Dorothy “Dot” Henke, former owner of Dot’s Pretzels, LLC, will speak at the Start Up Minot business showcase/networking event from 7-8:30 a.m. July 14 at the Carnegie Center, 105 2nd Ave. SE, in downtown Minot.

Henke will speak about starting, growing and eventually selling Dot’s Pretzels LLC to Hershey. The event is free, open to the public and includes free coffee and donuts.

“I told my employees many, many times – when it comes to growing a successful company it’s about baby steps in the right direction. Make a list of pros/cons for every decision and then to continue to build your company, and in order to do that well you need five things: Passion, Professionalism, Versatility, Engagement and Authenticity,” said Henke in information provided by Start Up Minot.

The Velva-area native has been a guest speaker for the Start Up Minot Academy powered by CO.STARTERS course.

“We are excited to have Dot supporting local and regional entrepreneurs by sharing her success story at Start Up Minot,” said Mark Lyman, Minot Area Chamber EDC economic development specialist. “We are sure proud of her hard work to start, develop and eventually sell her business – and thank you for providing us such amazing pretzels!”

Future monthly gatherings will be held on the second Thursday of every month and feature speakers from the community as they share their entrepreneur experience.

A Facebook page is set up to communicate information about both the Business Showcase/Networking event and the Start Up Minot Academy. Follow and like the page at www.facebook.com/startupminot. To apply for the class, prospective students should go online to www.minotchamberedc.com/doing-business/start-up-minot/ to fill out an application.