By Tabitha Johnston, The Shepherdstown Chronicle
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The inaugural Shepherding Women in Business Conference was held in the Storer Ballroom on Saturday.
The conference was the brainchild of Shepherd University student Chloe Waldeck, who was inspired to create it after assisting with a women’s conference in another state for the past two years. She began making plans for the Shepherding Women in Business Conference last fall, when she took an event programming class that required students to plan a hypothetical event.
“It actually went along with a class I had, where I had to plan an event,” Waldeck, who is double majoring in business and recreation and sports studies, said. “I then pitched it to [my teacher], ‘Can I make this my method of planning? Because I actually want to turn this into an event.’ And he eventually [agreed to] it.”
A total of 65 people attended the conference, according to Waldeck. It began with a light breakfast followed by two sessions with a total of eight speakers that attendees could choose between; a boxed lunch combined with a talk on dining etiquette; a keynote address presented by Veterans Affairs Medical Center health systems specialist and chief Donna Newman; a third session with four speakers to pick from; table talks with various industry representatives; a leadership panel with entrepreneur Tina Johnson, Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital Board of Directors CEO Kim Ford and Jefferson County Commissioner Cara Keys, who is also a business owner; and a closing keynote address by best-selling author Kelly Featheringham. The conference closed with a time for networking, paired with mocktails and a mashed potato bar.
