Jan Carpenter, Laura Reed, and Sue Webb traveled to Nashville, Tenn., for the 2023 WBENC National Conference on March 20-23, 2023, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. Each year, the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) gathers its diverse network of corporations and women business leaders at a large-scale national conference to fuel opportunities for women entrepreneurs. This is the second year the Cork Tree team has attended the conference.
At the conference, Laura Reed was recognized with the 2023 "Women's Veteran's Business Enterprise We Love" award from the National Veteran Owned Business Association at their annual Women's Veteran's Business Enterprise of the Year Awards Dinner on Tuesday, March 21.
In addition to hundreds of corporations looking to do business with the thousands of women-led business owners in attendance, the 2023 National Conference featured:
- Productive meet and greets
- Dynamic educational programming
- Inspiring speakers
- The Collegiate Accelerator Pitch Competition
- Women-owned demo stations
- Meet ups
- Celebrations and fun, including karaoke (of course!)
- Countless networking opportunities
The WBENC provides the gold standard certification for women-owned businesses, and the professional development, tools, and resources to help them succeed. Cork Tree Creative has been certified by WBENC since 2016 and is also certified as a Veteran Business Enterprise (VBE).
