09/03/2000

Name: Theresa Love
Age: 38
Position: Owner/chief executive officer

Company: African Sisters Community, an online information resource for minority businesses www.africansisters.com, Dallas 

Years in current post: 21/2
Education: "In 1980, I graduated from Lake Highlands High School, and in 1985, I attended Medical, Dental and Career School in Dallas as an office manager. In 1994, I trained in the field for the federal government's special Nutritious Food Program as administration manager."

How did you get your foot in the door? "In 1995, after working for the federal food program, I decided to use my expertise in helping other women search and establish research for their business.

"I used my experience to design a Web site that would enable me to implement research and connect other women, as well as minorities, with business opportunities that would enhance their ideals. As the jobs grew larger, I designed a board of directors to help me grow the business. My husband, Vernon Love, who is the president of the company, and André Lott, the vice president/chairman of directors, and my best friend, Gina Riley, who covers the marketing and research department, supported me from the beginning and put me in touch with various media personalities.

"My dreams of developing this group of professional women and men have been a success. I encourage all women of color to join our membership and support each other on a daily basis."

What is your toughest professional challenge? "Staying focused and convincing minorities that we can work together and share information for our empowerment.

"I share information with African-Americans, teaching them how to utilize their business on the Internet and how it could increase their revenue and clients. ... E-commerce has shown me a different avenue in the business world. I choose to stay on top of the new technology and include it into my daily lifestyle."

What are the characteristics of an indispensable employee? "An indispensable team member is one that is a hard worker, compassionate and fears God. We built our team around honest, enthusiastic people of integrity to develop leadership by creating a new lifestyle."

What are your employment needs in the next year? "African Sisters would like to be in the position to employ at least 50 new people. We are developing diversity programs to help educate our minority women in such areas as computer literacy, parenting, business research.

"We need private investors, venture capitalists, corporate sponsors and grants to build our research team. We are looking to recruit over 500,000 members and make this the biggest informative Web site on the Internet by the year 2001."