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Anderson founded her own business,
Anderson Innovative Marketing, where she provides
strategic marketing consulting and copywriting services to
small businesses. After having provided her services free of
charge for several years, Anderson realized she had
something going and should have been charging all along.
Through the summit, she strives to help other women also
recognize their worth and navigate their way through the
business world.
“The number one way that it’s helped women is through the networking
aspect,” Anderson said. “So many women have connected on a
partnership level and mentorship level. I tell people all
the time, this is the place where you come to find your
tribe.”
Saturday’s panel discussion titled “Becoming: I’m Here, Now What?” was
facilitated by
Crosby, City of Toledo chief of staff; alongside
Demetria Simpson of LMHA;
Wendi
Huntley, president of Connecting Kids to Meals
and
Stephanie Kynard of Kynard’s Child Development
Center..
The panel touched on how women can balance their personal and
professional lives while also staying true to themselves.
“It’s just something about giving people the opportunity to fly, to
strive, to be the best that they can be,” said Simpson.
As a first lady, president and CEO of Lucas Metropolitan Housing
Authority, and a member of various boards, Simpson touched
on how she balances her roles while tending to those in
underserved communities.
“For me to be able to overcome my obstacles to become that leader, I
want to be able to reach back and grab the women who are
trying to get there,” Simpson said. “I look forward to
continuing to redefine leadership, but I’ll do it in a way
that I can reach behind me and pull the young women, other
women who so greatly need to be encouraged.”
A key point she left with the audience was that it has caused her more
grief as a black woman trying to be like others rather than
just being herself.
"It's so easy for us to second guess ourselves when we are measuring
ourselves to others," Simpson said. "We should just clap for
each other every time we are in each other's presence."
The panel discussion also included conversation on the roles of
leadership. The panelists described leading as servanthood
and sowing into others.
“Leadership is a state of being. It’s not a title, it’s not the person,
but it’s how you treat people, it’s how you allow people to
be who they are in their spaces,” said Crosby. “It’s about
rolling up your sleeves and doing the work. It's about
making sure you create opportunities for other people to be
in leadership roles which sometimes means you're that
watermark in the background whispering in somebody's ear and
pushing them out there."
The panelists gave examples of how they grew into their leadership roles
and shared some valuable resources that helped them along
the way. As founder of the Ready, Set, AIM Summit, even
Anderson thought back over her role as a leader.
“The number one way I've grown is in my leadership skills,” Anderson
said. “After last year’s summit, I realized that I lacked
leadership skills, and so I poured myself into every
leadership devotional that I could find. In order to get
people on board with my vision, I had to be able to lead.”
In addition to Saturday’s panel discussion, this year’s summit also
included a meet and greet on Friday, then presentations by
Carolyn Fraser, CEO of the PR Shoppe; Bria Hash of 4ourty;
Melanie Towns, a commercial banker and Kelly Miller, talent
lead at Owens Corning. Saturday’s presentations included
Tracee Perryman, PhD, CEO of Center of Hope Family Services;
and Kenny Farrar, deal flow associate at JumpStart, Inc.
Looking towards future summits, Anderson hopes to continue connecting
with women, building relationships and encouraging the rise
of leaders amongst the black women community. |
