Susan Williams DeFife founded Women's Connection Online in 1994 to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the Internet to leverage the strength of the women's market. An early innovator of the community business model, Women's Connection Online fills the void for useful information, networking opportunities and value-added products and services for women business owners and professionals. Since receiving its initial venture capital financing in May 1997, Women's Connection Online (www.womenconnect.com) has become the top online community for this audience.
The WCO website at www.womenconnect.com features original high-quality content and news of interest to women. The site includes: over 1,100 pages of content in its information library covering topics such as business/career, politics, personal finance, health and other issues; bulletin boards and chat; a searchable events calendar; a listing of women's organizations and links to other women's sites on the web; electronic commerce areas; and directories of members of the WCO community, including a searchable directory of women-owned businesses. Women's Connection Online has been recognized by Lycos Top 5%, AOL Hot Sites, SNAP! Online's Best of the Web, Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Yahoo's Beatrice's Web Guide, CNN Interactive, The Washington Post, and Microsoft Money '98.
Susan has substantial organizational, management, leadership, and marketing experience. Prior to founding Women's Connection Online, she served as Executive Director of Women Executives in State Government, a leading nonpartisan executive women's organization. Susan previously owned her own marketing and public affairs consulting firm, The DeFife Group, and was active in Delaware politics as a press advisor to Gov. Mike Castle in both his campaign and as Governor. She has also been a successful television and radio reporter.