Reading: #30: Helping Women Achieve Economic Equality (Fran Pastore)

Fran Pastore grew up in a tight male-dominated Italian family.  She watched how all her female relatives were disempowered and forced to become dependent on a male for their future. Fran talks to CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour about how and why she decided to gather her fate into her own hands by applying to college (her mother stopped talking to her because of it!) and eventually opened the Women’s Business Development Council of Connecticut (CTWBDC.Org) that supplies free support services for female business owners.  Fran’s #1 tip for reinventing out of your disapproving family: “Surround yourself with people who have skills and knowledge you don’t have.”