POWER Woman of the Week

Each week, Aspire spotlights a woman business leader who is betting on herself and winning. They are among Central Ohio's most powerful women entrepreneurs, business owners, and allies with a stellar track record of community economic results, job creation, business scale and social impact. As we applaud them, we encourage you to learn from them, follow them and engage with them- we are stronger together.

July 31, 2026: Sherri Hamilton

HER WHY A Legacy Rooted in Purpose

Sherri Hamilton grew up surrounded by the power of storytelling, community, and a father who used both as instruments of change. Jim Robinson spent his career in communications as a journalist, radio host, and marketing director. His popular daily radio commentary, Rich Black Thought, ran for 12 years in the 1980s and 90s, offering a strong Black perspective on the day's news.

Purpose was not an abstract concept in the Robinson household. It was a daily practice.

“I want to make good use of my parents’ sacrifice, to do good in this world with the gift of life

and breath that God gives me every day.”

Sherri carried that conviction through a 30-year career in technology, including service in the U.S. Air Force, 15 years in the Engineering Department at WBNS-10TV, and over a decade of work in broadcast media technology. She co-founded TANO Innovation and eventually transitioned her expertise in IT and marketing to the work she was always building toward: serving the Black community at the scale it deserves.

In 2021, she was appointed President and CEO of Ohio Black Expo, after having served as Marketing and Communications Director. She stepped into the role with 30 years of professional knowledge, a lifetime of conviction-driven formation, and a clear understanding of what the work required.

WHAT FUELS HER

Sherri Hamilton does not separate her personal calling from her professional one. They are the same.

“I am fueled by the belief that authentic, sustainable community change requires centering the voices, needs, and leadership of the people most affected. Every event, program, and initiative we lead at

Ohio Black Expo is grounded in that belief.”

She is also fueled by legacy. Her father built a platform out of conviction. She inherited that same instinct and has spent her career multiplying its reach. Every Memorial Day Weekend when the Riverfront Culture Fest fills downtown Columbus, she is not just producing an event. She is honoring the legacies of both her family and Ohio Black Expo founder, Rhonda D. Robinson.

HER POWER PLAY What She Has Built

Ohio Black Expo is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to improving the quality of life for Ohio's 1.7 million Black residents through economic development, health, education, senior support, business, technology, and youth development. Sherri Hamilton leads that mission as President and CEO.

The signature event is the Riverfront Culture Fest, held every Memorial Day Weekend in downtown Columbus. It is one of the most significant celebrations of Black culture, business, and community in the state of Ohio, drawing visitors, vendors, performers, and families from across the country. Beyond the festival, Ohio Black Expo conducts year-round programming and initiatives that serve Black Ohioans in every dimension of their lives. The Riverfront Culture Fest under Hamilton’s leadership draws hundreds of vendors and tens of thousands of attendees, reflecting sustained and growing demand for a statewide platform dedicated to Black excellence.

Before leading the Ohio Black Expo, Sherri spent more than 30 years building expertise across the U.S. Air Force, CompuServe Network Services, Ohio News Network, WBNS-10TV, and Black Central Creative. She co-founded TANO Innovation, where she served as Chief Information Officer and Full Stack Developer, marrying her love for technology and creativity with her love for community. That combination, technical excellence and cultural rootedness, is what she brought to the Ohio Black Expo and what has defined her leadership there.

Her greatest leadership strength: translating decades of technical expertise and cultural intelligence into community impact at scale, building ecosystems where Black Ohioans can access the resources, recognition, and representation they deserve. Thirty years in technology. Military service. Broadcast engineering. Entrepreneurship. Today, Sherri Hamilton is applying every chapter of that journey to build one of Ohio’s most influential organizations serving Black communities.

She was honored among the inaugural Who’s Who in Black Columbus 50 Women of Excellence class, a recognition she received with characteristic humility: “I am not, nor have I ever been, motivated by recognition or titles or status. I’m motivated by purpose.”

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Sherri Hamilton has led one of Ohio's most significant cultural organizations through transition, growth, and impact. What she is most proud of is not a specific program or a specific event. It is the standard of care.

“What I’m most proud of is that the people we serve know they are seen, valued, and centered in everything we do. When community members trust us enough to show up year after year, bringing their families and their businesses, that trust is what I treasure most.”

Trust is the metric. The Ohio Black Expo Riverfront Culture Fest is the proof. Their continued trust is the clearest measure of leadership rooted in service and lasting community impact.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Leading a mission-driven nonprofit in a resource-constrained environment means navigating constant tension between what is needed and what is funded. The communities Ohio Black Expo serves continue to face significant disparities in investment despite growing needs. Sherri Hamilton navigates that gap every day.

“The biggest challenge is sustaining and scaling our impact with limited resources while the needs of our community continue to grow. We navigate this through radical transparency with our stakeholders, strategic partnerships, and an unwavering focus on outcomes over optics.”

Outcomes over optics. That philosophy runs through everything she builds. It is why the community trusts her and why the organization she leads continues to expand its reach even when the resources are not easy to come by.

For the Aspire woman leading a mission-driven organization: Sherri Hamilton navigates resource constraints by staying radically transparent, building strategic partnerships, and never losing sight of the outcomes that matter. The optics are irrelevant. The impact is everything.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Sherri Hamilton is building Ohio Black Expo toward a future where its impact is felt not just at the Riverfront Culture Fest but in the daily lives of Black Ohioans throughout the year.

“In five years, I want the Ohio Black Expo to be recognized as the definitive infrastructure for Black community development in Ohio, a trusted ecosystem where Black residents, businesses, and organizations find the resources, connections, and support they need to thrive across every dimension of life.”

That is a vision that goes far beyond an annual festival. It is a vision of statewide infrastructure rather than a single annual celebration. Sherri Hamilton is building the organization that makes that possible.

Statewide infrastructure. Year-round impact.

A trusted ecosystem for Black Ohioans to access resources, connection,

and support in every dimension of life.

WHAT HER ORGANIZATION DOES BEST

Ohio Black Expo does what very few organizations in the state can claim: it holds the full complexity of Black life in Ohio in one mission. Economic development. Health. Education. Senior support. Business. Technology. Youth development. The festival is the anchor. The year-round programming is the root system.

“What we do best is create space where Black Ohioans feel fully seen and fully celebrated, and then use that trust to connect them with resources, opportunities, and one another in ways that create lasting change.”

The Ohio Black Expo Riverfront Culture Fest is not just an event. It is an annual proof point that the Black community in Ohio is vibrant, connected, and deserving of celebration at scale. Sherri Hamilton runs the organization that makes that proof point possible every Memorial Day Weekend.

For the Aspire woman building a community-centered organization: Sherri Hamilton has spent three decades earning the trust that allows Ohio Black Expo to fill downtown Columbus every Memorial Day Weekend. That trust is not given. It is built, one year, one program, one conversation at a time.

HER ADVICE To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Sherri Hamilton has one piece of advice for every woman stepping into a leadership role she did not build herself and that carries the weight of a community she loves.

“Know your why before you walk in the door. Leadership that is rooted in purpose is sustainable.

Leadership that is rooted in ego is fragile.

When the long days come, and they will come, your why is what keeps you standing.”

She knows this from experience. The consistently long days and nights of servant leadership are not a burden she carries reluctantly. They are the proof that her why is strong enough to hold the weight of the work.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER LEADERSHIP

Sherri Hamilton returns to one book when she needs to be reminded why the work matters and how to lead through complexity without losing herself in it.

“The Measure of Our Success by Marian Wright Edelman strengthened how I understand the relationship between success and service. The idea that service to others is the rent we pay for living on this planet, and not something reserved for spare time, gave me permission to build my career pivot and our organization around obligation rather than personal achievement. It reminds us that the truest measure of leadership isn’t what you accumulate, but what you give back to the community that shaped you.”

Leading with service above self, authenticity is not a soft skill in Sherri Hamilton’s world. It is the organizing principle of every decision she makes and every space she builds for the community she serves.

July 21, 2026: Dr. Melissa McRae, DO

HER WHY Medicine Could Do Better

Dr. Melissa McRae knew she wanted to be a doctor by the age of three. She grew up in Crawford County, Ohio, attended Ohio University and the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine where she graduated summa cum laude from both, and entered family practice medicine with the same curiosity and conviction she carried since childhood.

Then the insurance-driven system started getting in the way of the medicine.

“I started Vitality because I knew medicine could do better, and I knew I could do better. I wanted to rediscover the joy and curiosity that first drew me to medicine: helping people heal by understanding the remarkable physiology of the human body, not simply managing symptoms within the limits of an insurance-driven system.”

She practiced traditional family medicine for more than a decade. She was recognized as the Most Outstanding Family Practice Doctor in her residency program and named the Ohio Academy of Family Medicine's Most Outstanding Resident in the State of Ohio. She was excellent at conventional medicine. She just knew there was a different kind she was supposed to practice.

In 2015 she founded Vitality Natural Wellness in Mansfield, Ohio. A cash-based, functional medicine practice built around one conviction: if you give the body what it needs, it will respond.

WHAT FUELS HER

Dr. McRae is fueled by the patient who walks in exhausted, dismissed, and told her labs are normal, and walks out with a plan, a team, and for the first time in years, actual hope.

“We’ve built an extraordinary team of women who support one another as fiercely as they care for our patients. Today, we’re seasoned, resilient, and still driven by the belief that there is always a better way to care for people.”

The ripple effect matters to her. Not just the patient in the exam room, but the family that gains more energy, more clarity, more years. The stone across the water. The ripples she will never see.

HER POWER PLAY What She Has Built

What began as a single physician office in Mansfield in 2015 is now a mid-seven-figure, multi-location functional medicine practice with nearly 10,000 active patients across 36 states. Vitality Natural Wellness did not grow incrementally. It scaled with intention.

The team has grown from one founder to five medical providers and a multidisciplinary clinical and support staff of 20, dedicated to helping patients look younger, feel better, and live fully.

The programs tell the story of what makes Vitality different. Vitality Prime addresses hormone optimization with an individualized root-cause approach. The 16-week LiVing Vitality functional medicine program creates structured transformation rather than transactional appointments. The Vitality Insider access model and aesthetic membership offerings turned a single practice into a suite of scalable, transformational patient experiences.

In 2023, she successfully exited an aesthetics MedSpa business she had built from the ground up, proving she could build, scale, and exit a new business while keeping the core practice growing. That exit created space to double down on the mission.

10 years. Nearly 10,000 patients. Thirty-six states.

A MedSpa built and successfully exited. A team of 20 multiplying her reach.

Her greatest clinical strength: building systems that create understanding, not dependence. Every patient who leaves Vitality leaves with deeper knowledge of their own body and the confidence to make informed health decisions for years to come.

She has been a featured speaker at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's national conference in Washington D.C., presenting a system she developed that allowed medical wellness and nutrition to be covered through insurance companies. Vitality Natural Wellness was a finalist for the Small Business of the Year award in 2016 and she was featured on the iHeart CEOs You Should Know podcast in 2024.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

She has the credentials, the growth numbers, and the national recognition. None of that is what she points to when asked what she is most proud of.

“I’m most proud that we’ve grown without ever losing sight of why we started: putting patients first. Along the way, we’ve built an extraordinary team of women who support one another as fiercely as they care for our patients.”

A practice that grew without losing its soul. That is harder to build than the practice itself.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Building something genuinely different means building without a roadmap. When Dr. McRae chose a cash-based, functional medicine model, she was choosing a path that had no established template in her market and very few peers who had done what she was trying to do.

“Choosing a cash-based, functional medicine model required resilience, adaptability, and the confidence to stay true to our vision even when it wasn’t the conventional path. At the same time, leadership has challenged me to grow alongside the business, to trust an exceptional team, develop other leaders, and create systems that allow us to expand our impact without compromising our values.”

The challenge has never been the medicine. The challenge has been becoming the leader the business needed her to be. She is still growing into that. She will be the first to tell you so.

For the Aspire woman building something without a roadmap: the answer is not a better plan. It is the resilience to move without one, the confidence to hold your vision, and the wisdom to build the team that carries what you cannot.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Dr. McRae is not building toward size. She is building toward impact.

“My goal is to expand our impact, not simply our size. We will empower more people to take ownership of their health through education, speaking, and scalable learning platforms, while building a team of exceptional providers who can multiply our reach and help thousands more people live healthier, more vibrant lives.”

She cannot personally care for every patient who needs functional medicine. But she can build the providers, the programs, and the platforms that extend that reach far beyond what any single physician could accomplish.

Education platforms. National speaking. More providers. More programs. The same mission at a scale that creates thousands more ripples.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Vitality Natural Wellness does what most medical practices do not: it creates understanding instead of dependence. Every visit is an investment in the patient's long-term capacity for self-directed health.

“Patients don’t just leave with a treatment plan. They leave with a deeper understanding of their bodies and the confidence to make informed decisions for years to come. I believe the best healthcare doesn’t create dependence—it creates understanding.”

That philosophy is embedded in every program Vitality runs. Vitality Prime does not just optimize hormones. It teaches patients why their hormones matter and what they can do to support them. LiVing Vitality does not just provide a 16-week protocol. It builds the habits and knowledge that make the change last.

For the Aspire woman who has spent years being told her labs are normal while her body tells her otherwise: Vitality Natural Wellness was built for you. Dr. McRae has spent 10 years building a practice that listens first, tests deeply, and treats the whole person rather than the symptoms alone.

HER ADVICE To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Dr. McRae has one instruction for every woman building something that matters.

“Stay curious. Some of the greatest opportunities in my career began with asking a better question or having the courage to challenge the way things had always been done. When your decisions are rooted in curiosity, partnership, and purpose, you’re far more likely to build something meaningful than simply something successful.”

Meaningful and successful are not the same thing. She has been both. The curiosity came first.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER LEADERSHIP

Dr. Melissa McRae does not point to a business framework or a clinical textbook. She points to a book she returns to several times a year.

“The book I return to most often is the Book of Proverbs. I read it several times a year because its timeless principles on wisdom, integrity, humility, relationships, and stewardship continue to shape how I lead, make decisions, and build a business that reflects my values. While I’ve learned from many excellent business books, I’ve found that the strongest leadership principles have been there all along.”

Wisdom. Integrity. Humility. Relationships. Stewardship. Those five words describe exactly how she has built Vitality Natural Wellness since 2015. She did not learn them from a business book. She carries them as the foundation of everything.

July 14, 2026: Dana M. Sadiq, MBA, MHA

HER WHY — Access Changes Everything

Dana M. Sadiq knows what it means to need access and not have it. She also knows what happens when someone provides it.

She finished a dual graduate program while going through a divorce, raising a kindergartner and a toddler, relying on WIC and a part-time job to keep her family together. Although her parents were always a constant source of prayer and provided long-distance assistance, she was also carried through that season by quiet acts of generosity from women around her. A neighbor who helped with childcare. A friend whose family provided groceries through a pantry connection. A safe place to stay during a transitional time. Those women did not solve every problem. They gave her enough room to keep going.

“I am most proud that even at my lowest, I still believed I could attain my dream. This early perseverance taught me the level of grit I was capable of, to get to what I truly desired, a better life for me and my children.”

She got there. Today she is a VP of Marketing Strategy at JPMorgan Chase, a national board leader for WELD, an advisor to her husband’s jewelry business, and a volunteer across four community organizations. What drives all of it is the same conviction she carries from those early years: access, not ability, is often the defining gap.

“Sometimes it is $1,000 that keeps a family housed, a utility bill paid, or food on the table. Sometimes it is one connection that unlocks a career-changing opportunity. My purpose is to be a connector and a conduit, helping people, organizations, resources, and opportunities find each other.”

WHAT FUELS HER

Dana Sadiq is fueled by the moment insight becomes action. Not the strategy document. Not the presentation. The moment something actually changes for someone because of work she was part of.

At JPMorgan Chase, that means leading digital transformation of enterprise web platforms reaching tens of millions of users. At WELD, it means chairing the Development Committee that funds the programs helping women advance their careers and their economic futures. In her community work, it means showing up for organizations that serve the most vulnerable women in Central Ohio. In every space, the question is the same: what connection needs to be made, and am I in a position to make it?

“Turning access into impact, ensuring these seemingly small interventions

create lasting change while managing those relationships. That is what fulfills me.”

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Dana M. Sadiq has spent 22 years building at the intersection of enterprise strategy and community impact. That combination is rare. Most executives choose one lane. Dana has consistently operated in both at the highest level.

The following reflects Dana’s experience across her entire career, not exclusively her time at JPMorgan Chase. At JPMorgan Chase she serves as VP of Marketing Strategy, leading a Corporate Websites Marketing Insights team that drives data-informed digital strategy across enterprise-scale platforms reaching tens of millions of users annually. She co-led the digital transformation of two flagship platforms delivering substantial growth and improved customer engagement post-launch. She founded and scaled a Test and Learn Center of Excellence that informed strategic decisions across multiple business units and contributed to the bottom line. Earlier in her career she owned marketing strategy for a $200 million oncology portfolio and directed global marketing strategy for the Life Sciences and Healthcare vertical across multiple international markets.

At WELD, she serves on the National Board and chairs the Development Committee, where she leads an eight-member team driving fundraising strategy, expanding corporate sponsorships, and strengthening external communications. As a co-founder of the Development Committee, she has helped secure sponsorships for some of WELD’s signature events. She also serves as a panelist and mentor for the Pathway to Management Program Women of Color Program.

22 years. Enterprise platforms reaching tens of millions. $200M portfolio. WELD national board. Five organizations. One mission.

Her leadership strength: translating insight into action across both corporate strategy and community impact simultaneously, building systems that serve millions and making connections that change individual lives.

She is also an advisor to Y Sadiq Diamond, a volunteer at 1DivineLine2Health serving homeless and trafficked women in Central Ohio, a strategy contributor to Black Girl Rising, a Families Flourish Ambassador, a friend of Columbus Landmarks, and a member of the Columbus Chapter of The Girl Friends, Inc. and the Columbus Chapter of Jack and Jill. She holds an MBA and MHA from Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business and is a Leadership Columbus Signature Program alumna.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Dana Sadiq has built an extraordinary career. She has influenced digital strategy at one of the largest financial institutions in the world. She has led fundraising for a national women’s leadership organization. She has shown up for the most vulnerable women in her community.

What she is most proud of is none of that. It is the woman she became in order to do all of it.

“Now looking back, I am so thankful and proud of the business woman, mother, and wife I have become and hope others can also find their innermost strength to dream and thrive.”

The grit she built during the hardest years of her life is the foundation underneath every accomplishment that came after. She does not separate those things. She carries them together.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Dana Sadiq’s biggest challenge is one that does not announce itself clearly: the willingness to evolve. To acknowledge what once worked may no longer serve the moment. To grow past a version of yourself you worked hard to become.

“Learning to evolve, acknowledging that what once worked may not always work. Being willing to assess what needs improvement and grow into the next phase can be a humbling experience, but also revealing in your own self character. But once you do it a few times, you are stronger for it.”

She is still developing this skill and she will tell you that directly. But she now understands adaptability not as a gap but as a core part of her leadership identity. The more she practices it, the more natural it becomes and the more confident she is in her ability to pivot, grow, and lead through change with intention.

For the Aspire woman who is navigating a transition she did not choose: Dana Sadiq finished a dual graduate program on WIC with two children in the middle of a divorce. She knows what it takes to keep going when the conditions are not ideal. Her answer has always been the same. Write the vision. Make it plain. Then run.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Dana Sadiq does not separate her corporate ambitions from her community purpose. They are the same vision expressed through different channels.

“Whether as a future enterprise-level executive or community leader, my focus is the same: to be a connector of people, resources, and opportunity, turning insight into action, strategy into outcomes, and relationships into pathways for growth.”

She is building toward enterprise leadership while deepening her board impact at WELD and across the community organizations she serves. Access remains the organizing principle. Whatever the title, whatever the platform, the question is always the same: who needs a connection, and how can she be the one to make it?

Enterprise leadership. Deeper board impact. More connections made. More access created. The same mission at greater scale.

WHAT HER WORK DOES BEST

What Dana Sadiq does best is turn insight into action at scale and then turn around and do the same thing in a completely different context. Enterprise digital strategy and community organizing require different tools. They require the same mindset: understand the problem, identify the leverage point, build the connection that makes change possible.

“What my work does best is turn insight into action at scale, improving digital customer experiences in enterprise environments while also strengthening pathways for women’s leadership and advancement.”

The thread that runs through all of it is relationship. The digital platforms she manages reach tens of millions. The conversations she has with women in WELD programs reach one person at a time. Both are investments in access. Both are expressions of the same purpose.

For the Aspire woman who leads in multiple spaces at once: Dana Sadiq has spent 22 years proving that enterprise-level excellence and community-level impact are not competing priorities. They are the same work expressed at different scales. She carries both because she has always known that neither is enough without the other.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Early in her career, Dana Sadiq asked her manager for permission to apply to a prestigious leadership program. The answer was no. Her manager attended the program instead.

That disappointment became the most important lesson of her career.

“Years later, I enrolled in the Leadership Columbus Signature program on my own, paid the tuition myself, and used my vacation time to attend. It became one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my career, and the relationships I built continue to enrich my life and leadership today.”

Her message is built on that experience and it is direct.

“Do not let someone else’s no be your final answer, whether it be a promotion, a book, a dream, or an opportunity. If you really want something, go after it. If they say no, find another way until you get a yes. The most important permission you will ever receive is the permission you give yourself.”

Sometimes not now is not the same as never. Maybe she was not ready in that moment, or maybe someone else simply did not see her potential. Either way, she refused to let another person’s decision become her limitation. If one door closes, do not wait for another to open. Build one.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER LEADERSHIP

Dana Sadiq was told throughout her career that she was too quiet. That she needed to speak up more. That her silence in meetings was unusual for someone in leadership. Those comments made her question whether she belonged at the table at all.

Then she read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

“The book helped me realize that my greatest leadership advantage wasn’t in speaking first. It was in listening deeply, observing carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and creating space for others to contribute. My pauses are not uncertainty. They are intentional. They allow me to identify patterns others may overlook, uncover gaps that still need to be addressed, and make decisions grounded in both strategy and empathy.”

That realization gave her the confidence to lead authentically. Influence is not determined by volume. It is earned through wisdom, discernment, and the ability to elevate those around you. Some of the most transformative ideas come from the people who are quietly paying attention while everyone else is competing to be heard.

“Your voice does not have to be the loudest to be the most influential. Sometimes the greatest leaders are the ones who listen first, think deeply, and speak with purpose. Make room for the quiet. They often see what others miss.”

July 7, 2026: Cindi Englefield

“The greatest investment you’ll ever make is in people. Your legacy isn’t what you build. It’s what you make possible for others.”— Cindi’s Guiding Principle

HER WHY — The Table She Was Not Invited To

Cindi Englefield is the Co-Founder and CEO of Accelerating Angels, an investment organization dedicated to increasing access to capital for women entrepreneurs. Angel investors provide early-stage capital to promising companies before traditional financing is available, and Accelerating Angels is on a mission to put more of that capital in the hands of exceptional women founders. The story of how she got here begins long before the fund.

Cindi Englefield grew up in a family business. Her father owned Englefield Oil Co., a company built on fuel, lubricant products, and Duchess convenience stores. She spent her summers learning accounts payable and receivable, tracking inventory, understanding how a business actually works from the inside. She had the aptitude. She had the hunger. She had everything.

“Instead of my dad offering to bring me into the company, he encouraged me to follow my husband. Those were the times.”

She built her own company instead. A publishing business she founded from scratch, ran for 20 years, and sold successfully. Her brothers told her they were proud of her for doing something they never had the opportunity to do: start something from scratch. Her father said she could have run Englefield Oil.

She said thanks.

And then she kept building. Because the thing Cindi Englefield learned from growing up adjacent to a business she was never invited to lead is that access changes everything. And she has spent the rest of her career making sure more women have it.

WHAT FUELS HER

After selling her publishing company, Cindi Englefield had every reason to stop. She had built something, sold it, proven the point. She did not stop.

“After selling my first company, I realized my greatest passion wasn’t building another

business. It was helping other entrepreneurs build theirs.”

What fuels her is the gap she sees between the quality of women-led companies and the funding available to them. Exceptional founders with innovative ideas, consistently passed over. Cindi Englefield co-founded Accelerating Angels to close that gap.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Accelerating Angels is both an investment firm and a force for systemic change in how capital flows to women founders.

Since 2023, Cindi and her co-founder Mary McCarthy have raised a two million dollar Angel Fund from 46 investors. Fund I has deployed $850,000 into nine innovative women-led companies spanning AI, medtech, enterprise software, digital health, advanced manufacturing, and intellectual property technology. The fund is on track to build a diversified portfolio of 12 to 15 high-growth companies. Hundreds of startup investment opportunities have been reviewed. Due diligence has been conducted on companies across the United States.

Alongside the fund, the Accelerating Angels Foundation is a 501(c)(3) that has graduated three cohorts of women founders through its bootcamp and programs. The foundation is also growing the Aspiring Angel membership, opening the world of angel investing to anyone interested in learning and building community around it.

$2M raised. 46 investors. 9 companies funded. 3 bootcamp cohorts graduated.

One mission: change who gets funded.

Her greatest strength is bringing founders and funders together around a shared purpose and building a community where today’s founders become tomorrow’s investors.

Beyond Accelerating Angels, Cindi has been an active supporter of the Ohio State Early Investor Network and is a member of the Angel Capital Association with connections to venture capital and angel groups across the country. She previously founded Englefield Business Advisors LLC to help entrepreneurs grow their firms and has served on both for-profit and nonprofit boards throughout her career.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Cindi Englefield has raised a fund, deployed capital, and built a nonprofit. She is most proud of none of it.

“What I’m most proud of isn’t one company or one investment. It’s helping create opportunities that didn’t exist before. Watching women founders gain the confidence to raise capital and seeing more women step into angel investing reminds me that we’re building something much bigger than a portfolio of companies. We’re helping change who gets funded, who creates wealth, and who shapes the future of innovation.”

Who gets funded. Who creates wealth. Who shapes the future of innovation. Those three shifts are Cindi’s real investment thesis. Everything else is a vehicle.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Building Accelerating Angels required doing three things at once in one of the most difficult fundraising environments in years: launching a first investment fund, building a nonprofit, and asking investors to see the opportunity in women founders who have historically been overlooked despite their stronger performance data.

“What kept me going was meeting remarkable entrepreneurs solving meaningful problems and building relationships with investors who shared our vision.

Those conversations reminded me every day why this work matters.”

The challenge has never been the quality of the companies. It has been visibility and access to the right investors. Cindi built the infrastructure to change both.

For the Aspire woman trying to raise capital or understand how investment works: Cindi Englefield built the table she was never invited to sit at. Accelerating Angels exists so that exceptional women founders do not have to wait for an invitation.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Cindi Englefield is building a self-sustaining ecosystem. Not just a fund. Not just a nonprofit. An entire infrastructure where capital flows continuously to the women who deserve it and where the beneficiaries of that investment become its next stewards.

“My vision is to expand our investment funds so capital is available for exceptional women entrepreneurs for years to come, while growing the Accelerating Angels Foundation to provide more education, mentorship, and resources that help founders build scalable companies and successful exits. Ultimately, I want to create a self-sustaining ecosystem where today’s founders become tomorrow’s investors, mentors, and champions for the next generation.”

More funds. More founders. More women at the investment table. A cycle that never stops.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Accelerating Angels does what most investment organizations do not: it operates on both sides of the capital equation simultaneously. It educates and activates women who want to become investors. It prepares and connects women founders who are ready to raise. And it brings them together around a shared purpose.

“What our business does best is bring people together around a shared purpose. Meaningful change happens when people come together around a common mission.”

The result is a community that compounds. Each investor becomes a mentor. Each founder becomes an investor. Each cohort strengthens the next. Cindi Englefield did not just build a fund. She built an ecosystem that strengthens itself with every founder, investor, and partnership added to it.

For the Aspire woman who has always wanted to understand how capital and investment work: Accelerating Angels is building the community you have been looking for. Cindi Englefield built it specifically because it did not exist.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Cindi Englefield has built companies, sold them, built investment funds, and graduated cohorts of women founders. Her advice has nothing to do with business mechanics.

“The opportunities you create for others will always become your greatest legacy. Life has a way of taking us through unexpected highs and lows, and each experience shapes who we become and prepares us for what’s next. When we choose to lift others, especially those whose ideas have been overlooked or underfunded, we create a ripple effect that extends far beyond ourselves, opening doors for future generations.”

She was told as a young woman that the business table was not for her. She built her own. Now she is making sure every woman who comes after her has a seat at it.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Cindi Englefield does not point to a business framework or a management system. She points to a book about presence.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle shifted how she shows up for the founders she serves and the investors she guides.

“Life is happening right now, not in our past and not in our future. That simple idea has helped me become a better leader because I’m more present with the people I serve, more grateful for each opportunity, and more trusting that every experience is preparing me for what’s next. When we bring more peace, kindness, and love into our work, we leave every person and every place a little better than we found them.”

For a woman who has spent her career building tables, funding founders, and lifting the next generation, that practice of presence is the foundation that holds everything else.

June 30, 2026: Allison Harrison, JD

HER WHY — Fired, Grieving, and Finally Ready

Allison Harrison has two answers to the question of why she started ALH Law Group. The first is simple. She was fired.

The second answer is the one that matters. When her mother passed away in 2020, Allison had a moment of reckoning. She looked at everything she was building and asked herself a question that changed everything: what am I doing?

“If I am going to put so much time into something, I better make my mark.

That is when I shifted gears into running a sustainable, successful, and growing law firm.”

Since that shift, ALH Law Group has grown from 4 to 12 employees, tripled revenue, and become one of the most recognized LGBTQ+ affirming law firms in Central Ohio. What started in her kitchen is now a nationally recognized practice that serves the people the legal system has historically left behind.

Her mother’s death did not slow her down. It clarified everything.

WHAT FUELS HER

Allison Harrison is fueled by the moment she received news of the ABA Difference Maker Award nomination.

“Last year a few lawyer-friends of mine nominated me for the ABA Difference Maker Award for the firm’s work in the LGBTQ+ community. It brought me to tears. It often feels like we can only impact a few people, but getting that recognition made clear that every person we help is someone who otherwise may not have sought out any help. It does make a difference.”

That feeling is what drives her into work every morning. The knowledge that a person who walked into ALH Law Group walked out of it with legal protection they might never have sought anywhere else. Estate plans that honor their identity. Business protections that keep their life’s work safe. Legal rights explained in plain language by a team that genuinely sees them.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

ALH Law Group started in Allison Harrison’s kitchen in 2014. It is now a nationally recognized, award-winning law firm with 12 employees, over one million dollars in annual revenue, and a client base that spans Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

In 2025 she received the American Bar Association GPSolo Division Difference Makers Award for Making a Difference through Pro Bono Work, one of the most prestigious recognitions in the legal profession for commitment to volunteer legal services for underserved communities. In that same year she was named one of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40. She has been selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars every year from 2017 through 2026, a recognition that places her in the top tier of attorneys in the region.

ALH Law Group is both an LGBT Business Enterprise and a Women’s Business Enterprise certified firm. Allison serves as President of the Diversity Chamber of Central Ohio, sits on the Board of Governors for Stonewall Columbus, chairs the LGBTQ+ Committee at the Columbus Bar Association, and volunteers at name and gender marker clinics for trans and nonbinary individuals. She also serves as a Lab Business Strategist Advisor at the Lawyerist Lab, helping other small law firm owners build sustainable practices.

Kitchen to courtroom. 4 to 12 employees. 3x revenue.

National recognition. A firm built for the people the system forgot.

Her legal superpower: making the law feel accessible, approachable, and safe for the people who have always been told it was not meant for them.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Allison Harrison has won national awards, tripled her revenue, and built a firm that other lawyers look to as a model. What she is most proud of is watching her team grow.

“The biggest success for me is the number of employees. I

love seeing them grow and flourish in their role at ALH.”

That is a leader who measures success in people, not metrics. The ABA Difference Maker Award brought her to tears. Her team’s growth keeps her going. That is the kind of founder who builds something that outlasts any individual achievement.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The hardest thing about building ALH Law Group has been keeping pace with the company she has created. Growth is its own kind of pressure. The business you built yesterday can feel beyond your capability today.

“How to keep growing with the business I’ve built — it can easily feel beyond my capability. In 2021 I joined a coaching group of law firm owners so I have a sounding board on how to navigate new challenges. I also never stop reading.”

Her answer to that pressure is community and continuous learning. A coaching group of law firm peers. A library of business books covering everything from marketing to culture. The recognition that no founder figures it out alone and that asking for a sounding board is not a weakness. It is a strategy.

For the Aspire woman who feels like her business is growing faster than she is: Allison Harrison built a nationally recognized law firm from her kitchen table. She still joins coaching groups and reads business books because she knows the learning never stops. That is not imposter syndrome. That is how it is done.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Allison Harrison is building toward something bigger than a law firm. She is building toward access.

“With AI, I think we can reduce the cost barrier to some of our legal services

to expand who we are able to help. I also have a drive to 10x the revenue.”

Those two goals are not in tension. They are the same goal. A larger, more profitable firm means more resources to serve more people who could not otherwise afford legal representation. Allison is using technology not to replace the human side of law but to remove the financial barriers that have always kept the legal system out of reach for the communities she serves.

10x revenue. AI to reduce cost barriers. More people served. A firm that grows and gives back in equal measure.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

ALH Law Group does what most law firms do not: it meets clients where they are.

“The culture of our firm: we strive to be approachable, kind, and empowering.

I have been lucky enough to hire really great people

who are protective of the culture and brand at ALH.”

Estate planning, probate, and business litigation may not seem to overlap. But at ALH they share a single focus: serving individuals and minority-owned businesses who have historically lacked representation or found the legal system confusing and out of reach. Allison’s team does not just resolve legal issues. They explain them, demystify them, and leave clients feeling equipped rather than dependent.

For the Aspire woman who has ever avoided getting legal help because it felt too expensive, too intimidating, or too far outside her world: ALH Law Group was built for you. Allison Harrison has spent 12 years making the law feel like something you can use rather than something that happens to you.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Allison Harrison learned her most important business lesson on the way out of a contract job.

“Be kind to everyone. I knew this, but when I started my firm I also was doing some contract lawyering. I was leaving that contract and finally said hi to the lady behind me. She ended up connecting me to a really great client who I supported until he sold the business. It really reinforced the point: be kind to everyone because you never know who they are.”

A casual hello. A lifetime client. The entire philosophy of a law firm named for the woman who built it on the principle that every person deserves to be seen. That is Allison Harrison in one story.

THE BOOKS THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Allison Harrison has a huge library of business books and is not apologetic about it. Three stand above the rest.

A Small Firm Road Map was the first business book she actually read. It reframed how she thinks about running a law firm from the ground up.

They Ask, You Answer drove so much of ALH’s marketing and culture that she would be remiss not to mention it. The premise is simple: answer the questions your clients are already asking. It changed how the firm shows up online and in the community.

"Traction". We run our firm on EOS and Traction lays out how the system works. The concept is to have a space to talk about issues in your process and procedures, don’t let them fester. It has made a huge difference in how we are able to respond and take corrective action.”

Three books. One through-line. Build the culture, answer the questions, and never let the problems sit.

June 23, 2026: Megan Vanderson

HER WHY — The Leap She Never Planned to Take

Megan Vanderson never planned to become a business owner. It was not on her radar. She had spent years building real expertise inside respected Columbus design firms, doing the work, learning the craft, understanding how great brands built great physical environments.

Then her husband said something that changed everything. He saw something in her before she saw it in herself. He believed she was ready to build her own company before she had fully formed that belief for herself.

“Entrepreneurship wasn’t even on my radar until my husband

suggested it and saw something in me before I saw it in myself.”

She took the leap in 2019. And in the same week she signed the paperwork that created Macon Alley, she found out she was pregnant with her first daughter. Two of the biggest things she would ever build began at exactly the same moment.

She has been building both ever since.

WHAT FUELS HER

Megan Vanderson is fueled by the people on both sides of the work. The clients who trust her team with their brands. The employees who show up every day with something to prove. And the small, daily proof that what she built is something worth building.

“I’ve wanted to create a place where people don’t dread Monday mornings and where clients are happy to see our name pop up in their inbox because they know we’ll make their day easier.”

A 98 percent client return rate is not a statistic. It is the measurement of a feeling. People come back to Macon Alley because working with them feels different. That is what fuels her to keep building.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

In six years, Megan Vanderson has built Macon Alley into one of the most recognized commercial interior design firms in Central Ohio. The numbers tell part of the story. More than 1,500 retail, restaurant, hospitality, and branded environments designed across North America. 280 percent revenue growth over three years. A 98 percent client return rate driven almost entirely by referrals and repeat business. Trusted Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients include Starbucks Coffee Company and TJX Companies, brands whose physical spaces millions of consumers interact with every day.

Columbus CEO magazine named Macon Alley the Best Commercial Interior Design Firm in both 2024 and 2025. She is an NCIDQ-certified designer and a LEED Accredited Professional, credentials that represent the highest standards of professional competency in her field. She previously built her expertise at Chute Gerdeman and SHP Leading Design, two of Columbus’s most respected design firms, before founding her own.

6 years. 1,500+ environments. 280% growth. 98% client return rate.

Best in Columbus two years running.

Her design superpower: becoming so embedded in a client’s brand that she does not just design their space. She designs the system that lets them replicate it across dozens or hundreds of locations without losing what makes it work.

Beyond the firm, Megan actively invests in the Columbus community through leadership roles with the Dublin Arts Council, Pelotonia fundraising, and Big Brothers Big Sisters initiatives that use design-focused experiences to broaden awareness of careers in the design industry.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Megan Vanderson has designed over 1,500 environments across North America and grown her firm by 280 percent in three years. What she is most proud of is that neither of those things is what made her proudest.

“I’m most proud that we’ve built a company that people genuinely want to work with and work for. Our growth has come largely from repeat clients, referrals,

and a team that consistently goes above and beyond for each other and our clients.”

A company that people genuinely want to work with and work for. That is a rare thing to build. And it is harder to build than any individual project or revenue milestone. Megan has done it in six years while simultaneously raising a family, and that combination is the real measure of what she has built.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The hardest thing about founding a business is discovering how many responsibilities were not in the job description. Client work. Team leadership. Financial decisions. Operations. Strategy. Every one of those lands on the founder’s desk, and none of them come with a manual.

“I’ve learned that running a business isn’t about having all the answers.

It’s about being willing to learn, adapt, and trust the people you surround yourself with.”

There are moments when that weight is real. Decisions affect not just clients but employees and their families. Megan carries that responsibility consciously. And she navigates it the same way she approaches every complex design problem: by staying curious, staying honest, and trusting the team she has built around her.

For the Aspire woman who is figuring out how to lead while still figuring everything else out: Megan Vanderson started a company and found out she was pregnant in the same week. Six years later she is leading a nationally recognized firm and raising three daughters. She did not have all the answers. She had the willingness to learn. That is enough.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Megan Vanderson is building Macon Alley for the people inside it as much as for the clients it serves.

“I want Macon Alley to be a place where talented people can grow,

challenge themselves, and build careers they’re proud of.”

That is a vision rooted in legacy, not just scale. She wants more brands to experience what her existing clients have already proven: that the right design partner does not just make a space look good. It makes growth possible. And she wants the team she has assembled to be celebrated for that impact in a way that reflects what they actually contribute every single day.

More brands reached. Deeper team investment. A firm known not just for what it builds but for the people who build it.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Macon Alley does its best work when it disappears into a client’s brand and operates as though it has always been part of the team.

“Understanding the ‘why’ behind their goals allows us to make thoughtful decisions,

solve problems proactively, and help make their jobs easier.”

That philosophy is what turns a single successful location into a scalable system. Macon Alley does not just design beautiful spaces. It builds the documentation, the standards, and the processes that allow a brand to replicate those spaces consistently across dozens or hundreds of locations without losing the quality or the character that made the original work.

For growing brands, that capability is not a design service. It is a growth infrastructure.

For the Aspire woman building a brand that is ready to scale physically: Megan Vanderson has spent six years building the systems that help companies go from one great location to a hundred without losing what made the first one special. That is the design problem most brands do not even know they have until they hire someone who knows how to solve it.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Megan Vanderson has built her most important relationships not through transactions but through genuine investment in people.

“Relationships matter more than transactions. Some of the most meaningful opportunities in my career came from people who generously shared their time, advice, and connections without expecting anything in return. You never know how the pieces will eventually come together, so focus on helping others, building genuine relationships, and leaving people better than you found them.”

That principle has driven 98 percent of Macon Alley’s client return rate. It has driven the referrals that fueled 280 percent growth. And it is the operating principle of the firm she is still building.

WHAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Megan Vanderson does not have a business book to recommend. She has something better.

The same week she started Macon Alley was the same week she found out she was pregnant with her first daughter. She has spent the years since growing a business and a family simultaneously, and she has learned more about leadership from parenting than from any book she has read.

“Becoming a parent has taught me as much about leadership as any business book ever could, requiring patience, resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to function on less sleep than you thought was humanly possible.”

Patience. Resilience. Adaptability. Less sleep than is reasonable. That is the founder’s curriculum. And for Megan Vanderson, it arrived in the same moment as everything else she was building.

June 16, 2026: Natasha Pongonis

HER WHY — From Argentina to the White House

Natasha Pongonis grew up in Argentina and built a career that crosses borders, languages, cultures, and industries. She came to the United States carrying something most data firms do not have: a native understanding that the way people think, feel, and make decisions is not universal. It is cultural. And culture is where most brands get it wrong.

She saw the gap early. Organizations were making decisions about diverse audiences based on assumptions, outdated data, and one-size-fits-all models. The result was campaigns that missed, products that landed wrong, and strategies built on a version of the consumer that had never actually existed.

“I started my business to bridge the gap between data and human behavior.

By integrating AI and machine learning with cultural intelligence, I help brands move beyond assumptions to truly understand and predict how people think, feel, and act in real time.

That’s where authentic connection and real growth happens.”

That conviction became Nativa Inc. Then OYE Business Intelligence. Then Envisify Global Intelligence. Three companies, 15 years, one throughline: data without cultural intelligence is just noise.

WHAT FUELS HER

Natasha Pongonis is fueled by a problem that most organizations still have not solved: understanding people at the intersection of culture, behavior, and data. Every company she has built has been another attempt to get that solution closer to right.

“I’m proud to be a female immigrant founder who has built and scaled companies while earning national recognition. Sitting at tables like the White House and serving on private boards where women, especially women of color, are still underrepresented.”

She is also fueled by the responsibility that comes with being one of very few women of color sitting at those tables. She knows what it means to be the person in the room who represents what is possible for everyone watching from outside it.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Natasha Pongonis is a 3x founder. Before launching Envisify Global Intelligence, she co-founded and led Nativa Inc., a data-driven multicultural agency, and OYE Business Intelligence, both award-winning companies that she built and led for over a decade. That is not a resume. That is a track record.

Envisify Global Intelligence is her third venture and her most ambitious: a cloud-based cultural intelligence AI SaaS platform that helps Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and growth-stage organizations understand and predict consumer behavior across cultural lines. Her client history includes Procter and Gamble, FOX, Castrol Motor Oil, Big Lots, MassMutual, the CDC, the U.S. Air Force, and the Ohio National Guard.

She holds a Top Security Clearance with the Department of Defense. She was invited to the White House. She was selected for Stanford University’s prestigious Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program. She has served on the boards of the Girl Scouts of Ohio, the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (Prospanica), the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), and the Hispanic Chamber of Columbus. She is a Mentor-in-Residence at Denison University School of Business and a cultural competency facilitator with the Columbus Council of World Affairs.

3 companies. 15 years. Fortune 500 clients. A DoD security clearance. A White House invitation.

One immigrant founder who bet on herself.

Her business superpower: translating culture into data and data into decisions that actually connect with real people in real time. She does not just analyze audiences. She understands them.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Natasha Pongonis has built three companies, advised dozens of founders, and contributed to multimillion-dollar revenue growth across national and international markets. What she points to with the most pride is not any of that.

She was not handed a seat at those tables. She built the credibility that made it impossible to leave her out. That is what she wants every woman watching her to understand about what is possible.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Natasha Pongonis has navigated fundraising as a female founder and as a woman of color, in an environment where access, bias, and pattern recognition still shape most investment decisions. She will tell you plainly that it has been one of the toughest challenges of her career.

“I’ve learned to navigate this by building strong networks, aligning with the right partners, and staying relentlessly focused on value creation and results. Resilience and strategic storytelling have been key.”

Strategic storytelling is not spin. For Natasha it is the discipline of making the value undeniable even when the room is skeptical. She has had to be better prepared, more data-driven, and more compelling than founders who did not carry the same biases into the room. She has done it three times.

For the Aspire woman navigating fundraising or any room where she is underrepresented: Natasha Pongonis has sat in those rooms and earned her seat by making the results impossible to ignore. Data, clarity, and relentless focus on value creation are not just strategies. They are armor.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Natasha Pongonis is focused on scaling impact at a speed and scale that matches the urgency of the problems she is solving.

“I aim to continue building innovative human-centered solutions that solve real problems rooted in culture and behavior. The focus is on scaling impact and helping more organizations make smarter decisions at speed and at scale.”

For a founder who has already built three companies and advised dozens more, this is not ambition. It is pattern recognition applied to her own trajectory. She knows what it takes to scale. She has done it. Now she is doing it again at a level that matches where AI and cultural intelligence are heading.

Human-centered AI. Cultural intelligence at scale.

Smarter decisions for the organizations shaping what comes next.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Envisify Global Intelligence does what most data firms cannot: it integrates AI with cultural intelligence to understand behavior in a way that is both predictive and actionable. The difference between data and cultural intelligence is the difference between knowing what people did and understanding why they did it.

“We excel at humanizing data, helping organizations connect with their audiences in ways that are authentic, culturally relevant, and impactful.”

That capability is increasingly rare and increasingly necessary. As the United States becomes more diverse and global markets become more interconnected, organizations that cannot read culture will consistently misread their audience. Natasha built her entire career around solving that problem before most organizations knew they had it.

For the Aspire woman leading a brand, a team, or a community: cultural intelligence is not a niche capability. It is the future of every meaningful decision your organization makes. Natasha Pongonis has been building that future for 15 years.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Natasha Pongonis has heard no more times than most founders ever will. As a female immigrant founder raising capital in a landscape that was not designed with her in mind, she has learned what to do with it.

“‘No’ just means ‘not yet.’ Don’t internalize rejection. You must keep building, keep showing up, and don’t stop until your vision becomes reality.”

Three companies. Fifteen years. A White House invitation.

A DoD clearance. She did not stop. That is the proof.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Natasha Pongonis is a white paper reader, a blog follower, and a podcast listener. But the book she points to is one that every business owner needs to read before they scale.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter fundamentally changed how she thinks about money, assets, and financial independence as a business owner.

“As a business owner, financial literacy is critical.”

For a founder who has built three companies and navigated the fundraising landscape as a woman of color, that clarity about money is not a soft skill. It is infrastructure. Natasha Pongonis built her financial intelligence the same way she built everything else: intentionally, early, and on her own terms.

June 9, 2026: Kimberly A. Shoemaker

HER WHY — From Accountant to CEO

Kimberly Shoemaker was not the founder of Acloché. She built something harder to create than a company: the credibility, the competence, and the trust that earned her the right to lead one.

She joined Acloché in 1999 as a Senior Accountant and spent 11 years learning the company from the inside out. Finance. Accounting. IT. Operations. Every function. Every connection between them. She was not working her way up a ladder. She was building a map of how the entire organization worked so that when the time came, she would know exactly how to lead it.

“By intentionally learning every aspect of the business and how each function connects,

I was able to grow and serve in senior leadership roles across finance, accounting, IT, and operations. That hands-on experience ultimately prepared me to lead the

company when I was appointed CEO in 2010.”

In 2010, the Acloché Board of Directors appointed her CEO. She became the steward of a company founded in 1968 by George and Betty Lou Ruch, a family business with more than four decades of legacy behind it and a community of people whose livelihoods depended on the decisions she would make.

She has been making them with discipline, integrity, and care ever since.

WHAT FUELS HER

Kimberly Shoemaker is fueled by impact and legacy. The Sheryl Sandberg quote she carries is not aspirational. It is operational. She measures her leadership by what continues to thrive when she is not in the room.

“True leadership is measured by impact and legacy, not control. It emphasizes developing

others, building confidence and capability in your team, and creating systems and

culture that continue to thrive even when you step away.”

After 15 years as CEO, she has had plenty of opportunities to test that philosophy. The average non-management tenure at Acloché is 10 years. The average management team tenure is 15 years. That is not a human resources statistic. That is proof that she has built a culture worth staying in.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Acloché LLC was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1968. When Kimberly Shoemaker took the helm in 2010, she inherited a company with a half-century of history and a responsibility to carry it forward without losing what made it exceptional.

She has done exactly that. Today Acloché supports 1,400-plus client partnerships, places thousands of workers annually across all 88 Ohio counties, and extends human resources consulting and direct recruitment services nationwide. Average annual revenue is 20 million dollars. The company is WBENC WBE, SBA WOSB, NWBOC WBE, and State of Ohio and City of Columbus WBE certified.

The recognition has followed the results. Acloché has held the Consumers’ Choice Award for Columbus Employment Agency every year from 2013 through 2026, a recognition voted by the community, not selected by a committee. It earned the BBB Torch Award for Ethics in both 2017 and 2023. And it has been named to Columbus CEO Best of Business every year from 2022 through 2025.

58 years. 1,400+ clients. Thousands of workers placed annually.

One CEO who has led with integrity for 15 years.

Her leadership superpower: knowing how every part of a company works and using that understanding to build a culture where the right people are empowered to do their best work, with or without her in the room.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Kimberly Shoemaker joined Acloché as a Senior Accountant. She had no expectation, no plan, and no roadmap to the CEO office. What she had was curiosity and the willingness to do the work.

“What I’m most proud of is the journey itself. I joined Acloché in 1999 as a Senior Accountant and certainly never expected that I would one day be running the company.”

That journey is not just a personal story. It is a message to every woman in a supporting role who has been told that the top is not for her. Kimberly Shoemaker built her way there one function at a time, without a title that announced where she was headed. She just kept learning, kept showing up, and let the results speak.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Leading a workforce solutions organization means navigating a labor market that never stands still. Talent is tight. Client expectations shift with economic cycles. Competition for candidates is constant and unrelenting.

“We manage this by investing heavily in relationships with clients, candidates, and our community partners, using data to anticipate trends, and diversifying our talent pipelines. Staying adaptable, transparent, and people-focused has been key to sustaining growth in this market.”

The consistency of Acloché’s results across 58 years and multiple economic cycles is the proof point. This company has survived recessions, pandemics, and every labor market disruption in between. That kind of durability does not happen by accident. It happens because the leadership never loses sight of the people.

For the Aspire woman navigating uncertainty in her business: Kimberly Shoemaker has led a 58-year-old company through every kind of disruption the economy can produce. Her answer is always the same. Stay people-focused. Stay adaptable. Never stop building the relationship.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Kimberly Shoemaker is building Acloché for its next chapter, expanding the footprint into more key industries and building workforce solutions that go beyond traditional staffing.

“My goal is to grow Acloché’s footprint by becoming a trusted partner in more key industries while continuing to expand our workforce solutions beyond traditional staffing. Ultimately, success means sustainable growth, strong community impact, and being known for integrity and results.”

Integrity and results. That is not a marketing tagline. After 58 years and 15 years of her leadership, it is a track record. The next five years are about extending that track record into new markets and new industries without ever losing the culture that built it.

New industries. Expanded solutions. Same culture. Same standard. Always people first.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Acloché’s slogan is three words: We Know People. It is not marketing language. It is the operating philosophy of an organization that has placed thousands of workers in jobs that fit them, year after year, for 58 years.

“We do our best work by truly understanding people and matching the right talent to a complementary team through relationships, not just transactions. We are proud of the trust we have built with our clients and employees over the past 58 years.”

Commitment to integrity, accountability, collaboration, and long-term partnerships. Those four values are not aspirational at Acloché. They are the reason clients have

stayed for decades and why the average internal team member has been with the company for 10 to 15 years.

For the Aspire woman building client relationships or a team culture: Kimberly Shoemaker has been doing this for 15 years inside a company that has been doing it for 58. The secret is not a strategy. It is a standard. Do right by people, consistently, and the results follow.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Kimberly Shoemaker has been in rooms where she did not have all the answers. She has learned what to do in those rooms.

“You don’t need all the answers to lead effectively. Trust your instincts, stay curious, and never underestimate the power of perseverance. Many of Acloché’s successes have been the result of simply not giving up when things got hard. A great leader surrounds herself with great people, empowers them to do what they do best, and remembers that saying ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out’ is a strength, not a weakness.”

That last line is one of the most honest things a CEO can say. And one of the most powerful.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Kimberly Shoemaker points to a book that reframed how she thinks about what leadership actually requires.

Good to Great by Jim Collins changed how she understands the relationship between leadership and organizational performance. Not charisma. Not ego. Disciplined decision-making, getting the right people in the right seats, and building something that outlasts any single leader.

“It reinforced the importance of long-term thinking and aligning values with performance.”

For a CEO who inherited a 42-year-old company and has led it for 15 more, that framing is not just applicable. It is personal. Kimberly Shoemaker did not build Acloché from scratch. She built it forward. And Good to Great gave her the language for exactly what that requires.

June 2, 2026: Bridget Murphy

HER WHY — Creating Opportunity Through Connection

Bridget Murphy began her career at Disney and Fox Digital Media, where she learned firsthand how powerful the right partnership can be in accelerating growth, expanding audiences, and creating lasting brand impact.

What stood out to her was not the marketing itself. It was the connections behind it. The relationships, collaborations, and strategic alliances that helped brands reach people in more authentic and meaningful ways.

“To create opportunity through connection.”

She founded Envision Promotions with a simple belief: growth happens faster when brands work together.

WHAT FUELS HER

Bridget Murphy is not fueled by revenue targets or client counts. She is fueled by people.

“I’m most proud of my people. My family, my friends, and the community I’ve built around me.

They keep me grounded, make me laugh, and aren’t afraid to call me out or tell me to get out of my own way, which I absolutely need. That kind of support, honesty, and energy is everything.”

That community is not separate from her business philosophy. It is the foundation of it. The Amy Poehler quote she carries says everything about how she leads: find your people, invest in them deeply, and watch everything change.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Envision Promotions is a women-owned growth and acquisition company built on a simple belief: the right partnerships create opportunities that brands cannot create alone.

Bridget Murphy has helped both iconic brands and emerging companies accelerate growth through strategic partnerships. From global household names like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Disney to innovative challenger brands looking to expand their reach, she has built a reputation for connecting the right brands, audiences, and opportunities to drive measurable results.

The company designs and executes collaborative growth programs that help brands acquire customers, build awareness, generate content, increase engagement, and create meaningful connections with consumers. Envision serves as the strategic connector behind hundreds of successful collaborations, helping brands unlock new audiences through partnership marketing, influencer programs, retail activations, licensing relationships, and co-marketing initiatives.

22 years. Women-owned and women-run. Hundreds of successful brand collaborations.

One belief: growth happens faster when brands work together.

Her business superpower: seeing the partnership that nobody else sees yet and

building it before anyone else realizes it was possible.

She has also shared that expertise on public stages, speaking at Techstars Startup Week Columbus on brand partnerships and business development, and hosting a podcast focused on partnerships with impact.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Bridget Murphy has worked with some of the most recognized brands in the world and helped countless emerging brands accelerate their growth through strategic partnerships.

Yet when asked what she is most proud of, her answer has little to do with client lists, campaigns, or business milestones.

“The relationships I’ve built along the way. My family, friends, clients, partners, and team.

Success means very little if you don’t have great people to share it with.”

For Bridget, business has always been about people first. The partnerships, opportunities, and results are important, but the trust, relationships, and community built along the way are what matter most.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Bridget Murphy’s biggest challenge has been herself. She will tell you that directly.

“Honestly, myself. Learning to trust my instincts, move faster, and not overthink decisions

has been one of the biggest challenges. The more I’ve leaned into confidence and clarity, the more everything else has started to fall into place.”

That kind of self-awareness is rare at any level of leadership and even rarer when someone admits it this plainly. Overthinking is one of the most common ways talented founders slow themselves down. Bridget identified it, named it, and is actively working through it. That is what growth looks like in practice.

For the Aspire woman who overthinks every decision: Bridget Murphy has built a 22-year company with Fortune 500 clients while navigating the same internal battles you are fighting right now. The answer is not to wait until you feel certain. The answer is to trust your instincts and move.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Bridget Murphy is building with intention.

“My goal is to build a company that creates lasting value for our clients, partners, and team. I want Envision to be stronger, more scalable, and positioned for whatever opportunities the future brings.”

Her focus is on growing a business that creates opportunity, develops future leaders, and helps brands grow through meaningful partnerships. Every step is designed to strengthen the foundation, expand the impact, and create value that extends far beyond any one person.

Build boldly. Lead generously. Create opportunities that last.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Envision Promotions helps brands grow through strategic partnerships.

“We’ve built our reputation by listening carefully, focusing on quality over volume, and creating partnerships that generate real value for everyone involved.”

Whether working with global brands or emerging companies, Envision connects the right partners, audiences, and opportunities to drive growth that neither brand could achieve alone.

For Bridget, the formula is simple: lead with relationships, create value generously, and focus on building connections that help everyone grow. Because the best partnerships do not simply grow brands. They create opportunities.

For the Aspire woman building a brand or seeking growth partners: Bridget Murphy has spent 22 years proving that the most powerful growth strategy is not the loudest one. It is the most intentional one. Find the right partner. Build the right connection. Everything else follows.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Bridget Murphy has thought carefully about what drives success, and her answer is simple.

“The biggest shift for me was realizing success isn’t built alone. It’s built with the right people around you. When you surround yourself with people who challenge you, champion you, and help you grow, everything accelerates. That impact extends far beyond business. It influences your family, your community, and the opportunities you create for others.”

Find your people. Invest in those relationships. Let them challenge you to become better.

THE BOOKS THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Bridget Murphy does not point to one book. She points to four, each one shaping a different dimension of how she thinks and builds.

The Element by Ken Robinson gave her a framework for understanding where natural talent meets passion, and what happens when organizations and individuals finally align with what they are actually built for.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell reinforced something she had already been living: that extraordinary success is not luck. It is the product of preparation, timing, and the willingness to put in the work before anyone is watching.

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson changed how she thinks about daily decisions, the compounding power of small consistent actions, and why the gap between success and failure is almost never dramatic.

"UP! by Kelly Mooney reminded me that optimism is not a soft skill. It is a strategic advantage. And that the energy you bring to a room is as important as anything else you bring.”

Four books. One founder. A philosophy built from the best of all of them.

May 26, 2026: Sandra Moody Gresham

HER WHY — Purpose, Freedom, and Legacy

Sandra Moody Gresham grew up watching entrepreneurship modeled before her. She understood early what most people take decades to discover: that owning your time is one of the most powerful forms of freedom a person can build.

When she became a mother, that conviction became a mission. She wanted to be intentionally present for her children while creating financial independence that answered to no one but her own vision. Entrepreneurship was not just a career path. It was a declaration of what mattered most.

“Entrepreneurship afforded me the opportunity to create time flexibility,

to intentionally parent my children, and to create financial independence.”

She founded Dehan Enterprises Insurance and Financial Services LLC and spent 28 years building a practice that protects what families and organizations have worked their entire lives to create. Along the way, she also built something harder to measure but equally important: a legacy of mentorship, education, and economic empowerment that runs through dozens of careers and three African American women-owned financial services companies she helped bring to life.

WHAT FUELS HER

Sandra Moody Gresham is fueled by two things that most people treat as separate: faith and purpose. For her they have always been the same.

“God is my partner and He’s got me.”

That conviction has carried her through 28 years of building, serving, and leading. It is the foundation of how she shows up for clients navigating some of the most vulnerable decisions of their financial lives. It is the foundation of how she shows up in the classroom at Franklin University, where for 20 years she has been introducing students to the insurance industry and regularly ranking in the top percentile of student evaluations.

When you know your purpose and trust the source of your strength, everything else becomes a question of consistency. Sandra has been consistent for 28 years.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Sandra Moody Gresham carries four professional designations: MBA, LUTCF (Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow), CLTC (Certified in Long-Term Care), and CPIA (Certified Professional Insurance Agent). That combination represents decades of specialized expertise across life, health, and risk management, and signals to clients that they are working with someone who has done the work.

Over 28 years, Dehan Enterprises has protected hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, insured priceless lives, and created and fostered economic stability across generations of families and organizations. The client base spans small business owners, nonprofits, families, and public entities, which means Sandra has sat across the table from nearly every kind of stakeholder a financial professional can serve.

28 years. Hundreds of millions in assets protected.

Hundreds of students and young professionals mentored.

Three African American women-owned financial services firms fostered.

Her financial services superpower: consultive selling rooted in education. She does not just sell products. She builds understanding, confidence, and long-term relationships that create generational financial impact.

In addition to her practice, Sandra has spent 20 years as an Adjunct Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Franklin University, earning the 2015 Franklin University Teaching Excellence Award for her extraordinary commitment to student success. She has educated and mentored hundreds of students and young professionals, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in the industry she has spent her entire career building.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Sandra Moody Gresham has protected assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. She has been recognized for teaching excellence. She has built a 28-year practice from the ground up. What she points to when asked about pride is none of that.

“I am most proud of the work I’ve done to foster the growth of at least

three African American women-owned financial services companies and the many

professionals I have mentored and supported over the years.

They are all savvy business leaders and continuing to thrive financially and in service.”

Three companies. Dozens of careers. A network of financial service professionals who are thriving because Sandra Moody Gresham decided their success was worth investing in. That is the legacy she has built, quietly and consistently, alongside everything else.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

In 28 years of building a financial services practice, the challenge that has required the most patience is also the one that matters most to the industry’s future: finding and developing the next generation of insurance professionals.

“Our industry offers all the benefits and lifestyle that most employees seek,

however it requires diligence and patience to excel.

We’ve had success working with high school and college interns

to acclimate them to the industry.”

That investment in young people is both a business strategy and a personal conviction. Sandra has spent her career proving that the insurance industry can be a vehicle for financial freedom and generational wealth. Now she is making sure the next generation knows it too.

For the Aspire woman who leads in a field where talent is hard to find: Sandra Moody Gresham’s answer is to go earlier. Meet students where they are. Build the pipeline before you need it. That patience has paid dividends for 28 years.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Sandra Moody Gresham is approaching one of the most intentional transitions in business: the exit she has been building toward for 28 years.

“My goals over the next five years are to have transitioned the business to future leadership.

Other goals include becoming a director of a public company,

completing two books of family member biographies, growing my nonprofit

The B Fund, and traveling more with my grandchildren.”

This is not a woman winding down. This is a woman who has spent nearly three decades building something strong enough to stand without her, so she can redirect her energy toward the next chapter of impact. Public company board. Published family histories. A nonprofit growing. Grandchildren experiencing the world. That is a five-year vision built on everything she has already proven she can do.

Legacy. Leadership transition. Board aspirations. A nonprofit growing. Grandchildren seeing the world.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Dehan Enterprises does not transact insurance. It builds understanding.

“We pride ourselves on educating our clients while offering them the best financial products to assist them in achieving their goals. This approach allows them to develop confidence in their decisions and for us to build long-term relationships, which create future opportunities for financial growth for all parties.”

That consultive approach, grounded in education rather than sales pressure, is what has kept clients coming back for 28 years and what has built the multi-generational relationships that define the practice. When clients understand what they are buying and why, they trust the person who helped them understand it. That trust is Sandra’s greatest asset and she has earned it one conversation at a time.

For the Aspire woman building client relationships: Sandra Moody Gresham’s practice is a masterclass in the power of education as a sales strategy. When you lead with knowledge, you build trust that outlasts any product or market condition.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Sandra Moody Gresham has been refining this principle for 28 years and she means every word of it.

“Always perform in excellence and commit to continuous personal growth and development.”

Those are not abstract aspirations. They are the daily standard she has held herself to across a career that spans a financial services practice, a university classroom, a nonprofit, and a growing pipeline of young professionals whose careers she has helped shape. Excellence is not a ceiling. It is a floor. And the learning never stops.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Sandra Moody Gresham turns to Napoleon Hill when she needs to remember why clarity of purpose matters above everything else. Outwitting the Devil is not a conventional business book. It is a conversation about the forces that keep people from becoming who they were meant to be, and what it takes to resist them.

“This book reminded me of why it’s important to know what I want to be, do and have, and to not drift.”

Know what you want. Commit to it. Refuse to drift. After 28 years of building, mentoring, teaching, and serving, that discipline is exactly what Sandra Moody Gresham has practiced every single day.

May 19, 2026: Gretchen Bonasera

HER WHY — WHY SHE BUILT THIS

Gretchen Bonasera has always believed in the power of intentional space. She did not set out to open a bar. She set out to build a place where people could exhale. The bourbon world has long skewed male, and private clubs have often felt exclusive in the wrong ways. Gretchen saw both of those things and chose to do something different.

"I wanted to create something that felt intentional, welcoming, and elevated —

but also real. A place where people can connect, celebrate, and exhale."

At 80 East and 114 West, the bourbon and cocktails are the vehicle. The real purpose is belonging. That conviction has driven every decision from the first pour to the third location now in development.

WHAT FUELS HER — THE FIRE BEHIND THE WORK

Gretchen Bonasera does not measure success by the size of the pour list. She measures it by what happens between the glasses.

"In an industry that can often feel transactional, we have created something intentional."

Seeing members connect, celebrate milestones, and build genuine friendships and partnerships within the walls of Good Night Brands is what keeps her at the table. The journey has not been linear, and it has not been easy. But Gretchen has stayed committed to building something that reflects who she is and what she believes in.

HER POWER PLAY — WHAT SHE HAS BUILT

In four years, Gretchen Bonasera has built one of central Ohio's most distinctive hospitality concepts from the ground up. Good Night Brands, the parent company of 80 East and 114 West, operates two members-only bourbon and cocktail clubs, with a third location now under contract in the West Lane Avenue shopping district of Upper Arlington.

80 East opened in 2022 inside a restored 1904 home in Powell, growing from an intimate 1,300 square feet to a 5,000-square-foot destination complete with cathedral ceilings, a wall of bourbon under hand-crafted wooden arches, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a ravine. In 2024, 114 West brought the concept to Plain City, occupying the historic third floor of a building originally built by Masons in the 1860s, complete with a hidden elevator entrance and a 35-foot bar lined with exposed brick.

Two locations. A third under contract. $50,000+ in auction packages donated to kid-centric charities

since 2022. A team of 10. And a membership community built on belonging, not exclusivity.

Her leadership superpower: creating elevated hospitality that is genuinely inclusive and proving that a woman-founded concept can redefine what a private club looks and feels like.

WHAT SHE'S MOST PROUD OF

The clubs are stunning. The memberships are coveted. But when Gretchen talks about what she is most proud of, she does not reach for accolades. She reaches for the moments.

"People don't just come for a drink. They are here to feel something.

They build relationships here, celebrate milestones,

and become part of a community that feels genuine."

The human connection is what matters most.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Leadership is a weight that does not clock out. As founder, the decisions do not stop, the accountability does not pause, and the responsibility is constant. Gretchen carries it steadily because she has learned what it actually takes.

"As a founder, you don't always have the luxury of certainty. You have to move forward anyway."

She stays anchored in vision, gathers the best information available, and resists the urge to be harder on herself than the situation demands. At the same time, she is actively building leaders within her team, working to be clear on priorities and modeling what it means to lead with intention. Whether the challenge is financial, operational, or relational, her formula is consistent: clarity, confidence, and a willingness to own the outcome.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Gretchen Bonasera is not scaling for the sake of a growth chart. She is expanding because she has built something worth bringing to more communities.

"Growth for us isn't about scale for the sake of it. It's about bringing this level of

intentional hospitality to new spaces and new members."

Over the next five years, Good Night Brands will expand into new markets while protecting everything that makes the existing clubs feel the way they do. Simultaneously, Gretchen is deepening the experience inside current locations, enhancing programming, strengthening member connections, and continuing to raise the bar on what hospitality can look and feel like.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Good Night Brands does not run bars. It builds communities. Every design choice, every cocktail, every staff interaction is calibrated to one outcome: making the person who walks through the door feel like they belong there.

"What we do best is redefine what a bourbon and cocktail space can feel like.

Elevated but not intimidating. Refined but still warm and welcoming."

For the Aspire woman who has ever walked into a room and wondered if she was welcome: Gretchen Bonasera built the room that answers yes, then gave it a wall of rare bourbon and a 35-foot bar to match.

Nearly 30 years of hospitality experience informs every decision at Good Night Brands. This is not a concept built on trends. It is built on trust, craft, and the deeply held belief that the best experiences are the ones that make you want to stay.

HER ADVICE — TO WOMEN STEPPING INTO THEIR POWER

Gretchen Bonasera does not soften what it takes. She names it directly, and then she names what makes it worth it.

"Find your passion and then find your grit. Find something you love to do that makes you want to

wake up in the morning, and then buckle up because you have to take the bad times with the good."

Her second piece of wisdom is as practical as it is powerful: never be afraid to ask. Not asking is always a no. And if the answer is no, find a different way to ask the question.

For the Aspire woman in business: the ask is the action. Gretchen Bonasera built two clubs and a third on the way by never letting a closed door be the final word.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations is not a traditional business book. That is exactly why it works for Gretchen Bonasera.

"Tony's punk rock attitude is the perfect backdrop for his passion both as a

culinarian and for the people in the restaurant industry."

For a founder who has spent nearly three decades in hospitality, Bourdain's unfiltered love for craft and for the people who make it possible is not just inspiring. It is a mirror. Good Night Brands runs on that same energy: real, relentless, and deeply human.

May 12, 2026: Shannon TL Isom, MBA

HER WHY — From Medicine to Movement

Shannon TL Isom was on a path to become a doctor. She had the degree from Spelman College, the post-baccalaureate studies at Ohio State, the MD candidacy at Wright State University School of Medicine. The science was there. The training was in motion.

Then she looked more carefully at what her patients actually needed and realized the diagnosis she was meant to treat was not in the body. It was in the conditions surrounding it.

“I was on a path toward medicine because I wanted to heal people. What I realized is that the conditions people are living in, housing, poverty, systemic neglect, were the diagnosis I actually needed to treat. You can’t prescribe or program your way out of structural harm. That’s what pulled me toward this work.”

She pivoted. She earned an MBA specialized in health administration from Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business and spent the next two decades building organizations that treat the root cause, not the symptom.

“The gift I thought I was supposed to use in one way turned out to be

exactly the right tool for a different kind of healing.”

WHAT FUELS HER

Shannon TL Isom believes her gifts were made for social justice work. That is not a lane she stepped into. It is the thread that runs through everything she is.

“I believe my gifts were made for social justice work. That’s not a lane I stepped into.

It’s the thread that runs through everything I am.”

What keeps her moving through the hardest days is returning to purpose. The work is bigger than any single barrier. And leading through hard things is exactly what she was built to do.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Shannon TL Isom came to Community Shelter Board in 2023 as President and CEO, stepping into leadership of one of the most complex and consequential systems in Central Ohio. CSB is the United Funding Agency that leads the coordinated response to homelessness across Franklin County, overseeing a collaborative network of 16 nonprofits delivering shelter, housing, street outreach, prevention, diversion, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and supportive services.

The scale is significant. CSB operates on an annual budget of 82.1 million dollars. In FY25 alone the system served more than 20,000 clients across 15,300 households and 4,265 people through its full continuum of care. Over the past ten years, the CSB system of care has housed more than 30,000 people in Franklin County.

$82.1M budget. 20,000+ clients served in FY25. 30,000+ people housed over 10 years.

One system she now leads.

Her leadership superpower: bringing her full self, her scientific mind, her lived experience,

her values and her voice, into every hard conversation and

every policy fight because that is what the people she serves deserve.

Before CSB, Shannon spent nine years as President and CEO of YWCA Dayton, where she grew the operational budget by 196 percent and secured the first one million dollar state biennial appropriation for the Ohio Council of YWCAs. She received a National Philanthropy Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2021, a Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice in 2022, and was named Dayton Business Journal’s Regional Leader of the Year and Business of the Year in 2020. She has served as a TEDx coach, a board member for the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, and a national advisory member for KeyBank and First Financial Bank.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Shannon Isom does not measure her pride in budget growth or award plaques. She measures it in the capacity to show up.

“I’m most proud of my capacity to show up and lead in hard spaces. The kind of work that

demands everything you have because the human condition depends on it.”

Showing up consistently, fully, and without shrinking in the spaces where the stakes are highest. That is the standard she holds herself to. And the 30,000 people housed over the last decade are the measure of what that standard makes possible.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The obstacles in Shannon’s work never stop coming. Funding shifts. Policy changes. Systemic resistance. Leading a coordinated response to homelessness means operating in a landscape of constant pressure with no finish line in sight.

“My biggest challenge has been staying anchored to the vision when the obstacles feel relentless. What keeps me moving is returning to purpose. I remind myself that the work is bigger than any single barrier, and that leading through hard things is exactly what I was built to do.”

She does not manage these challenges by avoiding them. She manages them by being exactly who she is in the middle of them. That is the practice she has built her entire career on.

For the Aspire woman navigating relentless resistance in her work: Shannon TL Isom leads an 82 million dollar system through some of the most complex challenges in public policy. Her answer is always the same. Return to purpose. Lead through it. Show up.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Shannon Isom does not want to simply manage the response to homelessness in Central Ohio. She wants to shift how the entire region thinks about it.

“I want to be the person who shifts how this region thinks about homelessness and housing. That means positioning CSB as a thought partner, not just a funder, and building the kind of policy influence that moves legislation at the state and federal level.”

That is not incremental ambition. That is a woman who came from medicine to social justice work because she understood that systems, not symptoms, are where change happens. Now she is going after the systems.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Community Shelter Board funds the best programs and backs them up with the best data. As a United Funding Agency, that is the standard. Not just investing in solutions but holding them accountable to outcomes.

“CSB has built a system that the region trusts because we’ve earned that trust through results.”

The results speak. More than 30,000 people housed in ten years. A coordinated network of 16 nonprofits operating as a single system rather than a fragmented set of resources. An 82 million dollar portfolio deployed with precision and accountability. Shannon inherited a strong foundation and she is building something more ambitious on top of it.

For the Aspire woman leading a mission-driven organization: Shannon TL Isom’s approach is a masterclass in systems thinking. You do not create lasting change by treating one person at a time. You build the infrastructure that makes change possible at scale.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Shannon TL Isom does not traffic in passive wisdom. When she says to thine own self be true, she means it as a daily discipline.

“For me, that’s not a passive idea. It’s a daily decision. Early in my career I learned that the cost of contorting yourself to fit rooms that weren’t built for you is too high, and the people you’re supposed to serve pay the price when you do. Leading authentically means I bring my full self into every hard conversation, every policy fight, every room. My perspective, my lived experience, my values. All of it comes with me. The clarity that comes with that is non-negotiable, and honestly, it’s the thing that makes me most effective.”

Do not contort yourself to fit the room. Bring yourself into it. That is the work.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER

Shannon TL Isom does not point to a business framework or a leadership manual. She points to a book her mother gave her.

Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American Literature, edited by Abraham Chapman, is the foundation of how she shows up. Not because it taught her a strategy. Because it centered her.

“It reminded me who I do this for, whose stories matter, and why community is not just a word I use but a practice I live. That book is the foundation of how I show up.”

Her mother gave it to her. That alone makes it sacred. Everything else it did for her work is a bonus.

May 5, 2026: Monica Dominic, MCM

HER WHY — From Building Within to Owning It All

Monica Dominic did not set out to become a business owner. She set out to build something meaningful. And for nearly 15 years, she did exactly that, growing an IT division from less than 500,000 dollars in annual revenue to approximately 15 million dollars, brick by brick, client by client, alongside her business partner, Monty Ragland.

The more she built, the more she realized she could not walk away from it. When the opportunity to acquire PSI presented itself in 2022, the question was never really whether to do it.

“It became less about why and more about why not.”

She leaped. And the company she had spent 15 years building became the company she now owns. That full-circle moment is not just a business story. It is a masterclass in what happens when you bet on yourself consistently, long before anyone is watching.

WHAT FUELS HER

Monica Dominic is fueled by the discomfort of staying still. Every chapter of her career has been built on a single conviction: growth does not come from waiting until you feel ready. It comes from moving anyway.

“This became my mantra when I realized staying stuck was far more dangerous than failing.

Everything I’ve built has come from being willing to move before I felt ready,

and trusting that the next step would reveal itself.”

She also created Ferocious Ambition, a platform and a book, to carry that message further than one company could. Because what she has learned about leading, building, and growing is too important to keep inside the walls of PSI.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

PSI was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1992 as a one-person startup. By the time Monica Dominic joined nearly 15 years ago, it was already a functioning firm. What she did next is the story.

She focused entirely on the IT division. At the time it was generating less than 500,000 dollars annually. Over 8 to 10 years, she and Monty grew that segment to approximately 15 million dollars. That growth led directly to the 2022 acquisition, a succession of ownership from founder Keith Stevens to the senior leadership team who had earned it.

Today PSI supports between 120 and 140 employees and consultants, serves clients that include a large Central Ohio university and a global retailer headquartered in Columbus, and has expanded its client base to include organizations represented on the Forbes Global 2000. PSI holds a 60 percent ratio of diverse contractors placed with clients, a figure that reflects a deliberate and consistent commitment to inclusion that goes beyond a mission statement.

$500K to $15M. 140 employees. Forbes Global 2000 clients. 30+ years of PSI history now in her hands.

Her business superpower: building trust so deep inside an organization that when ownership becomes available, there is no question about who should take the reins.

In 2025, PSI was recognized on the Columbus Smart 50 list. Monica was appointed to the board of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce in 2024. She is a national and international speaker, regularly invited to keynote conferences across the country. And she wrote the book, literally. Ferocious Ambition is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Two moments define Monica Dominic’s pride in this journey and neither of them is a revenue number.

“Becoming an owner of the company I helped build is something

I will always be proud of. It represents years of commitment, growth,

and betting on myself in a way not everyone is willing to do.”

The second moment was holding her book in her hands for the first time. Ferocious Ambition is not just a publication. It is the physical proof that she did the work, went through the hard things, and came out the other side with something to give back. That is the moment that told her she had become the leader she was building toward.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The weight of leadership is not abstract for Monica Dominic. It is 140 names. One hundred and forty people who rely on PSI for their livelihood, their careers, and their families. She carries that with her every day.

“Knowing that over 130 employees and consultants rely on the business for their livelihood is something I carry with me every day. I manage these challenges by staying deeply connected to a strong network of partners, advisors, and peers. I am never afraid to ask questions, lean on experts, and continuously learn.”

On the operational side, managing cash flow, client payment terms, and financial stability is a constant focus. Her answer is not to pretend those pressures do not exist. It is to build the relationships and the knowledge base that allow her to navigate them without going it alone.

For the Aspire woman carrying the weight of her team: you are not supposed to have all the answers. Monica Dominic leads one of Columbus’s most respected IT firms and she still picks up the phone to ask for help. That is not weakness. That is how it is done.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Monica Dominic is not done growing PSI. The goal is 20 million dollars in revenue and a footprint that extends well beyond Ohio.

Over the next five years PSI is actively expanding into Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky. The strategy is straightforward: wherever clients need trusted expertise, PSI will be positioned to deliver it.

$20M target. Five-state expansion. One standard: wherever you need us, we will be there.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

PSI has been ranked as a top vendor among dozens of firms by some of its largest enterprise clients. That ranking is not the result of a marketing strategy. It is the result of a philosophy: quality over volume, every single time.

“We don’t just place consultants. We support them, advocate for them, and treat them like part of our own team. That level of care shows up in the results we deliver.”

PSI Gives, the firm’s community initiative, closes the office quarterly for team service days and has extended that invitation to contractors as well. Monica believes that community service is not a benefit or a perk. It is a requirement of showing up as a business that actually belongs to the community it serves.

For the Aspire woman building a team culture: the way you treat the people who work for you is the product. Monica Dominic has built a 140-person organization where that principle runs from the top down, and the results speak for themselves.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Monica Dominic has one message for every woman who is waiting for the right moment to show up fully.

“You do not have to be perfect and you do not have to fit a mold. The moment I stopped trying to tone myself down and started showing up fully as who I am is when everything changed. Be unapologetically yourself and expect failure along the way. Growth comes from leaning into the hard moments, learning from them, and continuing to move forward with confidence.”

Fail fast. Fail forward. Fail often. Go forward. Live ferociously.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Monica Dominic points to two books and one of them she wrote herself.

Heart Boss reinforced what she had been building toward all along: that authenticity and ambition are not in conflict. That you can build something powerful without losing who you are in the process. It challenged the hustle-at-all-costs mindset and gave her language for the kind of leader she was already becoming.

Then she wrote Ferocious Ambition. And that changed everything.

“Writing my own book was one of the most transformative experiences of my career. It forced me to work through the hard things, reflect deeply, and ultimately live out the message I now share with others: growth comes from going through it, not around it.”

Ferocious Ambition is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart. It is the book she needed and could not find, so she built it herself. That is Monica Dominic in one sentence.

April 28, 2026: Amy Klaben, JD

HER WHY — The Problem She Refused to Accept

Amy Klaben has spent her entire career asking one question: why do some children get to flourish and others never get the chance?

The answer, she learned through decades of work in real estate law and nonprofit leadership, is largely geography. Where a child grows up determines the schools they attend, the neighbors they learn from, the jobs they can reach, and the future they can imagine. And in Columbus, Ohio, that geography has been shaped by redlining, denied credit, and decades of policies that kept low-wage families locked in under-resourced neighborhoods.

“According to McKinsey research, it will take people who are Black 700 years to reach economic parity with White people in Central Ohio if policies don’t change. This is wrong. We need to create a community where everyone can flourish.”

In 2016, she decided to build the solution herself. What began as Move to Prosper, a pilot initiative through Ohio State’s City and Regional Planning Program, became Families Flourish. A three-year program that does what no other organization in the country is doing: combining monthly life coaching, career and financial support, and rental assistance in higher-resourced neighborhoods so that low-wage working families and their children can break the cycle of generational poverty.

WHAT FUELS HER

The stories keep Amy Klaben going. A mother who increased her income by 58 percent. A child who moved from an unsafe neighborhood to a school where she discovered what she was capable of. A family who, at the end of the three-year program, stayed in their apartment and took on market-rate rent on their own.

“I believe that all children have potential. They just don’t have the opportunity.”

That belief has driven every chapter of her career. From changing domestic violence laws as a young attorney at Porter Wright. To building Homeport from 800 affordable apartments to 2,200 units across 32 communities over 16.5 years. To co-founding Families Flourish and creating a model so effective that Governor Mike DeWine included it in his state budget.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

Families Flourish is unique in the nation. There is no other program in the United States doing what Amy Klaben and her co-founders built: a three-year holistic program that combines monthly life coaching, career advancement support, financial literacy programming, and rental assistance in higher-opportunity neighborhoods for low-wage working families.

Since becoming an independent 501(c)(3) in July 2022, the organization has welcomed 120 families representing 331 individuals. The data tells the rest of the story. During the pilot program, participant mothers increased their incomes by an average of 58 percent, equivalent to 17,000 dollars. Credit scores rose by more than 100 points. More than 90 percent of families with school-age children reported good or very good adjustments to their new schools. Eight of ten pilot families remained in their apartments at market-rate rent when the program concluded.

331 individuals served. 58% average income increase. 100+ point credit score gains. One of a kind in the nation.

Her leadership superpower: building something from nothing by leaping before the net appears

and trusting that the mission is strong enough to hold the weight of the vision.

The recognition has followed the results. 2025 Columbus Monthly and Columbus CEO Inspiring Women honoree. 2024 Columbus Business First Women of Influence awardee. NBC4 Remarkable Woman for 2023, joining women from across the nation at a national recognition event in Los Angeles. In September 2025, Families Flourish announced its first affiliate in the Miami Valley area around Dayton, marking the beginning of a statewide expansion.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

Amy Klaben has led two major nonprofit organizations, transforming one and co-founding the other, changed housing law in Ohio, and created a program with national implications. What she is most proud of is none of that.

“I am so proud of the women and youth who are succeeding in school,

their careers, have better physical and mental health, and are

creating better lives for themselves and their families. The stories keep me going.”

The team she has built is a close second. Passionate, talented, volunteer, board, staff, and coaches who see the vision and want to make a difference. That kind of alignment around a mission is rare. Amy has built it twice.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The hardest thing about building Families Flourish is also the most fundamental: getting people to believe that investing in families works. In a funding environment that is skeptical of long-term commitments and favors quick outcomes, Amy has to tell the story of generational change to donors who may never see the full arc of what she is building.

“Our biggest challenge is sharing our story and our data with more people

to show them that if you invest in families, they can flourish.”

Her answer is the data. The 58 percent income increase. The 100-point credit score gains. The mothers who stayed in their apartments at market rate. The children thriving in schools that were never supposed to be accessible to them. She lets the results speak and trusts that the right people will hear them.

For the Aspire woman who leads a mission-driven organization: Amy Klaben’s work is a masterclass in building credibility through outcomes. You don’t convince donors with passion alone. You convince them with proof.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Amy Klaben is not finished. She is just getting started with the expansion.

Over the next five years, her goal is to establish at least three more Families Flourish affiliates across the state of Ohio, building on the Dayton launch announced in September 2025. Locally, she is focused on raising enough funding annually to welcome three new groups of 16 families each year, which will also require growing the network of partnering landlords who make the program possible.

Three more affiliates. Three new family groups per year. One mission expanding statewide.

The promise Families Flourish makes to every family it admits is that it will not run out of funding while they are in the program. That promise requires 995,000 dollars raised before each new group begins. Amy and her team raised it. Every time.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Families Flourish does what most housing programs do not: it addresses the whole person. Not just the roof. The life coaching focuses on financial literacy, career advancement, health and wellness, and quality education for children. The rental support places families in higher-opportunity neighborhoods with better schools, safer streets, and neighbors of every career background.

“Our program allows low-wage families to access higher-opportunity neighborhoods.

We are also helping Central Ohio embrace mixed-income housing.

Employers and their workplaces benefit when children grow up in a diverse environment.”

The model creates ripple effects in every direction. Families share what they are learning with their extended families. Neighborhoods benefit from the diversity Families Flourish brings. Employers benefit from a workforce shaped by opportunity, not limitation.

For the Aspire woman who believes business can be a force for change: Amy Klaben built a model that proves investment in people is the highest-return investment you can make. The data is there. The families are proof.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Amy Klaben has changed laws, built organizations, and co-created a program that no one else in the country had the courage to try. Her advice to women who want to do the same is direct.

“Leadership is hard, and you need to believe in yourself while surrounding yourself with people who you respect, admire, and have talents and knowledge that you don’t have.

You have to take risks to do important work. If something doesn’t work out, pivot and things will work out.”

Leap. Trust the net. It will appear.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Amy Klaben runs Families Flourish on the Entrepreneurial Operating System. The book that got her there is Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman, recommended by two nonprofit leaders she admires deeply.

“I knew many of the items in the framework but it put it all together in a manner that makes sense

and can be followed. Our team has used it for two-plus years and we keep improving

how we implement it. I couldn’t recommend it more.”

A nonprofit leader running her organization on an entrepreneurial operating system. That is Amy Klaben in one sentence.

April 21, 2026: Lucretia Williams

HER WHY — Why She Built This

Lucretia Williams did not start Distinct Event Planning because the industry needed another event company. She started it because she saw something the industry was getting wrong.

Events were being executed. But they weren’t being experienced. People were showing up, sitting through programming, and leaving without ever feeling like they mattered. She wanted to change that.

“I wanted to create moments where people feel seen, valued, and connected. Not just another name on a registration list.”

That gap became a business. That business became a 28-year legacy built on one principle: impact over logistics. And a mantra that says everything about how she operates: Do it afraid.

HER POWER PLAY — What She Has Built

In 28 years, Lucretia Williams has built Distinct Event Planning into one of the most credentialed and recognized event firms in Ohio. DEP is the only event planning and design company in the state of Ohio to hold five certifications simultaneously: NMSDC, WBENC, State of Ohio MBE, State of Ohio WBE, and SBA WOSB. That is not a small achievement. Those certifications reflect years of compliance, standards, and credibility that most firms never reach.

Her client roster tells the rest of the story. Victoria’s Secret and Co. NiSource. The NBA. Hennessy. A New York-based firm that needed a Columbus partner on four months’ notice and trusted Lucretia to deliver a world-class conference without missing a beat. She has been featured in Essence magazine and on television as an event planning expert and has produced 150-plus events ranging from intimate executive gatherings to conferences serving 400 or more attendees.

Beyond the corporate work, Lucretia and her team have raised millions of dollars for nonprofits through the events they produce. That is not a line item. That is a legacy. Every culturally inclusive experience she designs for a nonprofit client has a dollar figure attached to the lives it supports.

28 years. 100+ corporate clients. 150+ events. 50,000+ attendees. Millions raised for nonprofits.

Her event planning superpower: designing culturally inclusive, full-attendee-journey experiences that make every person in the room feel like a VIP. Not just an attendee. A person.

She is also an international speaker and educator, touring conferences and summits to share her expertise with the next generation of event professionals. She has spoken at The Creative Growth Summit, Creative at Heart, and the EmpoWEred Planners Conference, and has been featured as a guest industry expert on 10TV News. The Ohio State Fisher College of Business recognized her in their Featured Founder series as an example of what OSU-bred entrepreneurship looks like when it fully takes root.

And in 2017, she founded the EmpoWEred Planners Society, a platform built to develop and connect event planning professionals across the industry. She didn’t just build a business. She built an ecosystem that elevates everyone around her.

WHAT FUELS HER — The Standard Behind the Work

Lucretia Williams has been doing this for 28 years and she still shows up to every event like it is her first. The reason is simple: the work is not about logistics. It has never been about logistics.

“It’s about impact. Helping organizations bring their vision to life in a way that people never forget.”

That standard has kept her in business through recessions, a pandemic, and every industry shift in between. When the experience is the product, excellence is not optional. It is the only offering.

WHAT SHE’S MOST PROUD OF

She could point to the Fortune 500 clients. The five certifications. The Essence feature. But when Lucretia Williams talks about what she is most proud of, she points to something more fundamental.

“I’m most proud that I kept going, even in seasons where it would have been easier to pause or pivot. I’ve stayed true to my standard of excellence while growing and evolving as a CEO.”

Staying true to a standard for 28 years is harder than building a company. It means saying no to work that doesn’t fit, investing in a team even when margins are tight, and holding the line on quality when it would be easier to cut corners. That consistency is what a 99 percent satisfaction rate is built on.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The hardest thing Lucretia Williams has had to learn as a founder is also the most universal: you cannot build a scalable company while doing everything yourself.

“I’ve had to learn how to trust my team, delegate effectively, and step fully into my role as CEO. Not just the doer. Growth requires letting go, and that’s a lesson I’m still mastering.”

The willingness to name that openly, and keep working on it, is what separates a founder from a CEO. Lucretia is doing both simultaneously and doing it in front of her team, which is its own kind of leadership.

For the Aspire woman building a team and struggling to let go. You are not alone in this. The shift from doer to CEO is one of the hardest transitions in business. Lucretia Williams is 28 years in and still doing the work.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Distinct Event Planning is not staying in the Midwest. Lucretia has set her sights on building the firm into a nationally recognized event planning and design company, expanding into larger multi-day conferences and destination experiences.

Midwest to national. Conferences to destinations. Infrastructure that scales without sacrificing excellence.

The foundation is already in place. The certifications are there. The client relationships are there. The reputation is there. Now comes the build.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Distinct Event Planning does not plan events. It designs experiences. The difference is everything.

“We focus on the full attendee journey; from the moment they register to the moment they leave. We design culturally inclusive, high-impact events that not only look beautiful but create connection, engagement, and lasting impressions.”

That is a fundamentally different product from what most event firms offer. Anyone can book a venue and hire vendors. What DEP delivers is an intentional emotional arc that guests feel from start to finish. That is why clients call Lucretia first. And why they call her back.

For the Aspire woman planning her next corporate event or leadership summit: experience is the differentiator. Lucretia Williams has spent 28 years proving that the way people feel when they leave is the only metric that matters.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Lucretia Williams has said this clearly and she means every word of it.

“You don’t need permission to take up space. I learned that waiting to feel ready will keep you stuck. Growth comes from moving anyway. Once I stopped second-guessing myself and started trusting my voice, everything changed in how I lead and how I show up.”

Do it afraid. That is not just a quote on her graphic. It is how she has run a business for 28 years.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Lucretia Williams does not recommend hustle culture books. She recommends the one that told her to stop hustling and start leading with intention.

Grace Over Grind by Shae Bynes shifted everything about how she views success and how she runs Distinct Event Planning. It challenged the assumption that burnout is the price of ambition and replaced it with something more sustainable.

“It reminded me that I don’t have to operate from burnout or constant hustle to be successful. There’s power in alignment, clarity, and intentional growth.”

Impact. Peace. Purpose. And performance. Not instead of each other. All at once. That is the CEO she has become.

April 14, 2026: Elizabeth Blount McCormick

HER WHY — How a Family Legacy Became Her Own Mission

Elizabeth Blount McCormick did not set out to run a travel company. She set out to bet on herself.

In 2006, with a career in corporate retail behind her and a global perspective shaped by working in San Francisco, Miami, and New Jersey for brands like Gap and Bono’s Edun label, she returned to Columbus when her family needed her. Her mother was winding down the family travel business. The question was simple: would Elizabeth take the reins?

“At that moment I really wanted to take a chance on myself and be an entrepreneur.”

She did. And she has never looked back. What began as a family commitment became a shared mission, built alongside her sister, to honor a legacy while transforming it into something built for the future.

WHAT FUELS HER - The Responsibility Behind the Ambition

What drives Elizabeth Blount McCormick is not just growth. It is what that growth represents.

“I’m driven by the idea that we can redefine what leadership looks like, especially as a Black woman in business, and prove that you can scale, lead, and win at the highest levels without compromising who you are.”

For Black women business owners, the stakes are personal. She has faced the misconceptions directly, the quiet doubts from others about whether a Black, women-owned firm can compete at the national level. Her answer has been consistent and unambiguous. She works harder. And Uniglobe delivers.

HER POWER PLAY - What She Has Built

Uniglobe Travel Designers is not just a travel agency. It is one of the first Uniglobe franchises ever established in the United States, founded in 1981 and now carrying more than 42 years of history. Under Elizabeth’s leadership since 2006, the company has more than tripled its revenue, grown to approximately 40 employees, and reached annual revenue of 29 million dollars.

The recognition has followed the results. In 2022, Columbus CEO Magazine named her CEO of the Year. Columbus Business First honored her as a Forty Under 40 winner. She received the 2016 NAWBO Columbus Visionary Award, the 2016 SBA Minority Small Business Champion designation, the Smart 50 Award, the Family Business Reinvention Award from the Conway Center for Family Business, and a Tuck Executive Education scholarship to Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Spelman College, one of the most prestigious historically Black colleges for women in the country.

42 years of history. $29 million in annual revenue.

One Black, women-owned firm reshaping what national travel management looks like.

Her leadership superpower: building trust so deep that national organizations across healthcare, education, and the public sector choose her firm not just for what it delivers, but for what it represents.

THE MOMENT THAT SHAPED HER LEADERSHIP

There was no playbook for what Elizabeth faced when COVID-19 shut down the travel industry overnight. Every client. Every booking. Every contract. Everything her team had built stopped.

“I had to make decisions quickly, communicate with clarity, and lead with both strength and empathy. That experience taught me that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about showing up consistently, making tough calls, and taking care of your people even in uncertainty.”

She didn’t just survive it. She discovered something in herself during those months that she had not fully seen before: a level of grit and gumption that reset her understanding of what she was capable of.

WHAT SHE'S MOST PROUD OF

Elizabeth Blount McCormick has sustained a family business through the single most disruptive event in modern travel history, expanded it nationally, and maintained the relationships and values her mother built. That is a rare combination of resilience, discipline, and loyalty.

“I’m most proud of sustaining and growing a family business while navigating industry disruption, economic uncertainty, and the evolving needs of our clients. Above all, I’m proud that our work continues to support our clients’ missions and create opportunities for our team.”

The national GPO contracts she holds in healthcare, education, and the public sector are a statement. They reflect trust earned over decades and credibility that speaks for itself.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

The pandemic tested every part of Uniglobe Travel Designers. It tested the business model, the client relationships, the team culture, and Elizabeth personally.

She stayed transparent with her team. She made disciplined decisions. She leaned on trusted advisors. And she held the company together through a period when most small travel firms did not make it to the other side.

“Those experiences strengthened my resilience and shaped me into a more grounded and determined leader.”

For the Aspire woman navigating a crisis in her business: Elizabeth Blount McCormick is proof that the moments that almost break you are the ones that define your leadership ceiling. You find out who you are when there is no script to follow.

HER 5 - YEAR VISION

Elizabeth Blount McCormick is preparing for her next chapter, and it is bigger than Uniglobe.

Over the next five years, her goal is to successfully sell the business and transition out of daily operations while ensuring the legacy and clients remain well supported. Then she is redirecting her energy toward mentoring, investing in, and creating opportunities for Black women in business and leadership.

Impact. Ownership. Opening doors for others.

She has spent nearly two decades proving that a Black, women-owned firm can compete at the highest level. Now she wants to use everything she has learned to make that path easier for the women behind her.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Uniglobe Travel Designers excels at earning and maintaining national GPO contracts with complex organizations across healthcare, education, and the public sector. That is not a small achievement. Those contracts require credibility, consistency, and a service model that can perform at scale.

“We are not just participating in the industry. We are helping reshape it.”

The work is about more than travel logistics. It is about building a company that delivers real value while also creating space for diverse leadership at the highest levels of a traditionally homogenous industry.

For the Aspire woman building in a space where she is underrepresented: Elizabeth Blount McCormick has been in that room. She didn’t wait for an invitation. She earned the contract, delivered the results, and let the work speak for itself.

HER ADVISE - To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Elizabeth Blount McCormick does not have time for hesitation. And she doesn’t want you to either.

“Trust yourself sooner. Don’t wait for validation, permission, or perfect timing. Those things rarely come. Your voice, your instincts, and your perspective are your advantage. Step into the room like you belong there, because you do. Don’t shrink to make others comfortable.”

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Elizabeth Blount McCormick points to a book she has returned to throughout her leadership journey.

Good to Great by Jim Collins reinforced something she already believed but needed to see articulated clearly: that building a great company is about disciplined leadership, having the right people in the right seats, and creating something that outlasts any one individual.

“It shifted my perspective from simply growing the business to creating a sustainable organization grounded in purpose, strong culture, and long-term value.”

That shift is visible in everything she has built. Uniglobe Travel Designers is not just a company that survived. It is a company built to endure.

April 7, 2026: Elizabeth Martinez

HER WHY — Why She Built This

Elizabeth Martinez was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and grew up understanding early what it means to need someone in your corner. That understanding became her life’s work.

For 23 years, she has shown up for the young people of Central Ohio through Big Brothers Big Sisters. She joined as a Hispanic Mentoring Manager in 2003, rose through every level of the organization, and in 2016 stepped into the role of President and CEO.

Her leadership philosophy was not shaped by a single defining moment. It was forged over decades of showing up, navigating hard decisions, and staying grounded when the path was unclear.

“Leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about staying grounded in your vision, being thoughtful in your choices, and remaining committed to purpose and impact.”

That mission extends beyond BBBS. As a Certified Executive Coach, Elizabeth works with executives and professionals, helping them gain clarity, step into their power, and expand their impact. Two platforms. One purpose.

WHAT FULLS HER - The Engine Behind the Work

Ask Elizabeth Martinez what keeps her going and she will not point to a title or a recognition. She will point to purpose.

“What fuels me every day is the knowledge that I am part of something bigger than myself. Our work is about creating systems that empower young people, strengthen families, and uplift entire communities.”

Her coaching work adds another dimension to that fuel. Every executive she guides, every leader she helps step into their power, is one more person who carries that impact forward. That sense of purpose keeps her energized and focused even on the hardest days.

HER POWER PLAY - What She Has Built

Under Elizabeth’s leadership, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio has grown into the largest BBBS agency in Ohio, spanning 15 counties and serving more than 4,000 children annually. It is one of the ten largest BBBS agencies in the entire country.

In 2020, Columbus Business First named her among Central Ohio’s most admired executives as a C-Suite honoree. In 2021, Columbus CEO Magazine awarded her CEO of the Year in the small nonprofit category. In 2022, the National Diversity Council recognized her as one of the top Latino leaders in the country. She was named Woman of the Year by the Ohio Diversity Council and honored as a 2023 Smart 50 recipient.

23 years. 15 counties. 4,000+ children. One unwavering mission.

Her leadership superpower: seeing potential in people before they can see it in themselves and building the systems, relationships, and cultures that allow that potential to become reality.

She also completed the Young Americans Leadership Program at Harvard Business School and holds a BA in Psychology from Ohio Christian University. The combination reflects both her strategic thinking and her deep commitment to understanding people.

WHAT SHE'S MOST PROUD OF

Awards and rankings tell part of the story. What Elizabeth holds closest is harder to measure but impossible to miss.

“I’m most proud of helping people see their own potential more clearly and supporting them as they build the confidence to pursue the life and work they truly want.”

That shows up in a child who discovers what they are capable of through a mentoring relationship. It shows up in an executive who finally steps into the leader they always knew they could be. For Elizabeth, the work is always the same: illuminate the potential that was already there.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Leading one of the largest nonprofits in Ohio means operating in a landscape of constant change. Shifting funding environments. Evolving community needs. The ongoing challenge of proving impact in a sector that is too often under-resourced.

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, Elizabeth moved quickly. She deployed virtual mentoring, trained Bigs to create safe spaces for difficult conversations, and made the

call to reopen Camp Oty’Okwa with protocols built from scratch. She didn’t wait for the path to clear. She built it.

“Every challenge affords the chance to unearth an opportunity.”

For the Aspire woman navigating uncertainty: Elizabeth Martinez’s leadership is a masterclass in staying mission-focused when everything around you is in motion. The mission doesn’t change. Your response to the circumstances does.

HER 5 - YEAR VISION

Elizabeth is focused on growth that doesn’t compromise depth. Over the next five years, her goal is to expand BBBS Central Ohio’s reach, build stronger systems, and scale her coaching practice to support more leaders navigating transitions.

Expand the reach. Deepen the impact. Develop the next generation of leaders.

For Elizabeth, scaling is not just a business objective. It is a moral one. Every new county reached means more

children with someone in their corner. Every executive coached means one more leader who pays it forward.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio excels at what most organizations only aspire to: making people feel genuinely seen. Through one-to-one mentoring, leadership development at Camp Oty’Okwa, and capacity building through MENTOR Central Ohio, the organization meets young people where they are and walks with them toward where they could be.

“This is not charity. This is long-term, systemic change. True social impact work. We are unlocking potential and building structures that empower young people, strengthen families, and transform communities.”

The relationships cultivated at BBBS are intentional, lasting, and life-changing. Elizabeth believes in young people before they fully believe in themselves. That is not a program model. That is a philosophy that runs through everything her organization does.

For the Aspire woman who leads teams, organizations, or communities: the most powerful thing you can do is help someone else see what you already see in them. That is leadership. That is what Elizabeth Martinez has built a career on.

HER ADVICE — To Women Stepping Into Their Power

Elizabeth Martinez does not soften this message for anyone.

“Stop waiting to feel ready. Growth comes when you step in before you feel fully prepared. Use your voice, even if it shakes. Sit at the table, even if you feel out of place. True power is not about being the loudest. It is about knowing who you are, staying grounded in your values, and using your influence to open doors for others.”

Surround yourself with people who challenge and support you. Step in. Show up. Open the door for the woman behind you.

THE BOOKS THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Elizabeth doesn’t point to one book. She points to three, each one shaping a different dimension of how she leads.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown taught her that authenticity and vulnerability are not liabilities. They are the foundation of every genuine connection she builds with clients, colleagues, and the young people she serves.

Good to Great by Jim Collins reshaped her thinking about long-term success. The discipline of focus, the courage of the right decisions, and the patience that sustained excellence requires.

“Start with Why reinforced the power of purpose in driving both personal fulfillment and business impact, helping me align everything we do with a deeper sense of mission.”

Three books. Three lenses. One leader who reads to build, not just to learn.

March 31, 2026: Tami Chapek, PCC

HER WHY — WHY SHE BUILT THIS

The first time Tami Chapek became a manager, she did everything wrong.

She micromanaged. She controlled. She assumed that because she had been rewarded for doing excellent work, everyone on her team should do things exactly her way. It took direct feedback, the kind that stings, for her to realize that her intention of elevating the team was producing the opposite effect.

“I realized that I needed to be more mindful of others and know that my strengths are not theirs. By inspiring myself and others to lean into strengths, we could all be better and more successful in our roles.”

That moment of reckoning didn’t defeat her. It redirected her. She became obsessed with learning how to lead well. Not just how to manage output, but how to genuinely unlock the people around her. That obsession became a career. And in 2017, it became WeInspireWe.

HER POWER PLAY — WHAT SHE BUILT

Tami Chapek is an award-winning leadership coach, a Forbes Contributor, and one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Columbus for 2024. She holds her Professional Certified Coach credentials through the ICF, is a Certified Professional Coach and Master Practitioner for the Energy Leadership Index through iPEC, and is a Certified Diversity Coach. It is a rare combination that reflects both the rigor and the range of her expertise.

Her client list reads like a Fortune 500 roll call: Google, Novartis, Fifth Third Bank, American Electric Power, Uber, Medtronic, and more. She has spent 8.5 years building WeInspireWe into a full-service leadership development firm offering 1:1 executive coaching, team coaching, leadership training, keynote presentations, and strategic support.

Nearly 9 years. Hundreds of leaders transformed. One proprietary framework changing how organizations develop talent. Her coaching superpower: helping leaders stop performing the role they think they should play and start owning the authentic leader they already are.

In 2024, she published her first book: Leadership reDEFYned: Defy the Ordinary to Unleash Your Potential. It is a framework-driven guide for individuals, teams, and organizations ready to stop reaching for status quo and start building something extraordinary.

WHAT SHE IS MOST PROUD OF

Every year on July 28th, Tami Chapek’s heart swells. It is the anniversary of WeInspireWe. For nearly nine years, that date has marked another year of showing up for leaders who needed someone in their corner.

“In this nearly 9 years of business, we’ve touched hundreds if not thousands of lives. Knowing that we’ve even helped 1 person to be the very best version of themselves is extremely rewarding and well worth the effort.”

The book is a close second. Leadership reDEFYned is not just a publication. It is the physical embodiment of everything she has built, learned, and believed about leadership. It is her framework in the world, doing the work without her in the room.

Her Biggest Challenge & How She Navigates It

The hardest tension in Tami’s business is one every founder eventually faces: working on the business versus working in it. As WeInspireWe has grown, stepping back from the day-to-day coaching work has meant trading personal satisfaction for organizational momentum. The coaching work fills her up most. The scaling work is what moves the company forward.

“I’m still trying to find that balance between operations, business development, and scaling with coaching and facilitation. I regularly assess this balance and work with other small business owners to learn where I can make shifts.”

The fact that she names this tension openly, and continues to work through it with the same curiosity she brings to her clients, is exactly the kind of authentic leadership she teaches.

For the Aspire woman scaling her business: the hardest part of growing is often letting go of the part you love most. Tami Chapek is proof that you can build a bigger business without losing the reason you built it.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

The foundation is solid. Now Tami is ready to scale.

Over the next five years, WeInspireWe is aiming to double, if not triple, in size. The goal is to serve more leaders at every level and deepen its work as an extension of clients’ HR and learning and development teams. It is not just about more clients. It is about bigger impact, delivered through a model built for maximum ROI.

Double in size. Triple the impact. Serve every leader who is ready to reDEFY the ordinary.

What Her Business Does Best

WeInspireWe doesn’t offer a cookie-cutter coaching program. Every engagement, whether 1:1 coaching, team facilitation, or organizational training, is customized to meet clients exactly where they are and accelerate from there.

“We are great at supporting individuals to be not just good but excellent leaders that make a positive and lasting impact on those they lead.”

At the center of everything is the Leadership reDEFYned™ framework, a proprietary approach rooted in authentic, strengths-based leadership. It is not about becoming someone else’s version of a great leader. It is about understanding who you already are and building from there.

For the Aspire woman who leads people: your unique set of strengths, skills, experiences, and values belongs only to you. No one has your exact make-up. That is not a limitation. That is your competitive advantage.

HER ADVICE

Tami Chapek doesn’t soften this one.

“Know that the unique set of strengths, skills, experiences, and values that you have is unique to you and you alone. No one has your exact make-up, and that makes you powerful. Know that. Own that. Believe that. You have so much to offer the world. Be brave and make your mark.”

And then, with everything she has built as proof: inspire 1 person. Watch the ripple.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Ask Tami Chapek which book changed her business and she will give you an author, not a title.

Brené Brown’s entire body of work is the intellectual and emotional foundation of everything WeInspireWe has built. Daring Greatly, The Gifts of Imperfection, Dare to Lead. Brown’s research on vulnerability, shame, and authentic leadership didn’t just change how Tami thinks. It gave her the language and the framework to build Leadership reDEFYned.

“Her stance on vulnerability as a strength shifted my perspective and encouraged me to build out our framework, which is based in authentic, strengths-based leadership.”

For Tami, vulnerability is not a soft skill. It is the foundation of every great leader she has ever coached. And Brené Brown is the reason she can say that with research behind her.

March 24, 2026: Jeanna Hondel, PE

HER WHY — WHY SHE BUILT THIS

Jeanna Hondel built Ascension Construction Solutions in 2017, but the decision was made long before she filed the paperwork. It was made every time she walked into a room and didn’t see herself reflected in it.
As a Black woman in construction, which is an industry where her presence was the exception, not the rule, she spent years excelling in spaces that were never designed with her in mind. She mastered the technical work. She rose through the ranks. And the entire time, she carried a quiet, growing conviction that something had to change.

“I wanted something that I hadn’t had, and that was a place that you felt like you belonged. I wanted a place where I fit in.”

So she built it. Not just a firm but a culture. A workplace where inclusivity, opportunity, and belonging are not aspirations on a wall. They are the daily operating standard.

Her mission was never just to build structures. It was to build the people who build them — and to prove that a different kind of company was possible.

WHAT FUELS HER

Ask Jeanna Hondel what keeps her going and she will not point to a revenue target or a growth projection. She will point to her people.

“What fuels my ambition is deeply rooted in our people, our team, our clients, and the communities we serve.”

That desire to build what she never had, so that others always would, is the engine that drives Ascension Construction Solutions forward every single day. It is not a corporate value. It is a personal promise.

HER POWER PLAY — WHAT SHE BUILT

What Jeanna has built in eight years is nothing short of remarkable. Ascension Construction Solutions is a 100% woman-owned firm with MBE, DBE, EDGE, and LEDE certifications, serving education, municipal infrastructure, mission-critical facilities, parks and recreation, and commercial construction across Ohio and beyond.

In 2023, the U.S. Small Business Administration named her Ohio’s Small Business Person of the Year. Columbus Business First recognized her as a Woman of Influence and named Ascension to its Fast 50 list, one of the 50 fastest-growing private companies in the Columbus Region. In 2019, ACS was honored as the Top Female Business Enterprise by Ohio MBE.

From three employees to 60. From one city contract to a $400 million project portfolio.

Her leadership superpower: building great people who build great things and proving that a woman-owned, minority-certified firm can compete and win at the highest level of the construction industry.

WHAT SHE IS MOST PROUD OF

The awards are meaningful. The Fast 50 ranking is remarkable. But when Jeanna Hondel talks about what she is most proud of, she does not reach for a trophy. She reaches for a headcount.

“My favorite part of the business is that 60 people trust me and this company to provide a career for them and give them the capability to provide for their families.”

Sixty people. Sixty families. Sixty reasons to show up every single day. That is the metric that matters most to Jeanna and it is the one no industry award can fully capture.

Her Biggest Challenge & How She Navigates It

As one of the few women, and even fewer Black women, leading a construction firm at this level, Jeanna Hondel has had to earn her seat at every table she has ever sat at. Access to capital. Proving her firm’s capabilities in a competitive market. Navigating an industry that was not built with her in mind.

Her answer has never been to wait for the door to open. It has been to knock repeatedly, confidently, and without apology.

“Managing challenges as a CEO comes down to one thing for me: people. I surround myself with the right team, lean on trusted partners, and never stop learning.”

For the Aspire woman navigating a space that wasn’t built for her: the door may not open on its own. Knock anyway. Jeanna Hondel knocked and then she built the building.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Jeanna is not managing a business. She is building a movement.

Over the next five years, Ascension Construction Solutions will expand its footprint across new markets, deepen its community impact, and continue growing its team in a way that stays true to the culture of inclusion and empowerment that has defined the company from day one.

People. Purpose. Relentless Growth.

Those are not buzzwords for Jeanna. They are the architecture of everything Ascension is building next.

What Her Business Does Best

Ascension Construction Solutions brings boots-on-the-ground expertise to every project it touches. The firm was built by people who rose through the ranks and who understand the nuances of planning and construction because they lived them.

“This is not an individual sport. Our work takes collaboration and is about so much more than construction. It’s about proving that a different kind of company is possible — one that delivers excellence and leads with heart.”

That philosophy is the operating system of the entire organization. Ascension doesn’t just build structures. It builds the people inside them and redefines what it looks like to lead with purpose in an industry long overdue for it.

For the Aspire woman in business: representation in construction is still rare. Jeanna Hondel is proof that it is possible and that when women lead in spaces that weren’t built for them, they don’t just compete. They transform the industry.

HER ADVICE

When asked what she would tell women just beginning to claim their place, Jeanna Hondel doesn’t hesitate.

“You belong here, even when the room doesn’t look like you. Don’t wait for someone to hand it to you, just go for it. Don’t be afraid to take up space. Don’t lose touch with the passion that drives you. And finally, lift as you climb.”

Lift as you climb. Four words that capture everything Ascension Construction Solutions was built to be and everything Jeanna Hondel continues to prove is possible.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Jeanna doesn’t just read business books. She deploys them.

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman gave her something rare in entrepreneurship: a clear, practical system for building a stronger and more focused organization. The Entrepreneurial Operating System outlined in the book helped her align her team, sharpen her vision, and execute with the kind of confidence that comes from having a real framework — not just a plan.

“It’s a must-read for any business owner serious about taking their company to the next level.”

She didn’t just read it. She used it to catapult Ascension forward. That is the difference between a leader who collects ideas and a leader who builds with them.

March 17, 2026: Cary Hanosek

HER WHY — Why She Built This

For the woman building a business, managing a growing portfolio, or navigating a major financial transition, the complexity of money can be paralyzing. Cary Hanosek built her practice to change that.

With 26 years at Merrill Lynch, Cary has spent her career doing one thing with extraordinary consistency: meeting people in the most emotionally charged moments of their financial lives and making the path forward clear.

“My ‘why’ is grounded in guiding people through complex decisions and the emotions that come up around the topic of money.”

That is not a mission statement. It is a daily practice and it is why clients call her first when life changes.

HER POWER PLAY

Cary is a Certified Financial Planner®, a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy®, and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor. This is a rare combination of designations that reflects both the depth and the range of her expertise. She leads The Atlas Wealth Management Group of Merrill Lynch, a practice that has earned the Forbes

“Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams” recognition three consecutive years running.

Three years. Three rankings. The same standard, honored every time.

Her CFP® superpower: simplifying complex financial decisions to create peace of mind so that her clients can stop managing their money anxiety and start living their lives.

Beyond the practice, Cary is a founding member of Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD) Columbus, a former Chair of the YWCA Columbus Endowment Board, and a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization. She doesn’t just advise women on wealth; she builds the institutions that create it.

WHAT SHE IS MOST PROUD OF

Industry awards come every year. What Cary holds closest is something no ranking can quantify.

“Clients call us first when life changes, and we walk with them through every transition.”

Divorce. Inheritance. Retirement. The sale of a business. The loss of a partner. These are the moments that define whether a wealth advisor is truly trusted or simply hired.

For Cary’s clients, she is trusted

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Cary is not building a practice for today’s market. She is building one for the next generation of it.

The goal: grow nationally, adapt thoughtfully as technology transforms financial services, and build a competitive moat around the team’s financial planning process and advisory capabilities.

Grow. Adapt. Lead.

But through every evolution, one thing stays fixed: the trust and human connection that define the work. For Cary, those are not soft values — they are the foundation of everything.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

The Atlas Wealth Management Group excels at financial planning for people with complex financial lives such as business owners, multi-generational families, individuals navigating major transitions, and nonprofits with significant endowments.

What sets them apart is not what they know. It is how they work.

“We avoid jargon, focus on efficiency, and listen far more than we talk.”

The goal is always the same: simplify complexity so that clients can spend more time on what matters most — their families, their passions, the causes closest to their hearts. Wealth management, in Cary’s practice, is not the destination. It is the vehicle.

For the Aspire woman building a business or navigating a transition: complexity is not your enemy. Confusion is. The right advisor eliminates one so you can face the other with confidence.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

When Cary recommends a book, she doesn’t reach for a textbook or a strategy guide. She reaches for a mirror.

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is the book she returns to again and again. It is the one she most often presses into the hands of clients. It is not about portfolio construction or market timing. It is about the way people actually think and feel about money, told through short real-life stories, without a single line of jargon.

“I have read it many times and have learned different lessons from it each time.”

That is the mark of a great book and the mark of a great advisor. You don’t stop learning. You just keep going deeper.

March 10, 2026: Lisa Gutierrez

HER WHY — Why She Built This

Lisa Gutierrez didn’t start Dos Hermanos to open a restaurant. She started it because she believed hospitality could mean something more — a genuine, nourishing connection between people, food, and community.

Fourteen years later, that belief is the business. And the business is still growing.

WHAT SHE'S MOST PROUD OF

Lisa is most proud of building something that scales — profitably, sustainably, and with purpose. Dos Hermanos has grown into an enterprise that doesn’t just generate revenue; it generates opportunity.

That growth has given her the platform to give back through mentorship and community collaboration — investing in the same community that has supported Dos Hermanos for over a decade.

And then there are the moments that stop you in your tracks. Lisa has been invited to the White House and to the residence of the Vice President of the United States — on behalf of Dos Hermanos. That recognition doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when the work speaks loudly enough that the world has no choice but to listen.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Running a food and hospitality business in one of the most cash-intensive, margin-thin industries in the world is not for the faint of heart. The challenge was never the vision. It was the fuel.

Finding affordable capital while keeping cash flow healthy is a tension that never fully resolved, it just gets managed. Lisa's approach is disarmingly clear: know what you don't know and hire for it. She surrounds herself with experienced industry professionals who strengthen every corner of the business she isn't standing in.

That kind of self-awareness is rare. In founders, it is a competitive advanvantage.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Three words define what Lisa is building toward:

Grow. Scale. Sell.

Dos Hermanos was built with intention from the beginning — and the exit is part of the plan. For Lisa, that is not an ending. It is the ultimate proof that what she built was real, was valuable, and was worth betting on.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

What makes Dos Hermanos exceptional is not just what it serves — it is what it stands for. Through every season of growth, the mission has never drifted, never been diluted, never been negotiated away for convenience.

“Nourishing lives. Strengthening community. Honoring heritage. Hospitality, in every way.”

That is the standard everything gets measured against. Every menu. Every event. Every decision. The mission is not a tagline — it is the operating system.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Lisa didn’t point to a business manual or a leadership framework. She pointed to a memoir.

GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso is the story of a woman who built something real by refusing to follow someone else’s map. For Lisa, it wasn’t a how-to — it was a permission slip. Permission to trust her instincts, ignore the conventional playbook, and build Dos Hermanos the way she always knew it should be built.

Some founders read to learn the rules. Lisa read to confirm she was right to break them.

March 3, 2026: E. Gayle Saunders

HER WHY — Why She Built This

Gayle Saunders built The Saunders PR Group into a national, multi-million dollar powerhouse agency with a singular purpose: to amplify voices that deserve to be heard. She didn’t stop there. She also founded The SASSEE Foundation to invest in the next generation of women leaders — because for Gayle, building a business and building a community were never separate goals.

Her dual mission is rooted in a belief she has carried her entire career: that Black and brown creatives deserve more than access — they deserve the whole room. A space to grow, build wealth, soar as professionals, and make a lasting impact through their work. The Saunders PR Group and The SASSEE Foundation are that space, made real.

WHAT SHE'S MOST PROUD OF

Ask Gayle what she’s most proud of, and the answer is immediate: the people. Every time she watches someone step into their potential — or sees a campaign her team led actually change outcomes in the community — that, she says, is the reward.

Her work with CelebrateOne’s Real People, Real Stories campaign helped reduce infant deaths in Columbus. Her leadership on the LinkUS mobility campaign helped move an entire city forward. For Gayle, that is what impact looks like — not impressions, but lives.

HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE & HOW SHE NAVIGATES IT

Gayle is candid about the realities of building and sustaining a competitive firm. The biggest challenge, she says plainly, is access — specifically, access to the financial resources necessary to grow and maintain a sharp competitive edge in a demanding industry.

She doesn’t offer a tidy solution. “I won’t pretend I have it figured out,” she says. “It is a constant battle.” But what Gayle does have is the one thing that outlasts any obstacle: faith. Through faith and perseverance, she and her team keep moving forward — and as she puts it, that forward motion is everything.

HER 5-YEAR VISION

Gayle’s vision for the next five years comes down to two words she chose deliberately: Sustainability. Innovation.

The Saunders PR Group was not built for a moment — it was built for a movement. Her goal is a firm that endures, evolves, and continues to open doors for the next generation of Black and brown creative professionals.

WHAT HER BUSINESS DOES BEST

The Saunders PR Group excels at media relations, reputation management, crisis communication, and campaign development and activation. But what Gayle believes truly sets her firm apart is simpler than any service list: a commitment to work that matters.

Her team doesn’t manage messages — they shape narratives that move communities. The CelebrateOne campaign. The LinkUS campaign. That is the standard, and for The Saunders PR Group, there is no other kind of work worth doing.

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER BUSINESS

Some books change a business. The ones Gayle carries changed something deeper.

Expect to Win by Carla Harris reinforced a truth she had always known — that mindset, authenticity, and focus are the bedrock of every great leader. And long before she built a national agency, a small book gifted by her sister planted a seed that never stopped growing: As a Man Thinketh. Its message is simple and unshakeable. We have complete control over how we think — and how we think shapes everything we build.

For Gayle, that is not philosophy. It is practice. It is how she navigates every challenge, frames every obstacle, and leads her team forward — with intention, clarity, and an unshakeable belief in the power of the mind to determine outcomes.