Andie Hines

O wner + Founder

By Barb Sieminski |

by Sue Rawlinson

A transplanted Lima, Ohio native who moved to the For t years ago, Andie Hines has painted our town a lovely crimson with her vibrant Red Tree corporate events and marketing agenc y (redtreepro com), of which she is the owner.

Give yet another shout-out to this high-honors graduate of the University of Saint Francis, proud mom of 14-year-old Emma, and an advocate for entrepreneurial women, with her newest venture which she founded: an online suppor t group called O wn Your Success.

The entity, said Hines, is to remove barriers for entrepreneurial women, “to help them create successful, sustainable businesses.”

Removing such barriers for women business owners include access to health care (“I’ve been work ing for over a year to find group insurance for us. And we’re work ing with Direc tCare LLC as a great supplement to Marketplace coverage”); office space (“ Within the nex t year, we’ll have a physical space that will be a shared office environment for entrepreneurial women in downtown For t Wayne”); network ing and mentoring (“ created through monthly programming and a quar terly professional development book club, as well as our ver y ac tive Facebook community ”); as well as assistance identifying funders and business par tnerships

“And finally, an overall elevation of the message that WE ARE HERE With only 3 percent of local business owners in For t Wayne being women, there is a serious need for voice, ” said Hines, “and I am shouting ours from the mountaintops to anyone who will listen both in government and the private sec tor ”

Hines provides monthly programming for these enterprising women on various topics such as business coaching, local professionals giving advice in their par ticular area of exper tise, and even personal development

OYS is in the process of getting its 501(c)(3) designation, according to Hines, whose experience includes 17 years in sales and marketing, a stint in ad agencies, work ing as direc tor of regional development for the For t Wayne Philharmonic, as well as experience within a national printing company

“ Then I had a brush with cer vical cancer and it was the wakeup call that I needed to go out on my own, ” said Hines “I realized that I could do so much more than just source printing for my clients ”

Hines draws her inspiration from the Bible, in John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble But take hear t! I have overcome the world ”

As a single mom running a marketing company and a growing non-profit, life can get a bit hec tic But Hines is not deterred “I t ’s comfor ting k nowing God is in this with me; that even on the nuttiest days, He’s got it all under control, ” she said a

KEYNOTE SPEAKER JANE SEYMOUR

Best known for her starring role on Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, Seymour is an acclaimed Emmy and Golden Globe winner, humanitarian, author, artist, entrepreneur, and a mother and grandmother— a modern-day Renaissance Woman.