaders Under 40. In addition she serves on the Board of Directors for Olive Crest, an organization dedicated to preventing child abuse and treating and educating at-risk children. In 2007, concerned by the alarming number of students who receive little to no art education in the public school system, she created an art docent program –Artitudes In Action –connecting local schools with art resources and instructors. One of the specialties of Artitudes in Action is designing art projects that use recycled material so all students are able to do art projects at home without spending money on expensive supplies. Artitudes Design was a 2009 and 2010 Puget Sound Business Journal Best Workplaces finalist, recognized as one of the top 20 small businesses to work for in Washington State, and recently awarded Best Office Space by 425 Magazine.

Cooking and Community
Susan Kaufman, Serafina, Inc.
Kaufman, a native of New York, grew up eating all foods Italian. She is a born entrepreneur, having started her first business at the young age of 16. Her love affair with cooking, especially Italian, blossomed in her early 20s, after spending a year in Italy. This love affair begat two highly successful restaurants in Juneau, Alaska. During her ten years as chef/owner, Kaufman introduced Alaska to authentic regional Italian cuisine, from housemade pasta to freshly made gelato. In 1991, she opened Serafina in Seattle, which was an immediate success city wide and has become nationally known. Serafina, now in its nineteenth year, is considered a much-loved Seattle institution, and has received many accolades and awards, including Best Italian, Most Romantic, Best Wine list, Best Outdoor Dining.

As a business owner, Kaufman has made well-timed decisions on personnel changes, expansions, remodels, and property acquisition to promote growth. Her most recent move was to purchase the building behind Serafina to open Cicchetti Kitchen and Bar. A strong proponent of the local and sustainable food movement, Kaufman resides close to the restaurants, where her kitchen garden is a source of herbs and vegetables for Serafina. Kaufman lives true to the Italian idiom of bringing people together to share food and wine with family and friends.

Logistics Simplified and Streamlined
Liz Lasater, Red Arrow Logistics
Lasater founded Red Arrow Logistics in 2003, and in just six years it was named a top 10 woman-owned company in the state of Washington and by WPO one of the 50 fastest growing women led business in America and a Top 500 Small Businesses in America by Diversity Magazine 2008-2009. She believes the amazing trajectory will continue and forecasts that Red Arrow Logistics to hit huge goals in the next five years, predicting annual revenues of $20m by 2013. Lasater has succeeded in what is considered a predominantly male industry. She has done so with a wonderful sense of humor, a direct style and incredible vision.

Lasater brings more than two decades of experience in transportation and logistics, advising Fortune 100 companies and others with fast growing, complex and high value supply chains in both the international and domestic arenas. She previously served in senior management for Fritz Companies (acquired by UPS in 2001), SeaLand Logistics and APL Logistics. Dedicated to corporate philanthropy, Liz and her company are active supporters of community organizations including the American Cancer Society, The Mission Continues and Treehouse.

About Women Business Owners
Women Business Owners is Puget Sound’s leading organization for women entrepreneurs. Our mission: to propel resolute women entrepreneurs to embrace their fullest vision of success. Beyond a great business referral network, WBO is a resource for inspiration, education, enduring relationships, and leadership development.

About the WBO Nellie
Since 1982, the Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of the Year Award has recognized and honored Puget Sound area women entrepreneurs who have made outstanding contributions to the status of women business owners through their leadership in business and the community.
The award, also known as the WBO Nellie, is the most prestigious and longest running honor of its kind in the region. Presentation of the award brings together more than 300 prominent local business and community leaders in a professionally organized and hosted awards dinner banquet to share the inspiration of our most prominent women entrepreneurs and business owners.

About Nellie Cashman
Irish-born Nellie Cashman was an American pioneer, philanthropist, entrepreneur and gold prospector. From the time she came west in the late 1860s, Nellie exhibited her unique style of courage, compassion, determination and spunk that made her one of the most famous women in the American West. She started as a mining camp cook and progressed to running a series of boardinghouses and ultimately owning restaurants and grocery stores.

From Tucson and Tombstone, Arizona, to Nevada and the Klondike, Nellie continued her life of prospecting, mining and business ownership until her death in 1925. She became as well known for her philanthropy as she was for being a rare woman to not only mine and prospect, but to lead veteran frontiersmen in mining expeditions.

It is the spirit of the pioneering Nellie Cashman that Women Business Owners salutes with our annual award in her name.

Atlanta, Georgia – August 2010 – Georgia Realtor® focus much-deserved attention on the way women talk; to themselves and to other women in a new book titled Thoughts Influence Power Snippets™ (TIPSs). The book takes readers on a special journey appreciating their strengths, improving weaknesses and loving all their tendencies using 8 powerful and dynamic tools known as Snippets.

The foundation of the book is the word Snippet, a word loaded with unproductive qualities. The author created new thoughts, hence new views and use of the word, proof our thoughts influence our power.

“TIPSs is inspirational, enlightening and a very good read. I would highly recommend it to all professional women”. Lor’e Chambers, Assistant City Administrator – Mayor’s Office – City of Salisbury, Maryland.

According to author, TR Johnson, TIPSs is a tiny book, but the messages, lessons and thought stimulators will produce gigantic results. Janice Andrews, wife of George Andrews of Capitol City Bank Trust Company says TR has a gift for writing and praise the book for its “profound and timely message”.

“Both women and men will benefit from reading this publication and will apply the numerous principles of success in business and personal growth and development shared from the beginning to the end of the book” says Dr. Virgie Binford, Professor, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Richmond, VA.

Summary:

TIPSs is more than a book; it’s a love story with messages of hope, possibilities, strength and becoming. It is a journey helping women empower themselves by rekindling their inner conversations to design the life experiences they desire and deserve.

Author Overview:

TR Johnson is a real estate broker and entrepreneur helping professionals tap their inner energy to grow personally and professionally. In 1998 she authored a series of workbooks, titled “NO FEAR” A License To Buy/Sell to help empower real estate consumers. A passionate educator, TR writes from the heart for personal growth and uses her special wit to inspire, motivate and help others.

Oakland, NJ: August 1, 2010: Filanthropists.com, an online shopping mall offering cause-related merchandise, announced today that it has successfully launched its web site. The purpose of this “soft launch” is to encourage non-profits to register and to allow current merchants to start actively selling their products. Current merchants include: American Forests, Autism Speaks, Born Free USA, Broadway Cares, Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs (CoMeD), The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, KC Tees, PETA, SafeMinds, SAVE.org, and Until There’s A Cure.

Filanthropists.com was founded to be the online hub through which charities, nonprofit organizations, and independent merchants engage in e-commerce fundraising, which is defined as: “The sale of a product from which a portion of the revenue is donated to charity.” For its merchants, Filanthropists.com serves as a fundraising vehicle. For individual members, known as “Filanthropists,” the site provides the opportunity for the socially–conscious consumer to support their chosen charities and causes through their purchases.

Filanthropists.com features and services include:

• Variable searches by charity or cause name, cause type, product category, and product name.
• An Intranet that allows merchants to upload product images, descriptions, and prices at will.
• A forum, the “Unite” section, allows merchants and charities/non-profits to find like-minded partners with whom to explore partnership opportunities to create and sell their own cause-related merchandise.
• Assistance in developing and bringing proprietary cause-related merchandise to market.

Filomena Laforgia, Founder/CEO of Filanthropists.com, said: “When I started to develop the idea that would later become Filanthropists.com, I had originally intended to benefit a specific charity—Autism—the condition my son has. It wasn’t until I started to research cause-related products that I saw how much good my idea could do on a larger scale.”

Ms. Laforgia, continues: “The pre-launch response has been enthusiastically positive. It’s my hope that Filanthropists.com can become a welcome and valuable part of any charitable and nonprofit organization’s fundraising efforts.”

About Filanthropists.com
Founded in 2009, Filanthropists.com is an online shopping mall offering cause-related merchandise. The organization serves as a voice in the marketplace for charities, nonprofit organizations, and independent vendors who engage in e-commerce fundraising, which is defined as: “The sale of a product(s) benefits a charity.” For more information, visit us at www.filanthropists.com or contact Filomena Laforgia at: fil@filanthropists.com.

Contact
At Filanthropists.com:
Filomena Laforgia
Founder/CEO
201-264-1576
fil@filanthropists.com
Web site: www.filanthropists.com
Facebook: filanthropists
Twitter: filanthropists

PeachyMom.com is the latest online biz to join the ranks of the popular and ever growing trend of daily deal sites on the web. PeachyMom.com will offer products specifically geared toward women, and will also feature original weekly video segments to add value to its visitors.

“I’ve always loved the excitement and anticipation of checking in each day with my favorite daily deal sites to see what new product they’re offering. I noticed, though, that a great deal of them focus on electronics, and the ones geared toward women offer mostly apparel. I wanted to find great deals – ones that were unique but also utilitarian – and offer them to women all over the country,” explains Lee Stein, founder of PeachyMom.com. “I love looking for products that the average consumer will love, but may not be able to find with a quick Google search, or a trip to the mall. Our products are appropriate for every type of woman – single, married, expecting – you name it – we offer products that everyone will love!”

Stein goes on to explain that offering one product a day isn’t enough. “You can’t reasonably expect the same person to buy a new product each day, so we want to offer our visitors a special incentive to keep them coming back. Each week we will feature new video segments on a wide variety of topics, including hair and makeup tips, health and fitness, parenting, cooking, and more. Some of these segments are presented by specialists in their fields, while others are videos submitted by our own customers and visitors who want to share their knowledge and experience in all sorts of interesting areas.” Video segments featured on PeachyMom.com will also be available for viewing on PeachyMom’s branded YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/peachymomdeals) once they have been removed from the main site.

The staff at PeachyMom.com will be involved in updating the company’s Facebook fan page as well as posting new product and video alerts each day on Twitter. Stein believes that through the proper use of social media, search engine optimization, and good ol’ fashioned word of mouth, PeachyMom.com can become the go-to site for women who enjoy good deals, good products, and value added content.

“If you don’t want to purchase the accessory, baby gift, or home accent piece we may be offering that day, you can always press “Play” on the video screen and learn a new and easy recipe, the proper way to stretch, how to teach your kids great manners, or how to de-stress after a long day at work!”

Stein also encourages women to send in their own products to sell as well as video segments they would like to contribute.

For more information, please visit their website at http://www.PeachyMom.com or call 201-281-811.

Inaugural Women’s Conference to be Hosted in New York City

On September 20, 2010, Sarah Brown, Global Patron of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and wife of the former UK Prime Minister, will take centre stage when she chairs the first ever WIE Symposium (Women: Inspiration & Enterprise) in New York City, with
co-hosts designer and Urban Zen Founder Donna Karan and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington. With the central theme “Women Inspiring Women” and timed to coincide with the Clinton Global Initiative and the UN General Assembly, this inspirational Symposium invites prominent women from the fields of politics, philanthropy, media, fashion and the arts to inspire and empower the future generation of women leaders, advocates and entrepreneurs.

Drawing on the energy and drive of New York City, the WIE Symposium will feature powerful speakers from around the world, challenging panels and informative lectures with panel topics including the future role of women in technology, women leading the way in business and a White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) philanthropy and advocacy panel with Sarah Brown. Five prizewinning young women advocates from Africa and Asia will join the women of New York to speak about why we must end the global scandal of women dying needlessly in childbirth.

Created by Elmina Inc alongside the White Ribbon Alliance team, the annual one-day event is not only designed for women to be inspired by high profile mentors, but also to enable women to connect with each other and work together to achieve social change around the world.

In addition to the challenging panels and high profile speeches, the WIE Symposium will feature numerous exhibits, a fashion show, and a WIE Prize in conjunction with I/O Ventures awarding a female technology entrepreneur a $25,000 investment and expert business advice.
Sarah Brown will give the annual ‘White Ribbon Alliance Lecture’ at the WIE Symposium, outlining how the rapidly growing global movement has campaigned to mobilize communities while holding governments accountable to their Millennium Development Goal promises to reduce deaths in childbirth by 75% before 2015.

Sarah explains, “The WIE Symposium is an opportunity for women of all backgrounds from all over the world to come together, share ideas, experiences and find solutions. There are so many women around the world who don’t have a voice and the WIE Symposium is one way of trying to redress the balance. When women join forces in this way, we are truly an unstoppable force for change.”

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, and the Urban Zen Foundation.

For tickets information and further event details, visit www.wienetwork.org

For further press information, please contact Thomas Bunn or Mark Holcomb at Mission on + 1 212 219 2787 or email

About the beneficiaries
The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is an international coalition of individuals and organizations formed to promote increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women and newborns in developing, as well as, developed countries.

The Urban Zen Foundation creates, connects and collaborates to raise awareness and inspire change in the areas of wellbeing, preserving cultures and empowering children. They design forums, partner with existing organizations and bring together experts to define solutions and implement action.

About the organizers
Elmina Inc is a next generation media company that aims to inspire social change through the creation of engaging and inspirational content, websites and large-scale forums.

Since joining the company in March 2008, she has built a team of over 800 consultants nationwide and was named number one in consistency in 2009. The company invited Jennifer to attend the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance Celebration 2010 Conference in Los Angeles, California, where the company received top honors. She has held a variety of leadership roles during her career with Thirty-One and will be promoted to Senior Executive Director this month.

Jennifer is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in accounting. She obtained her CPA license and worked in public accounting for many years before becoming a stay at home mother. She resides in Nolensville, TN with her husband and daughter.

Thirty-One Gifts is a company devoted to supporting and encouraging women and offers unlimited earning potential in a causal work atmosphere with flexible hours.

For more information, contact Jennifer Pasalakis at jpasalakis@comcast.net or visit her website at www.MyThirtyOne.com/Jennifer.

The company firstly confirmed that Teresa (Terry) M. Vega is to join ip.access as Chairman of the Board. Terry has more than 30 years experience in technology and telecoms markets including two decades in the wireless industry, having run multi-billion dollar divisions of both Lucent and Motorola, and driven major product launches in both wireless infrastructure and handsets. She brings extensive strategic, operational and customer experience to the ip.access Board.

Terry replaces Andy Roberts who has left ip.access to become CEO of the Innovation Group where he was previously Non-Executive Chairman.

Stephen Mallinson, CEO of ip.access, commented: “Andy has made a hugely important contribution to ip.access over the years, and we wish him all the best at the Innovation Group. We are fortunate to be able to welcome Terry to take over the role of Chairman.

“Femtocells are in many ways a unique product in the wireless market. They form part of the operator’s network equipment, but are a consumer product living in people’s homes.” he added. “Terry’s knowledge of the demands of an infrastructure business and selling consumer products will be of enormous benefit to ip.access, and everybody here is excited to have such a respected industry figure join our team.”

In a further strengthening of the senior management team, Mallinson confirmed that Rob Jones had joined ip.access as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Worldwide, replacing Chris Rees who moves to the new post of SVP Corporate Development.

Before joining ip.access, Rob Jones was Vice President of Global Sales at CommProve, a provider of network monitoring and business solutions for mobile operators, where he managed the worldwide sales and business consultancy teams during a four year period of global expansion.

Prior to this, Rob was Business Development Director at Tektronix and has also held business development and engineering roles with Lucent Technologies and ICO Global Communications. Rob holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Quantum Physics.

“Rob’s knowledge of, and relationships with, the global operator community and his in-depth understanding of the business demands and challenges they are facing will be invaluable to our sales and marketing efforts going forward,” said Mallinson.

As well as adding to the senior management team, Mallinson also confirmed that ip.access is expanding its North American presence and has opened new offices in Bellevue, Seattle, Washington.

About ip.access
Based in Cambridge, UK, ip.access ltd (www.ipaccess.com) is a leading manufacturer of cost-effective picocell and femtocell infrastructure solutions for GSM, GPRS, EDGE and 3G. These solutions bring IP and cellular technologies together to drive down costs and increase coverage and capacity of mobile networks.

ABI Research ranks ip.access as the world’s number 1 picocell vendor; its nanoGSM® and nano3G™ solutions provide 2G and 3G coverage and capacity for offices, shops and (using satellite backhaul) passenger aircraft, ships and remote rural areas. nanoGSM is the world’s most deployed picocell, with live installations in more than 50 networks around the world and growing.

ip.access is also the company behind the multi-award winning Oyster 3G™ Femtocell technology, which dramatically improves the user experience for 3G services at home. Oyster 3G is the core femtocell technology in AT&T’s 3G MicroCell.

ip.access counts Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild Gestion, Intel Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, ADC, Cisco, Qualcomm and Motorola Ventures among its shareholders.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Europe:
Kevin Taylor
Robertson Taylor PR
T: +44 7 850 858 291
E : kevin.taylor[at]robertsontaylorpr[dot]com

US
Viv Kelly
Interprose
T: +1 (703) 860 0577
E: viviankelly[at]interprosepr[dot]com

Distributed on behalf of ip.access by NeonDrum news distribution service (http://www.neondrum.com)

Contact:
Elysa Voshell, Venice Arts
310–578-1745 | elysa@venice-arts.org

WHAT: Through the Eyes of Haitian Children, photographs of Haitian life taken before and after the devastating earthquake by youth participants in the Haiti-based project Zanmi Lakay (Haitian Creole for Friend’s Home). The project has been working with street children in Haiti for over 13 years, and was recently featured on “Lens,” the photo blog of the New York Times. The Price of Sugar, a film screening about Haitians working in slave-like conditions in the Dominican sugar industry, will augment the exhibition. Open to the public and free-of-charge.

WHEN: Exhibit: Gallery Talk, Saturday, August 14, 2010, 4–5pm, Artists’ Reception to follow, 6–8pm; open through September 24, 2010; Film screening: Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 7pm

WHERE: Venice Arts Gallery, 1702 Lincoln Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291 | 310-392-0846

WHY: While image making in the digital age is nearly ubiquitous, participant-photography programs around the globe seek to develop the visual storytelling skills of participants so that they may create images that offer unique community and personal stories. Says Zanmi Lakay’s Executive Director, Jennifer Pantaléon, “We treated them as student journalists” and worked with them to develop themes and stories that explored various aspects of life after the earthquake. “They are still working through trauma, so engaging them and making them come face to face with it through a lens was one way to soothe it and take it outside themselves” while engaging their community and bringing an insider’s access and perspective to a tragedy that has largely be portrayed through the eyes of outsiders. The compelling photos in this exhibit are testament to the potential power of the participant genre, and to the importance, especially in the digital age, of teaching young people how to create images that are concerned with meaning and aesthetic.

WHO: The Venice Arts Gallery, a program of Venice Arts, has been in operation since 2003, showcasing outstanding art by youth, as well as photography and visual art by professional artists. In 2010, the Gallery refined its curatorial focus to feature both professional and participant-produced documentary photography and film, including documentary work in experimental genres. This fall, it will launch its first, free Public Programs in conjunction with the Venice Arts–USC Institute for Photographic Empowerment to include a series of presentations, conversations, and special events about documentary photography, photojournalism, and storytelling in the digital age. Since 1993, Venice Arts has been running innovative programs in documentary photography, filmmaking, and digital media targeting low-income youth in Los Angeles, for which it has received numerous awards and recognitions. Venice Arts also implements regional, national, and international participant-produced photo documentary projects with adults and children. In 2007, Venice Arts joined with the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership to create the Institute for Photographic Empowerment.

MORE INFO: Venice Arts: www.venice-arts.org
Institute for Photographic Empowerment: www.joinipe.org