Clarksville, TN – On March 16th, 2024 Clarksville women will have a chance to experience the Power & Purpose Conference at Wilma Rudolph Event Center, featuring award-winning keynote speakers, mind-shifting personal development, power networking with amazing women, and more.
Keynote speakers Lori Locust and Megan Alexander will be joined by Clarksville’s own First Lady Cynthia Pitts, April Consulo, and Liz Ruiz, and to round out the day, Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter Liz Rose will perform an evening concert.
April Consulo and her team are organizing the event. Consulo is one of the founders of W.O.M.E.N., Word of Mouth Entrepreneurial Networkers, a Nashville-based networking group for female business owners and leaders.
“One day I knew I wanted to start a women’s group,” Consulo said. “A dear friend of mine in Nashville, Sue Apple, and I felt something was missing in Nashville for women owners of small businesses. The point of our group is that the most powerful form of advertising is word of mouth.”
The premise is that if you do a great job, women talk to each other about it. “Girl, where did you get your nails done, your hair done? Where did you get that jacket.” Consulo said. “We inherently do that, so why not do that for our businesses.”
It started about 11 years ago in a house on the lake in Nashville. “There were about twenty women,” Consulo said. “We started spreading the word, all word of mouth. It has grown to thousands of women. We are one of the largest organizations of it kind in the Southeast that doesn’t charge any fees.
“I don’t believe you charge somebody a fee to build a dream. That has a lot to do with my mom and her background. Her passion was to repair and fix things. I could never see her spending money to go to a networking event, which she should have, but she was always more worried more about us kids.”
There is never a cost to be a member of W.O.M.E.N., and never a cost to participate at the meetings. It started as a monthly meeting, always held at women-owned businesses.
“It grew so well, a few years ago we did one of these at a woman-owned jewelry store in Nashville, and it was packed, Consulo said. “Women were buying jewelry and telling all their friends. Everywhere we went, our goal was to give more to that business.. We also did fun stuff, like in January, we all have new goals. Once, we did a New Year’s event in a new gym. We had a contest to see who could do the longest plank.
“Our motto is, we educate, we elevate, and we celebrate women. When women have success, and I’ve studied this, they have guilt attached. A man accepts an award freely, while a woman is thinking, my mom sacrificed to watch my kids, and the kids didn’t get what they needed. There is all this guilt.”
Consulo says there are lots of women’s events where you just hobnob and network. “I wanted to create an event for women that also provides an education factor. No. 1 – educate. Come to this 90-minute meeting and learn something. It’s not just about drinking wine and hanging out. The second part is to elevate – We lift each other up. They need to believe that what they’re doing makes sense.
“We are a place where women can come once a month and evolve their business. We’ve had doctors, bakers, etc, and it’s amazing to watch their growth.
“The last part is to celebrate. We started five years ago with Power & Purpose. We thought, we’re doing great, our businesses are growing, everybody’s growing. What can we do to take this to the next level. We had women coming in from Chattanooga and Memphis and beg to add chapters in their communities.”
The group focused on structure, again its about assuaging women’s guilt. “If you’re at an event, and it goes on and on, the guilt starts creeping in,” Consulo said. “When we say it ends at 8:00pm, it ends at 8:00pm, and there is no guilt. You have learned, you get what you need, and you walk away feeling good about it.”
W.O.M.E.N. can be found at Meetup, just look for women’s networking groups. Consulo says her approach to Clarksville women’s networking has been a little different.
“When we started here, we realized we can reach the women faster with a Power & Purpose Conference,” Consulo said. “So, in March we will be hosting the first personal development conference of its kind, right here in Clarksville.
“I want women to think of this on the level of a Dallas, Atlanta, LA, or New York event. Our keynote speakers are 5-figure an hour speakers. They are at the level for which you might pay $599 just to get in the room with them, plus travel expenses, it could cost thousands.”
For the March Power & Purpose Conference, tickets start at just $99, with VIP Tickets going for $149. The VIP Ticket includes the full schedule of events during the day, and the Grammy concert with Liz Rose that evening.
“It’s a complete tax write-off, and you’re working on your business and yourself,” Consilo said. This year, we have Lori Locust, a full-time coach with the Tennessee Titans and a Super Bowl champion coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She is our first keynote speaker. She’s bringing a message about thriving in that world. She’ll share her daily rituals and how she overcame all the dream-stealers she was surrounded by.
“She is highly sought after, and she jumped at the chance to be here because women want to be a part of what we do.
“Megan Alexander has over 6 million daily followers on Inside Edition. She is a powerful producer, speaker, and now author. She wrote Faith in the Spotlight. The point of the book is, that I have to have faith every day when I leave my husband and children. I have to know God put me in that purpose. Otherwise, I have guilt. She is a force to be reckoned with.”
The event will be hosted at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center. There will be lunch catered by Lisa Morrison. All the money goes to Consulo’s 501c3.
“More money for the charity means more events,” Consulo said. “So, we’re going to present a concert that night. I wanted to bring in one of Nashville’s top songwriters to talk about where these songs that we all know come from. I reached out to my music business contacts, and Liz Rose signed on within a day. She has written seventeen of Taylor Swift’s biggest songs.”.
With the concert that night, Consulo is hoping to create the ‘vibe’ of City Winery or The Bluebird. It will be intimate and candle-lit, with a cash bar and appetizers.
“Liz performs in smaller venues like the Bluebird,” Consulo said. “Her agreeing to be here for us is staggering. What we’re paying her goes back to the NSAI, the Nashville Songwriters Association, an organization that protects songwriters.
“She’ll bring some special guests from her own publishing company, which she opened ten years ago.. She has overcome so many obstacles, and her music has already garnered more than 20 million record sales. She is a multiple Grammy award-winning writer and multi-time winner of Songwriter of the Year.”
The daytime activities are for women only, but men are invited to attend the concert. There is a limit of 250 tickets for the show. The conference will be a one-day event with a limit of 350 tickets. 100 of those are VIP tickets, which allow entrance to day and evening portions of the event. Those ticket holders will also receive preferred seating, lunch, and a special gift for just $149.
“I’m the final speaker at the conference. I’ll be talking about three of the songs I wrote; Strong Willed Woman, I Believe in Me, and Tempted. These are my stories, they helped me get through, and that’s what personal development is.
“Women, this is a rare opportunity to see this kind of talent coming to Clarksville. We hope this will become an annual event. Women love to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. We love to watch something bloom. There is so much talent in this town. It’s time for Nashville people to come here and see what we have to offer.
For more information and tickets go to http://WOMENPowerAndPurpose2024.eventbrite.com.
