ɫɫ��

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The owner of a leading West Michigan video and communications company will be the next speaker at the Entrepreneurship Forum speaker series at ɫɫ�� Michigan University's Haworth College of Business.

Cynthia Kay, founder of Cynthia Kay and Company, will speak at 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 17, in Room 2150 of Schneider Hall. The event is free and open to the public and begins with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling (269) 387-6059 or at wmich.edu/business/e-rsvp. Free parking is available in the Schneider Hall parking lot, Lot 72R.

The Entrepreneurship Forum series is sponsored by Educational Community Credit Union.

Cynthia Kay and Company

Founded by Kay after her award-winning career in broadcasting, Cynthia Kay and Company provides broadcast quality productions, graphics, animations, interactive media, digital signage and media and presentation training programs for clients that include Fortune Global 100 companies, small businesses and non-profits.

The firm specializes in thinking ideas into motion, and Kay set her company in motion in 1984.

Coming from a long line of entrepreneurs, Kay has more than lived up to the family entrepreneurial legacy, with her firm being honored as the Top Woman-Owned Business in her category by the Grand Rapids Business Journal and "Small Business of the Year" by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce in 2005. In 2006, the firm was recognized as one of West Michigan's 101 Best and Brightest Companies. Kay has been named One of West Michigan’s 50 Most Influential Women five times, most recently in 2014.

This past year, Kay penned the book “Small Business for Big Thinkers: Unconventional Strategies to Connect With and Win Big Business,” as a result of her interactions with the business community as well as her reactions to lectures on business. She blogs for CEO Magazine and also has her own blog . She has written a number of articles for the Washington Post and has been featured in Time Magazine and on NPR.

With the heart of a storyteller and the experience of a journalist, Kay has built an organization that is able to offer a suite of communications consulting services and can leverage the depth of expertise of firm members, providing everything from messaging strategy to crisis communications best practices. The company serves an active client base of more than 130 businesses and organizations.

About the series

The Entrepreneurship Forum is a monthly series sponsored by Educational Community Credit Union and hosted by ɫɫ��'s Haworth College of Business to bring stories of entrepreneurial success to the greater Kalamazoo community. The series is devoted to entrepreneurs and unique stories of start-up success.

Future Entrepreneurship Forum speakers

• Nov. 14, Norm Braksick, Foods Resource Bank

• Dec. 5, Matt and Rene Greff, Arbor Brewing

For more information, visit wmich.edu/business/entrepreneurship-forum or call (269) 387-6059.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.