Women urged to boldly use voices

Looking out over the crowd of several hundred filling the Glass City Center exhibition hall, local entrepreneur Tracee Perryman posed a question to the audience of mostly women.

“What kind of messages have you received about your tone?”

Answers echoed back.

Too nice. Too assertive. Not enough confidence. Aggressive. Intimidating.

The audience had gathered for Toledo’s eighth Women’s Leadership Summit, centered on the theme: “Own Your Voice: Be Heard. Be Bold. Be You.”

The five-hour event provides women with opportunities to network and discuss challenges they face in the workplace. The event also raises money for local children’s charities.

Thursday featured two speakers: Ms. Perryman, CEO and co-founder of the Center of Hope Family Services, and Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code.

In her keynote address, Ms. Saujani discussed the relentless, and often self-inflicted, pressure women feel to be perfect.

“From the youngest possible ages we’re wrapping up our daughters in bubble wrap,” said Ms. Saujani.

She argued that by socializing young girls to be cautious, parents unwittingly push girls to take fewer risks, stick to what they are immediately good at, and “make themselves small.”

Ms. Saujani urged the audience to abandon the pursuit of perfection and instead embrace the possibilities opened by failure. Pointing to her own historic but failed campaign to become the first Indian-American woman in Congress, she advocated for an “antidote to perfectionism” — bravery.

In the gift bag each attendee received was a copy of Ms. Saujani’s 2019 book, Brave, Not Perfect.

Ms. Perryman’s speech focused on similar themes of self-advocacy, but it opened on a more musical note.

To a swelling backing track, Ms. Perryman entered the stage in a white pantsuit, singing “Listen” by Beyonce.

“We said ‘Be bold,’” Ms. Perryman said with a smile after she finished singing. “We said ‘Be heard.’”

She discussed her experience co-founding and leading the Center of Hope Family Services, which supports urban and suburban families, mainly through after-school and educational programming.

Meg Ressner, the chairman of Thursday’s event, was inspired to start the summit while working on a committee to bring the 2021 Solheim Cup to Toledo. The Solheim Cup is a women’s golf competition between Europe and the United States.

“During the planning, we talked about how to have women be front and center,” said Ms. Ressner. “And the idea of the Women’s Summit came up at that time.”

The leadership summit now partners with the Dana Open, the Toledo women’s golf tournament which will take place July 15 through 21.

Ms. Ressner estimates that the first summit drew some 200 attendees. Thursday’s event saw some 600 women participating. According to Ms. Ressner, over the past eight conferences, the Women’s Leadership Summit has been able to raise around $1 million for local charities.

Kurstyn Loeffler, who attended the event with the Greater Toledo Community Foundation, observed an increased turnout Thursday, compared to the year before. She appreciated the opportunity to connect with women who may face similar obstacles in the workplace.

“The connection with other women across Toledo who live in circumstances or live in a similar area — there’s huge value just in that alone,” Ms. Loeffler said. “And then, it’s a huge benefit to all of us to have more confidence and to understand what we bring to the table as individuals and as women.”

Before the afternoon’s two featured speakers took the stage, Toledo female authors were the center of attention.

At a long line of tables on the second floor hallway, local authors displayed books, including sci-fi, memoir, self-help, romance, thriller, and mystery.

Kellie Hill is the author of A Werewolf’s Touch, a modern fantasy medical drama set in a Toledo hospital and featuring Toledo locations like Black Kite Coffee. Ms. Hill has displayed her sci-fi novels at the past few leadership summits.

“There are a lot of spaces that are very male dominated, so it’s nice to meet other women authors, but also ones that are local here in Toledo,” Ms. Hill said. “New York is always considered the book and publishing place — but it’s nice to see so many people here that are local writing as well.”

Contact Maggie Grether at mgrether@theblade.com.