March is Women’s History Month. There have been several programs around Greater Owensboro that have focused on and celebrated women’s contributions to the community including this week’s Athena Awards luncheon.
The Chamber was honored to partner with Girl’s Inc. for Athena’s 19th year — to spotlight the important work in our community of leaders lifting up women. This year, Girl’s Inc. added the Legacy Award to posthumously honor a person who has contributed to the lives of women in our community.
Also released this week, our GOChamber quarterly magazine focused the first issue of 2017 on women in our community.
We struggled for days to find the right phrase or words needed to portray the message for our cover. We wanted it to capture what it means to be a woman and all that it can encompass on any given day — we decided on “Getting it Done.”
This sums up the women I know. From the outstanding women with whom I am privileged to serve with at our Chamber, to our board members, to all of the women throughout our membership and our community — they are “Getting it Done.”
Leaders. Innovators. Visionaries. Risk-takers. Entrepreneurs. Business owners. Directors and executives. Doctors, lawyers, educators and volunteers.
Mothers, daughters, grandmothers sisters, aunts and friends.
Most of these women play many of these roles every single day.
The face of leadership in Owensboro is changing. Today, women are out front and leading in various sectors across Greater Owensboro. There are vast numbers of women in our community playing influential roles in their respective fields.
We still have work to do, but one thing is certain — we have a group of emerging leaders here in Owensboro that inspire. Their talent and ambition are equal to their compassion for family and their dedication to where Owensboro is headed. They know who they are.
So let’s celebrate the women we know who “get it done” every day, and those remarkable women who have left indelible marks on our community.
By Candance Brake President and CEO Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce