More than 900 people gathered at the Red Lion Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton for the 19th annual Women’s Fund Luncheon. This year’s keynote speaker, Hannah Davis, founder and CEO of BANGS Shoes, told the crowd about her journey from teaching English in China to becoming the CEO of an international company.

By Julie Keller, Women’s Fund executive director

“Any any success that we may have had can be pulled from our decision to invest in humans, in our ambassador program, our social mission and our company culture. And that’s really the point of this entire gathering, to highlight the butterfly effect of choosing to invest in people. I applaud you today for your investments in a web of this community.”

        — Women’s Fund Luncheon keynote speaker Hannah Davis

We were thrilled to feature Hannah Davis as our keynote speaker for this year’s Women’s Fund Luncheon. Hannah started BANGS Shoes at the age of 22 to make the world a better place. She invests 20 percent of the net profits back into helping people start businesses.

With the tagline, “Your adventure helps others find theirs,” Hannah shared her experience about the risk involved in starting her business, the hardest things she’s overcome in the journey, and what happens when you focus on helping people help themselves.

The Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region has a long history of providing a platform for accomplished women with interesting stories to inspire our audience. The event is now in its 19th year, and my first as executive director.

Issue Spotlight Panel (R to L): Julie Stoffel, owner of Cradle to Crayons Learning Center and Small Business Consultant at WWBIC (Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation), Yee Lee Vue, owner of Bowl 91, Maggie Kauer, owner of Culver’s of Darboy, Nea Hahn, owner of Whisk & Arrow, Little Chute and Grand Chute, and moderator Amy Pietsch, director of the Fox Valley Technical College Venture Center.

We are excited this year to highlight women entrepreneurship and the difference women business owners are making in our community. Prior to the luncheon, we held our annual Issue Spotlight panel discussion featuring local women entrepreneurs sharing their experiences as women business owners as well as resources available in the community to those thinking about starting a business.

Attendees also had a chance to visit our booths featuring grants from the Women’s Fund totaling $60,000 for these programs and agencies. (Click the arrows to advance the slideshow):

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Fox Valley Technical College Foundation's You Mean, I Can Go To College? is a program helping female students at risk of not graduating from high school change their mindset about education, complete their high school diploma and removes barriers to enrollment in higher education coursework.

The annual luncheon is an opportunity to come together, celebrate women, and be inspired while raising money to support issues to improve the lives of women and girls in our community. Together we can all make an impact.

The Women’s Fund is a supporting organization of the Community Foundation and a separate 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. The Women’s Fund invests in the needs of women and girls through grants, advocacy and education. Since 1994, the Women’s Fund has awarded more than $1.6 million in grants to innovative programs that improve women’s and girls’ physical and mental health, ensure their economic security, promote their safety and enhance their lives. For more information, click here.