The Carolina Women's Collective’s inaugural summit brought 175 women together in Beaufort on Oct. 24 to share stories, business strategy, wisdom, and encouragement. The collective’s three founders, Jillian Lister, Silvana Botta and Booth Parker came together to bring their shared dream to life. Parker said that shared dream focuses on fostering community over competition for women.
“The whole idea of just being competitive and doing things alone is not the way to do it, and we’re very committed to being the support network and as you do that you gain the confidence to be in those traditionally male-dominated roles.”
From politicians to small business owners to artists, each woman at the summit had a story to share, and each of them hopes to inspire the future generation of women.
CWC partnered with Wendy Oliver, the owner of Ernest Flowers in Beaufort, to award $5,000 to Carteret Community College for women’s scholarships. The college’s president, Dr. Tracy Mancini said a huge part of her role is to help her students dare to dream and this scholarship helps to do just that.
“Being here on the campus, I want our students to feel like they can do whatever they want to do, if they put their mind to it.”
Carolina Women’s Collective said the scholarship money will help support women in leadership and continue to grow the community of empowered women on the Crystal Coast and beyond.