Announcements

Honors and Awards:

Woman of the Year and Business of the Year will be announced at our November Public Relations Meeting.

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

October

10 – Sedalia Business Women’s annual chicken dinner fundraiser
13 – Friendship lunch – Mazzio’s
17-24 – Sedalia Business Women’s Week (check link for events below)
27 – Friendship lunch – Kehde’s Barbeque

November

3 – Friendship lunch – Fazoli’s
4 – SBW board meeting, 5:30pm
4 – SBW monthly dinner meeting at Sedalia Shrine Club; 6:30pm, Public Relations Meeting – speaker TBA
8 – SBW Member-Exclusive Event – #MeToo happy hour simulation
9 – Friendship lunch – Taco Tuesday at End Zone
17 – Bandana’s
24 – Fortune Palace

SBW Annual Chicken Dinner

 Our annual chicken dinner was held Sunday, October 10, at the Sedalia Shrine Club. The dinner was a big success with 548 dinners served. The proceeds will be given to local non-profit organizations. Thank you to everyone who supported the event. For photos see our Chicken Dinner page.

Link to Business Women’s Week Flyer

 

Sedalia Business Women Meeting

The November Dinner Meeting is under the direction of the Public Relations Committee, Chair Lori Haney. We will announce our Woman of the Year and Business of the Year!

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