By Pam S. Walker
NKyTribune staff writer
Nearly 400 women from across the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati region, and from all stages of their careers, gathered to connect, grow, and achieve during the annual NKY Chamber of Commerce Women’s Initiative Regional Summit last week.
The one-day power-packed event, held at Northern Kentucky University, offered inspiring keynote talks, interactive breakout sessions, and plenty of opportunities to connect with other women which included lunch and a Happy Hour reception.
Heather Eberenz, the 2026 Regional Summit Chair, pointed out that this year’s event included some of the most diverse group of speakers ever.
Jessica Yankie, Senior Vice President and Client & Community Relations Director at PNC, remarked that “the Planning Committee has done a great job figuring out the secret sauce in keeping up with relevant content on such multi-faceted topics.”
The event kicked off with a Keynote from Rhiannon Hoeweler, first-ever CEO of MadTree Brewing Company. She spoke of the importance of our origin stories and walked through examples of how these have shaped her personally and professionally. Her mom, who is her biggest role model, taught her to embrace change which helped her become a grower, builder, and positive disruptor throughout her career.
Hoeweler explained that “you don’t get to choose your origin story, but you get to choose what you build with it.”
Building is something that Hoeweler has excelled at. During her 12 years at the Cincinnati Zoo, membership doubled while under her leadership. As the CEO for MadTree, the organization has grown from 80 to well over 300 employees. And MadTree was 1 of 30 companies across the globe to be recognized at Climate Week in New York City for its work as a Certified B Corporation.
Hoeweler challenged women to ask themselves the following questions when thinking of their origin stories:
• What pieces of your origin story are you holding onto that you shouldn’t?
• Does your origin story help or hinder your leadership?
• What pieces of your origin story are you passing onto your children?
In the afternoon Keynote, Christy Burch, CEO of The ION Center for Violence Prevention, discussed the “Power of Connection” that happens when women support each other in authentic, trust-based connections, or “powerships” as she calls them. One of her first “powerships” which she compares to a “Kitchen Table Revival Book Club” but without the book, started with Carla, a friend in Kindergarten that she remains friends with to this day. And both of their moms are part of their powership as well.
Sometimes, new connections can come about in the most unexpected places. Burch provided a timely example of a new connection she made hours before she was scheduled to give her Keynote address. While going back to her car to get her favorite coffee cup, she got stuck in the elevator. Her new friend, Callie, tried unsuccessfully to open the elevator door as it slowly closed, but left a small gap in which they could see each other. Callie promised to stay with her until the police could get there to help. And thus a new powership was created.
Burch challenged that women are not meant to rise alone, but are meant to do life together by helping each other. Instead of treating connections as purely transactional, women should focus more on transformative outcomes, she pointed out. While networking activities may include things like exchanging cards, perfecting the pitch, collecting contacts, and hoping to be remembered, powerships include seeing the person, holding ambition plus vulnerability, making room for truth, and fostering a deeper connection.
In her engaging talk, Burch explained the five practices that create powerships:
• Be intentionally curious.
• Practice generous connections.
• Choose celebration over comparison. Another woman’s success is not evidence that there is less for us, but rather evidence that even more is possible.
• Tell the truth with care.
• Sustain beyond the moment.
Attendees were able to choose from four different Breakout Sessions following the keynotes. They included:
• CliftonStrengths: The Language of Talent. Taught by Amber Brown of Gilman Partners, participants explored the Gallup’s CliftonStrengths framework which allowed them to discover their natural talents within four domains, identify potential blind spots, and create an action plan that applies their strength and provides greater confidence.
• Your Brain Was Never Meant to Hold This Much How to Reduce Mental Load, Reclaim Attention, and Create Clarity. Taught by Alexia Hoffman from Success You Can Live With, this session introduced a practical framework for reducing decision fatigue, protecting your attention, and creating systems, including the use of AI tools, that increase capacity at work and home, without sacrificing your goals or ambitions.
• Decoding the Voice of Women in Leadership. Taught by Wendy LeBorgne, a renowned voice pathologist, international speaker and author, and executive communications coach. In this interactive session, attendees learned how vocal elements like pitch, pace, resonance, and inflection influence perception and impact. They were also provided with practical techniques to strengthen executive presence, communicate with confidence, and adapt their style for greater influence in any leadership moment.
• AI-Proofing Your Career: Crafting Your Authentic Story in an AI-Driven World. Taught by Amy Goetz Kuffner and Jessica Guido, Marketing professionals at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, this session explored how authentic storytelling can help women stand out, build their personal brand, and navigate their career growth in the age of AI. They provided proven and practical frameworks to help attendees identify and communicate their authentic stories with confidence.
Jordyne Carmack, founder of AuthentiLead and emcee of the event, led an interactive Closing Session that included each table of women discussing their key takeaways of the Summit and documenting them on large poster-size paper which was later displayed for others to see.
Angela Wagner, Senior Human Resources Generalist at CJ Schwan’s Company, shared her thoughts of this year’s Summit: “We need people around us who challenge us, encourage us, lift us up, and help us grow. There is so much power in women supporting women, celebrating one another’s successes, and creating opportunities for each other to thrive. A reminder that when women empower women, incredible things happen.”
First time attendee Amy Hollarn who works as a Consumer Insights Executive, said the Summit exceeded her expectations and was a great reminder of the power of connection.
“Hearing women share their experiences, challenges, and successes reinforced how much we can learn from each other and how important it is to continue lifting one another up.”
Capping off the day of learning and connecting was a giveaway of fabulous prizes donated by the many sponsors of the event.
A Happy Hour reception sponsored by St. Elizabeth Healthcare closed out the
event.
Organizing and planning the Regional Summit every year is no small feat. According to Eberenz, many hours of planning go into the event throughout the year. This includes 12 members of the Planning Committee, a Steering Committee of 12-15 members, and approximately 100 volunteers during the event.
From the beginning in 2008, PNC Bank has been the event’s Title Sponsor. Other key sponsors included: Prysmian, The Christ Hospital, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, altafiber, City Wide Facilities Solutions, O HUB, meetNKY, Amazon, Viox & Viox, Cincinnati Business Courier, Grainwell, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, and numerous Table Sponsors: Brighton Center, Champlin Studios, Gilman Partners, Heritage Bank, The Ion Center for Violence Prevention, Jabil, Perfetti Van Melle, USA, Prysman, Rudler, PSC, Scooter Media, Transitions, Inc., Turfway Park Racing & Gaming, Verst Logistics, and YMCA of Greater Cincinnati.
Since 2008, the Women’s Initiative group of the Northern Kentucky has sponsored professional development events and programs, such as the Regional Summit. For more information on the Women’s Initiative, including upcoming events, see
https://www.nkychamber.com/womensinitiative/.