In Focus: ‘She Leads’ Conference Aims to Build Community for Women

She Leads International is an organization that aims to inspire, uplift, and empower women. On Friday, women gathered for the fourth annual She Leads Conference in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

The leadership conference was hosted at Madden’s On Gull Lake, where women from around the state came together to share ideas, network, and learn from professionals in various industries.

“Often you’ll see conferences that are like, women in banking or women in faith or women in business or, you know, something like that, and it niches us down,” said event organizer and Growth By Design co-founder Kristi Ackely. “But women are whole people and we lead in so many different ways. And so the She Leads Conference is meant to be that comprehensive, come here and show up in whatever space you want to be in, and we’re not going to define you. You get to define yourself.”

One of the main goals of the event is to help women build a community and support each other, both professionally and personally.

“We often are asked the question, ‘How are you?’ And we so quickly say, ‘I’m fine.’ People would ask, ‘How’s business going?’ ‘Oh, it’s great.’ But then with other business owners, they’re like, ‘Oh, these people aren’t paying their invoices,’ or whatever,” continued Ackley. “Having a conference like this where you can be in a space where you can go beyond the ‘I’m fine’ and actually really talk about what’s going on, is just really good to have that community because we need each other.”

Among the highlights were the breakout sessions that included a variety of topics, ranging from mental health to growing your own business.

“By having all of the different breakout sessions, of course, creates these different pockets of people that they can go, ‘Oh, I relate to that.'” Ackley explained. “Even our nametags have questions on them, like, ‘I want to talk about’ or ‘Something I’m thinking about’ or ‘A challenge I have’—it just automatically gives you that in to be able to not awkwardly sit around and go, ‘Oh gosh, what am I doing?’ But be able to talk to somebody.”

For attendees, the event serves as a great opportunity for learning and team building.

“For me, it’s really about being here with our whole team,” said conference attendee Jana Shogren. “It’s just a day to be away from the office, kind of get out of the daily grind, so to speak, and just share new ideas together.”

As the event organizer, Ackley hopes that the women attending the event will walk away with a sense of unity.

“I want women to take away that we are stronger together, that when we lead together, when we build each other up, when we work together, we’re all stronger. Everybody does better,” she said. “That’s what I want them to walk away with, that ‘Let’s build community. Let’s champion each other,’ that this does not have to be a competition. We’re in it together.”