Power to Pursue 2024: Amplifying women’s voices

Every woman deserves to be seen, heard, and loved. That is the foundational belief of the Power to Pursue Summit – an annual event where women gather to eliminate barriers and embrace the power of their authentic selves. 84.51° was once again a proud sponsor of the third annual summit held in Cincinnati on May 10.

The summit featured two of our leaders: Georgette Angulo-Ramirez, VP, Merchandising Analytics & Strategy Team and Diana Victoriano, VP, HR. 

Georgette participated in the “Ascending Women” panel focused on women who are progressing in their industries and ensuring that they bring others along in their journey. She shared her personal journey of her steady career ascension that brought her to her current role as VP, Merchandising Analytics & Strategy Team. Georgette reminded the audience that strategy should not been viewed as something only reserved for top execs. It is a key element we need to use at every stage of our career and our personal lives. It can be as simple as looking ahead and seeing where we want to go and mapping the steps it will take to get there as Georgette has done since she immigrated to the United States from Peru. She explained how each step of her career was a building block that moved her forward to reach the role she holds today. Georgette also shared that vulnerability is strength and stressed that we need to lead with trust and ask for help along the way to ensure you understand what is working and where you can improve. 

Diana was part of the “Game Changers” panel that highlighted women who are bringing change to their offices and in their communities. She shared how she has grown her career taking on various roles in HR to learn new skills. Additionally, she helped lead the start of the Kroger Asian ARG, to give Asian associates a seat at the table and find community and belonging. She shared the importance of being true to yourself and knowing what you want and not being afraid to ask for it. In her own experience, when her career path came to a head, she advocated for work that was not only impactful, but also aligned with her interest and skills. Diana shared that her superpower is understanding the impact of every interaction – big or small – and working to create memorable interactions that make people’s lives easier in some way.  

Key takeaways from 84.51° attendees

A few members of 84.51° Women’s EDGE group attended the event. We invited them to share their “aha” moments from the summit.  

Katie Quinn

“After having been a part of our 84.51° sponsorship for the last three years, this was the first time that I was able to attend Power to Pursue. I was so impressed by how much the audience has continued to grow (they sold out at 650 this year and will be increasing the cap to 900 in 2025) and how safe, welcomed, and empowered I felt. I walked away with so many valuable nuggets, but my favorite came from one of the morning keynotes. As a soon-to-be mother of three under the age of three, Meriden McGraw shared the importance of ‘minimizing and outsourcing’ as much as possible in your life. But, one thing that we cannot outsource are the connections we make with others. She shared the importance of prioritizing quality over quantity – something that I personally empathized with as a fellow working mom juggling my job, family, and friendships.”  

Taylor Stowers-Laible

“Being a game changer means when the world tells you no, you find another way. Failure is necessary for growth and many times the greatest successes follow failure. It’s important to understand and accept that life is not linear, and that disruption follows intention meaning that when you set out to do something intentionally that will improve your life it will be followed by something that feels bad, but you have to keep pushing through the discomfort to get to the success.”  

Ali Kell

“It was evident, the power that comes when women are seen, heard, and loved. As an attendee, it sent a message to see the panels featuring strong, smart, centered women. It made me optimistic not only for my daughter’s future, but my own as well.  My takeaways include:  

• Do what brings you joy. Take care of yourself, prioritize you. Ask for help. Say no when you want to. And when you get a compliment, just say thank you.    

• Strength comes from being vulnerable and it gives others permission to be vulnerable, which ultimately builds connection and trust.  

• There is power in embracing your authentic self.  

• When someone tries to put you in a box, it is because of their own insecurity.  

• You are worthy just by being you. 

• Diverse representation matters, all perspectives are needed.” 

Jennifer Razzano 

“Deeply knowing yourself and what you do uniquely well helps guide you on your own path. Be mindful that you will change and adapt along the way and that’s part of the process too—we are all in different ‘eras.’  Remember that you have choices and it’s important to make decisions that align with your values and life priorities—resist defaulting to society’s expectations and don’t let others put you in a box. Finally, a very simple piece of advice that I knew, but needed the reminder is that every problem comes bearing a gift.” 

Brittiny Beard

“It was inspiring to be surrounded by hundreds of women who have variance in backgrounds and career industries, struggles and ambitions, but are all connected by the motive to want to be better versions of themselves.    I really enjoyed ‘The Power of Coaching’ breakout where there was a panel of life coaches along with a client of theirs. I now want a life coach! Learnings and helpful reminders:  

• Life coach vs. therapy. Therapy is how to cope and resolve things in the past. Life Coaching is reflecting to help build towards the future.  

• You need to have the willingness to be coached, jump into the uncomfortable and committed to growing to achieve the results you’re looking for. 

• Sometimes what you think you want isn’t really what you want and sometimes the issue or barrier to getting whe

  re you want isn’t really the true issue. ‘The issue, isn’t the issue’  - Tarita Preston 

For me personally, it’s hard to balance being ambitious and career driven, while also being a great mother, wife, daughter, sister, etc. so I appreciated this advice:  

• Exercise envisioning what you want to accomplish, who you WANT to be and then build a framework to support you getting there  

• It won't happen organically or, it would’ve already happened  

• Some other takeaways that left an imprint:  

• In terms of mental attention and being present - ‘Be at, where your feet at’ – Kyla Wood 

• Megs Gelfgot talked about the power you have over your brain. ‘If you don’t like the outcome, change the programming.’ Neuroplasticity is all about reshaping your brain: you can add, delete, edit.  

• We can shift [who we are] at anytime.” 

Hannah Fischer 

“When a room full of people looking to connect with each other leans into growth it brings a unique energy to a Friday. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have experienced Power to Pursue. I met many new people throughout the day and heard from several women who are living their values and navigating our ever-changing world.    Leaving the day, I couldn’t help but reflect on how I want to show up day to day and what authentically living my values would mean to me. Throughout the day, the theme of life’s storm, being like water, and powerful self-love were repeated. Here are some of the thoughts I continue to revisit:   

• Life’s storm. “It is not usually the issue that we face that is the problem, it is how we relate to that issue.” In the midst of what might feel like a storm, it is easy to feel like a boat lost at sea. When we relate to the boat being tossed about, we can get stuck in the now – losing sight of how we navigate the storm. We can take the storm as an opportunity to evolve, or we can sit in the rain and do nothing. “Who can I become in the rain? How can I transform through this process?” 

• Be like water. Several women throughout the day used this phrase as they reflected on their own journey of empowerment, self-love, and navigating connection. Water can flow around obstructions, it can carve a path through rock, it can be hard when frozen, and it can be an ocean wave crashing. Our power looks different and evolves constantly, we can take on the intentional mindset to be like water and adjust to achieve our goals.  

• Powerful self-love. Self-love takes so many different forms. Kyla Woods shared how her morning routine centers her and sets an example for her child; she finds powerful self-love in prioritizing that time for herself each day. Rachel Cargle shared thoughts on trusting yourself to live, grow, and learn out loud and step outside of any box someone draws around you. Megs Gelfgot shared her journey of resiliency and learning to be excited to fail. All of these stories and experiences sparked creativity in the room to define how we all can take steps (big or small) to love ourselves in new ways and encourage that same self-love in others. 

The final note that I have been reflecting on the most is a quote from the Fireside Chat with Rachel Cargle: “I have the authority within myself to make decisions that are counter to what those around me define as good or successful.”  Power to Pursue was a powerful day, with incredibly impactful speakers, that brought women together to rally around what decisions we can make for ourselves to live authentically and with love for those around us.”