Two businesses to build a ‘strong community of women helping women’ at Plaza West

When Debra Lee heard fellow business consultant Jill Miller speak at a Wichita Independent Business Association event, she says that “right away I knew I need to connect to her.”

She had no idea of how big a connection it would turn out to be.

Lee is now opening her At the Market Retail and Development Center in 6,000 square feet at Plaza West at Central and West, and Miller is moving her Finishing School for Modern Women there as well.

“I’m excited because she’s going to buy all my tables and chairs for classes, and I’m going to get to put my logo on the door, so it’s almost like we’re co-branding,” Miller says.

The idea, she says, is “to build a really strong community of women helping women.”

Miller started her Finishing School in 2015 to help women personally and professionally with “skills that they need for today’s world,” she said at the time.

Though Miller doesn’t have time to teach as many classes as she used to, she says she still wants to continue the school, which most recently has been downtown.

Lee has operated At the Market out of a couple of different and more temporary spaces along Kellogg, but she says the Plaza West space is going to allow her to expand her services in a way she’s never been able to previously.

At the Market “was born out of my passion to help women business owners grow their businesses,” Lee says.

She has a learn-and-earn program where women can meet for a business class with various educators and then set up a booth for whatever product or service they’d like to sell, such as jewelry or insurance. The public is invited for that portion of the day.

This retail opportunity will be available every Saturday when At the Market opens in March.

There also will be business mixers and other educational and retail opportunities.

“Our focus is women, but we also have men in our group,” Lee says. “We learn from them, too.”

Miller says she’s excited about the new Plaza West space, but she says she decided to move her consulting office to its own quiet space at 1999 N. Amidon, which she says has “a great corner office with a view of the river.”