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Authentic Connections

Updated: Dec 16, 2023

New group creates space for genuine networking

Women make business connections differently from men, MARY ELLEN WILLSON has found. “I have always felt women create relationships before passing out business cards,” she says. This observation, and the belief there were probably other women who, like her, were looking to meet others, led Willson to found Women’s Networking Collective in Leland this past June.

“I am new to the area; I moved to Brunswick Forest with my husband a year ago,” she says. “I was a corporate marketing professional, working remotely, and I was lonely in my home office. I happened upon a women’s group meeting one evening and met two other working women, which is not the norm in Brunswick Forest, where most women are retired. Through conversations we found out we were all missing connection with other women. We decided to start our own group.”

Willson says she has always been a connector. As a mother of young children, she was the one who ended up organizing the play dates and other activities within her children’s circle of friends. In her professional sphere in Maryland, she managed several networking groups. In planning a business connections group for women in Leland, she knew what she didn’t want. “I didn’t want a group where you walk in and it’s overwhelming because there are too many people and there’s no one to greet you,” she says. “I don’t want to be a room full of sixty to seventy women; I want it to be warm; to be a space where we create authentic relationships. The business will come from that.”

With that objective, Willson and her fellow organizers decided they would limit attendance at the collective’s monthly meetings to thirty. The leadership team acts as greeters and helps orient new attendees. As the collective approaches maximum capacity at the monthly luncheons, plans are already in place to accommodate growth while staying true to the founding vision. “We are about twenty-two to twenty-five right now. We’re not going to limit membership: when we have thirty members, we’ll add a second event,” Willson says. “When we hit 100, we will add a second group.”

Women’s Networking Collective meetings start at noon with a bit of mingling, with leadership team members introducing newcomers around. Once seated, the women briefly mention what they do, and who among them have met outside the monthly meeting. “We really encourage coffee meetings,” Willson explains. “At each meeting we tell attendees to write down the name of someone they would like to meet at a coffee connection. We collect those slips of paper and draw one out of a hat; she gets a Starbucks gift card.”

Attendees also mention events they have coming up, or anything they are looking for in the business realm. This informal discussion is followed by the day’s speaker. “We’ve had someone talk about hormone replacement therapy. We’ve had a police officer and a life coach. It’s always about women in some aspect,” Willson says of the speakers so far.

Willson noticed that when the meetings ended at 1:30 p.m., some women stayed to talk. She always wanted to do that as well, but had a client webinar commitment that meant she had to leave the meetings in a rush. In August, as she prepared to leave, a group member said, “It’s time: you need to leave your job.”

That was a pivotal moment for Willson, who realized she didn’t have to continue a job for which she no longer felt passion, and which was limiting her time to sink roots in her new community. “Why am I doing this for someone else rather than something for myself?” she asked. Willson gave a month’s notice to her employer and turned her attention to using her marketing skills to help her husband’s expanding kitchen renovation business – and building the collective.

“We are a paid membership organization, an LLC,” she says. “The yearly dues are very nominal. If you join within 24 hours of visiting you get a $50 discount. Although it is a fee-based group, I don’t consider it for-profit. Everything goes back into the organization. We’ll have a holiday party at the end of the year with any remaining funds.”

With more time on her hands to devote to the organization, Willson plans to expand the concept based on its early success by increasing membership and opening new chapters. “We hit onto something: Women are dying for these connections. There is a segment of our membership that are my age: working, wondering what their next step is. Then we have younger women: professionals, lawyers, medical professionals. We have a few women who aren’t working but wondering what’s next,” Willson says. “It’s interesting and gratifying to see the younger generation coming in. Very little has changed for women in corporate workplace. So often we can’t be our authentic selves; we have to fit into a mold. I find that having this space where people can come and be with their tribe is refreshing for women of all ages. You can show up as you really are.”

Women’s Networking Collective meets every second Thursday of the month at Brunswick Beer and Cider at noon. Guests are welcome, but online registration is required.

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