News Briefs - Inland Northwest Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners

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September 11, 2008

May 2008

Billie Moreland honored as Regional Small Business Journalist of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration

Billie Moreland In making the award to Moreland, the Small Business Administration in its Press Release stated:

Moreland is the only freelance technical writer in Spokane with extensive experience in business, technology, science and food writing. She combines power of the pen with the reach of the Internet to share entrepreneurial topics.

Moreland has promoted businesses of nearly every type - from high technology and specialized human services, to coffee supply houses and medical care companies. Her features about local businesses and industries appear in national publications, electronic newsletters, technical news articles, magazine features and Spokane area newspapers.

Moreland's valuable role as a journalist advocate includes raising awareness of services and resources available to aid in business success. Furthermore, Moreland is a guest speaker at Chamber of Commerce events, SBA roundtables, and neighborhood action group meetings. In her "spare time", she works with community college and area university entrepreneurial programs, volunteering to judge annual business plan competitions. She is the current district director of the SCORE chapters that serve eastern Washington and north Idaho. She is an active member and corporate partner of the Inland Northwest Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). She created a monthly newsletter for NAWBO and continues to produce, publish, circulate and post it online

Moreland publishes the official Terabyte Triangle, (a distinct area of downtown Spokane characterized by commercial space with high-speed connectivity) electronic newsletter covering technology businesses, bioscience businesses, educational institutions, and real estate and connectivity resources. Due to her knack for making high-tech products understandable to the general readership, Moreland was chosen as one of the contributing columnists for the new Spokesman Review technology section when it was founded in 2005 to showcase innovations and Spokane technology businesses.

Moreland excels in integrating news articles into compelling master documents of all forms - including grant applications, civic award nominations, and summary articles for regional publications. She wrote the nomination document for the international Intelligent Community competition, putting the state of Washington on the worldwide map. For two years in a row, the city of Spokane obtained top honors as the "most intelligent community in the United States" for its technology foundations and use of optical fiber communications; and number two internationally only behind Glasgow, Scotland. Her nomination also earned Spokane a national "All-American City" award in 2006. Another nomination document resulted in a Spokane woman entrepreneur being named the national NAWBO/Verizon Business Owner of the Year.

Both book smart and street smart, Moreland applies her academic background in an applied scientific area with her years of business experience as a restaurateur, software developer and technical writer. Her journalistic talents have contributed to the recognition and bottom-line of small businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration is proud to honor Billie Moreland with the 2008 Small Business Journalist of the Year award.

Congratulations, Billie!

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