Birmingbelle of the Week: Andrea Walker

Andrea Walker has a passion for helping small businesses. That’s why she started her company W. Social Marketing, which helps small businesses build relationships with targeted customers through innovative marketing strategies and new technologies including social media. 


Originally from Gadsden, Ala., Andrea moved to Birmingham in 2003 to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and feel in love with the Magic City. 


“I admire organizations like Birmingham Entrepreneur, Innovation Depot, Central Alabama Women Business Center, Operation New Birmingham and a slew of other public/private groups that work tirelessly to help small businesses and high-growth companies thrive in the city,” Andrea said. “The worst thing anyone can do is not take action. If you’re passionate about a cause and you don’t see anyone advocating for it, then just get out there and do it yourself.”


And Andrea is doing just that, in part with a new initiative called the SHE-Network. The first SHE-Network event is Monday, June 7, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Culinard Café. (You can register for this free event at  http://shenetwork.eventbrite.com. This session will focus on coaching women in business how to use social media and to take your connections offline and build valuable business relationships. 


Andrea explains more about SHE-Network:


“SHE Network is an acronym for Smart, Hyper-Connected, Engaged. Through my work with various women entrepreneur organizations and startups, I was seeing various challenges women entrepreneurs face and part of that was learning how to use technology to grow their business. Women are natural communicators and right now social networking is primarily dominated by women users. There is a huge opportunity to give women entrepreneurs a competitive advantage in the marketplace. SHE-Network provides education, mentorship and, of course, networking opportunities with technology and online marketing experts.”

So what is it that kept Andrea in Birmingham? What does she love about this city? 

“While most people don’t see Birmingham as a big city, I see it as a perfect opportunity to build a distinct culture that fosters innovation. Right now, Birmingham is on the cusp of embracing a new eco-system that will help the city in the long run. Birmingham has so much potential for the start-up community and it’s exciting to be on the ground floor of that.”



Are you a Birmingbelle? If you would like to be featured in this column email me at javacia@soulinstereo.com