Women Entrepreneurs Group Hosts Fitness Expert Kathy Kaehler

Celebrity fitness trainer, author and exercise expert Kathy Kaehler was the keynote speaker at the Women Entrepreneurs Group event held at the Malibu Jewish Center on Wednesday morning.

A personal trainer to stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Cindy Crawford and the Kardashians, Kaehler candidly shared her insights into the world of business and how to market yourself with an audience of about two dozen women who ranged in experience from accomplished business owners to those just getting started. 

According to the two co-leaders of WEGs—Dawn Mena and Star Ladin—the businesswoman got “down and dirty” with the group regarding her personal experiences.

“Kathy was great because she was refreshing, honest and talked about her problems . . . problems that we all share, even though we’re not all fitness and health experts,” Mena said. “The fact that she’s written eight books and worked with A-list celebrities [and shared her challenges] is really powerful.”

Kaehler shared such details as how she got on the Today show. According to Mena, Kaehler said she wrote to Katie Couric that “You need me on your show.” 

“[Kaehler] went behind the scenes, she got into it with them [the WEGs attendees] and shared the honest truth  . . . of what it really takes to be successful, and gave examples of what she did, like taking action,” Ladin said. “We can learn a lot from people outside our own industry, from branding to finding our own superstar.”

This was the first WEGs event since Mena and Ladin took the reins from former leaders Amy Brenoff and Cathy Morrison, who started the group about two years ago. Mena was already a familiar face at WEGs when she was approached by Brenoff and Morrison to take over, as she’d been a guest speaker for the group on topics such as social media and the importance of quality writing.

“They reached out to me because I’m a woman entrepreneur, I was the [editor in chief] of a magazine, and had had a very long writing background,” said Mena, who owns the business Get Captivating Copy, which specializes in writing articles, custom bios and books.

Mena then looked to Ladin, who was her friend, colleague and publisher of the magazine where Mena was editor. Ladin also runs a business, Star Marketing and Media, but calls WEGs a “project of passion” for both partners.  

“Women do business differently—we do everything differently. Not better or worse but we are the peacemakers, the gatherers and we’re more about listening and using our intuition,” Ladin said. “We use all of our senses, all six of them. We are built differently, so we do entrepreneurship differently.”

“What this group does is it provides a network, which empowers women,” Mena said. “It’s not about competition; it’s about complementing each other.”

The diverse group of attendees range in levels of business experience and expertise. The goal of WEGs is to provide them an environment that is casual, friendly and nurturing where they can help one another. Part of the synergy of the group comes from its meeting spot. 

“Malibu is a perfect location. Not only is Malibu beautiful, it’s got a great energy and it’s perfect geographically. We had women from the Valley, Calabasas, Pacific Palisades and Thousand Oaks,” Mena said. “This group is full of quality people who are contributing and participating.”

WEGs hosts events at 10 a.m. on the second Wednesday of every other month, with the next event scheduled for mid-September. Those attending can come early at 9:30 a.m. for refreshments and networking, and are encouraged to bring business cards. The cost is $25 at the door and there is no annual membership to join. 

Each event features a speaker and although one has not been designated for the next meeting, Ladin said WEGs has “world-class, self-made entrepreneurs who want to fly in to speak with the group from all over the world.”

“Women have to learn to kind of stand in their own power and value themselves. We’re multitaskers—running a house, running a business, taking our kids to school—but we’re so humble about what we do. We need to understand how valuable we really are,” Mena said.

For more information, contact Mena at Dawn@getcaptivatingcopy.com. The WEGs website, www.wegs.org, is under construction and will be finished soon.