By Julie Schuster: On a gorgeous September 6 afternoon in Louisville, KY, Suzie Williford, NKBA Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, personally welcomed attendees to the 21C Hotel. Out over of 300 applicants, the lucky 75 of us met and welcomed one another on the rooftop terrace overlooking downtown Louisville and the Ohio River. The atmosphere was effervescent as there was good food, wine, music, and plenty of laughter.

Suzie explained that this event, the NKBA Women to Women Leadership Conference, was a long time coming and that for years she dreamt of orchestrating it. The goal was to bring together women from all corners of the design and remodeling industry to connect, share, and inspire one another. Her hope, she said, was to create a series of ongoing mentoring and leadership relationships within the community, starting with her and five other industry powerhouse women, whom I will talk about shortly.

The next morning, we started with an inspiring and humorous kickoff from Sarah Robbins of 21C Hotel group as she told us about her life and career path. Afterward, we moved into a panel discussion by all five of our other advisors:

• Chas Daniels, Entrepreneur and President of her own firm, Acero Bella, Inc.
• Cheri Phyfer, President of Water Innovations (attendance was remote)
• Mary Putman, VP of Marketing for GE Appliances
• Sherry Qualls, Owner and CEO of WhiteGood PR
• Marcia Speer, President of Poggenpohl U.S.

All of these women were vulnerable, funny, and inspiring by turns. The openness of the conversations we had that day from beginning to end created the environment to allow for all attendees to do the same. And that we did! We talked about the business environment, the path in life we have all walked to be where we are now, families, education, and so much more. For everything that was different amongst us, there was so much more that was the same. 

Our afternoon was centered around what interested us as individuals. I took a revitalizing yoga class and an art lesson before it was time to prepare for dinner where once again we mingled and got to know more of our mentor groups. The night ended with a funny and engaging Bourbon tasting event. Since I personally know nothing about bourbon, even learning how to sip it properly was a laughable activity.

The final morning, we enjoyed a nice breakfast and recapped what we had done during the conference. It was an opportunity for everyone to speak about what our personal take-away was from our last few days, with time to exchange contact information. Then we were whisked off to the GE Headquarters for more great food, demonstrations, and another engaging panel of women making a difference in their communities. More affirmation of how much better we make the world when we follow our passions.

There is NOTHING more powerful than feeling seen.  It is the greatest gift you can give someone.

I have always known that I am a herd creature. I love my NKBA Manhattan chapter as well as the other organizations that I belong to. I’m so proud to be President of our chapter, and I hope that I can lead with just SOME of the passion these women bring to the table. Our industry is in good hands.