Few individuals have had as lasting an impact on women’s entrepreneurship as Virginia Littlejohn, both domestically and internationally. As a trailblazer, visionary and advocate, her journey with NAWBO is a testament to the power of mentoring, leadership and collaboration.
Virginia, who served as NAWBO’s national president from 1984 to 1985, has been deeply involved in numerous women’s business organizations over her decades in business, during her presidency of several companies and one non-profit. However, her first organizational love has always been NAWBO—perhaps because she’s played a role in so many of NAWBO’s “firsts.”
Power in Numbers
Living in the Bay Area at the start of the women’s movement, Virginia served on the board and as president of San Francisco Women Entrepreneurs in the mid to late 1970s. She was also part of a small group of women business leaders advising the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Women’s Business Enterprise on recommendations for President Jimmy Carter’s landmark Interagency Task Force on Women’s Business Enterprise. Another advisor was Susan Hager, NAWBO’s first national president, and both were also delegates to the first White House Conference on Small Business in 1980.
During this time, Virginia coordinated a loose network of independent women’s business associations. Believing there was power in numbers and collaboration, in June 1979, she chaired a meeting in San Francisco with leaders of the independent groups and NAWBO’s national and chapter leaders.
After moving to Washington, DC following the 1980 White House Conference, Virginia immediately joined NAWBO and began recruiting independent associations. The largest was NJAWBO in New Jersey. Virginia also coordinated a successful lobbying campaign to create a permanent Office of Women’s Business Ownership at the SBA, supported by both NAWBO and the independent groups.
Moving and Shaking
Virginia’s commitment to women business owners was recognized early: in 1980, she received the SBA’s first Woman in Business Advocate of the Year Award. Virginia was “mortified,” however, because she felt “Susan Hager deserved it more.”
Susan mentored Virginia, introduced her to Washington’s political and business circles, helped her with client development, provided initial office space and became a cherished friend. Later that year, Susan invited Virginia to become NAWBO’s second representative on the Council of Small and Independent Business Associations (COSIBA), and Virginia became COSIBA’s chair in 1983-1984.
Susan also asked Virginia to write a chapter on women business owners for the 1983 book Women in Washington: Advocates for Public Policy, edited by Irene Tinker. By then, Virginia was the national vice president of public policy for NAWBO and president of the Capital Area chapter. She interviewed Susan and two other NAWBO members involved with early advocacy, three women on Capitol Hill and five women who had served in high-level positions on the Carter Administration’s interagency initiatives. The WBO chapter highlighted NAWBO’s early advocacy with the White House, and showcased its vital role on the interagency initiative.
Second Time’s a Charm
When the second White House Conference on Small Business took place in 1986, Virginia oversaw NAWBO’s participation. She and her powerhouse team devised a strategy that helped NAWBO members secure 12 percent of the total delegate seats—vastly more than any other organization. Women wore bright jackets at state conferences, stood out against men’s charcoal suits and delivered concise pitches on issues like prompt payment for government contracts, updating statistical classifications and tax concerns.
Each NAWBO chapter had a lead coordinator for its state. To avoid backlash, chapters never took more than half the delegate seats for a state, but the women were thoroughly trained and 15 were elected as chairs or co-chairs of their state delegations. NAWBO’s three-person policy team convened twice-weekly calls to refine strategies, and over 200 delegates received frequent voice-messaging updates and participated in intense policy training.
At the national conference in Washington, DC, NAWBO delegates used walkie-talkies to block vote, successfully passing 25 out of 26 policy recommendations from its Framework for the Future manifesto, co-written by Virginia and Susan Chaires, NAWBO’s attorney.
Best Little Organization
NAWBO’s success at the 1986 conference marked a turning point. Its members were recognized as major players in the small business arena, and Inc. magazine later dubbed NAWBO “the best little advocacy group in America.” Business associations that had previously overlooked women entrepreneurs began inviting NAWBO delegates onto their boards, and media outlets featured NAWBO delegates on the covers of prominent business magazines.
A series of NAWBO milestones in the 1980s included:
- Forming a foundation in the early 1980s (which later became the Center for Women’s Business Research), and establishing a bipartisan Political Action Committee (PAC) in 1983
- Hosting its first two National Public Affairs Days in 1983 and 1984, organized by Virginia
- Launching Project 2000 in 1985 to envision the future of women’s entrepreneurship
- Organizing turnkey congressional hearings that led to the passage of HR 5050, the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988—a monumental achievement led by national president Gillian Rudd, VP of public policy Hope Eastman, Virginia, and a total of about 10 NAWBO members from the Capital Area chapter.
Global Ideas and Impacts
NAWBO’s global influence also expanded. In 1984, at the beginning of Virginia’s presidency, NAWBO joined FCEM, a global network of women entrepreneurs. The Capital Area chapter’s international committee, chaired by Kathleen Diamond, held monthly breakfasts at the Four Seasons Hotel, attracting ambassadors, trade officials and top male business executives. NAWBO was often the only small business organization regularly invited to testify on Capitol Hill about international trade, alongside giants like the National Association of Manufacturers.
Later, Virginia organized three global best-practice conferences for the Paris-based OECD in 1997, 2000 and 2004, drawing representatives from as many as 86 countries. She followed up with OECD trainings in 2005 and 2006 in Istanbul for women entrepreneurs from the Middle East and North Africa. These gatherings shared U.S. models rooted in HR 5050, inspiring policies and ecosystem development worldwide.
Today, Virginia co-heads the U.S. delegation to the Women20 (W20) of the G20 countries, which include the European Union and the African Union, and she is the global coordinator for W20’s Women Entrepreneurs Act (WE Act) initiative, focusing on global policy implementation. With the U.S. set to host the G20 in 2026—its 250th anniversary—there are new opportunities for women’s entrepreneurial leadership on policy issues.
Vision for the Future
Back in 1985, Virginia was part of NAWBO’s 20-person brain trust behind Project 2000, envisioning the world they hoped to see by the new millennium—one that included parity in entrepreneurship and finance, top leadership roles for women in corporations and government and a woman sitting in the Oval Office of the White House. While writing NAWBO’s vision on a red IBM Selectric typewriter, Virginia found herself moved to tears as her young son Tyler sat on her lap.
“Project 2000 incorporated everyone’s deepest dreams for what a just, fair and equitable world could look like for women entrepreneurs,” Virginia recalls. Tyler quietly patted his mother’s leg, silently absorbing her lifelong passion for creating a better future.
“That vision is more vital now than ever,” Virginia believes, “as the world grapples with existential challenges like climate change, pandemics, disinformation, wars of aggression and the rapid emergence of AI. Women must play a much more powerful role in shaping strategic solutions and creating opportunities and wider prosperity for all.”
Continuing the Legacy
Virginia hopes NAWBO will continue to offer values-based, global leadership in the next 50 years—building on its track record of visionary thinking, impactful advocacy and global collaboration.
For decades, her contributions have helped NAWBO become a force—driving policy, sparking innovation and inspiring women business owners around the world. Her unwavering belief in NAWBO’s power to create a better future provides an inspirational call to action for us all.