Elgin Chamber's Women's Leadership Circle meets success

From its initial launch nearly six months ago, the newly created Women's Leadership Circle of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce has created a successful casual and informative forum for women members of the chamber.

With no additional membership fee, local women chamber members in business have found a supportive outlet to network, exchange ideas, and have fun.

With a different twist each month, the groups alternately meets every month for either a noon lunch meeting with a speaker or early evening informal adventures. A minimal cost is charged for those attending a meeting.

To date, an average of 25 to 35 women have attended each monthly event.

"Our casual business networking opportunity for women chamber members began just at the right time following the restrictions of the pandemic," said Carol Gieske, CEO and president of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. "They were eager to get together again, share experiences, and work together as leaders in our community and support our not-for-profits. It's been interesting to see different women getting involved each month and getting to know each other."

A local nonprofit organization is featured at each of the meetings and its executive director and/or representative has time to speak about the agency's mission and its current needs.

The types of informal meetings the Women's Leadership Circle has experienced has ranged from learning to golf at the Highlands of Elgin and painting together at Pinot's Palette in St. Charles.

Nancy Coleman, executive director of the Alignment Collaborative for Education in Elgin, was pleased to be featured at the recent July 26 event at Pinot's Palette.

"The event provided a great opportunity to update community leaders about Alignment's summer internship program as well as upcoming fall events like Explore 2022 scheduled for Oct. 5-6 at the NOW Centre in Hoffman Estates," Coleman said.

For more information, contact Carol Gieske at the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce at (847) 741-5660 or cgieske@elginchamber.com.