Grace Diaz, Owner
Teddy Bears Under the Rainbow
Rhode Island
2004 Center for Women & Enterprise �Rising Star� Award Recipient

"The Center for Women & Enterprise taught me the power of money and how I can be more successful in all that I do." As a single mother supporting five kids and her own mother, Grace Diaz is very familiar with the financial difficulties of daily life. But thanks to the help of the Center for Women & Enterprise, she is also very familiar with the many successes of daily life.

After arriving to Providence, Rhode Island from the Dominican Republic in early 1990, Grace first learned of the Center for Women & Enterprise at a one-day financial seminar. She recalls, the class "taught me how to set goals in my budget and in my life." Inspired by the workshop and eager to fulfill her dream of opening her own child daycare center, Grace enrolled in the seven-week Making Your Money WorkTM (MYMW) course and then the 4-week Quickbooks workshop at CWE.

"Both courses made me realize I was wasting a lot of money and that I needed to make sacrifices to reach my goals," Grace explains. With a strong understanding of budgeting and finances, Grace was able to open the doors of her child daycare center Teddy Bears Under the Rainbow in late June of 2002.