Tammy Dahms, Director of Corporate Sales & Sponsorships for Santander Arena and Reading Royals, shares - “I am blown away by the genuine connections I’ve made through REACH. The women I’ve met through this group have inspired me in many ways but have also supported me – in my personal life, my volunteer life, and my professional life. Working in a male-dominated industry, I’ve been lucky enough to find a solid group of women that can keep me grounded when I need to be, and lift me up when I need it too.”
In June of 2019 the TriCounty Chamber announced and revealed our redesigned women’s program. The Chamber’s former Women of the Workforce (WOW) program was rebranded as REACH – Empowering and Connecting Women.
The first event was a reveal of the new program’s logo and the sharing of the next year’s worth of programming which would include quarterly events and the culmination of the year with a ½ Day Conference.
Like so many things in 2020, the events for our program year were not going to happen. One of our Chamber Members, Carina Hatfield of Weigner Insurance, reached out to me to suggest a get together for our REACH Committee and participants when able to again. I replied to Carina and asked if she would be willing to “host” an initial zoom get together for now. We held our first REACH Coffee Chat in April and have not looked back. Our group continues to meet every other Tuesday morning and averages approximately 12-15 participants for each Chat. As you can see from the testimonial from Tammy Dahm to open this article, the Coffee Chats have had a tremendous impact and have provided value through the support that this group of women have committed to providing each other. In addition to having a group of women that you can talk with every other week, the Coffee Chat has been instrumental in building and then strengthening relationships that have led to business relationships being created in addition the personal relationships the group had developed.
As our group has continued to “Chat” every other week, we also added presentations of interest to our sessions. To kick off 2021 Chamber Member Coach Adrean Turner presented on “Defining our Vision” and the group discussed vision boarding. During our February 16 meeting, Chamber Member Jenna Armato presented “3 Questions to Supercharge Your Momentum.” We also continue to wait for gathering restrictions to be lifted; the group is anxiously awaiting an opportunity to schedule an in-person social event.
In addition to REACH Coffee Chat, our REACH programs offers quarterly luncheons and we have rescheduled the ½ Day Conference that was scheduled for June of 2020 for June 29, 2021. We also offer the opportunity for everyone to participate, connect, and support each other through our REACH Facebook Group. Our group members post their good news so we can celebrate with them, share details of special events that are important to them, and share inspiration which might help someone in the group at just the right time.
To get involved in REACH, contact the Chamber Office.