Women Mentoring Women

by Kimberly Kraemer, Special to Pillars of Franchising

Whether you are a beginner or a veteran in the franchising industry, having strong mentors and resources is key to growth and success. When I attended my first Women’s

Franchise Committee (WFC) meeting at the International Franchise Association (IFA) annual conference in 2018, I immediately knew I had found the support network that I needed. I was seated at a table full of successful, inspirational and intelligent women willing to share their insights and knowledge on previous successes and failures, and lessons learned from them.

The WFC is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging women in franchising by creating a network of business professionals who work to strengthen their success. They have created a number of programs and resources in order to achieve this goal, ranging from “how to” guides and conferences to local networking chapters.

As a supplier providing accounting and consulting services to the franchise community, I knew this group of women would be an integral part of my growth and success at Citrin Cooperman. While learning about the Women’s Franchise Network (WFN) and the local chapters that exist across the country, I realized there was an opportunity for me to get involved and help grow the New York/New Jersey Chapter.

Since becoming co-chair of the NY/NJ Chapter in July of 2018, I have hosted and attended countless webinars and roundtables consisting of men and women sharing their industry expertise and experiences. Learning from them has allowed me to gain useful knowledge to better understand the current franchise environment and needs of my clients. This networking group provides an intimate networking setting with a national reach. To date, the WFN has grown to 16 established local networks, with an additional eight in various stages of development or reorganization.

The WFC has evolved over the past few years, expanding their programs and resources to include video interviews and a weekly podcast on Clubhouse. These podcasts include stories of workplace challenges, managing work/life balance, climbing the corporate ladder and the ultimate power of entrepreneurship and franchising.

The NY/NJ Chapter, along with many others, takes into consideration the needs and desires of their chapter members when determining topics for events, webinars and roundtables. We started our chapter by surveying our members to determine their interests and what time of day was most convenient for them to attend a meeting. Taking the time to learn the interests of each member has been helpful to ensure high attendance at our meetings.

Our past events have included marketing webinars; roundtable discussions from franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers on current environment best practices (such as dealing with COVID-19); franchise development best practices; and various additional topics. We also mix in lighter events and have had paint and sips at our New York City office, a Zoom event on ‘How to Dress From Zoom to Night,’ and a few charitable events during the holiday season.

As co-chair of the NY/NJ Chapter, I look forward to seeing us continue to grow and gain the most from the various opportunities that continue to arise. Since the beginning, our members have been asking for an in-person wine tasting event – fingers crossed for 2022!

Kimberly Kraemer is a director and a senior member of Citrin Cooperman’s Franchise Practice providing audit and accounting, business consulting and advisory, and tax planning services to a wide spectrum of franchise-related businesses. Kimberly works with franchisors and multi-unit franchisees in a variety of industries. She has been co-chair of the NY/NJ Women’s Franchise Network since July 2018. Kimberly is a Certified Public Accountant in the States of New York and New Jersey and a Certified Franchise Executive. She can be reached at https://www. citrincooperman.com/industries/ franchising or https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-kraemercpa-cfe-277b7513/ or by phone at 646.795.5098

“Citrin Cooperman” is the brand under which Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP, a licensed independent CPA firm, and Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC serve clients’ business needs. The two firms operate as separate legal entities in an alternative practice structure. Citrin Cooperman is an independent member of Moore North America, which is itself a regional member of Moore Global Network Limited (MGNL).