Women's Business League Member of the Year

This Award Isn’t Just Mine — It Belongs to Every Woman Who Helped Me Rise

Winning the Women’s Business League Member of the Year Award is an incredible honor — one I’m deeply grateful for. But here’s the truth: this award isn’t just about me. It represents the power of community, generosity, and the women who believed in me long before I believed in myself.

When I left my full-time teaching job, I carried the label “just a teacher” around like it was permanent. I had spent so long in the classroom that I couldn’t imagine any identity beyond it. The idea of becoming a business owner, a speaker, a coach, a leader? That felt impossibly far away.

Then I found the Women's Business League — and everything started to shift.

The Women Who Opened the First Door

My very first connection to WBL came through Erin McLaughlin and Shannon Mounsey, two chapter leaders whose kindness and vision helped me imagine a future I hadn’t yet considered. Meeting Margaret Katch, an Arbonne consultant who saw potential in me before I saw it myself, gave me the courage to try skills I didn’t know I had.

Those meetings cracked something open in me. I started to see that “just a teacher” wasn’t the right title at all.

It was only the beginning.

Leadership Isn’t Linear — It’s a Journey

I stepped into chapter leadership early on, energized and hopeful. And while it ultimately wasn’t the right fit at that moment, that experience gave me clarity I desperately needed. I learned who I was, who I wasn’t, and who I wanted to be for the members of WBL.

Stepping down wasn’t failure. It was self-leadership.

And I carried that lesson with me.

One of the biggest commitments I made to myself afterward was to show up — fully. For me, that meant attending every Monday Morning Meeting. I schedule my day around this one hour because it’s that powerful. Every meeting brings new faces, new stories, new possibilities. I learn who these women are, I learn how to support them, and I connect them with each other. That practice alone has changed my business more than anything else I’ve done.

Because real networking isn’t about how many people know me — it’s about how many people I help connect to each other.

Finding My Home in the Women's Business League Dover Chapter

Transitioning to the Dover chapter was like stepping into the room I didn’t know I was meant for. Led by JoAnn Burchuk and Lisa Keslar, this chapter is overflowing with wisdom, collaboration, celebration, and growth.

There are more than 50 women — and I’ve had 1:1s with nearly all of them.

This chapter showed me what real community looks like:

• women who celebrate each other loudly

• leaders who lift each other up

• members who give before they ask

• collaboration over competition every single time

When members thank me for a connection I made, know this: it’s gratitude. It’s joy. It’s how I grow. Connecting others is my favorite way to contribute — and the strongest way I’ve built my own business.

The Moment Everything Shifted

I used to get frustrated when networking felt hard — when introductions didn’t happen or lead to clients or results. But it’s because I was waiting for someone else to unlock something for me.

Instead, the moment I truly grew was when I started giving.

When I realized I would reap what I sowed — and that sowing meant connecting women to opportunity, to referrals, to each other — my entire experience as a business owner changed.

That mindset is what built my community.It’s what built my confidence.And it’s what led me here, to this award.

This Award Represents Something Bigger

The Women’s Business League Member of the Year Award isn’t about being the most successful, the most profitable, or the most visible.

It’s about something far more meaningful:

➡️ It honors the women who said yes to me when I didn’t know how to ask for help.

➡️ It celebrates the connections we’ve built together.

➡️ It reflects what happens when we put giving before getting.

➡️ It represents the countless small moments of courage, kindness, and community that define our chapters.

Most importantly, it symbolizes the truth I had to learn the hard way:

You don’t grow by trying to do everything alone.You grow by reaching out — and letting others reach back.

I have asked for help.And every time I did, I felt arms reach around me.

That is what WBL is.

This Award Isn’t Mine — It’s Ours

To everyone who has walked this journey with me: this award belongs to you too.

To Erin and Shannon — thank you for opening the first door.

To Margaret — thank you for pushing me into new terrain.

To JoAnn and Lisa — thank you for building a chapter that feels like home.

To Melissa — thank you for seeing me, supporting me, and celebrating me.

To the Dover chapter — thank you for letting me cheer, teach, connect, and serve.

To the entire WBL community — thank you for lifting me as I lift others.

Here’s to what we’ve built — and to everything we’re still becoming, together.