Announcements

Red Purse Raffle to Raise Scholarship Funds!

For a $5 donation, you will have a chance to win our 2022 Fabulous Red Purse filled with a minimum of $500 worth of cash, certificates, and prizes. Red purse tickets will be available at the January and February meetings, and from SBW members. You do not have to be a member of SBW to win the Red Purse! The drawing will be in February. 

Since 2009, the Red Purse Raffle has raised $18,289 for scholarships for deserving women in our area, and the silent auction has raised $3,258 for Business Women of Missouri foundation.

Honors and Awards:

Congratulations to the 2021 Women of the Year: Dr. Joanna Anderson, President of State Fair Community College, and Lori Wightman, CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center.

Business Women of Missouri Foundation

Scholarship Applications Due March 15, 2022. Apply at bwmfoundation.com

Community Service:

Ringing the Bell: Thank you to the following SBW members for ringing the bell for Salvation Army, raising $312.58 December 4, 2021:  Debbie Ulmer, Bobbie Wilson, Katie Kirby, Janice Cones, Carolyn Green (and granddaughter Hadley), Robin Balke, Amanda Davis, Rachel Monaghan, and Stormy Allen.

Holiday Basket: With the $700 donated by SBW members, the Holiday Basket committee co-chairs, Krista Eschbacher and Michelle Sparks, shopped for the family adopted for the holiday. Thanks to SBW member and Open Door Executive Director, Amanda Davis, some food items, personal toiletries, and household needs were also given to the family.

Cindy’s Closet–members may donate gently used business casual and/or business casual attire to place in Cindy’s Closet (a clothing rack at the Shrine). Items are not priced but donations can be made to the treasurer.

SBW Calendar

December
15 – Friendship lunch – Clara’s North 65 Cafe
22 – Friendship lunch – El Tapatio
29 – Friendship lunch – Little Big Horn
January
4 – RSVP for SBW January dinner meeting due to your SBW telephone committee contact or Debbie Ulmer
5 – Friendship lunch – Colton’s
6 – SBW board meeting, 5:30pm
6 – SBW monthly dinner meeting at Sedalia Shrine Club, 6:30pm – India McCullough & Nikki Smith with the Center
for Human Services will speak on the topic of “Disability Etiquette”.
11 – End Zone for Taco Tuesday
19 – Applebee’s
26 – Perkins
February
1 – RSVP for SBW February dinner meeting due to your SBW telephone committee contact or Debbie Ulmer
2 – Friendship lunch – Mazzio’s
3 – SBW board meeting, 5:30pm
3 – SBW monthly dinner meeting at Sedalia Shrine Club, 6:30pm – speaker TBA; Red Purse raffle drawing held
March
1 – RSVP for SBW March dinner meeting due to your SBW telephone committee contact or Debbie Ulmer
3 – SBW board meeting, 5:30PM
3 – SBW monthly dinner meeting at Sedalia Shrine Club, 6:30pm – speaker TBD

Sedalia Business Women Meeting

The January 6 SBW Meeting is under the direction of the Membership Committee

Meetings are held 6:30 p.m. at the

Shrine Multipurpose Building
1375 Elm Hills Blvd, Sedalia, MO

Members, please let your caller know no later than Tuesday prior to the meeting if you plan to attend. We must have an accurate count! If you would like to visit a Sedalia Business Women’s meeting, please send an email to sbwmail@sedaliabwm.org no later than the Monday prior to the meeting. We welcome visitors! For a meeting schedule visit our Calendar page.

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Support SBW Members’ Businesses!

Friendship luncheons are being held weekly. If interested in attending, contact any of those that regularly attend or check our Facebook page or click here for any prescheduled lunches.

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Pardon our mess! We are in the process of archiving some of the past years’ website pages.  

Visit our Latest News page for photos and meeting recaps!

For archived news posts

visit the Past President page.

 

Encourage. Inspire. Empower

I want to start off by thanking Debbie Ulmer for her leadership of this club over the past 12 months. Her term as president was challenging, to say the least.  But she made the best of it, keeping the lines of communication open with the board, and making adjustments every step of the way. 

In preparation for advancing into the role of club president, I studied the club ByLaws and gave some serious thought as to the direction of the Sedalia Business Women.  I came to the conclusion that women join for one or more of the following reasons:  to network, for personal or professional development, to socialize, or to promote their business.  Then I asked myself, “How are we, as a club, meeting those needs?”  Then I reviewed our Mission Statement: “To achieve equity for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education and information.” 

I had some ideas but I met one-on-one with some members to bounce ideas off them and get input on various aspects of the club.  Some ladies I met with had been members for many years, while others have been members a shorter amount of time.  I also met with a couple previous members.  As a result of those conversations, I came up with a list of topics for dinner meeting presentations, a list of ideas for socials, and some ideas for changes to our dinner meetings.

Over the next 12 months, I want to focus on having speakers who present on topics relevant to women, I’d like to try bi-monthly personal and professional development socials, and I’d like try some things to streamline our dinner meetings and promote networking.  Within our membership, we have a vast array of life experiences and knowledge in a variety of industries. With the loss of three members this past year, I realized we also lost a wealth of knowledge and experience those ladies had.  So I’d like to lay the groundwork for a mentoring program within our club. Whether it’s among our members or within our various committees, there is much to be shared, learned, and cultivated. 

When trying to come up with a motto for my year as president, I looked up various quotes from famous women but when my thoughts kept taking me back to the initiatives I wanted to work on this year, it became apparent to me what my motto should be….   Encourage – Inspire – Empower

Although our chapter of the Business Women of Missouri is the largest in the state, I want to Encourage our members to engage with each other and the community by providing opportunities for networking and volunteering.

Our club has a been in existence in Sedalia for 98 years and building on that legacy, I want to Inspire new members to want to join when they learn what SBW is doing in the community and for its members, as well as inspire existing members to serve on the board or get active within a committee.

And I want to Empower our members with information and hands-on experience in a variety of ways through personal and professional development opportunities.  

So as you attend future dinner meetings and events, please know that some things will be different. And as the year progresses, I welcome your feedback on what you think as well as any ideas you may have.  I look forward to serving with my board and working together to continue the success of the Sedalia Business Women.

Thank you.

Robin Balke

SBW 2021-2022 President

Click here for SBW Committees 2020-2021