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ONLINE LEARNING PORTAL TO DELIVER HIGH CALIBER PROFESSIONAL TEACHING AT THE TIME AND PLACE WOMEN ARE READY FOR IT. STAY TUNED FOR NAPWL '"U" NEWS!

STATE OF ASSOCIATION: JUNE 2012
If you were to visit the website for EWING Irrigation(www.ewing1.com) and click on the tab marked, ‘resources’ and then accessed the option marked ‘trade associations’ from the drop down menu; you would discover a long list of  trade associations related to the landscape industry that exist across this nation, yet only one that contains the word,  ‘women’.

The National Association of Professional Women in Landscape – NAPWL.

Founded in October of 2010, the National Association of Professional Women in Landscape headquartered in Orange County, California, is dedicated to serving the needs and empowering women in the green and landscape industry by promoting professionalism, education, sustainability and a sense of community. The NAPWL is a diversified group of professionals whose disciplines include landscape architecture, design, engineering, landscape and construction management, contracting, water-management, consulting and environmental science. By focusing on promoting the advancement of women in the green industry through education, technology, and alliances, and by building a collaborative community of thought-leaders, the NAPWL and its alliances provide its members with a unique and world-class value proposition. Industry leader Judith M. Guido, Chairwoman of Guido and Associates stated, ”Women play a significant role in all businesses today, and they have a huge impact on both the national and global economies. The NAPWL is building a world-class community of the brightest and most innovative women in the green industry, who are leaving an indelible and sustainable mark on our planet through their enormous economic and ecological contributions. I’m proud to be a part of such a powerful and prominent group of thought-leaders. ” The NAPWL is an association comprised of a diversified group of women, across a broad spectrum of disciplines in the landscaping and green industry, including landscape architects, designers, engineers, contractors, landscape and construction managers, horticulturalists and environmental scientists.  The purpose of the organization is the advancement of women economically and ecologically, with a focus on building smart partnerships and alliances, while fostering friendships and giving back to the community. Angelia Woodside, the Founder of NAPWL stated, ’from past experiences and ongoing feedback from women colleagues, I felt there was a void that existed in our industry in connecting, empowering and educating women. In order to fill that void and create a collaborative environment where women could learn to successfully grow their businesses and gain prominence in the industry, the National Association of Professional Women in Landscape was born.” This progressive collective of women have made swift headway in establishing an audience and voice that is uniquely their own.  The closed group for NAPWL on LinkedIn has already reached 890 members, all of which are exclusively comprised of women who actively work in the landscape industry in the United States of America. The analytic reports from the browsing audience of the NAPWL Facebook page are larger than that number.

 In 2011, the NAPWL participated in the Landscape EXPO in Long Beach by hosting business education series seminars which gained recognition for earning CEU’s from the Irrigation Association. To exemplify quality business education and support those women who perhaps had been strained by the economic pressure, the NAPWL hosted a free four-part business webinar series in 2011 that were be taught by women leaders and subject matter experts in the Green industry. The four webinars were hosted by Judith M. Guido,

Chairwoman of Guido and Associates, who addressed innovative marketing and branding techniques needed to grow a profitable green business, Laura Weatherbee and Alle Rorie of GIS Dynamics, who discussed the role of technology in streamlining business systems while creating a sustainable competitive advantage for business owners, Executives, Mary Martinez, Maintenance Channel Manager at Horizon Distributors, Inc. and Sharon Vessels, Director of Marketing at NDS, Inc., whom addressed maximizing profitability by partnering with your supplier and how to effectively work with the distributor for growing your business, and Pam Edmiston, who had risen to the rank of president at Landscape Development Inc., and is leading the company in its green project management practices and deployment of technology and discussed successful strategies for managing projects to satisfy clients.  

Bringing formalized structure to the larger community of professional women working in all areas of the landscape industry has thrived through social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The NAPWL aims to become the ‘next generation’ in professional associations, through delivering customized learning for all manners of business practice support via webinars, conference calls, and more.

Local chapters are forming in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona. Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Orange Counties launched local chapter groups in December of 2011. Southern California chapter attendees commented on how rewarding it is to finally find a community of like-minded professionals with which to collaborate, and network with. The NAPWL chapters have been granted endorsement from EWING to utilize their classrooms for assembly which has opened the gateway for local chapters for form in 35 states across the USA.

Looking forward to 2012, the NAPWL will be traveling to the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association trade show, the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association trade show, and again participating in the Landscape EXPO trade show in Long Beach, CA.

Membership has its benefits for the women of the NAPWL, who will have exclusive access to customized business education that will cover the entire spectrum of skills needed to operate a complete and professional business presence in the landscape industry. The newly formed, curriculum series offered online through the ‘NAPWL University’ will bring high level business training for women by women. Currently, there are two tracks of learning curriculum available; ‘The 12 Building Blocks of Business’ designed to deliver real world training on all areas of running a successful and profitable business, and ‘Nuts and Bolts’ courses that address specialized educational topics, at an in-depth level to help members work smarter.  

The NAPWL is also helping the industry to move forward by building a bridge of community between the future professional women in landscape and women in the workplace through the operation of student chapters. The launched its first NAPWL ‘Campus’ chapter on the grounds of one of the seven Polytechnic Universities in the nation, Cal Poly Pomona. Bringing NAPWL members in to speak to the group of 17 women students on a monthly basis helps to provide positive role models of success in the industry. The student members have voiced their appreciation also to the NAPWL for providing guidance and real world training about how to put their learning to good use after graduation. The NAPWL Campus members connect and collaborate also through the NAPWL Campus Facebook page, just for them.

Our long range goals for providing professional visibility and increased credibility to all women practicing in the landscape industry will take many years to accomplish. The NAPWL functions with the help of volunteer members and board members whom donate time, and resources. An advisory board also exists made up of Sage women in business. These advisors are also dedicated to the cause of creating the nation’s first landscape association that is all-inclusive between the trades, and is exclusively for developing an empowered community of women professionals in landscape.

At this juncture in the development of the NAPWL, we are focused upon building alliances with existing associations. To other landscape related associations within the United States, the NAPWL is the ‘value added benefit package’ of extra support available to all of the women members of their association. To date, this has been a very attractive offer accepted by the Professional Landscape Care Network, and we anticipate a formal announcement of the partnership to occur before July of 2012.

If you find this type of professional community to be one in which you feel compelled to join the cause, and would like to participate, please send an email to office@napwl.com and request a membership application form or call 1-888-780-7992.