I had the pleasure of attending the Greater Houston Conference for Women yesterday. Besides the wonderful lunch (Really, the little plate was quite artfully arranged, complete with a vibrant and pleasing color scheme of chicken and tuna salads, sweet bread and guacamole sauce over a corn, black bean and red onion mixture tucked inside a red leaf, WITH a small flower delicately perched on top—nevermind the watery tea) I enjoyed both the panels and the keynote speakers. Kudos to Laura Mayes, whose panel was about the incredible power of women online, and also to fabulous keynote speakers Andrea Buchanan and Tina Seelig. I can’t think of any three women more down to Earth—or possibly more intelligent.

I enjoyed Laura's talk best. She helped me realize how powerful women are as a force on the Internet these days. What began for her as a way to post pictures of her baby son for family and friends on the Internet became a heavily-followed blog, which led to offers to write on other blogs, which eventually led to the creation of kirtsy.com. Laura created Kirtsy with two other "friends" she met online who realized that together they could create a one-stop Web site for their followers to go to for the content that all of them wrote about. Now, even Oprah advertises on their site.

Pretty neat story, right? We should all be taking notes on the power of women on the Internet! The other two speakers actually left me with nuggets of wisdom that compliment what I took from Laura. Andrea Buchanan reminded me that if we don't like what we see, sometimes we just need to change our perspective. Fellow keynote speaker Tina Seelig presented to us the necessity and power of imagination in entrepreneurship.

Whether I am an entrepreneur or not, no business can survive forever--and certainly cannot grow-without the innovation that comes with challenging yourself to do more with less. I am realizing that the power of women online is even now growing exponentially, and I'm excited for a future where I have the chance to make a difference by harnessing that considerable power with imagination and creativity for a great purpose.