The Airdrie Women in Business Association (AWBA) has a new board and new plans for its members in the year ahead.  

The group recently held its Annual General Meeting where they voted in Tara Pickford, the Owner of Pickford Consulting, Ambition Performing Arts Inc., Confidanz Designs Corp., and Scoara Management Systems Inc. as their new President.  Pickford says the new board is excited to get started and is ready to grow.

"We have a very excited board with a lot of fresh ideas.  We are working really hard to have an exciting launch of our fall meetings and I would say the new energy on the board will only mean big things for us."

Pickford explains that the first item on the new board's to-do list was a change in days for their monthly meetings.  The previous meeting night of Tuesday conflicted with a number of other community organizations that their members were a part of.  Pickford says the new night of Wednesday seems to work better for the majority of their members. 

Pickford also says while the goal of making a spot for people to network with the AWBA will still be an important component for the group, they also hope to add a strong education factor as well.  "A lot of times in business you don't know what you don't know until you don't know it," she says.  "So we do want to combine that networking with an educational component.  We're looking to bring in local members who can share their education, share their process, share things that we need to know.  Reaching out to our local resources to become more visible to us, so pairing up with the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce, talking to Airdrie Economic Development, making sure we are using our local resources to build our community up."

In Pickford's mind, one of the hardest things about an association serving women is the diversity of businesses that they run and trying to meet everyone's needs.  "With brick and mortars, home businesses, MLM style businesses, we all have very different needs and ideas about what an association can do for us.  Our first and foremost goal is to create an association that all these women, no matter what type of business they have, can benefit from."

The other members of the new AWBA board include Danielle Howells as Vice-President, Allison Anhorn as Secretary, Brittni Stewart as Membership Director, Joyce Wall as Chairperson of Events, and Rita San Martin as Treasurer.  

Pickford sums up the enthusiasm of the new board by saying, "We're just really excited for the fresh energy and I think we're going to be making a large impact on the business community itself."

Anyone wanting more information on the AWBA or to become a member can go here. 

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