Moving into their third year, the Snoqualmie Valley Women in Business are achieving goals by leaps and bounds.
The grassroots women’s organization has reached nearly 100 members since its inception in 2008.
Women In Business unites professional women for the purpose of collaboration, community leadership and personal and professional growth.
“Our goal this year was to increase our membership and our footprint in the Valley,” said Kim Arellano, president of Women in Business.
Arellano grew up in the Valley. After venturing to the city and coming back home years later, she realized she wanted to be more involved with her community.
Women in Business became the niche she was looking for, a way to make the connections she longed for.
Named president last year, Arellano said the job has been a lot of work. Women in Business members worked hard to build a foundation for the group, creating structure for ideas and networks.
“We would get together and have these inventive ideas and we’d only have so much time,” Arellano said. This year, the organization developed many of these concepts through committees headed by 12 board members. Committees include business, membership, marketing and community.
Personal growth
Besides business and networking, the group also espouses growth and development at both a personal and a community level.
Without personal growth, there’s no community growth, Arellano said. Such growth is interdependent, so the organization made sure that there was equal focus on development in each committee. Helping members’ businesses flourish, two businesses are drawn during monthly meetings for a five- or 10-minute presentation slot at the next month’s gathering.
“It gives you an opportunity to focus and share your business,” Arellano said
The organization is also a place to learn. Monthly speakers promote inspiration, business development and community involvement. The organization has brought in the likes of Helen Thayer, an author who worked for National Geographic and was the first woman to circumnavigate the North Pole, and Shari Storm, vice president and chief marketing officer at Verity Credit Union.
“We make sure that when we get speakers, they round out the three parts of our charter,” Arellano said.
Giving credit to the organization’s growth to the opportunities, networking and shared interests, Arellano believes success also comes from the vibe of the meetings.
“We welcome everybody to come in and we want them to be successful.”
• Snoqualmie Valley Women in Business meets at noon on the second Wednesday of each month at the Snoqualmie Ridge TPC golf course. For more information, visit svwib.com.
