More Than the Title on the Badge

For me, gathering usually happens close to home. There may be Mahjong tiles, something warm coming out of the oven, flowers in a vase, or friends settling in for an evening together.

Last week, gathering looked a little different.

I traveled to Eagan, Minnesota, for the 2026 Women Grocers of America Symposium, where women from across the grocery industry came together for two days of leadership development, meaningful conversation, and connection.

I went hoping to learn, meet other women in the industry, and bring a few new ideas home.

I also went as a speaker.

Taking My Place on the Panel

I was invited to participate in a panel discussion about cybersecurity—an important topic in every industry, but one that becomes especially tangible in grocery.

As a senior IT project manager, my work often places me at the intersection of technology and the business. Over the years, I have worked on projects involving product costing, e-commerce, ordering, analytics, vendors, store operations, and business leadership.

That experience has taught me that a cyber incident doesn’t remain an IT problem for long. It can quickly affect everyday operations, employees, customers, and the trust an organization has worked hard to build.

My message was simple: cybersecurity awareness has to meet employees where they actually work. The most important habits are often the simplest—pause, verify, and speak up quickly when something doesn’t feel right.

Leaders also have a responsibility to create a culture where employees feel safe reporting mistakes rather than hiding them.

Cybersecurity is ultimately a shared business responsibility, and that was the perspective I was honored to bring to the conversation.

Beyond the Conference Room

The symposium gave me a chance to step outside my ordinary routine, listen to women with different experiences, and think more intentionally about my own work and where it may lead next.

There is something energizing about being in a room filled with women who understand the pace, responsibility, and constant change of the grocery industry. We came from different companies, roles, and stages of our careers, but there was a shared willingness to learn from one another.

A conference badge can tell you a woman’s name, company, and title, but it cannot tell you everything she has carried to reach that room.

Every woman there had her own collection of experiences, responsibilities, talents, disappointments, ambitions, and quiet reinventions. Some were stepping into leadership. Some were already leading and learning how to do it differently. Others may have been wondering what their own next chapter could look like.

No two women—and no two chapters—are exactly alike. There is always more than meets the eye.

Some professional growth happens through formal training and carefully planned sessions.

Some happens in the quieter moments—during a conversation over lunch, an introduction between sessions, or the moment someone shares an experience that makes you look at your own work differently.

Those moments of connection stayed with me.

When Experience Becomes the Next Chapter

Seeing the word SPEAKER on my conference badge felt significant.

I spend most of my workdays focused on whatever needs to happen next: the upcoming meeting, the unresolved question, the project decision, or the person who needs information.

I don’t always stop to consider how much experience has accumulated along the way.

Being invited to speak required me to pause and recognize that experience has value—not only inside my own organization, but as part of a larger conversation.

That realization feels especially meaningful in this season of life.

We sometimes imagine a next chapter as a dramatic reinvention: leaving one life behind and starting something completely different.

But a next chapter can also be an expansion.

It can mean taking everything you have learned through years of work, challenges, relationships, and change—and allowing yourself to use it in a new way.

It can mean accepting the invitation.

Walking into a new room.

Taking your place at the table.

And trusting that the years you spent quietly learning, solving problems, and doing the work have given you something worth contributing.

I went to Eagan expecting to attend a symposium and participate in a panel.

I came home reminded that growth does not stop at a certain age, title, or stage of life. New rooms continue to open. New people continue to enter our stories. And sometimes an opportunity shows us that we are more prepared than we realized.

Perhaps that is part of what a next chapter really is—not becoming an entirely different person, but allowing more of the woman you already are to be seen.

It was a different kind of gathering—but very much part of my next chapter.