Victoria O’Conner, the store manager of The Impeccable Pig in downtown Athens, has always wanted to open her own boutique. Her mom was a stay-at-home mom, and she decided from a young age that she wanted to do the opposite. O’Conner sees the Women’s Business Expo as a way to engage and support other women.

The 7th Annual Women’s Business Expo in Athens, Ga., will be held at the Holiday Inn Express-Athens on Oct. 19, 2018 from 8 a.m to 3 p.m.

October marks National Women’s Small Business month, and according to The 2017 State of Women-Owned Business Report commissioned by American Express, there’s a lot to celebrate.

As of January 2017, there are an estimated 11.6 million women-owned businesses in the United States that employ nearly 9 million people and generate more than $1.7 trillion in revenues.

From 1997 to 2017, the number of women-owned businesses has grown 114 percent compared to the overall national growth rate of 44 percent for all businesses.

Visit  https://www.georgiasbdc.org/wib_athens/ for more information on the event.