5,000 expected at expo for working women

The biggest event of the year aimed at the needs of working women on Long Island is set for Wednesday night at the Carlyle on the Green catering complex in Bethpage.

More than 5,000 women, many of them holding down full-time jobs and raising a family, are expected at the event, called What Women Want, according to Steve Carl, owner of the catering facility.

“It's going to be Long Island's ultimate girls' night out,“ said Carl, who brainstormed the idea with Alissa Marti, the marketing director at the Farmingdale-based Long Island Radio Group, which includes stations  KJOY 98.3 FM and B103 FM. Marti said she is the producer of the event.

More than 50 vendors will be on hand, offering networking opportunities, fashion advice, vacation tips, job possibilities, health care discussions, food, wine and other beverages, and jewelry sales. Cosmetic surgeons will be there, as will fitness experts, a DJ and the rock band Mystic. “It will be the largest businesswomen's expo on Long Island this year,“ Marti said.

This will be the event's second year. Last year about 4,000 women attended, Carl said.

Things get under way at 5:30 p.m., and the event lasts until about 10. There's a $20 entry fee. About half of that money goes to two charities: Find a Cure Today, a Long Island-based nonprofit aimed at creating awareness and raising funds for breast cancer research, and the Spinal Cord Injury Project, a focus of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Men are certainly welcome. “This is probably a great place to meet and network with some of Long Island's most amazing women,“ Marti said.