TOLEDO, Ohio — Women were celebrated Tuesday with the Women's Summit as one of the kick-off events to the 2022 LPGA Dana Open.
The day-long event at the Glass City Center in downtown Toledo taught empowerment and growth with the theme "Drive to Thrive."
"Everybody here has been so opening and welcoming," attendee and local author Katie Maskey said. "Just even talking to other people, we're all picking each other's brains and learning new things. Everybody has been very helpful and we're in this community together and I think we can all only just lift each other up."
The summit has multiple goals:
- Celebrate and honor women
- Highlight what they bring to the table in work and life
- Connect women with networking opportunities
- Create a positive, lasting impact for inspiration
Panelist McKenna Reitz said an event like this is necessary because women are empowered and each one has a story. But to be authentic and empowered enough to tell that story is difficult
"We innately compare ourselves to one another and we wish we could be something else when we just have to be authentically ourselves," Reitz, a local teacher, motivational speaker and alopecia advocate, said. "Everyone is on their own journey and we just need to be inspired by one another and not compare ourselves to our journeys and to experience the diversity and adversity that every woman brings to the table."
During the summit, panelists highlighted the challenges women have been through and how they have been overcome. Sharing these stories helps move women's rights and opportunities in a progressive direction, Janet Eaton-Smith, the vice president of athletics at Lourdes University, said.
"It's an opportunity to fellowship with one another," she said. "A fellowship to hear someone else's story and make connections where we actually have something in common and an opportunity to move forward."
Some of the other talking points included growing a personal brand, living urgently and understanding that while not everything can be controlled, how one responds can be.