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BOSS LADIES THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S ISSUE VOL. 4 | NO. 1

A LIVING ARCHIVE. OVER 80 WOMEN. ONE GROWING IMPACT.

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WHEN WOMEN PLAY TO WIN

Inside NAWBO's Visionary Luncheon

Digital Version

THE VISIBILITY GAP That Is Costing Your Business More Than You Know

Built to

Outlast HER How Jannett Keesling is redefining second chances and long-term impact

Welcome to LiMStudios Creative Hub! This is where the stories in these pages were shaped.

Opened January 2025. A 3,000 sq ft creative studio in Castleton, Indianapolis, designed for brand photography, video production, podcast recording, strategy sessions, and live experiences. Every corner built to support meaningful work.

The space moves between quiet focus and collective energy. A podcast set one day. A photoshoot, workshop, or creative collaboration the next. It is where preparation meets execution and brands are built with intention.

Every story in this magazine was captured here. Not just the moment content is created, but the thinking, refining, and positioning that happens before and after.

We invite you to step inside.

Click or scan the code to schedule a private tour.

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WhereUp Legacy shows

An Evening with Indianapolis' Champions of Impact

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here are rooms you walk into and immediately feel the weight of what is happening. The 19th Annual Champions of Impact Awards at the JW Marriott Indianapolis on January 16, 2026 was one of those rooms.

I was there in a capacity that meant a great deal to me personally.

Boss Ladies Magazine collaborated with the Indianapolis Recorder to set up a dedicated media interview station at the event, where I had the privilege of sitting down with several of the evening's honorees as they were recognized for work that has shaped this city in ways that do not always make headlines but always make a difference. To be invited into that space, alongside one of the oldest and most respected Black publications in the country as it celebrated its 130th anniversary, was not something I took lightly.

The Champions of Impact Awards, produced by Recorder Media Group, have spent nearly two decades doing something that matters deeply to me as a publisher: documenting leadership. Robert Shegog, President and CEO of Recorder Media Group, set the tone for the evening with words that stayed with me long after the room cleared. He said that legacy is not given. It is built, decision by decision. That one sentence captured everything I witnessed that night.

And what I witnessed was extraordinary.

The women honored that evening represented every sector of Indianapolis life. They were founders, executives, advocates, preservationists, and community builders. They were women who had been doing the work quietly for years, in some cases decades, and who stepped into that ballroom not chasing applause but carrying the accumulated weight of real impact.

Eunice Trotter, recipient of the Amos Brown Community Advocate Award, spoke about receiving an honor named for someone she had worked beside, someone she called her sparring buddy.

Amos Brown was a community voice, a columnist, and what she described as an influencer of his time. To receive an award in his name carried a spiritual significance that you could feel when she talked about it. Eunice currently serves as Director of the Black Heritage Preservation Program at Indiana Landmarks, and her life's work reflects exactly that, preserving what matters before it disappears.

Janmarie Connor, President and CEO of Connor Painting and re-

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B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

cipient of the Industry Leader Award, spoke about what it means to build a family-owned business in the construction and coatings industry with both integrity and longevity. She and her husband purchased the business in 1997, and nearly three decades later she stood in that room being recognized not just for the contracts won but for the way she has invested in her people and her community along the way. She said something that I keep returning to: that doing the right things, systematically, for many years, has an impact. That is a quiet kind of leadership that does not get enough credit.

Kristian Stricklen, President and CEO of the Madam Walker Legacy Center, received the Legacy Award on a night that felt almost designed by history itself. The Madam Walker Legacy Center is celebrating its 99th year. The Indianapolis Recorder is celebrating its 130th. And Kristian stood in the middle of all of that legacy having just secured an $8 million endowment that ensures the Center's sustainability for the foreseeable future. She talked about legacy being all around her, and she was right. She is actively building it.

Marianne Glick, Board Chair of the Glick Family Foundation and recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award, is a woman whose name I have admired long before that evening.

She reminded everyone in that room that the work is not about accolades. She said she does it because she believes in it. That kind of conviction is rare, and it is exactly the energy that an award bearing Dr. King's name deserves.

Tonya Sisco, Executive Director of Corporate Responsibility at Cummins Inc. and recipient of the Changemaker Award, said something that stopped me. She shared that she spends so much time working in the background that it genuinely felt good to finally be seen. I think many of the women in that room, honorees and attendees alike, felt that in their bones.

Tracey C. Jackson, Vice President of Workforce Development and Community Impact at 16 Tech Innovation District and recipient of the Empowerment Service Award, spoke about her work with a clarity and a servant's heart that was impossible to miss. She described her purpose as providing real access to real people and making sure they have real opportunities. In a city that is growing as fast as Indianapolis, that kind of intentional pathway-building is not optional. It is essential.

Charlotte Hawthorne, Executive Director of Social Impact at Eli Lilly and Vice President of the Lilly Foundation, received the Trailblazer Champion Award. Her work sits at the intersection of corporate power and community investment, and the recognition she received that evening reflected years of showing up for Indianapolis in ways that extend far beyond a job description.

Malina Simone Bacon, Co-Founder and Creative Director of GANGGANG, received the Voices of Culture Award alongside her co-founder. GANGGANG has become one of the most distinct creative forces in Indianapolis, and Malina's vision is a significant part of why. Culture does not build itself. It takes people who understand both the art and the infrastructure behind it.

Brandi Davis-Handy, President of AES Indiana and recipient of the Rosa Parks Trailblazer Award, carries a name that speaks for itself. To receive an award in Rosa Parks' name is to be held to a standard of courage and conviction that goes beyond professional achievement. Brandi has earned that standard.

Dr. Cameual Wright, President of CareSource Indiana and recipient of the Bridge to Impact Award, rounds out a group of women whose collective work touches nearly every corner of this city, from healthcare access to workforce development, from cultural preservation to corporate philanthropy.

Anita Williams, Co-Founder of the Indy Black Chamber of Commerce and recipient of the President's Choice Award alongside her husband Larry Williams, represents the kind of entrepreneurial community leadership that quietly holds entire ecosystems together.

What struck me most about the evening was not any single speech or single moment. It was the cumulative effect of being in a room where excellence was not the exception. It was the standard. These women did not arrive at the JW Marriott that January evening to be introduced to greatness. They brought it with them.

The Indianapolis Recorder has spent 130 years making sure that stories like these are not lost. LiMStudios and Boss Ladies Magazine exist for the same reason. Because the work of documenting leadership, of putting names and faces and real stories to the impact happening in our community, is not ceremonial. It is necessary.

That night reminded me why I do what I do. And I am grateful I had a front-row seat.

By Victoria Odekomaya, Publisher, Boss Ladies Magazine | Founder & CEO, LiMStudios

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p

FROM THE

ublisher

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very issue of Boss Ladies Magazine begins the same way. With a woman whose story I cannot stop thinking about.

nothing that can stop them.

Sometimes she is someone I have met in a room. Sometimes she reaches out through our intake form. Sometimes she is someone a friend says you need to meet her, trust me. And every single time, what I find on the other side of that introduction is a woman who has been building something extraordinary in relative quiet, doing the work, carrying more than most people know, and wondering if any of it is landing the way she hopes.

This is also our International Women's Month issue. And the timing is intentional. Because the women you are about to meet do not exist in isolation. They are part of something larger. A growing community of women who have chosen to be seen, to tell their stories, and to build something that outlasts the moment they are in. Somewhere in these pages you will also find the women who came before this issue. Women we have featured across every volume of Boss Ladies Magazine. We brought them back because their impact does not expire.

It compounds. And together, they tell a story that no single issue could contain.

This International Women's issue is full of those women.

You will meet a woman who heard the words financial literacy for the first time at the age of 46, looked them up, and decided that if she had missed it, others had too, and that she was going to spend the rest of her career making sure they did not. You will meet a woman who built a recycling organization from the ground up and now watches the children of the people she serves grow into the next generation of the mission. You will meet a woman who left everything and started over in a new city knowing almost no one, aligned herself with what mattered, and built something the industry is now paying attention to. You will meet a woman who uses her expertise not for fame but for foundation, because she understands that the things built quietly are usually the ones that last.

You will also meet children in Ibadan, Nigeria, who were never supposed to have a future that looked like the one they are now living. A community space on the west side of Indianapolis that has been quietly holding the cultural identity of this entire city and now needs us to show up for it the way it has shown up for us. And a room full of middle school girls in Carmel who looked into a camera and said, with absolute certainty, that there is

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I believe them. Because I have been that woman too.

One of the things I hear most from the

made in their favor, not because of what they said when they got there, but because the people in that room had already seen them in these pages. In many cases, the door opened before they ever walked into the room. The magazine positioned them before they ever had to introduce themselves. That is the power of a story told well, through a platform people trust.

This issue carries that weight. Boss Ladies Magazine continues to reach over one million readers and decision makers across the state and beyond, amplifying the stories of women building real impact. Following our collaboration with the Indianapolis Recorder on the Champions of Impact Awards in January 2026, this issue reflects on the impact of that moment and what it made possible. The women and organizations in these pages are not just being seen. They are being placed in front of the rooms that matter.

And we are just getting started.

The next issue is already taking shape, and the women who will fill those pages are building things right now that the world has not yet fully seen. If something in you says that might be me, hold onto that thought.

women I work with is this: a lot of times we do not control how other people see us. And that is true. But what I have learned, and what this magazine was built to address, is that we have more control over our story than we think.

We just have to be willing to tell it. Not because visibility is vanity, but because visibility is how our expertise reaches the people who need it. It is how impact travels beyond the rooms we personally occupy. It is how a story told in one city reaches a woman in another city who needed to hear it.

I have watched this happen in real time.

I have seen women walk into rooms where the decision had already been

B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

Your story matters. Your work matters.

And there is a reader somewhere who needs to see it.

So whoever you are, holding this issue, whether you are the woman who has been quietly building, the one who is just starting, the one who has been through it and is still here, this was made with you in mind.

Welcome to Boss Ladies Magazine. I am so glad you are here.

Victoria Odekomaya, Publisher, Boss Ladies Magazine CEO, LiMStudios Creative Agency & LiMStudios Creative Hub

VICTORIA ODEKOMAYA EDITORIAL SUPPORT

TREVOR ODEKOMAYA JADEN ODEKOMAYA GEORGIA CALACHAN BOSS LADIES MAGAZINE LIMSTUDIOS LLC INDIANAPOLIS, IN WWW.THELIMSTUDIOS.COM WWW.VICTORIAODEKOMAYA.COM COPYRIGHT 2026 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S ISSUE VOL. 4 | NO. 1 CONTACT INFO HELLO@THELIMSTUDIOS.COM (260) 777-7211

SCAN TO CONNECT

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

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BUILT TO OUTLAST HER JANNET KEESLING

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SHE WAS RAISED FOR THIS TIANA JOHNSON

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THE WORLD LIVES HERE & THE GLOBE IS SHRINKING GLOBAL VILLAGE

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SHE BUILDS WHAT OTHERS LEAVE BROKEN MONICA L. WHITE

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TAUGHT LATE, LEARNED ANYWAY - KRISTLE BROOKS

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HOPE HAS AN ADDRESS TABITHA HOME

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SHE FORFEITED EVERYTHING TO FIND ALIGNMENT LINDSEY BROWN

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WHEN YOUR WARDROBE DOESN'T MATCH YOUR WORTH

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HER BODY WHISPERED, SHE DIDN'T HEAR IT - MICHELLE BAILEY

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IDENTITY. SYSTEMS. OVERFLOW CANDICE JACKSON PARRISH

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IN THIS ISSUE

PUBLISHER, FOUNDER & PHOTOGRAPHER

WHERE LEGACY SHOWS UP CHAMPIONS OF IMPACT

THE MOST EXPENSIVE DECISION YOU NEVER KNEW YOU WERE MAKING 26 THE WORK OF LEADERSHIP DOES NOT START ON THE STAGE - JLI 32 BUILT BY WOMEN 34 NOMINATE A BOSS LADY 61

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THE ECOSYSTEM BEHIND THE STORIES

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B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

Boss Ladies Magazine is one piece of a larger ecosystem designed to help leaders build visibility, authority, and legacy.

The magazine lives within a connected system of storytelling, strategy, and execution. From brand photography and video production to podcast conversations, strategy sessions, and editorial features, every service is designed to work together. Every story is supported by what comes before and after.

LiMStudios is more than a studio. It is the infrastructure behind the work. Home to Boss Ladies Magazine and The Own Your Brand Show, it brings strategy, production, platforms, and partnerships into one place.

So leaders can be seen, positioned, and remembered.

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BOSS LADY: Jannett Keesling PHOTO: Victoria Odekomaya @limstudios

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UILT

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here is a particular kind of woman who does not wait for the world to catch up to her vision. She simply builds. Quietly, methodically, and with the kind of faith that does not require an audience or a standing ovation to keep moving. Jannett Keesling is that woman, and the world she has built is evidence of what becomes possible when purpose meets an unrelenting will.

The proof of that work is not found in statistics alone. It lives inside stories that no number can ever fully hold.

One woman entered the program while unhoused, raising her young daughter with almost nothing solid beneath her feet. What followed was not a miracle. It was a method. Through consistent guidance, meaningful employment, and a structure designed to hold her steady while she rebuilt herself from the inside out, she found her footing. Then her confidence. Then her own home.

Her daughter, who once lived inside uncertainty, grew into a woman who built a strong and self-determined future entirely of her own making.

Born and raised in Jamaica, she came of age witnessing poverty all around her. While her family worked hard to provide and instill strong values, she saw firsthand how limited access to opportunity could impact those in her community. She learned early that hardship is rarely about a lack of desire, but more often about the absence of structure and opportunity. That lesson stayed with For Jannett, that is the whole point. Not one changed moher, shaping the way she understands people, systems, ment. One changed bloodline. and the gaps that others often overlook.

Sustaining that vision across nearly three decades reThe pattern resurfaced years later in a new and press- quired far more than strategy. It required sacrifice. There ing form. Through her work, she encountered men and were seasons that pressed hard against her, years that women returning home from incarceration, expected to stretched her faith and her stamina in equal and relentreconstruct their lives seemingly overnight. Find work. less measure. She was building an organization while Create stability. Move forward. The expectation was raising a family, holding both with the same steady and loud and clear. The infrastructure to actually support deliberate hands. But those seasons did not break her. that transition was not. What she witnessed was never They clarified her. They reinforced what she already una failure of character. It was the failure of a system that derstood in her bones: that real, lasting change is never returned people to the world without a bridge to cross born in urgency. It is built in faithfulness, in daily discion, without a hand extended at the moment it was need- pline, and in devotion to a vision always larger than any single outcome. ed most.

She could have observed it and kept moving. Instead, Today, her work moves through Indiana like a quiet and steady current, touching individuals, stabilizing families, she built the bridge. and fortifying the communities built around them. What In 1996, Jannett co-founded Keys2Work, not simply as she has created is not merely an organization. It is a living a program, but as a philosophy made fully operational. system, rooted deeply in purpose and designed to outThe work was never about placing bodies into positions. last any season or circumstance.

It was about engineering a pathway, one carefully built to hold the full weight of a person's reinvention. That vision Legacy, for Jannett, has never been abstract. It is her later deepened through RecycleForce, strengthening the daughter Tiana stepping confidently forward into leadermodel and extending its reach into communities that ship. It is a mission built strong enough to carry itself, one that was never designed to rest on any one person but had long gone overlooked and underserved. on something far more enduring. The work is expanding.

What she created is layered by design. Job readiness The reach is growing deeper. And the next chapter is altraining. Real employment opportunities. Sustained ready being written by the very hands she spent decades support that does not quietly vanish after the first place- quietly preparing. ment. For Jannett, a job is never simply the destination.

It is the door. What matters most is what becomes pos- For those who believe that a second chance is not charity sible the moment someone walks through it. Dignity re- but infrastructure, Jannett's work is an open and standing stored. Identity reclaimed. A future, finally, made visible invitation. Keys2Work continues to grow, to hire, and to welcome those ready to be part of something that truly and within reach. lasts. Learn more at www.keys2work.org

True success is found in service.

When you open doors for others, you change not just one life, but entire families.

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BOSS LADY: Tiana Johnson PHOTO: Victoria Odekomaya @limstudios

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was

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here is a particular kind of inheritance that cannot be written into a will. It is not a building or a balance sheet. It is a way of seeing people. Of believing, without hesitation, that the person standing in front of you deserves a real chance. Tiana Johnson received that inheritance early. She grew up watching her parents build something from nothing on a patch of Indianapolis land that used to be an old RCA building, long before it became the 112,000-square-foot home RecycleForce now calls its own.

She was eight years old when the mission began. She never really left.

Raised between Jamaica and Indianapolis, Tiana grew up inside two cultures that share the same spine: resilience. Her parents made sure she stayed connected to her roots, returning every summer, keeping the language alive, carrying the understanding that you push through because that is simply what you do. That foundation became the ground beneath everything she would later build. When she joined RecycleForce in 2012, fresh out of college with a marketing degree and a deep sense of responsibility, she was not chasing a title. She was answering something she had felt for years.

The turning point was not dramatic. It was clarifying.

At some point, stepping fully into leadership stopped being a question of whether and became a question of when. She watched how the individuals in the program moved. She watched how they responded to someone who genuinely believed in them. She understood that this work required something that could not be taught: patience, emotional intelligence, and a heart that does not flinch in the presence of someone else's hardest season. She had those things. And the thought of the mission changing, of her parents' life work not continuing, became the force that removed all remaining doubt.

RecycleForce is an employment social

enterprise, built on a deliberate braid of two things most people assume cannot coexist: a real, revenue-generating business and a transformational social mission. The recycling operation, which has processed over 100 million pounds of electronics, funds the workforce program. Participants are enrolled before release, and on the day they come home, they come to work. Paid on day one, $15 an hour, with transportation, benefits enrollment, and job training all handled by the team. No waiting. No gap between release and purpose. Tiana helped design and strengthen that model, growing into the Chief Operating Officer role by learning every part of the operation from the inside out.

The proof of the work lives in the people who stayed.

If you can do something for the people, if you can make a change, it inspires you.

It makes your children's children be inspired.

One young man entered the program and was assigned to the floor. Tiana saw something in him early, sometimes before he saw it in himself. He stayed.

He grew. He is still there today, now a full team member, now a leader in his own right. He is one of more than 114 individuals with lived experience who have been brought on full time. Two program participants now sit on the board. RecycleForce does not ask other employers to hire their people while doing something different internally. That

consistency is not accidental. It is the architecture of the mission.

Balancing the COO role with being a wife and mother of four has required the same discipline she brings to everything else. She will tell you plainly that she could not do it without her village: her husband Glenn, patient and passionate, a former IU football player who mentors the young men and women in the program with the same intensity he once brought to the field. Her mother, who shows up. Her team, who held everything steady when Tiana was on maternity leave with her youngest.

She does not pretend it is seamless. She gives herself grace, communicates constantly, and stays grounded in the mission when everything else pulls at once.

She is aware of what she is stepping into.

Honored is the word she uses. Not burdened. Honored. Her parents sacrificed decades to build what exists today, and she carries that with intention. She has found her own leadership voice inside the organization, earned trust, made hard decisions, and remained committed to surrounding herself with people who are stronger than her in the places where she is still growing. The board has embraced the succession. The next chapter is already underway.

The legacy Tiana is building extends beyond the walls of the facility on the land her parents first rented in 1996. It is visible in the young people her children are becoming. It is alive in the participants who rebuilt their lives and come back just to say so. Service, she has learned, is not something you arrive at. It is something you are raised into.

For those who believe in creating lasting pathways to opportunity, the work being done through Keys2Work and RecycleForce offers a clear example of what intentional leadership can look like in practice.

Learn more at www.recycleforce.org

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THE WORLD Lives Here & THE GLOBE IS SHRINKING

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n the northwest side of Indianapolis, on a stretch of Lafayette Road that most of the city drives past without a second glance, the world has quietly made its home.

Step inside Indy’s Global Village and a six-foot statue of the Taiwanese Third Prince welcomes you to Asia. A mannequin wearing a Vinok, the traditional Ukrainian flower crown, greets you as you enter Europe. A collage from the Central African Republic, made entirely of thousands of real butterfly wings, catches the light from across the room. A hand-carved wooden bust of Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai stands near a Costa Rican painting of a seaside village. A wall-sized Mexican loteria card. South Korean hanbok. An Ethiopian tea kit. Multicolored origami cranes. Thousands of artifacts donated by Indianapolis residents, businesses, cultural organizations, and visitors from across the country and world. Everyone that tours Indy’s Global Village senses a feeling of belonging and home.

Over one hundred languages are spoken in the surrounding neighborhood. Over one hundred ethnic restaurants, forty markets, and nine hundred businesses call the International Marketplace area home. The New York Times has called it a place where the world comes to eat. And at the center of all of it, anchoring the community and holding its story, is Indy’s Global Village Museum.

lished international and local artists from across Indiana and beyond, giving them a platform to display their work to an audience that might never have found them otherwise. Artists who have long worked without a stage find one here. Communities that have never seen their artistic traditions celebrated publicly see them celebrated here.

The Expo is free and open to everyone, because Global Village has always understood that access This is one of Indianapolis's most extraordinary is part of the mission. cultural institutions. And it needs Indianapolis to show up for it the way it has shown up for this city. The annual events calendar reads like a passport.

The Taste the Difference Festival. The InternationIndy’s Global Village Museum is a 46,000 square al Women's Gathering. The World Arts Expo. The foot facility operated by the International Market- African Unity Fest. The Caribbean Experience Conplace Coalition, a nonprofit that has spent nearly cert. The Polish Immersive Exhibit. The Mariachi two decades transforming the International Mar- and Folklore Festival. The Juneteenth Celebration. ketplace neighborhood into a thriving cultural, The Congolese Celebration. Dia del Niño. The Holcommercial, and connected destination. But to iday Bazaar and World of Trees. Monthly internacall it a museum would be to miss the point entire- tional lunch tours that take participants through ly. Global Village is a living, functioning community the restaurants of the neighborhood, culture by infrastructure that serves Indianapolis residents culture, plate by plate. And throughout the year, every single day in ways that go far beyond what panel discussions, community forums, and edumost people realize. cational events that bring together thought leaders, artists, immigrants, city officials, and everyday The building houses permanent multicultural galresidents to talk about what it means to build a leries that function as an unofficial museum of city where everyone belongs.

Indianapolis's global identity. It has classrooms where cultural education happens for children If a country is not yet represented in the exhibits, and adults alike. Programs that teach everything residents are invited to contact the center and arfrom traditional cooking, dances, languages, arts, range to have items from their country displayed. and cultural difference and similarities are part The collection is always growing because the comof the summer programming for children. Sev- munity it reflects is always growing. That is not eral cultural organizations hold and offer dance a museum policy. That is a community promise. classes at the facility weekly. A full event hall that community organizations, businesses, churches, When she says you almost see a tear in their eyes, and cultural groups rent for gatherings, perfor- she is talking about the moment when someone mances, celebrations, and ceremonies. walks into Global Village and sees their country on the wall. Their flag. Their art. Their food. Their Every year Indy’s Global Village Museum hosts language represented in a city they were not sure events like the World Arts Expo, a free multicul- would ever fully accept them. That moment, she tural exhibition featuring more than thirty estab- says, is the whole point.

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In March 2026, Global Village hosted its annual International Women's Gathering, and the room was full. Eighteen restaurants from across the International Marketplace community donated food.

Women gathered for panel discussions, live cultural performances, an art gallery, and an afternoon that felt like traveling the world without leaving the west side. Citizens Bank, State Farm, the Indiana Pacers, and the Circle City chapter of the Links Incorporated showed up as sponsors. Volunteers gave their Saturday. Committee members spent months making sure every detail was right.

Since the doors opened in March of 2021, Indy’s Global Village Museum has had more than 60,000 visitors enter its doors, over 200+ people participating in immersive events monthly, and to date more than 200 schools and seniors have toured the museum.

Mary Clark, the Executive Director of the International Marketplace Coalition, has given nearly two decades to this work. She watched the Lafayette Square neighborhood lose its anchor stores one by one as big box retailers moved to shinier developments elsewhere in the city. Rather than accept the decline, she and others in the community organized to save and rebrand the area as an international destination. The group learned that the area had been designated a Community Revitalization and Enhancement District (CRED) by the State of Indiana. With that designation, the area could earn up to $750,000.00 to help with the revitalization of the area. Over the years those funds enabled the organization to do things like add sidewalks, streetlights, destination monuments, and more. Under her leadership, the coalition helped bring the Eskenazi Health Center, the Ortho Indy Foundation YMCA, and Indianapolis Public Library Eagle Branch to the neighborhood. She did not wait for the city to come to her community. She built the case until it had to.

Victoria Odekomaya, founder of LiMStudios and publisher of Boss Ladies Magazine, was part of that planning committee. She sat in those meetings. She saw the work. She saw what the room looked like when it was full. And she knows firsthand what it takes to sustain something this important.

Global Village needs the community it has served to invest in its future. Without a significant increase in support, that event hall cannot grow. The World Arts Expo, which gives more than thirty artists a free platform every year, cannot expand. The classrooms, the dance studios, the gallery, all of it depends on the community deciding that this work is worth sustaining.

And Indianapolis cannot afford to lose one of the only places in this city where the full diversity of who we are is not just acknowledged but celebrated.

There are several ways to help. Renting the event spaces at Global Village for your next company gathering, board meeting, cultural celebration, or community event directly funds operations. Financial donations to the International Marketplace Coalition go toward programming, staffing, and keeping the facility open and growing.

Sponsoring one of their annual events puts your organization in front of a loyal and growing community. Visiting the space, shopping at Global Gifts, bringing a school group, a corporate team, or a family, all of it matters. And if you know someone who should know this place exists, telling them is an act of preservation.

Indianapolis has become, quietly and remarkably, one of the most culturally rich cities in the Midwest. Global Village is where that richness lives, breathes, and welcomes everyone who walks through the door. That door deserves to stay open.

To learn more, make a donation, rent a space, or explore partnership opportunities with the International Marketplace Coalition, contact Mary Clark at mclark@imcoalition.org, donate at givebutter.com/INDYIMC, or visit globalvillage.imcoalition.org.

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BOSS LADY: Monica L. White PHOTO: Andrea Smith at Studio 57

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here is a particular kind of leader who does not announce herself. She builds first, with precision, and lets the work speak. Monica L. White has been building that way for most of her adult life.

An Indianapolis native, mother, strategist, and founder of COIL Solutions LLC, she has spent more than fourteen years inside the inner workings of organizations, learning where the pressure points live, where policies fail, and where the absence of structure costs people more than they ever realize. She did not set out to become a civic figure. She set out to build things that last. The visibility came as a result of doing the work others avoided or could not sustain.

tional restructure, one employee said, “It feels safer to work here now.” That word stayed with her. Safer means policies are no longer performative. Safer means leadership is consistent. Safer means people are not carrying unnecessary strain home. Infrastructure is impact.

That same discipline extends beyond the workplace. Monica is the founder of The Groundwork Foundation, Inc., a public benefit nonprofit created to address stability, access, and long-term self-sufficiency for individuals navigating systemic gaps. The foundation reflects an expansion of her work, building structured pathways that support individuals and communities with intention and accountability.

In 2026, she extended that same approach into public service. Monica was appointed Precinct Vice Chair in Boone County and later entered the race for Boone County Clerk, a role responsible for overseeing elections, financial processing, and administrative functions in one of Indiana’s fastest-growing counties. She did not enter the race to make history. She entered it to ensure the infrastructure keeps pace with the community it serves. When challenged, They followed her into a career in human capital and com- she remains focused on experience, qualifications, and expliance, through industries where failure is not theoretical, ecution. and through seasons that required her to continue leading while navigating personal loss. She did not lower her standards in those moments. She carried them. That experience did not soften her work. It clarified it. The systems she builds hold because they were shaped under real pressure.

Her foundation was shaped early by two forces that continue to guide her: a father who made integrity nonnegotiable, and a lived understanding that structure is a form of care.

When expectations are clear and standards are consistent, people feel secure. When systems are designed with intention, families are protected. Those lessons stayed with her.

Not fame.

Foundation.

COIL Solutions was not born from convenience. It was born from clarity. After years of stepping into organizations and stabilizing them from within, Monica recognized a pattern she could no longer ignore. Leadership teams were overwhelmed. Compliance was reactive. Policies existed, but they were not protecting the people they were meant to serve. She was already solving those problems. What changed was her recognition that she was not simply supporting systems. She was being relied on to correct, realign, and rebuild them. That shift defined her work.

The discipline behind all of it traces back to what she was taught early. You work. You build with intention. You protect your integrity before you expand your reach. Monica has carried responsibility through seasons that would have caused many to step back. She did not. She became more precise and more steady. That steadiness is now the signature of everything she builds.

Through COIL Solutions, she strengthens internal operations. Through The Groundwork Foundation, she expands access to stability. In public service, she applies that same Today, COIL Solutions partners with founders, nonprofit discipline to civic systems. Each reflects the same standard. leaders, executive teams, and public-facing organizations that understand the cost of instability. Her work spans Her legacy is not loud. It is structural. It lives in the environworkforce diagnostics, compliance strategy, policy devel- ments she has shaped, the systems that continue to hold, opment, leadership alignment, and operational restruc- and the expectations she leaves behind. For those responturing. Organizations that engage her are not looking for sible for building, leading, and sustaining organizations ideas. They are looking for resolution. where people and performance intersect, COIL Solutions offers more than guidance. It delivers structure that stands.

The results are measurable, but the impact is often described more simply. After a full compliance and opera- Learn more at www.coilsolutionshr.com

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Late TAUGHT LearnedAnyway T

here is a particular kind of teacher who does not teach from a podium. She teaches from the place where the lesson was hardest won. Kristle Brooks is that kind of teacher. An Indianapolis native, mother of three grown sons, grandmother of two, and a 21-year veteran of finance, she did not arrive at this work through ambition alone. She arrived through awareness. Through the slow, clarifying recognition that the knowledge she now carries was withheld from her for most of her life. And that she was not the only one living quietly inside that gap.

Kristle grew up in a household where money moved but was never explained. Where income came in and obligations went out and the space between the two was navigated by feel, not by framework. She watched.

She learned to manage. She did not learn to build. That absence followed her into adulthood, into a marketing degree, into 17 years inside the mortgage industry, and eventually into financial services, working every day within systems designed to move money, while still carrying the quiet weight of not fully understanding how to make it work for her own life.

The turning point arrived at 46.

her temporarily paralyzed on her left side. She had to relearn how to walk. How to think. How to eat. She had to accept a new body, a new pace, and a new relationship with what her mind and her limbs could do. She is 50 now and still in recovery, not because the will was absent, but because for too long she did not know the right questions to ask to get the help she needed. That experience lives inside her the way formative ones do, not as a chapter that closed, but as a lens through which everything else is now seen. She understands, in her own body, what it means to navigate something enormous without a guide. That understanding now shapes every conversation she has about money.

She heard the term financial literacy for the first time.

Not in a classroom. Not early in her career. Not from a mentor or a parent. At 46, after decades of living, working, raising sons, and carrying real financial responsibility, she encountered the language that names what she had been navigating without a map. She looked it up. She read the definition. And something shifted that could not be undone. If she had lived that long without access to this language, she understood immediately that everyone around her had, too.

Her sons are learning what she was not taught. That is not incidental to the work. That is the work. The cycle does not break by accident. It breaks because someone decides the information stops being withheld and starts being passed forward with intention.

Kristle made that decision. In community workshops, in coaching sessions, in everyday conversations, she is doing what was never done for her, making the language of financial stability accessible, human, and real.

Her advocacy has been recognized with a financial literacy award, a milestone she holds not for the honor That realization became a company. Kristle Brooks itself, but for what it confirmed. The work is reaching Investments launched in 2022, built not as a tradipeople who were not being reached before. tional financial services firm but as something closer to a bridge. She serves individuals and entrepreneurs She is currently pursuing her securities license, deepin the wealth-building stage, people earning income ening her credentials alongside her reach. As a certiwho were never taught how to structure it, protect it, or fied financial education instructor, independent life grow it. People who had been sold products but never insurance advisor, and certified AI master trainer, she given understanding. Her work begins with education brings both technical depth and lived experience into because that is where the real gap lives. Life insurance, every room she enters. The legacy she is building is not retirement planning, annuities, financial coaching, and complicated. Financial wellness should be essential, community workshops are the tools. Awareness is al- not optional, not gatekept, not reserved for those who ways the foundation. She does not hand people an- already know the language. Every person deserves acswers. She gives them the language to finally ask better cess to understanding what governs their own stability. questions.

One conversation, one workshop, one family at a time.

Because she knows what it costs not to have it.

Kristle Brooks Investments continues to open that door.

At 40, Kristle survived a brain aneurysm and a stroke.

The stroke struck the right side of her brain and left Learn more at www.kristlebrooksinvestments.com

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B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

You don't need money to learn about money.

BOSS LADY: Kristle Brooks PHOTO: Victoria Odekomaya @limstudios

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E P n O A ! s S HHa RES D D A

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n Christmas Day, when the joy of the season was in full bloom across the city of Ibadan, a young woman arrived crying hysterically. She was nineteen years old, a first-year university student who had just lost her mother two weeks earlier. Her father had long since left and moved on to another life. She was the oldest. That meant everything now fell to her. Her two younger siblings, ages twelve and eight, were hidden inside the small room she shared with a roommate on her university campus while she went out each day to wash plates at parties and serve food at events just to earn enough to feed them. Whatever scraps were left at the end of the night, that was what her siblings ate. If there were any. They were not going to school. Some days they did not eat at all. She had nowhere to turn. She had no one she trusted enough to tell. She had come to university to build a future, and now she could not see one.

On the other side of town, at a rehabilitation center, a young boy sat in the midst of other children the world had quietly set aside. He could not speak or hear.

He could not sign either, because signing requires an education his parents could not afford. His father drove a church van and earned the equivalent of fifty dollars a month. His mother, a cleaner in a day care center, was paid next to nothing, leaving the entire family to live in penury. There was no money for school, no path forward, and no one coming. He did not know what he was waiting for. He only knew that somewhere inside him was a desire to learn, and that desire had nowhere to go.

A ghastly accident claimed the lives of a couple, leaving their 8-year-old son without a stable caregiver. He ended up in Tabitha Home, and today he is one of our university students.

These are not isolated stories. In Ibadan, Nigeria, they are everywhere. Children who are brilliant and hungry and invisible. Young people whose futures are being written not by their potential but by the circumstances they were born into. For years, most of them waited for someone to come. Most of the time, nobody did.

Then Febisola Okonkwo came.

Febisola is a professional social worker, a social advocate and humanitarian with over thirty years. She grew up in a home where giving was not a decision but a way of life.

She had spent years volunteering in orphanages and rehabilitation centers across Ibadan before she formalized that work into Help for Mankind Initiative in 2005, and then into Tabitha Home in 2014. What began with seven children has grown into one of the most respected child welfare organizations in Nigeria, recognized with the Top Influential Orphanage Home Award in 2022 and the Meritorious Service Award in 2023. But the recognition that matters most to her walks across graduation stages and comes back to mentor the next child in line.

In Tabitha Home, we have a mixture of needy children who are orphans and vulnerable children with no one to care for them, who have been abandoned, neglected, abused, or found on the streets. Each child is assigned a key worker, a dedicated caregiver responsible for their daily needs, their emotional wellbeing, and their personal development. Five children to one key worker. A system built to ensure that no child falls through the cracks and every child has someone to come to. The home runs with the structure of a boarding school and the warmth of a family. Children attend four major schools in the surrounding area. They develop skills in crafts, music, and dance. They produce and sell handmade goods including bags, shoes, perfume oils, clothing, and crocheted items. They are not just being cared for. They are being equipped.

Beyond the walls of the home, Tabitha Home reaches into the wider community through clean water projects, community kids clubs, school advocacy programs, scholarship support for children whose families cannot keep them in school, capacity building for teenage mothers, and medical support for those who cannot access healthcare on their own. Today the foundation supports over 100 non-residential children in the surrounding community, providing food, mentoring, education, and other basic needs for children who remain with family members but would otherwise fall through the cracks entirely. The community, Febisola has always said, dictates the kind of need she responds to. She does not arrive with a fixed agenda.

She arrives with her eyes open.

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B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

The young woman who arrived on Christmas Day crying had her siblings brought into Tabitha Home. She was helped to stay enrolled at the university. When she graduated, she was connected to a corporate partner who supported the beginning of her career. Her younger brother is now in university himself. And she comes back. She sits with the younger children. She teaches them. She mentors them. She is the living proof of what Tabitha Home produces and what Febisola holds up every time a child feels like their past is the end of their story.

The boy who could not speak or hear earned a double promotion at the school for the deaf. He became school captain, graduated, and is now a teacher at that same school, communicating in a language someone finally gave him access to.

Their stories are not the exception. They are the pattern.

We have 64 in residence and over 100 non-residential children in the community who have been supported by Tabitha Home Foundation for feeding, mentoring, education, and other basic needs.

Tabitha Home has been a beacon of hope for once traumatized, neglected, abused and mistreated children who have now become esteemed, confident, capable and well-equipped ready for integration into the society.

Today we have those who are past alumni in different areas of strength giving back to Tabitha Home and society in different areas.

In the last few months, eight of our students just gained admission into three universities making a total of 22 students in the university.

And those who have gone before are coming back. Tabitha Home alumni are now giving back to the organization and to their communities in different areas of strength, returning to mentor the next generation of children the way someone once showed up for them. The cycle that Febisola started is sustaining itself.

These are a few of the stories of where hope meets opportunity. At Tabitha Home, that hope has an address.

Tabitha Home International, the United States arm of the organization, is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to expand global pathways for the children of Tabitha Home. This includes scholarship pipelines, mentorship connections, and study abroad opportunities in the United States and beyond.

The children of Tabitha Home are not charity cases. They are extraordinary young people who are disciplined, talented, creative, and deeply driven. They have already beaten odds that most people will never face. What they need now is a wider world willing to meet them where they are and open doors they cannot yet reach alone.

In 2021, partners and donors made it possible to complete a full building expansion, giving Tabitha Home the capacity to welcome even more children.

That growth did not happen by accident. It happened because people decided to show up. But there is still more work to be done. Hundreds of children across Ibadan are still waiting for hope to find them.

There are several ways the Boss Ladies Magazine community can help. Financial donations go directly toward residential care, education, and development. Purchasing the handmade goods produced by the children puts economic power directly into the hands of young people building their futures.

Sponsoring a child's education, connecting a graduate to an opportunity in the United States, or simply sharing this story creates ripple effects that cannot be measured but will be felt for generations.

Because Tabitha Home exists, there is a boy in Ibadan who became a teacher.

There is a young woman who came back to give what she was given. There are eight students walking into university this year who were never supposed to have that chance. And there are 64 children sleeping safely tonight, in a home that chose them, dreaming in ways they were never supposed to be allowed to dream.

To learn more, make a donation, purchase handmade goods, or explore how your organization can partner with Tabitha Home International, visit www. tabithahome.org.

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BOSS LADY: Lyndsey Brown PHOTO: Victoria Odekomaya @limstudios

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B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

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yndsey Brown does not use the word alignment lightly. For her, it is not a concept or something she says in a pitch meeting. It is the filter through which she makes every decision, chooses every project, builds every relationship, and determines every yes. It is operational.

It is daily. And it took her a long time, and a great deal of loss, to understand how much it costs when you ignore it.

She is the co-founder of Blue Theory Construction, a specialized window and door installation company in Indiana, holding elite certified contractor status with Andersen Windows & Doors, a distinction fewer than fifteen contractors nationwide can claim. But Blue Theory is not simply a business. It is the clearest expression yet of something Lyndsey has been practicing her entire life: building with intention rather than building for volume, and understanding that not every opportunity deserves a yes.

The education started early. She bought her first house at twenty-one in a small Indiana town, cut through an overgrown bush with a chainsaw just to reach the front door, and spent months bringing it back to life on her own. She has always had this quality of vision, the ability to look at something others have written off and ask what is actually worth keeping. She sold that house and tripled her money. Then she bought another and another, earned her real estate licenses during maternity leaves, purchased an apartment complex on commission checks she had quietly set aside, expanded her holdings to several hundred residential units, franchised a restaurant, and opened a salon spa she personally demolished down to original brick and hardwood buried under years of layers. This is how she has always worked. Not from an inherited plan. From her own eyes, her own judgment, and the willingness to begin.

But for years, that same discernment she applied to everything around her, she was not applying to herself. She was in a misaligned marriage, raising three sons, managing businesses, and carrying the weight of the household largely alone. Clarity arrived quietly as she was watching her youngest son, four years old, playing on the kitchen floor with a Tupperware drawer he had emptied.

In a moment of startling introspection, she finally acknowledged the self-abandonment and external image she had been working to maintain and, in that moment, she recalled thinking to herself, almost audibly, “I only have to do this for fourteen more years.” She knew immediately what it meant. Not exhaustion. A betrayal of herself. She left the marriage and walked away from nearly everything she had built inside of it because the only path forward required a genuinely clean start.

What followed was not something she could have anticipated, but it would become something quietly remarkable.

What she found next was the alignment she had been moving toward her whole life, long before she had a name for it. Andy, her now-husband, had been part of her story before. College, a season too early, and separate paths that eventually led them back to one another.

When they reconnected, she recognized immediately what she had always known to be true: steadiness is the real measure of a person.

It was that same clarity that carried into their work. She saw a gap in the luxury construction space. A level of specialized, white-glove installation service that builders needed but could not reliably source.

The problem was not subtle, and neither was the opportunity. With the right positioning and the right conversations, she knew it could be solved.

Blue Theory Construction was built from that understanding. Not to serve everyone, but to serve the right projects and the right partners, those who value precision, trust expertise, and understand that exceptional work is never the result of a standard approach.

You are not born a winner or loser. You are a chooser. You get to dictate your life But her vision does not stop at the job site. The same instinct that showed her the gap in construction has shown her another gap entirely. One that has nothing to do with windows or doors and everything to do with what driven, accomplished women are quietly starving for.

She has had the quiet and brutally vulnerable conversations. The ones that happen after the professional polish comes down and someone finally says out loud what they have been carrying alone. Women who are extraordinary at what they do and often isolated within it. Women who can work a room with ease and go home feeling unseen. Women who have not had a true friendship, the kind that goes deep and stays, for longer than they can remember. She has sat in enough of those conversations to understand this is not a personal failing. It is a structural gap. She asks, “Where is the intentional space designed for women at this level to build the kind of trust that changes how one leads, how one decides, and how one sustains the life she is building?”

She relocated her professional life to Central Indiana knowing almost no one. As she has grown accustomed to doing, she looked for an opportunity to build something and found it in the acquisition of a local publication. In those early days, she was energized by the possibilities, both creatively and operationally, and began establishing herself within a community that had not yet known her name.

So, she is building one. Not a networking group. Not a mastermind in the traditional sense. Something more intentional. Something rare. An intentional, aligned community built around depth rather than visibility, where women are sought not for their title but for their willingness to show up without an agenda. Where real accountability is possible because real trust exists, where a woman can say, “I am struggling with this…” and be met with wisdom and discretion rather than performance or lofty expectations. She is not building this because it sounds good. She is building it because she has felt the cost of not having it.

Through that experience, she built meaningful relationships and formed connections that have since evolved into lasting friendships.

The platform opened doors and allowed her to experience the community in ways she had never imagined.

She no longer says yes to everything, chases projects that do not fit, or builds relationships that are not rooted in something real. And that discipline, the willingness to hold the line even when the easier path is simply to comply, is what makes everything she builds last.

And then, she felt a familiar shift within herself, one she had learned to trust. With that clarity, she knew it was time to close the chapter.

She transitioned the business with intention, carrying forward the relationships and perspective that would continue to shape what she would build next.

Blue Theory Construction now serves luxury builders across Indiana and is expanding into new markets. The work is growing because the standard has never moved. For builders seeking installation that reflects the true quality of the product, Blue Theory Construction is the standard. Learn more a www.bluetheoryconstruction.com

She

Forfeited Everything

TO FIND

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When Your Worth e Wardrob Doesn't match Your

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his year, my word is awakening. I wear it on a bracelet every single day, not as a trend, but as a reminder to stay open to the ways God wants to awaken my soul and how He might use me to awaken something in others. What I've come to understand, both in my life and through my work, is that awareness changes everything.

As a personal stylist, many people assume my job is about clothes, and while I do help women build wardrobes, my work goes much deeper than that. My true mission is helping women recognize where they are out of alignment and guiding them to close the gap between who they are on the inside and how they show up on the outside. Through my signature process, I help women create wardrobes that allow them to show up confident, polished, and aligned with who they truly are.

Before we even talk about style, I want to ask you something. Have you ever stood in front of your closet before an important meeting, event, or networking opportunity and thought, "I have plenty of clothes, but nothing feels like me"? Not because your clothes aren't beautiful or because you don't know how to dress, but because something just feels off. If you've ever felt that, I want you to hear this clearly: it's not a wardrobe problem, it's an alignment problem.

Style is not clothing. It's identity communication.

Before you ever say your name, shake a hand, or speak a word, your outfit has already introduced you. Research supports this through a concept called enclothed cognition, which explains that what we wear doesn't just reflect how we feel, it actively shapes how we think, behave, and perform. Clothing carries symbolic meaning, influencing our confidence, focus, and presence.

What you wear is not neutral. It is speaking both to you and for you. The real question is, what is it saying?

After working with so many professional women, CEOs, entrepreneurs, leaders, and mothers, I've discovered that most women don't have a wardrobe problem; they have a gap. This gap exists between their true worth, their internal identity, and how they are visually representing themselves. Your true worth is the value you were given when you were created, not the value life tried to convince you that you had. For me, that belief is rooted in being created in the image of God, meaning your value existed before your accomplishments, failures, or anyone's opinion.

Your worth is inherent, but life experiences like rejection, criticism, and disappointment can shift your belief about that worth.

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Your internal identity is who you know you are becoming, a woman who is capable, experienced, influential, wise, and powerful. Yet even powerful women can carry outdated stories such as not wanting to stand out, not wanting to be too much, or fearing judgment. These stories quietly influence how you show up. Your external representation is what the world sees, and this is where the gap becomes visible. Women often grow faster internally than they update externally. Their lives evolve, their influence grows, their confidence expands, but their wardrobe often remains stuck in a past season.

alignment happens, everything shifts. The goal is not to chase trends, but to create alignment between your God-given worth, the identity you believe about yourself, and the way you show up in the world. When those align, you stop questioning yourself, adjusting yourself, and shrinking in rooms you were called to lead.

I call this Main Character Style. It's not about being flashy or attention-seeking; it's about accepting your presence, your influence, and your visibility. Your style is communication. Aligning your wardrobe starts with awareness. First, define what you want to communicate by asking yourself who you are when you walk into a room and choosing a few words that represent that.

Next, understand your body and learn what works for your shape, not to hide it, but to honor it. Finally, consider your lifestyle and ensure your wardrobe supports your real life, not a fantasy version of it.

This creates a disconnect between three versions of a woman: who she used to be, who she is now, and who she is becoming. Most of the time, her wardrobe is still representing who she used to be, a version shaped by insecurity, survival, practicality, or invisibility. Even though she has grown, she may still be visually present as the employee, the early business owner, the overwhelmed mom, or the woman who didn't For me, my style reflects who I am. I am bold, want attention. When this happens, her external expressive, and love color and creativity, but I presence no longer matches her internal power. am also a deep thinker and empath who needs structure. So my style becomes a blend of boldI understand this personally. Years ago, when ness, femininity, and structure, communicating my children were younger and I was homes- who I am before I ever speak. When personal chooling them, I would show up to activities and style, body, and lifestyle align, something powevents looking put together, just being myself. I erful happens. remember hearing comments questioning why I was so dressed up when everyone else was When your wardrobe matches your worth, you casual. Those comments weren't meant to hurt walk differently, speak differently, and lead difme, but they impacted me deeply. They made ferently. Your presence begins to speak before me feel like I was too much, like I didn't belong, your credentials do. Research confirms that and like I needed to tone myself down. Without clothing can enhance confidence, focus, and berealizing it, I began adjusting not just my cloth- havior, reinforcing how you show up in profesing, but my presence. Many of the beliefs we sional environments. When your identity aligns carry are rooted in experiences we haven't fully with your worth and your outward expression processed, and those moments shape how we aligns with your identity, you begin to show up see ourselves, and how we see ourselves shapes with clarity, confidence, and presence. And when a woman truly believes her worth and shows up how we show up. in alignment with it, she doesn't just change her Your wardrobe is not random; it is a reflection wardrobe. She changes how she leads. of your self-perception, your comfort level with visibility, and your beliefs about being seen. Research shows that clothing influences not only how others perceive us, but how we perceive ourselves and behave throughout the day. If you've been playing small internally, you will often dress in a way that reinforces that, not consciously, but consistently.

When your wardrobe doesn't match your worth, it impacts more than how you look. It affects how you show up, speak up, lead, make decisions, and take up space. Misalignment creates hesitation, second-guessing, and shrinking. But when

B OS S LADIES MAGA ZI N E | I N TE RN ATI O N AL W O M EN ’S IS S U E

By Marti Justice, Founder Marti J Styles

Her Body Whispered, She Didn't Hear It:

A WAKE-UP CALL FOR WOMEN'S HEART HEALTH

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he thought it was just another busy day. A little fatigue. Some pressure in her chest that felt more like indigestion than anything serious. A dull ache in her back that she blamed on sleeping wrong. She pushed through because that's what women do.

What she didn’t know was that she was experiencing a heart attack.

Stories like hers are far more common than most people realize. According to the American Heart Association, one woman dies of heart disease every single minute in the United States. Not because women don’t care about their health, but because the signs often look different, quieter, and easier to dismiss.

It’s time for women to understand what their hearts are trying to say.

How Heart Attacks Show Up in Women Women’s symptoms are often subtle and can build slowly. They may include: -Unusual or extreme fatigue -Shortness of breath -Nausea or indigestion -Pain in the back, neck, jaw, or shoulders -Chest pressure, tightness, or burning -Lightheadedness or cold sweats These symptoms don’t always feel “serious,” which is why so many women delay seeking help.

a heart attack.

When you smoke, chemicals in tobacco damage the lining of your blood vessels, leading to reduced elasticity and increased plaque buildup. This narrowing of the arteries restricts blood flow, which can elevate blood pressure and strain the heart. Over time, these effects significantly raise the risk of serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes. Quitting smoking can gradually improve arterial health and dramatically lower your risk for heart disease.

Limit alcohol Moderation supports healthier blood pressure and heart function.

Manage stress Mindfulness, deep breathing, journaling, and community support soothe the nervous system.

Practicing mindfulness encourages present-moment awareness, which helps lower stress hormones and promotes calm. Deep breathing techniques activate the body's relaxation response by slowing heart rate and reducing anxiety. Journaling offers a safe outlet to process emotions and gain perspective, supporting emotional regulation.

Engaging in community support builds resilience, fosters belonging, and provides comfort through shared experiences, making these tools valuable for managing stress and maintaining balance.

Listen to your body

What a Woman Can Do Today

If something feels “off,” don’t ignore it.

Heart disease is largely preventable. Small, consistent habits can make a powerful difference.

Pay attention to warning signs your body may be sending, such as unusual fatigue, chest discomfort, shortness of breath, or palpitations.

Early recognition and timely action can make a significant difference in preventing serious health events. If you notice persistent symptoms or anything out of the ordinary, reach out to your healthcare provider.

Listening to your body and seeking help when needed is a critical part of maintaining overall wellness and protecting your heart’s health.

Get your blood pressure checked regularly Hypertension represents a significant and often asymptomatic risk factor associated with serious health outcomes. Early detection and effective management are essential to reduce complications such as stroke, heart attack, and kidney disease.

Move your body The ACSM 2026 guidelines recommend adults to get 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise five days a week, plus resistance training for all major muscle groups at least twice weekly. Flexibility and neuromotor exercises are advised 2–3 days per week. These practices support overall fitness and health. At Functional Well-being, the FXWB Framework promotes these movement patterns for everyone, from beginners to advanced clients, as regular activity helps maintain stable blood pressure.

Eat a heart-healthy diet Eating minimally processed foods supports better health because these foods retain more nutrients and fiber, contain fewer added sugars and preservatives, and reduce exposure to artificial ingredients.

They help promote balanced energy levels and may decrease the risk of chronic diseases.

These foods help support healthy blood vessels and reduce inflammation.

Avoid smoking Smoking harms your arteries and increases your chances of having

Community Matters Functional Well-being LLC is committed to creating spaces where women can learn, move, and thrive together.

Time to Move Indy is one of the ways we help women reconnect with joyful movement.

For a more comprehensive way of enhancing your well-being, connect with us and join the FXWB 40-day Well Blueprint Challenge on April 26th. Click HERE to learn more.

Because your heart deserves attention.

Your body deserves care.

And your life deserves protection.

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BOSS LADY: Candice Jackson Parrish PHOTO: Victoria Odekomaya @limstudios

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Identity SYSTEMS. OVERFLOW.

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here is a particular kind of clinician who understands that the most important question is not what is wrong with you, but what happened to you, and what has been asked of you for far too long. Candice Jackson Parrish is that clinician. A family and psychiatric nurse practitioner and founder of Empower You Mental Health and Wellness, she built her practice on a premise most healthcare systems are still reluctant to honor: that high-functioning women who appear fine on the outside are often the ones carrying the heaviest weight.

That being overwhelmed and being broken are not the same for severe, treatment-resistant depression and suicidal ideation thing, and that distinction matters deeply in how a person is that can work rapidly, often within hours to days, for some patreated, how they are seen, and how far they are able to heal. tients when other interventions have not been effective. She pursued certification after watching patients arrive at the edge She came to that understanding through years of bedside of themselves, and deciding she needed every tool available nursing and advanced clinical training, but the real education to bring them back. That refusal to accept the limits of a stancame from listening. From watching women walk into appoint- dard scope, that commitment to keep learning and go further ments carrying careers, households, children, diagnoses, and for the women in front of her, is the thread that runs through decades of performing strength, while the system handed them everything she has built and everything she continues to build. a prescription and a fifteen-minute window and called it care.

She saw what was being missed. Not their symptoms, but their The proof of that work is not found in numbers. It lives in a rehumanity. The woman underneath all of it, overwhelmed and curring moment she describes with the same quiet steadiness undertreated, deeply tired of being seen as a problem to man- every time. A woman sits across from her having felt rushed, age rather than a life worth caring for. She could not unsee it. dismissed, and unseen for years. She leaves feeling underAnd eventually, she could no longer stay inside a system that stood. That is not just a clinical outcome. It is a restoration. Candice has made it the measure of her practice and the evidence kept asking her to look past it. of her calling.

The turning point was a decision she had been building toward for years.

She could no longer pour herself into institutions that rewarded burnout while overlooking alignment. She had spent more than a decade in healthcare, including years in advanced practice, watching patients stabilize clinically while something essential in them stayed stuck. Faith had never failed her as a diagnostic lens. Purpose, identity, and rest were not soft additions to clinical care. They were the foundation of healing itself. She left the system and built something that could hold all of it, not just the symptom, but the whole person behind it.

I want women to know they are not broken.

They are overwhelmed, and support changes everything.

She carries all of this while earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice and MBA, while raising her family, while holding faith at the center of everything she does. She applies to herself the same standard she offers her clients: build a life that feels aligned, not just impressive. Protect your identity as intentionally as your Empower You Mental Health and Wellness serves women, progoals. These are not mantras. They are the architecture she fessionals, and leaders who look successful but feel exhausted, lives and leads by, and the foundation she is building for every anxious, or quietly disconnected from themselves. The clinical woman who walks through her door. offerings are comprehensive: psychiatric evaluations, medication management, ADHD and burnout support, therapy, The legacy she is constructing is visible in what she builds and integrative weight loss care, and insurance-accepted services in what she refuses to sacrifice. A practice where women are across multiple payers. But Candice's approach extends further not rushed. A coaching model that meets them in identity bethan most practices are designed to reach. She has built an fore asking anything of their capacity. A standard of care that ecosystem rooted in the belief that identity work is not sepa- holds clinical excellence and deep humanity at the same time, rate from healing. It is the foundation of it. Through workshops, without asking which one has to give. For women ready to stop intensives, and coaching, she guides women through three in- surviving and begin building from a place of clarity and strength, terconnected stages she calls identity, systems, and overflow, Empower You is the space. helping them understand who they are, build structures that support them, and step into what becomes possible when they Clinical services: www.empoweryouhealth.org Workshops and education: www.empoweryou.coach are no longer operating from depletion.

Instagram: @candicelatriceparrish Among the treatments she now offers is Spravato, a nasal spray

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The Most Expensive Decision YOU NEVER KNEW YOU WERE MAKING

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here is a particular kind of invisible that accomplished women know well. It is not the invisibility of someone who has nothing to offer. It is the invisibility of someone who has everything to offer and has decided, consciously or not, that letting the work speak was the more dignified path. That self-promotion was for people who needed it. That staying focused on delivery was the responsible choice. That visibility could wait until things slowed down, until the team was bigger, until the timing was better.

The timing never gets better. Because you are always busy delivering results that nobody outside your immediate circle can see.

For most women in business, invisibility is not a decision. It is a side effect of being completely consumed by the work.

Picture her. She has been running her business for a decade. She is genuinely excellent at what she does.

Her clients love her. Her results are real and measurable and the kind that should be generating referrals on their own. She has won recognition in her industry, the kind of award that should have opened doors. But outside of the clients she already had and the rooms she already occupied, almost nobody knew her name.

Not because her work was not worth knowing. Because she had been so focused on delivering that marketing, visibility, and putting herself in front of the right people had simply never made it to the top of the list.

Meanwhile a competitor with less experience and a louder social media presence was becoming the first name in the market. Not because their work was better.

Because they showed up every day and she did not.

She is not a made up cautionary tale. She is someone you probably know. She might even be you.

This is not a confidence problem. That distinction matters more than most people realize. Confidence and visibility are not the same thing, and confusing them is one of the most expensive mistakes a business owner can make. You can be completely confident in your expertise and still be invisible to the people who need it most. You can have years of results and still have a pipeline that does not reflect your actual capability. You can be extraordinary at what you do and still watch someone with half your experience walk away with a client who should have been yours, not because they were better, but because they showed up consistently and you did not.

in the spaces where those decisions get made. It is the competitor you watch build an audience, gain credibility, and attract clients in your market, not because they are more skilled, not because their work is stronger, but because they are consistently, unapologetically present and you are not.

Visibility is not about being loud. It is not about performing confidence you do not feel or posting content that makes you cringe or turning yourself into a personal brand that feels nothing like you. It is about making sure that when someone who needs exactly what you do goes looking, they find you. It is about making sure that your expertise is not trapped inside your own head and your own client relationships, circulating only through the slow and unreliable mechanism of word of mouth. It is about making sure that the depth of what you know, the quality of what you deliver, and the results you have built are visible to the people who are actively searching for them right now.

Visibility is infrastructure. The same way you cannot run a business without systems, without a team, without a process for delivering your work, you cannot grow a business without the infrastructure that makes you findable, knowable, and trustworthy to people who have never met you. Every day you operate without that infrastructure is a day you are leaving the growth of your business to chance.

Here is what changes when visibility becomes a priority rather than an afterthought. The conversations you have been hoping word of mouth would eventually produce begin to happen with more intention and more frequency. People who have been watching from a distance, who knew your name but not your work, begin to engage. Opportunities that used to pass you by begin to find you because you are now findable. The gap between your reputation in the rooms you personally occupy and your reputation in the rooms you never enter begins to close. And the pipeline that has never quite reflected what you are actually capable of begins to look more like the business you have been building toward.

None of this happens overnight. Visibility is not a switch.

It is a system. And like any system, it takes time to build and time to produce. But the cost of not building it compounds every single month you wait. Every month that passes without it is another month of leads that went somewhere else, referrals that did not happen, and a market that does not yet know what you know about yourself.

The gap between what you know about yourself and You have worked too hard and built something too real what the market can see is not a self-esteem issue. It is to be the best kept secret in your industry. a business problem. And it has a business cost.

Think about what that cost actually looks like. It is the lead that went somewhere else because someone else's name came to mind first. It is the referral that never happened because the person who could have sent it did not know enough about what you do to make the connection. It is the opportunity that passed before you even heard about it because you were not visible

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If you are ready to close the gap between what you know about yourself and what the market can see, LiMStudios exists for exactly this. We partner with established business owners, executives, and leaders to make their expertise visible and turn that visibility into consistent leads, opportunities, and long term growth. Visit www.thelimstudios.com or email hello@thelimstudios.com to start the conversation.

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e h SLEADS When a Mayor builds a room for WOMEN & GIRLS to Grow in, SOMETHING SHIFTS.

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n a cool afternoon in early March, nothing about the outside of 502 East Event Centre hinted at what was happening inside.

But the moment you walked through those doors, the energy hit you before anything else did. The room was full of middle school girls. Not sitting in rows. Not listening to a lecture. Moving. Talking. Building. Discovering. At one station a girl sat inside a VR headset and flew an airplane for the first time in her life, her hands steady on the controls, her face unreadable from the outside but unmistakably changed by what she was seeing. Across the room another girl was on her knees assembling a working drip irrigation system, following the logic of it, figuring it out. Two students leaned into a biomedical demonstration and watched riveted as blood clotting was measured in real time. One girl programmed a collaborative robot using nothing but simple logic and movement, no coding, no prior experience, just curiosity and a willingness to try. Another was dissecting a sea animal. Another was building a water filtration system from sand and gravel and cotton, testing her own design to see if it actually worked.

None of these girls had done any of this before March 5, 2026. Most of them had never imagined that they could.

That is the point of She L.E.A.D.S. And that is what Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam understood when she built it.

Now in its second year, She L.E.A.D.S. stands for Leadership, Empowerment, Advancement, Development, and Service. It is a conference hosted by Mayor Finkam that brings together professional women and middle school girls for a single day built around a conviction most leadership investments miss entirely. You cannot invest in the future of women in leadership without investing in it at both ends of the pipeline. The women in the room today were once the girls who needed someone to show them what was possible. The girls in the room today will become the women who change what leadership looks like. Mayor Finkam built two rooms. Both of them mattered equally.

For the professional women, the earlier part of the day was built around honest conversation rather than surface inspiration.

The keynote, delivered by Michele Dieckmeyer, founder of Fringe and Form in Carmel City Center, addressed confidence, identity, and the power of showing up with intention. Her message reached well beyond fashion. What you wear and how you present yourself has real consequences for how you lead, how you are received, and how much of your true self actually shows up in the room. It was the kind of talk that makes women leave and see themselves differently.

The panel brought Lyndsey and Andy Brown, co-founders of Blue Theory Construction, together with Tobi and Brad Mares, founders of Goodness Gracious Kitchen and Horizon CPA, to talk honestly about what it looks like to build businesses and a life simultaneously, with a partner. The conversation was not polished. It was the kind of exchange that happens when people who have actually lived something agree to tell the truth about it in public. Lyndsey Brown, whose story of building and rebuilding across multiple chapters of her own life appears in this very issue of Boss Ladies Magazine, brought to the panel the same philosophy she brings to everything she builds: alignment is not a destination, it is a daily decision.

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The conference also partnered with Dress for Success Indianapolis for a Purse and Lipstick Drive, collecting donations to support women preparing to re-enter the workforce. The gesture said something quiet and true about She L.E.A.D.S. This event does not exist only for the women already standing in the room. It thinks about the women who are not yet there.

But the youth room is where the day became something unforgettable.

Sixteen organizations set up hands-on stations designed to show middle school girls what careers in science, technology, engineering, public service, medicine, and creative industries actually look and feel like from the inside. This was not a table fair with brochures. Girls took blood pressure readings with the Carmel Fire Department. They talked to Carmel Police officers about public safety and community leadership. They explored how the city's water systems work with Carmel Utilities and built their own filtration systems with Wessler Engineering. They learned how asphalt is made and how roads are built. They explored landscape architecture through design mood boards.

They got their hands on robotics, biomedical technology, marine biology, and farm irrigation. And one by one they sat inside a virtual reality cockpit with Lift Academy and felt, for the first time, what it is like to fly.

Victoria Odekomaya, founder of LiMStudios and publisher of Boss Ladies Magazine, had set up a Mini Content Creation Lab in the middle of it all. Professional gear, both compact and commanding, arranged so the girls could walk up, pick it up, and use it. The idea was simple and intentional: give them the tools, point them at each other, and let them tell their own stories. What came out of that camera was a window into what the day was producing in real time.

One girl arrived dreaming of the WNBA and left open to the fire department too, because she had actually spoken to the people running it. An aspiring pediatrician named the VR flight simulator as the most fascinating thing she had experienced all day. One student looked into the camera and said it was an eye-opener because it showed her careers she did not even know existed. A future lawyer with her sights on the United States Senate called it a wonderful opportunity to explore.

And then there was the seventh grader who stayed with everyone who met her. A city champion in track and cross country. She also plays cello. And piano. She figure skates. She performs in musical theater. She is twelve years old and already fully alive in a way that makes you understand she was not there because she needed permission to dream. She was there because she wanted more room to do it in. When asked what she would tell other girls who might hesitate to come, she did not pause. Trust your gut. Try new things. There is nothing that can stop you.

After moving through the stations, the young women gathered for a workshop led by Christina Ann Lockett, founder of U Glam Girl and Christina Ann Hair Boutique, who uses beauty as a genuine tool for empowerment. Her work with middle school girls is built around confidence, self-presentation, and professional readiness, meeting them where they are and helping them step toward who they are becoming. Mayor Finkam welcomed every one of them personally.

What Mayor Finkam has built is not a women's event on a calendar. It is a structural investment in the leadership pipeline of an entire city. The professional women who sat in that panel discussion and the girls who flew virtual aircraft and built water filters and looked into a camera and said there is nothing that can stop you are part of the same story. She L.E.A.D.S. is the room where that story is being written, one year at a time.

This was only the second year. It is already something. And if Mayor Finkam is building what it looks like she is building, Indianapolis has not seen the full version of this yet.

For more information about the She L.E.A.D.S. conference and future events, visit www.sheleadscarmel.com.

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NAWBO Indianapolis Visionary Awards 2026

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GameOn

WHEN WOMEN PLAY TO WIN

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here are rooms you walk into and you know immediately that something is happening. Not just an event. Not just a gathering. A shift. On January 29, 2026, the Indiana Roof Ballroom filled with that particular kind of energy as women arrived for the 2026 NAWBO Indianapolis Visionary Awards Luncheon. They moved with intention. Exchanging introductions. Sharing what they were building. Stepping into a space that reflected not just where they were, but where they were going.

The theme this year was Game On. And in the context of International Women’s Month, those two words carried weight beyond the theme itself. This was not about competition in the traditional sense. It was about ownership. About women who have decided they are no longer waiting to be chosen. Who are building, leading, and positioning themselves to win in business and in life on their own terms.

From the stage, keynote speaker Olivia West set the tone. Indianapolis knows her as the in-game host for both the Indiana Fever and the Indiana Pacers, and she brings that same arena energy to every room she enters. Her message to the women in that ballroom was direct and grounded. Your strengths are your strategy.

Not the areas where you are working to improve. Not the gaps you are trying to fill. The things you already do well, sharpened until competence becomes a competitive advantage. She called it Compete and Win. And in a room full of women who have spent years being told to fix their weaknesses, the reframe landed with power. Know what you are good at. Build a team around what you are not. Then say Game On to whatever comes next.

That message echoed through every conversation in the room.

NAWBO Indianapolis President-Elect Shawnda Sparks put it plainly. “We can’t do it alone. We have to build a team. We have to have the right players. And so this is where your players are.”

She described the women in that ballroom not as an audience, but as a resource. A room full of people who can help you fill the gaps, sharpen your strengths, and step into the next level of what you are building.

said. “If they don’t know someone, they’re going to link you with someone. They’re not afraid to refer your business out.” In most industries, referrals are guarded. In this room, they were offered freely, because the understanding was mutual. When one woman wins, the room wins.

Jannett Keesling, founder of Keys2Work and this year’s Woman Business Owner of the Year, brought the perspective of someone who has watched this organization grow across decades.

She joined in 1996 after being invited to her first meeting. Nearly thirty years later, she has never left. “If you’re looking for a group of women who understand, because we’re all coming from having a need, this is the place to be,” she said. “You’ll feel like you belong right away.” She paused, then added something simple and true. “Women rock. We carry a lot of weight, a lot of burden.

But we always deliver.”

Akilah Darden, this year’s Indianapolis Choice Award winner, offered a perspective rooted in action. “There’s fortune in the follow up.” Show up. Make the connection. Then do the work of keeping it. The recognition she received reflects not just her success, but her consistency in showing up for both her business and the community around her.

This year's Corporate Partner of the Year award went to Debbie Oatts, whose company's commitment to supporting women-owned businesses reflects exactly the kind of ecosystem NAWBO has spent decades building. Debbie will be featured in an upcoming issue of Boss Ladies Magazine, and her story is one worth watching for.

What stood out most across the afternoon was not any single moment. It was the texture of the room itself. The noticeable absence of competition. In its place was something more powerful. Women connecting across industries and experience levels, offering insight, sharing resources, and creating space for one another to move forward.

NAWBO Indianapolis was established in 1997 and has grown into one of the largest chapters in the country, with over 200 members and corporate partners. The Visionary Awards, now in their third decade, have become a model for chapters nationally. That kind of legacy does not happen by accident. It happens because the women who built it understood that when you create a room where women feel seen, supported, and equipped, those womEvgenia Baikova, this year’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, en go out and build things that change everything around them. captured the feeling of the afternoon in a way that resonated deeply. “It’s a nice feeling. Like I belong to this room. And now I In the context of this issue, it becomes clear that this is part of have the evidence.” There was honesty in that moment. A recog- a larger pattern. Women building. Women connecting. Women nition that even the most accomplished women still benefit from choosing to be seen, not for recognition alone, but for impact that extends far beyond themselves. spaces that reflect their growth back to them.

For many in the room, the experience went beyond inspiration.

It felt personal. It felt timely. “Every year I come, I walk away with just a little nugget of something I didn’t have the year prior,” one attendee shared. That sense of ongoing expansion, of leaving better than you arrived, was present in every conversation.

For first-time attendees, the room did not feel intimidating. It This is what it looks like when women play to win. felt like arrival. Erin Anderson of Anderson Realty and Design To learn more about NAWBO Indianapolis and the community it described walking in with hesitation and leaving with clarity. “I continues to build, visit www.nawboindy.org. really feel like the women here truly want to see you win,” she

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The Work of EADERSHIP

Does Not Start on Stage Junior League of Indianapolis Women's Leadership Summit

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eadership is most visible at the moment it arrives. The title, the stage, the recognition. But the work that makes those moments possible rarely happens there. It happens in smaller rooms, in structured conversations, in environments designed not to celebrate leadership but to build it.

The Junior League of Indianapolis has been doing that work since 1922.

For more than a century, the organization has developed women who go on to lead across industries, organizations, and communities in Indianapolis and beyond. Its impact is measurable not only in leadership outcomes, but in more than seven million dollars contributed to the city and in a mission that continues to evolve, including its current focus on supporting youth in foster and kinship care. JLI has long understood that investing in women's leadership and investing in the community are not separate acts, but the same act carried in different directions.

What is shifting now is not the mission, but the scale of it.

Two years ago, the Women's Leadership Summit opened to the public. In 2025, it sold out. On March 5, 2026, it returned to the Columbia Club in downtown Indianapolis and filled a room with professional women who were not there to be motivated in the abstract, but to be equipped, connected, and seen. The significance of the day was not in the agenda itself, but in the philosophy running underneath it.

Before any panel fully began, the room was asked to pause and breathe, deeply, deliberately, and together. In a room full of women accustomed to holding everything together, the invitation to simply arrive, to feel their bodies, and to exhale carried a quiet weight. It was not dramatic, but it was rare, and it reframed the experience before it even began.

That moment set the tone for everything that followed.

Conversations moved across wellness, community, and career in a way that reflected how women actually experience leadership, not in isolated categories, but in overlapping realities. The community conversation highlighted how leadership is shaped by the rooms women are allowed into and the people who make space for them inside those rooms. The career conversation stayed grounded in what professional women are actively navigating, focusing on clarity, influence, and growth within work that is already in motion.

Holding the room through it all was Olivia West, in-game host for the Indiana Fever and Indiana Pacers and one of the most consistently present voices in Indianapolis women's leadership spaces. Rather than performing for the room, she drew energy from it, creating continuity across conversations and reinforcing the sense that these spaces are part of a larger network of influence.

That consistency matters, because leadership does not develop in isolation. It develops within systems, communities, and environments designed to support it over time.

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The keynote was delivered by Martha Hoover, founder of Patachou Inc. and one of Indianapolis's clearest examples of what it looks like to build a business, a brand, and a civic legacy simultaneously without sacrificing one for the other. She built Patachou with the understanding that the work and the presence behind it are equally intentional. In a room filled with women navigating their own growth, that distinction carried weight.

One of the most instructive moments of the day had nothing to do with a panel or a keynote, but took place during registration, where a professional headshot experience was introduced as part of the event for the first time. Women stepped in front of the camera and walked away with something many have been quietly settling without for years. Not the flat, fluorescent, generic corporate headshot that gets uploaded and forgotten, but a real image that reflected who they are becoming. When women previewed their photos on the spot, what landed on their faces was not vanity. It was recognition. The kind that happens when a woman sees herself clearly and thinks yes, that is who I am now. Visibility, when done with intention, is not about presentation. It is about positioning, and for many women in that room, that moment was the first time those two things had ever felt the same.

That level of intention extended beyond a single activation and reflected an understanding that leadership development is not only about what women learn, but how they are seen while they are growing.

The Women's Leadership Summit exists within a broader ecosystem of work that the Junior League of Indianapolis has been building over time. Alongside longstanding initiatives like Holiday Mart, it reflects an organization creating multiple entry points for women to connect, grow, and lead within the community. Taken together, these are not isolated events. They are the infrastructure of a leadership pipeline that JLI has been laying, quietly and consistently, for over a century.

In the context of this issue, it becomes clear that this is part of a larger pattern of women stepping into spaces that refine them, environments that challenge them, and systems that prepare them for the level of impact they are building toward. Behind every woman leading well is not just ambition, but the spaces, structures, and rooms that shaped her long before the moment she was seen.

The Junior League of Indianapolis has been building those rooms for over a century, and the Women's Leadership Summit is one of the most visible expressions of that work as it continues to expand.

If you are a professional woman in Indianapolis who has been building with intention and looking for a space that takes that work as seriously as you do, this is that room.

The question is whether you will be in it next year.

To learn more about the Junior League of Indianapolis and the Women's Leadership Summit, visit www.jlindy.org.

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Built by OMEN

Not every story makes the cover. But that does not make it any less powerful.

Across every issue of Boss Ladies Magazine, women have stepped forward to be seen. Founders and executives. Community builders and industry leaders.

Women building in real time. Leading in their industries. Creating opportunities and shaping the communities around them in ways that are not always loud, but always lasting.

This section is a reflection of that. A growing archive of women who have trusted us with their stories and allowed their work to be documented, not for recognition alone, but for impact. Some you may recognize. Others you are meeting for the first time. All of them are building something that matters.

Together, they tell a bigger story. What you see in this issue is not an exception.

It is a pattern.

This International Women’s Issue is intentional. Bringing these women back into focus is a reminder that impact does not expire with the issue it was printed in.

It compounds. Every business built creates a ripple. Every community strengthened makes the next one stronger. Every woman who chooses visibility gives another woman permission to do the same.

The women on these pages represent thousands of lives touched, industries shifted, and communities changed. That is not a collection of features. That is a movement in progress.

And if something in you stirs as you look at these faces, if you feel a pull toward belonging here, know this.

There is room for you on this page.

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Lindsay Scott President and CEO, Kids Voice of Indiana

Beth Correll CFP, CFDA, CRPS Ameriprise Financial Advisor

Wendy Noe CEO, Dove Recovery House For Women

Helps individuals and families navigate the financial complexities of divorce and retirement so they can rebuild with confidence.

Fights for Indiana's most vulnerable children through legal advocacy, education, and a team committed to making sure every child has a safe place to thrive.

Provides free addiction treatment, safe housing, and a path to self-sufficiency for women whose lives were shaped by substance use disorder.

Built by

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Angie Nuttle Executive Business Coach for Corporate Entrepreneurial Women, Founder, VIP Center for Business Women and CEO Corporate Talent Issue

Creates spaces and coaching programs where corporate and entrepreneurial women can step fully into their calling and build the business God had in mind for them.

Hazel Walker Franchise Owner , BNI Central Indiana and BNI British Columbia CA

Teaches professionals worldwide that strategic networking and authentic relationships are the most powerful business tools they will ever have.

Bridget Gurtowsky Graphic Designer, Gurtowsky Graphics LLC

Brings small business owners, nonprofits, and publishers to life visually through design that tells the truth about who they are.

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Nakeisha Washington Founder, NylaNova STEMversity, Curator of STEMsation movement and Author of "Who is Nyla Nova The STEMsation"

Inspires the next generation of women in STEM through storytelling, character, and a platform that shows girls exactly who they can become.

Jennifer Lopez CEO & Founder, Intentional Unicorn

Helps people own their uniqueness and leverage it as a competitive advantage so they can thrive in their careers without losing themselves.

Yasmin Carey Entrepreneur, Multifamily Real Estate Investor

Builds generational wealth through real estate and e-commerce while proving that entrepreneurship has no age requirement.

Built by

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Efe Hagley Clinician, Eskenazi Health

Helps teens and young adults navigate anxiety and uncertainty by creating spaces where they feel seen, supported, and empowered to rediscover their strength.

Monica Moehring

Kristina Vigliaturo

Personal Trainer & Founder, Movement with Momo

Founder, Nutrition for Holistic Wellness (NFHW)

Helps women over 40 rebuild their strength and confidence in the gym so they can show up fully everywhere else.

Shows women that the body wants to heal itself, and that food, rest, and the right tools can restore what illness tries to take.

Built by OMEN

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Kristen Murney

Jennifer Murphy

Kanlaya Browning

Interior Decorator and Organized TEN by Kristen

Chief Executive Officer, Murphy Mentoring Group, Inc.

Transforms homes and workspaces into a perfect TEN through intentional design so that people feel proud of and comfortable in the environments where their life happens.

Builds a safety net for children with severe emotional disorders and the families who love them, so no one has to navigate it alone.

Owner & Co-Owner of 13 Thai Restaurants such as Thai Prime, Pad Thai and Thaitanium

Proves that a woman from Thailand with no built-in advantages can build a restaurant empire across Central Indiana through sheer will and love for the work.

Built by

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Darcy Poulos Real Estate Broker, Real Broker , LLC

Karen White Founder and CEO, Karen White Couture LLC

Geneva Taylor

Makes women feel beautiful and seen through the art of couture sewing, one perfectly fitted dress at a time.

Senior Implementation Manager, Cook Medical

Connects exceptional talent to the defense, aerospace, and manufacturing industries through a firm built on relationships, not just résumés.

Built by

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Helps people find and sell the homes where their next chapter will unfold, with the heart of someone who knows firsthand how precious a fresh start is.

Tracey Davis Founder and Owner, A Better Life Home Care

Delivers home care with the kind of personal devotion that comes from a daughter's promise to her mother and a community's need for people who truly show up.

Becca Goldsberry Business Coach, Southwestern Consulting

Coaches sales and leadership professionals to increase their income, trust themselves, and build careers that do not cost them everything else.

Malita Duncan Regional Account Manager, First Onsite Property Restoration

Turns disaster into dignity by guiding homeowners and businesses through their worst moments with expertise, compassion, and a relentless commitment to care.

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Tania Harrington Distributor, TRUSS Professional

Brings clean, effective hair care to Indiana while reaching out to women facing trials with encouragement, hope, and a helping hand.

Sherry Borshoff Enrolled Agent, Bastion Business Tax LLC

Helps small business owners build a financially sound foundation so they can focus on their purpose instead of their tax obligations.

Melinda O'Dell Attorney, Law Office of Melinda Odell

Guides families through divorce with dignity, compassion, and the legal expertise to protect what matters most during life's most difficult transitions.

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Dr. Terry Whitt Bailey Deputy Assistant Director for Illinois

Partners with organizations to increase revenue, strengthen operations, and build sustainable growth models that drive long term community impact.

Frances Hull Owner, Hometown Comics and Games

Builds community gathering places where families find joy, connection, and the kind of fun that does not require a screen.

Ariane Coyle Nurse Practitioner and Owner, Rain IV Therapy

Bridges the gap between health and wellness through IV therapy and a mission to help people feel fully alive in their own bodies.

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Yolanda Carey Multifamily Real Estate Investor, Certified Business Coach and E-commerce, Business Owner

Empowers entrepreneurs and investors to break the cycle of fear, build wealth through real estate, and redefine what success looks like after loss.

Precious Jones Founder & CEO, Power P Bounce & Co

Uses fitness, faith, and radical acts of kindness to build a safe space where Black women in Indianapolis can experience sisterhood, belonging, and joy.

Cathy Luebke Independent Consultant, Scout and Cellar

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Serves her community through clean-crafted wine, global mission work, and a deep belief that generosity multiplied is never diminished.

Evgenia Baikova CEO, Fulfillment Coaching and Consulting.

Coaches female entrepreneurs to unlock their strengths, own their definition of success, and build businesses rooted in who they actually are.

Saowalux "Pooky" Fary Serial Restaurateur, Zapp Thai, among many others

Built and continues to expand a Thai restaurant empire across Indiana, proving that cultural heritage and culinary passion are a powerful business strategy.

Jill O'Boyle CEO, Jill O’Boyle Communications, LLC.

Coaches high-achieving women out of burnout and into a life rooted in identity, purpose, and freedom.

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Gabie Benson Owner, Sprout Fundraising & Consulting.

Melissa Volz-Smith Owner, Centered by Mel, Assistant VP, Citizens State Bank.

Connects women in business through banking and community while bringing intentionality to the spaces where people gather.

Rebecca Woods Simon Community Engagement Manager, Elizabeth Marshall State Farm

Helps Indianapolis homeowners and families protect their property and secure their future through strategic insurance support.

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Helps small and emerging nonprofits tell their stories with power and raise the funds they need to carry out work the community cannot afford to lose.

Carmen (Punkin) Davenport Founder, Social Entrpreneur, Author, Black Dolla Indy

Connects Black consumers to Black-owned businesses in Indianapolis and builds an economic ecosystem that keeps dollars, opportunity, and pride circulating in the community.

Kimberly Thomas-Harris CEO & Founder, God's Wonderful Woman Inc.

Provides financial, physical, and spiritual support to single mothers so that no woman has to navigate her hardest season alone.

Samantha Tishner-Lamb Relationship & Divorce Coach for Women, Heal First Coaching

Guides women through self-love and inner healing so that every relationship in their life can transform.

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Bola Adeniyi Founder, Web Indy

Breaks barriers in cybersecurity and empowers women to enter the tech industry through community, career development, and the belief that it is never too late to start over.

Dr. Tawana Lee-Ware Board Certified Pediatric Dentist - Consultant

Protects children's smiles and prepares the next generation for lifelong oral health.

Michelle Allen-Keesling Director of Professional Development, Jackson Lewis PC

Equips attorneys with clear, actionable systems that simplify complexity and make high performance consistent and repeatable.

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Kathy Miller Keynote Speaker, Author & Senior Operations Executive Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame.

Brings decades of global manufacturing leadership and the science of positive psychology together to help organizations build cultures where every person can contribute and thrive.

Deondra Wardelle President & CEO, On To The Next Consulting, Principal Strategic Planning Expert & Executive Coach, Amulet Consortium.

Helps organizations eradicate systemic racism and build inclusive cultures through continuous improvement strategies.

Ann Payton Keynote Speaker, Adversity & Trauma Author, Radio Host, Trauma Coach, Resilience Coach, Adversity Coach

Helps women heal from trauma and adversity through coaching, storytelling, and lived experience.

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India Brown CEO, PMPhase

Helps organizations manage complex projects and transitions while mentoring women through career pivots, proving that fulfillment and professional success do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Les Marie

Head of Operations, The Les Marie Firm

Brings corporate-level strategy, operations, and structure to small and minority-owned businesses so their owners can scale with confidence and finally build something that lasts.

Morenikeji "Mo" Balogun Owner, MOB Delight Events.

Creates joyful, culturally rich events and fashion experiences that reflect the beauty of her heritage while building a business rooted in purpose, faith, and family.

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Akilah Darden

Founder and President, The Darden Group LLC

Breaks barriers in construction management and creates pathways for diverse professionals to enter and lead in an industry that was not built with them in mind.

Casey Harrison

CEO, Polished Strategic Communications

Turns communication into a strategic asset for womenowned, minority-owned, and underserved businesses so that the right people finally hear the right message at the right time.

Jennifer Chapman Founder, Just Commit Coaching

Coaches women through stroke recovery, career transitions, and self-doubt to help them recognize that the very thing standing in their way is the path forward.

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Tamise Cross

Executive Director, P30 Indy, Inc.

Builds an ecosystem on the far east side of Indianapolis where Black and minority entrepreneurs have the resources, space, and community they need to stop surviving and start thriving.

Amanda Bonilla Founder, Inclusion Consultant Network

Helps organizations build cultures where every person feels they belong, long before belonging became a trend and long after others move on to the next buzzword.

Ronda Taylor, PHD

Executive Director, Atlas House Inc

Guides aspiring entrepreneurs from idea to launch through a holistic program that combines education, coaching, and community so no woman has to figure it out alone.

leshia Webster Harris Author and Executive Director, SHEroes Inc

Mentors teenage girls and tells stories that show young women from underserved communities exactly who they can become when someone believes in them first.

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WOMEN

Dr. Billie Dragoo

President and CEO RepuCare Inc

Builds businesses, NAWBO chapters, and conferences from the ground up, proving that when you help one woman rise, a thousand rise with her.

Julie Ashmore President and CEO, Julie Ashmore Ashmore Consulting LLC

Guides businesses through site selection, tax credits, and incentive strategy so they can make confident decisions about where and how to grow.

Cassandra Faurote

CEO and Founder, Total Reward Solutions

Helps businesses and organizations navigate compensation strategy and total rewards so their people feel valued and their organizations stay competitive.

Tiffany Thompson President, DaMar Staffing Solutions of Indianapolis

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WOMEN

Proves that women can lead at the highest levels through ownership, using that platform to build pathways for the next generation of female executives.

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Dr. Jamyce Curtis Banks

CEO, Whatever It Takes Consulting Inc

Leads organizations toward more intentional, people-first cultures while lifting women through mentorship, board service, and an unwavering belief that true power is always shared.

Tammy Butler Robinson Managing Partner, Engaging Solutions LLC

Builds people-first solutions for government, utility, and healthcare sectors while lifting women entrepreneurs through access, mentorship, and community.

Thresette Briggs

Founder and Chief Performance Officer, Performance 3 LLC

Helps leaders and organizations achieve high performance by aligning strengths, culture, and strategy so every person in the room has the opportunity to thrive.

Carolene Mays Founder & CEO - Building Leaders + Legacies Certified Executive Coach & Professional Speaker - Mays Inspiring Leadership Creator & Host - Community Link on WISH-TV, Indianapolis

Prepares women and minorities for board and leadership positions through her nonprofit, coaching firm, and a lifetime of proving that God qualifies those the resume does not.

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Built by

WOMEN

Shawnda Sparks

Wealth Advisor, Perspective Financial Group

Helps women business owners build financial futures through education, planning, and a retirement program she designed after recognizing the gap.

Kathy Cabello President, Cabello Associates.

Leads with strategy and mentors with intention, from engineering boardrooms to Latino student programs, teaching others that excellence is the only standard worth setting.

Anne Hathaway

President, Hathaway Strategies.

Helps women get into rooms where decisions are made and equips them to lead boldly once they are there through grassroots strategy, national politics, and decades of experience.

Carol Curran CEO, Phoenix Data Corporation

Built by

WOMEN

Overcame 29 bank rejections as a single mother to build a nationally recognized technology firm and now lifts other women in business.

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Michelle Bailey

Founder & Owner, Functional Well-being LLC

Helps women reclaim their vitality through functional movement, nutrition, and spiritual alignment so they can stop fighting their bodies and start building the lives they actually want.

Marti Justice Founder, Marti J Styles

Helps women reconnect with their identity and worth through personal styling, mindset coaching, and faith-rooted transformation that starts on the inside and shows up in every room they enter.

Rebecca Johnson

President & CEO, Golden Heart Indy

Gives seniors the dignity of choice through non-medical home care that keeps families together, preserves independence, and allows daughters to be daughters again.

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Kareema Lawal Owner, Lux By Reema Events

Designs intentional event experiences that reflect each client’s story, honor beauty with purpose, and create spaces where people feel they belong.

Kelli Marshall

Founder, Vine Elements LLC

Coaches education leaders to lead with confidence and data so they can transform their schools, strengthen their systems, and create lasting change for students nationwide.

LaVreen Hall Founder, Just Words

Uses the power of words, counseling, and healing retreats to guide women from trauma and chronic illness toward wholeness, one intentional choice at a time.

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Andrea Dodson

General Manager, Redwood Automotive.

Built and continues to build a multimilliondollar automotive group from six cars and a wedding fund, proving that audacity, transparency, and a customer-first vision can disrupt an entire industry.

Costeena Weathersby-Gray Former Executive Director, Trusted Mentors

Leads efforts to pair volunteer mentors with adults rebuilding after homelessness, incarceration, and foster care, extending the same resilience that carried her through her own journey.

Mia Elizabeth

Founder & Sr. Growth Coach, Sivad Vision LLC

Coaches faith-rooted leaders to stop serving from depletion and start leading from wholeness through trauma-informed practices that treat rest as strategy and healing as the real work.

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THE OWN YOUR BRAND SHOW REAL STORIES. REAL STRATEGY

T

he Own Your Brand Show is where established executives, founders, and service business owners get the practical visibility and marketing insights they need to be known at the level they are already operating at.

Each week Victoria Odekomaya teaches one clear idea drawn from real work with real clients. No theory. No fluff.

Just the actual thinking behind building a brand that attracts clients, creates authority, and builds something that lasts. Every episode is designed to give listeners something they can apply immediately.

Selected guest episodes bring in founders, executives, and leaders who are actively building. At the center of every guest conversation is a live strategy moment where Victoria and the guest work through a real challenge together

on air and the conversation becomes real time insight.

Guest appearances are curated and offered by invitation or application only.

Every guest receives a fully produced video podcast experience and content assets designed to position them as the authority in their industry.

PARTNER WITH THE SHOW

Partners are featured alongside conversations that reach business owners, executives, and decision-makers who value intentional growth and visibility.

Sponsorship placements are integrated thoughtfully and designed to build long-term trust, not quick impressions.

If your organization believes in supporting founders, visibility, and meaningful impact we invite you to explore partnership.

Email hello@thelimstudios.com or scan the code to inquire about guest opportunities or sponsorship.

The Own Your Brand Show offers a limited number of sponsorship opportunities for aligned brands.

Sponsorship is not about interruption.

It is about association.

NEW EPISODE

OWN YOUR BRAND SHOW

with

VICTORIA ODEKOMAYA

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THE BOSS LADIES EXPERIENCE Boss Ladies Magazine was created to do more than feature women. It was created to honor them.

Every woman featured in these pages is invited into an experience designed with intention. Hair and makeup by a professional artist. Wardrobe styling curated to reflect who she truly is. Her favorite music playing from the moment she walks through the door.

A glass of wine. Chocolate-covered strawberries. A team of people whose only job for the next few hours is to make sure she feels seen, celebrated, and completely taken care of.

This is not a photoshoot. It is a declaration.

The work that goes into every feature runs deeper than the images. Before the shoot there is a consultation where we listen. We learn her story, her vision, and the version of herself she wants the world to see. After the shoot there is the writing. A professionally crafted editorial article that captures not just what she has built but why it matters and how she got here. When she holds the finished magazine in her hands for the first time, something shifts. Women cry. Not from sadness. From recognition. From finally seeing themselves the way the people around them have always seen them.

We believe women leading and building meaningful businesses deserve to feel celebrated while they are still in the work. Not after the exit. Not after the milestone. Not when everything is perfectly in place. Now. While they are navigating the hard parts. While they are making the decisions nobody sees. While they are carrying more than anyone around them fully understands.

Because when a woman is seen clearly, everything shifts. Her confidence shifts. Her positioning shifts.

The way opportunities find her shifts. And the story she tells herself about what she is capable of shifts most of all.

This is why Boss Ladies Magazine exists. And this is what every issue is built to do.

Scan to watch the Boss Ladies Experience

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NOMINATE

A BOSS LADY Do you know a woman building something meaningful? A founder, executive, creative, or community leader whose story deserves to be documented.

Nominations are open for future issues of Boss Ladies Magazine.

Boss Ladies Magazine exists because too many women are doing extraordinary work in silence.

The nominations process is how we find them. It is how a woman who has never considered herself magazine-worthy learns that her story has been turning heads all along. Every issue is built around women whose work matters, whose leadership inspires, and whose stories deserve to travel further than their immediate circle.

Featured women are selected based on leadership, impact, and alignment with the standards of the magazine. Some features are reserved for current LiMStudios clients in long-term partnerships.

Others are invited through nomination and editorial review.

Selected nominees may be invited to be featured in the magazine, appear as a guest on The Own Your Brand Show, or explore a deeper visibility partnership.

Nomination is not a guarantee of publication. It is an invitation into consideration.

Nominate her. Or nominate yourself.

Scan the code to submit a nomination.

Boss Ladies Magazine offers aligned brands the opportunity to stand alongside women shaping culture, business, and community across Indiana and beyond.

SPONSOR THE NEXT EDITION

Our platform reaches over one million readers and decision-makers through Boss Ladies Magazine in print and digital distribution, The Own Your Brand Show, and the Boss Ladies Series, our quarterly video interview platform distributed across YouTube, podcast platforms, and social media.

Sponsorship opportunities are available at three levels and include placements across print, podcast, and video. All partnerships are structured around longterm visibility and genuine audience alignment. Annual packages are available.

Sponsorship is intentional. It is selective. It is relationship-driven.

Partners are featured alongside conversations and stories that reach established business owners, executives, and decision-makers who value intentional growth and are actively investing in their brands. This is not a passive audience. They pay attention. They take action. And they trust the voices they hear in these rooms.

If your organization believes in investing in women-led impact and wants to be part of the stories shaping what comes next we invite you to start the conversation.

Email hello@thelimstudios.com to explore partnership opportunities.

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TESTIMONIALS I saw the space online, but in person, it's even more beautiful. A living room set, a dining area, an office, the podcast space, there's a setup for everything. The moment I walked in, I knew this wasn't just a studio. It was a space designed to make you feel like the expert you are. I just showed up and created. - Taylor M.

My brain runs throughout the night, what do I narrow down on? How do I stay relevant? Victoria broke it down in a way that finally made sense. I walked away knowing exactly what's next.

- Marie W. We did so much, but not a lot of people knew. NAWBO Indy kept being the best-kept secret. We needed a way to tell our story, show our impact, and raise money for the foundation to support women business owners.

The Boss Ladies Magazine x NAWBO Indy collaboration helped us do exactly that. - NAWBO INDY

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Everything finally made sense. This wasn't about marketing, it was about positioning and authority.

Victoria helped me launch a podcast that feels like a real conversation, not a performance. The quality elevated my voice. I'm ready to take my position as a thought leader. - Darcy H.

Victoria has a signature process. It's so much more than just in front of the camera, it's what builds up to those moments that make it successful. She really gets to know her clients. This is a win-win all day. - Marti J. I'm not trying to be a jack at everything. I need content, but I'm not a content person. Victoria made it simple. Come in, create, and walk out with everything I need. Now I can focus on what I do best. - LaVreen H.

We are starting to get eyes on us that we did not have before, and our name is becoming more recognizable. We have had a handful of people reach out, and I am getting interaction from the clients we want. Victoria’s ideas are great, and I am pleased with the work she is doing.

- Lyndsey B. Working with LiMStudios changed how I saw my business. The strategy sessions helped me articulate my value with confidence. I stopped explaining myself and started attracting the right opportunities.

- Karen M

I want to stay in my wheelhouse. I don't want to know how to do marketing. I just want it done.

Victoria made it a good, productive session. I got a lot of good headshots and content, if you look at my websites, I've been using them all over the place. - Sherry B. Being featured gave my brand credibility I couldn’t manufacture. People referenced the article before I even introduced myself. - Amy T.

I had an amazing experience with Victoria. I am not a big fan of having my pictures taken, and honestly was not super excited. The minute I walked into Victoria’s studio I felt invited, comfortable and at home. She was extremely professional, kind and just lovely.

The pictures she took, without being edited, are spectacular. I cannot wait to go back!

- Wendy N

Victoria is a talented photographer that strives to make her clients feel beautiful and empowered. It was a wonderful experience that I would recommend to anyone. She is worth every penny!

- Tiffany M.

LiMStudios gives you the utmost experience.

Victoria is a fantastic photographer and has the warmest personality. She will make you feel like your best self. Highly recommend the Celebrity Experience Photoshoot. I felt completely pampered with professional hair and makeup, yummy treats and lovely directions for poses.

- Daniele M.

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STEP INSIDE

LIMSTUDIOS CREATIVE HUB Every story in this magazine was captured here.

Not just the moment content is created, but the thinking, refining, and positioning that happens before and after.

SCHEDULE A PRIVATE TOUR | EXPLORE CREATOR SESSIONS REIMAGINE PODCAST AND BRAND STORYTELLING