Filene Research Institute Chief Innovation Officer Denise Gabelis pitching a TV show to Oprah to help out a small businessowner.

“It's not about me winning but helping Catherine, the NorthCarolina small clothing boutique owner who helped our i3 innovationteam members test their last Filene project CU Launch,” saidGabel.

Placed in Filene's Innovation Lab for further development, CULaunch taps into the knowledge and expertise of credit unionprofessionals and pairs them with small business owners in need. Itis designed to be a transparent layer between small businessesneeding specific resource assistance and credit unions.

Encouraged by her husband, sister and boss, Gabel recentlysubmitted her entry for Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star on OWNTV. She said when she stopped by Catherine's store just to saythank you with two of the i3 group CU Launch project members KelleyParks, owner of credit union branding and marketing firmgira{ph}and Ginger Salt, former Truliant FCU senior vice presidentof marketing, something clicked. Her show pitch to Oprah would beabout helping small business owners.

She billed her show as a “What Not to Wear” makeover for smallbusinesses. Parks filmed the audition video right in Catherine'sstore as Gabel was providing some tough love.

“When we got there, Catherine shows us around and startschoosing outfits for us, and she's really good at finding somethingfor everyone including the top I'm wearing in the opening scene forthe audition video,” said Gabel. “The more I talked with Catherine,the more I realized that she needs a helping hand-not a costlyextreme home makeover-just a little good old-fashioned finetuning.”

As Gabel looked around she advised Catherine to tweak hersignage from Women's Fashions to Revamping Women's Fashions. Shealso suggested sprucing up outside.

“She is trying to make her business model selling clothing whenit's not about selling but revamping women,” said Gabel.

Despite its submission six weeks after the competition started,Gabel's audition video garnered 38,428 votes by the July 3deadline. With other submissions receiving votes in the millions,Gabel said she's not sure if she'll be selected as a finalist,slated to be announced in mid-July.

Whether she is selected or not, Gabel said she was happy toboost conversation around innovation and small business.

“I went into this because I promised to come back and personallyhelp Catherine so why not bring a major network with me?” saidGabel. “Imagine helping small businesses grow and people watchingthe show and learning together. Imagine these viewers creating acommunity where they help each other and the role that creditunions can play. Imagine…that's how innovation begins.”