Today's lunch was the last business meeting of the KWBWA year. While it's not our last lunch meeting - don't forget about our lunch meeting on June 18th!!

Thank you all for bringing your energy, curiosity and openness to our meetings. I feel very fortunate to be part of a vibrant group of women who show up for each other with care and consistency. At today's meeting, we will announce the incoming board for the next year. I'd like to thank the outgoing board for their hard work and contributions this year:

• Karen Savage (VP) brought us a great mix of inspirational speakers, new and existing members to present at our lunch meetings - all while managing logistics for lunch orders and coordinating with the Charcoal staff to ensure that our lunches ran smoothly. She's moving to the position of President to take a rest!!
• Nicole Hacock (Treasurer) continued to ensure that members paid their dues, that our bills were paid and we stayed compliant with HST filings, maintaining KWBWA accounts and preparing financial statements. It's a time-consuming position that Nicole has tirelessly held for many years now and we are so grateful to her for it.
• Rebecca Butler (Secretary) managed to keep track of our wide ranging discussions during board meetings(!) to prepare minutes. She's been on the board almost as long as she's been a member and we will miss her as she finally makes the last full leap into retirement with her resignation from the KWBWA. 🙁
• Joanne Atkins (Special Projects) has organised the most amazing array of out-of-the-box lunches and a lovely Christmas dinner this year. Her dedication to finding novel experiences for our OOTB events is clearly fuelled by her love for the KWBWA and this region, and we're lucky to benefit from her longevity as a board member.
• Sylvie Drader (Membership) dealt with many enquiries from potential members and onboarded multiple new members. She has spent two years in this position and we really appreciate all that she's done in that time.
• Nancy Koebel (Member-at-large), in her usual caring way, kept her finger on the pulse of our members' lives and was very busy organising care packages, get well and sympathy cards and our Christmas donation.
• Kristin Moore (Social Media) jumped back in for ANOTHER year to keep our Facebook and Instagram accounts current when this position reopened, and posted some awesome summaries of our lunch meetings.
• Shanna Koetsier (Past President) left big shoes that I didn't come close to filling as president and continued showing her leadership by spending many hours reorganising the board's Google Drive this year. We're blessed that she's returning to the board in another position.

Speaking of the new board - spoiler alert! - it was an uncontested landslide for all the nominees in our board election. I'd like to congratulate the 2026/2027 board, and offer a special welcome to new board members, as follows:

• President: Karen Savage
• Vice-president: Emily Boone
• Treasurer: Nicole Hacock
• Secretary: Shanna Koetsier
• Special Projects: Joanne Atkins
• Membership: Trudy Fraser
• Member-at-large: Nancy Koebel
• Marketing & Social Media: Alyssa MacLeod
• Past President: Catherine Hibbard

Finally, I'd like to give a huge shout out to our intrepid web designer, Stephanie Breed, who keeps the KWBWA website filled with content and updates the blog with meeting summaries that beautifully highlight our members' businesses.

We welcomed many wonderful new members this year, unfortunately lost some people as their professional journeys took them in different directions, but we ended the year with the same number of members as we started with. Please continue to invite female business owners in your network to join us and help grow the KWBWA.

I hope you all find some time to rest, recharge and enjoy the summer during our July/August break.
Catherine Hibbard - Past President, KWBWA

KWBWA loves to "Get out of the Box" once in a while and visit businesses in our community! Most recently, our members met in St Jacobs for a unique Lunch and Tour experience at Neruda Arts.

Members enjoyed a boxed luncheon from Stone Crock, and a fantastic presentation from Isabel Cisterna, learning about the creation of Neruda Arts and the multicultural festivals that they have launched.

Next,we took a 45-minute guided historical walk throughout the village with guide Juanita Metzger @strollwalkingtours.

It was a fantastic extended lunch of women supporting women!
Websites: Neruda Arts | St. Jacobs Walking Tours

Alyssa MacLeod, is a freelance graphic designer from Waterloo, Ontario who specializing in everything design including brand strategy, print, marketing, social media, web & email graphics, signage and much more.

She strives to connect with business owners on their visual and marketing goals to help bring their business to life with beautiful designs and a plan for success!

Alyssa's background in editorial design has shaped a strong focus on layout and structure which carries through into everything she creates.

Whether it’s a full brand or a single piece, her goal is always to help businesses present themselves clearly, professionally, and consistently.

Contact Alyssa today to discuss YOUR marketing goals!
Website: alyssamacleod.ca

The KWBWA has welcomed many new members recently. At a recent meeting, we had introductory talks from two new members.

As a Principal Advisor with Cowan Private Client, Rhonda di Cristofaro of Cowan Group brings over 23 years of experience and a collaborative, client focused approach. She is know for building strong relationships and helping families protect their legacies through tailored personal insurance solutions rooted in trust and open communication. Her professionalism, adaptiabilty and strong work ether guide her work as she navigates complex insurance needs with confidence.

Website: https://pages.cowangroup.ca/en-US/template-cowan-at-a-glance

Heather McKague of Parallel Financial Services, shared her experience as a Certified Financial Planner. She takes a Friends and Family approach to long term financial planning. She has been working in the financial services industry for over 25 years and has a passion for helping individuals and families plan for financial success... Sometimes it is simply opening a first Tax-Free Savings Account or helping with insurance needs and other times she does detailed financial planning for retirement and beyond.

Website: https://www.parallelfinancial.ca

The KWBWA's most recent Out of the Box lunch took place at Evolv1 in Waterloo.

evolv1 is Canada’s first Zero Carbon Building. Built in 2018, this is a uniquely modern 104,000 square foot urban space, designed for today’s millennial tech-savvy workforce. Our members enjoyed a boxed lunch in their open concept Hub, before embarking on a tour of the facility. We were impressed with the 40 foot living wall in the main atrium with 4500 individually potted plants. Our guide pointed out all of the environmental features of the building: from the solar panels over parking lot and on the roof, to the geothermal heating system, triple pane windows, LED lighting and low flush toilets.

It was explained that building this way costs more upfront, but the pay on return is in the long run. Long term partnerships were forged with local vendors in the maintenance of the solar panels and EV chargers.

KWBWA members were wowed by this impressed new building development from The Cora Group. Thank you for hosting us.

Website: https://www.sustainablewaterlooregion.ca

Suzanne Flinn, a personal concierge, recently gave a member presentation.

Her diverse experience includes working in various settings, such as hospitality at Langdon Hall, real estate, weddings at Cambridge Mill, and golf course hospitality. Throughout her career, she’s always loved helping people.

Her background in the hospitality industry perfectly aligns with the definition of concierge work, which resonated with her lifelong passion. Building relationships has been key to her business growth. She has worked alongside fellow KWBWA members Trudy Fraser: Professional Organizer and Move Manager of Tartan Spaces, and Allie Comerford: Lifestyle Consultant at Briarfield Gardens Retirement Residence.

Suzanne’s hourly rate is a minimum of two hours, and she relies on word-of-mouth and referrals. She’s also a member of the KW Chamber of Commerce. "I get to do work that I generally love, helping people live their lives, a little more easily, and with a little more support."

Brigitte Gingerich, Travel Consultant, Northstar Travel spoke to our members about her recent trip to Bali.

She shared some amazing pictures and stories!

It was a great escape from the never ending winter we've been having.

We also loved hearing about the group travel trips that Brigitte books for her clients.

Visit her website, https://www.facebook.com/travelwithBrigitte/ and speak with Brigitte to plan your next vacation!

Ellyn Winters-Robinson of Ignition Communications was a guest speaker at a recent meeting. Ellyn is a very busy lady doing amazing things: from marketing, communications and tech PR, to writing a bestseller, being a top-notch Speaker and CEO of the Lyndall Project. Ellyn is using her breast cancer experience to create an online resource for people experiencing breast cancer and survivors.

"AskEllyn.ai is the world’s first AI companion for those on the breast cancer journey. Infused with the lived experience of a breast cancer survivor, AskEllyn.ai is forever free for those who need her, completely private, speaks every language and always available." Ellyn has spoken to doctors around the world, bringing a human with feelings, back to the view of patient treatment.

From her website, you can connect to AskEllyn https://askellyn.ai/, buy her bestselling book "FLAT PLEASE HOLD THE SHAME", access her blog, book her for a speaking engagement or subscribe to her newsletter.

The members of KWBWA enjoyed her engaging talk, and reminders to go for their mammogram screenings.

Our tour was entertaining and gave us an update of this vibrant and inspiring community resource. We enjoyed a healthy lunch by our KWBWA member, Irene Divaris of Meal in a Jar upon arrival and then experienced a 20-30 minute guided tour.