{ INFLUENTIAL WOMAN }
YOU ARE ENOUGH. PHOENIX RISING BY NICOLE HEROUX WILLIAMS I PHOTOS BY NSPWHEELER STUDIO BY HILLARY WELLES I PHOTOS BY BRODY
Kelly Breuer is a spitfire. She is an innovator, entrepreneur, workhorse, and master of re-invention. She has founded several successful businesses and is currently the publisher of three online women’s magazines. Even over Zoom, Kelly’s boundless energy crackles through the screen like a Fourth of July sparkler. And, as she begins to talk, it’s evident she’s a straight shooter with no time to beat around the bush.
this point without an incredible team of freelance writers, photographers, and supporters along the way, including a very good friend of mine, Cheryl Kates. Cheryl gave me the courage to continue building my dreams and pushed me to keep going, supporting me every step of the way. Even when we didn’t see eye to eye, she was always still there
“I’ve been busting my butt for the past five years,” Kelly says, chuckling. During that time, she has grown Rochester Woman Online to over 300 pages a month, launched the bi-monthly Central New York Woman Online, created a special section in the magazines featuring female entrepreneurs called She Hustles Talks with LIVE video feed for social media – and, just this month, launched Influential Woman Online. Her readership is upward of 100,000 subscribers across all platforms – social media, web, email, YouTube, and more. And until now, she’s done most of it on her own. “For RWO and CNYWO, it’s always been me doing the day-to-day responsibilities, creating the look and feel, doing the design, and creating the brand,” she says with remarkable good cheer. “I am responsible for all the sales, customer service, editing, layout and design, keeping the websites updated, the uploads that take hours…I work at least 70 hours a week.”
pushing me. She would tell me how it was, even when I didn’t want to hear it.” Having Cheryl on her team helped Kelly immensely, as Cheryl could spot potential problems ahead of time and help prevent issues. “I must admit, she did say ‘I told you so’ quite a few times,” Kelly says with a giggle.
But Kelly is quick to give credit where credit is due. “I couldn’t have gotten to
Moving into 2021, Kelly feels blessed to have a great team of writers,
photographers, and, for IWO, copublisher Dr. Pam Denton. But even with such an amazing and motivated group, it is a constant struggle to ensure that deadlines are met, along with scheduling everyone and, of course, bringing in sales to keep everything going. But, in her words, “What worthwhile dream has ever been easy?” The truth is that Kelly has been busting her butt for much longer than five years. The eldest of two children, she grew up in the small town of Geneva in New York’s Finger Lakes area. After her parents’ divorce in her early teens, Kelly went to live with her paternal grandparents and stayed with them until she graduated from Alfred University in 1992. She had a close relationship with both of her grandparents, especially her grandmother, who became an important role model for Kelly. She taught Kelly to go after her dreams no matter what - that quitting was never an option. “She taught me to have a strong work ethic and the drive, determination, and strength to go along with it,” Kelly says. “Working is in my DNA. My grandmother worked until she was 92. She was raised on a farm with 10 kids in the family in the early 1920s, so she had to work her whole life. She was a ball of energy – only 4’9” but she could outpace me shopping, even in her 90s!” Her grandmother also modeled a positive and loving outlook. “She always saw the good in people, no matter what,”
