Kentucky Chamber Women’s Summit focuses on empowering leadership, overcoming perfectionism, and building networks

Leaders from across the Commonwealth came together for the 4th Annual Kentucky Chamber Women’s Summit in June. The event celebrated the achievements of many women, including Woman in Leadership Award honoree Alice Houston, while also giving the opportunity for more than 700 women and men to gather, connect, and learn from one another.

This year’s gathering featured a range of discussions on critical topics including leadership, career advancement, and work-life balance.

Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Ashli Watts welcomed the crowd, highlighting the advancements women have made in business and leadership while noting there are still many obstacles women still face.

“It’s important for the state’s largest business organization to host this event because only 10% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women,” Watts said. “Up until 2023, there were more male CEOs named ‘John’ than women CEOs.”

A Conversation with Elizabeth McCall

Elizabeth McCall, the first female master distiller of Woodford Reserve, emphasized the importance of being curious and knowing your worth during her conversation with Kentucky Educational Television’s Director of Public Affairs and Moderator Renee Shaw.

McCall said her role as master distiller evolved from years of curiosity and perseverance after starting a job in Brown-Forman Corporation’s sensory lab in 2009 with no experience in the industry. She said her career progressed quickly because she began doing the work for the job she wanted next while learning valuable lessons along the way from her mentor, master distiller emeritus Chris Moore.    

“I was raised to believe that when you start something, you finish it, stay committed, work really, really hard, and always do your best,” McCall said. “I applied that to what I do at work, and it’s gotten me to where I am today.”

McCall was named master distiller in 2023, becoming the youngest female master distiller in the bourbon industry, which brings in $9 billion in tourism and economic development revenue and 2.5 million visitors a year to Kentucky.

On advice for future leaders, McCall encouraged women to crowdsource, talk to people, network, come with confidence, and know their worth.

Women in Business Panel

PNC Bank Regional President Kristen Byrd, Crank & Boom Craft Ice Cream Owner/Operator Toa Green, English Lucas Priest & Owsley LLP Partner LaJuana Wilcher, and Kentucky Chamber Foundation Senior Vice President Beth Davisson had a conversation on the challenges and opportunities women in business face, lessons learned throughout their career, and much more.

When asked about the biggest obstacle for women in business, panelists shared their diverse experiences throughout their careers.

As a female in male-dominated industries, Wilcher said the biggest obstacle she has experienced has been “getting the respect we deserve.”

“Being heard and being seen” has been the biggest obstacle for Green. However, she said that knowing your own worth is key. “If you’re good enough, you can be big enough,” she said.

Going through the 2008 financial crisis taught Byrd about the value of adaptability and she will never forget the lessons she learned from that time and she likely would not still be in the banking industry if it were not for going through those experiences.

While discussing how mentorship has shaped their careers, Byrd emphasized the value of mentorship but also the importance of forming peer relationships to help advocate and lift one another up.

Unleashing Your Professional Confidence: Overcoming Perfectionism to Lead with Excellence

Vitale Buford Hardin, owner of Vitale & Company, led the opening keynote address during the Women’s Summit, helping women overcome perfectionism in their professional and personal lives.

“Perfectionism is something that held me back for most of my life,” Hardin said. “Perfectionism is when we do things for love instead of from love.”

Hardin said she’s not alone in facing perfectionism. She said 92% of people struggle with perfectionism, 86% of leaders believe their work is impacted by perfectionistic expectations, and 70% of people are experiencing burnout because of perfectionism.

Her presentation outlined the two types of perfectionism, fast and slow, and how they show up in personal and professional settings. She said reframing your mindset using the four Cs is the key to overcoming perfectionism: criticism, curiosity, compassion, and choice.

“If your perfectionism is taking up a lot of your life, these tools will turn the volume down on your perfectionism,” Hardin said.

A Conversation with Alice Houston: Woman in Leadership Award

Alice Houston, founder and owner of HJI Supply Chain Solutions, was recognized as the 2024 Woman in Leadership Award honoree for her decades of business excellence and dedication to her community.

Houston’s son-in-law Condrad Daniels, who is president of HJI Supply Chain Solutions, interviewed Houston about her life, from growing up in a segregated Louisville in the 1960s, to how she worked to build the largest minority-owned transportation business in the country.

“When I first started, there was not one single person I could call and get advice about transportation, supply chain, or any of that. There just weren’t other women in business.” Houston said. “When I got into a leadership position, I made myself available to other women. To be able to be vulnerable in a safe setting among peers is something special because it’s something I didn’t have.”

Houston worked at the University of Louisville, counseling students for many years. She said that experience and skills set helped her transition into being CEO.  

“Counseling is listening and helping and sometimes just repeating or reframing what a person is already feeling or expressing,” Houston said. “It helped me in dealing with employees by being able to put myself in their situation.”

A Conversation with Britney Ruby Miller 

Britney Ruby Miller, CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, spoke with Kentucky Chamber Board Chair Candace McGraw, CEO of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, about her experiences balancing family and business.

She shared some of the personal and professional challenges she has faced as a perfectionist and stressed the importance of sharing your story and being “dangerously transparent” to overcome those struggles.

“I’m a recovering perfectionist,” Miller said. “I was asked, ‘What do you gain from being a perfectionist? What do you gain from thinking you’re perfect? I couldn’t think of anything I gained except sheer exhaustion and a near mental breakdown. Those perceptions had to be shattered and rebuilt through therapy.”

Miller focused on the impact of leadership development and how the important lessons she learned have helped her business and family. She pointed to other family-led companies that she has looked as she progressed in her career.

Miller shared how holding every position in a restaurant, from being on the line, serving, to managing and being CEO, has allowed her to understand the industry, appreciate each role, and have a passion for service.

She reflected on how her father’s unique personal experiences led him to create the Jeff Ruby’s brand. “He is a great man with a great heart who wants to take care of his employees and take care of his community,” she said.

“I don’t get up every day because I want to run restaurants; I want to be a good leader for our community,” Miller said.

Professional Development Could Fix the Broken Rung on the Ladder to Your Success

Annie Likins of Bamboo Health and Appriss, Shane Shaps of Big Voice Social, and Cynthia Knapek of Leadership Louisville spoke on how professional development opportunities can help women break into leadership roles.

Polling shows that the average age for a first manager role is 27; however, the average age for a first leadership development training is 46.

“When we go through professional development, we think we are going to get skills, but we are really growing our network,” Knapek emphasized.

When asked an important skill to give women early in their careers, Likins said it is key to “embrace those things that are genuine to you and to do a better job of showing it.”

The panel highlighted Leadership Louisville’s new Alice Houston Leadership Program, which brings together women over a period of six months to build greater self-awareness, leadership presence, and resilience.