American Express Taps Interlex for Cause-Related Work
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2008
OPEN from American Express, the small business unit of the iconic financial services brand, has tapped Interlex to expand and intensify outreach to Hispanic and African American Woman-Owned Businesses as part of the company’s founding partnership with non-profit Count Me In’s “Make Mine A Million $ Business” campaign.
Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence is the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources and business education for women entrepreneurs. Their mission is to inspire 1 million women entrepreneurs to reach annual revenues of $1 million by the year 2010. Reaching this goal will create over 4 million new American jobs and $700 billion in economic activity. OPEN by American Express has supported the Make Mine a Million $ Business program since its inception.
“OPEN by American Express came to us,” says Interlex President & CEO Rudy Ruiz, “with a very specific set of goals: to grow awareness and participation by Hispanic and African American woman-owned businesses in this amazing and empowering program. We were thrilled and inspired when we attended the events. You have to see it to believe it. These are transformative experiences for highly motivated and successful women entrepreneurs.”
According to Rolando Rodriguez, Interlex’s Managing Director of PR, “OPEN’s involvement is very powerful and appealing to multicultural women entrepreneurs. It’s both an aspirational symbol of attainment and an incentive to apply.”
Finalists and winners are awarded financial coaching, discounts and prizes, and access to financing opportunities. Interlex’s role, working with OPEN’s Advocacy Marketing and Public Relations teams, includes multicultural media relations, partnership development and on-site support for the national campaign.