View Calendar
Counseling Areas
Entrepreneurship
Market Analysis
Lending Prep
FirsStep Fast Trak
Training Program Certified
International Trade
___________________
Training Areas
Roundable Moderator
Workshop Instructor
First Step FastTrak Certified Facilitator
___________________
Michelle's Links
Go back to About Us Go Back to Board Go back to Staff
MICHELLE S. BUTLER: WBCC Founder, President & CEO, Executive Board, Grants Chair
Michelle is an entrepreneur at heart inspired by finding challenging and cutting-edge projects and turning them into reality. Michelle has founded a number of unique ventures, including being among the first to enter into legal and direct trade between the U.S. and Cuba.
Michelle's goal is to help others, particularly women, achieve their entrepreneurial goals and reach their full potential in regards to business ownership.
Contact Me: mbutler@wbcc-sd.org
After making history as one of the first to open trade relations between the United States and the Republic of Cuba, Michelle began assisting other women start and grow their own businesses by serving as Program Director of a U.S. Small Business Administration funded program. Ever the entrepreneur, and always having the desire to take ventures to their next level, Michelle transformed the WBCC SBA program into a full-fledged organization.
Michelle holds a Master's in Pacific International Affairs from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California San Diego. She also graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Communication and Spanish from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
While working as a freelance marketing consultant, Michelle noticed the untapped potential for U.S. companies in the Cuban market subsequent to the easing of the U.S. embargo toward Cuba in 2000. She pursued this unique business opportunity and became among the first to export directly and legally from the U.S. to Cuba. She went on to lead the first official trade delegation to Cuba on behalf of the state of California in partnership with the World Trade Center Association Los Angeles - Long Beach, securing a $10 million trade pact for the state of California.
Michelle then became a full partner and CEO in the Navarretta Group, a company that specialized in facilitating trade between the U.S. and Cuba responsible for bringing numerous U.S. companies successfully into the Cuban market with annual sales volume in the multi-millions. Michelle has collaborated with members of the U.S. Congress on trade policy with Cuba and has been a guest speaker and interviewee for various print, radio, and television media regarding U.S. - Cuba relations in addition to hosting numerous trade shows and events in Cuba for various U.S. firms. Michelle remains involved with Navarretta Group as a shareholder and active in U.S. - Cuba trade, politics, and cultural relations.
Michelle also established the WBCC as an independent organization after discovering the WBCC as a grant-funded program in desperate need of repair due to fiscal mismanagement and an un-unified Board of Directors. She then founded it as an organization, recruited a new Board of Directors, and completely revamped the program, running it like a business, as non-profits should be run.
Michelle is active in the community:
▪ 2007 40 Under 40 Honoree, San Diego Metropolitan Magazine
▪ 2007 101 Powerful Women Speaker, San Diego
▪ 2007 Women Who Mean Business Nominee, San Diego Business Journal
▪ 2007 BRAVO! Advocate of the Year, National Association of Women Business Owners
▪ 2006 Best Small Business Advocate, San Diego Supplier Development Council
▪ Founder, President/CEO Women's Business Center of California
▪ San Diego Regional/Metro Revolving Loan Fund Advisory Board Member
▪ Vice President Marketing, Organization of Women in International Trade San Diego
▪ Editorial Advisory Board, U.S. Cuba Trade News Magazine
▪ Patron Level Member and Supporter of the San Diego World Trade Center