About — First Tuesday USA Women's Networking

Our commitment to connecting extraordinary women with each other began in 1996 when Missy Lavender (now Co-founder & Executive Director of the Women’s Health Foundation) launched a First Tuesday monthly breakfast gathering for a small group of women at a Chicago Health Club. Two years later, Marcy Cole, PhD, took over the coordination in Chicago and transitioned the gatherings into an evening venue.

The primary purpose has and continues to be the intention to create and expand a vibrant, diverse sense of “community” amongst extraordinary women.

With that in mind, Robin Berman, M.D, launched a Los Angeles Chapter in 2003. Marcy Cole moved to L.A. in the Fall of 2004 and resumed coordination.

On Left: Marcy Cole & Missy Lavender On Right: Marcy Cole and Robin Berman

In the Fall of 2006, we extended our reach by launching a non-profit arm called First Tuesday Circle of Giving, offering our collective support to women, children, and families in need, both locally and globally.

Our LA 2007 & 2008 Families at Agape with Dr. Michael Beckwith

In order to provide more to our community and to insure consistent support of our non-profit efforts, Marcy Cole transitioned First Tuesday LA in the Fall of 2007 and First Tuesday Chicago in the Summer of 2009 into a membership organization.

There are currently 3 chapters of First Tuesday with more on the horizon. Marcy continues to coordinate the LA chapter. There is also a group in the South Bay in Southern California called “Divine Sisterhood”. Rose Venditto and Kathy McCabe coordinate our Chicago chapter.

On Left: Rose Venditto and Kathy McCabe with Marcy Cole during FT Chicago launch weekend.

On Right: Chicago First Tuesday gals at Leadership dinner!

First Tuesday gatherings are held in private homes or public venues on the first Tuesday of each month. Each evening includes unstructured social time, dinner, networking and a program on subjects that span the mind, body and spirit. Newcomers are welcome to join us on two occasions that appeal to them to see if our group resonates. If so, they can then join as a full fledged First Tuesday member.

In the spirit of building “community”, our vision has been to provide members with many other social and professional programs including: Book Club, Hiking Club, Singes Mixers, Lecture Series Featuring First Tuesday member entrepreneurs, Teleclasses, “Mommy and Me” groups and more. What links all of our programs is the intention of providing the kind of information, resources and networking that offer great and consistent personal and professional value to our members.

We also keep the connection and communications flowing through our on-line Yahoo network where members can send announcements, questions and requests via the group e-mail system. One First Tuesday gal recently shared, “It’s the transparency, interactivity and generosity that makes this kind of communication system so powerful and invaluable”.

To become a First Tuesday member there is a membership fee and a requested yearly tax-deductible donation to our non-profit arm each year. In turn, members have exclusive access to all of the online and offline opportunities that First Tuesday offers. First Tuesday “Friends” who are not members, are invited to “open” events and are kept informed as to what is happening with our group and with our non-profit efforts.

There are now over 350 women in Chicago and over 850 women in LA, who are either peripherally affiliated or actively involved with our community of amazing women.

In 2009, Marcy Cole founded First Tuesday USA LLC offering partnerships with women in various cities who are interested in launching a First Tuesday chapter of their own.

Please peruse the links on this site to discover even more detailed information, and Thank You for visiting our network . We hope to officially welcome you on board very soon!