Honorees

Growing up, Dr. Joy Allen was voluntold to be a doctor. In college, she realized “I’d never really thought about what I wanted. And I really wanted to do missions, to go around the world and help people out.”

She still became a doctor — just of a different sort — obtaining a PhD from New Covenant International Bible College before founding Garner’s Breath of Life International Church with her husband, Chris. They pastored there for 15 years before closing the church to devote more time to their children. All the while, Dr. Allen worked a day job as a clinical research executive, cleaning data gathered in clinical trials.

When she hit 40, a “bucket list” tasker of learning to shoot a handgun inspired a new way to help people. Along with Chris, she founded E3 Personal Defense, which offers free or low-cost defensive education, and InHER Piece ladies’ shooting clubs, which aim to break down barriers to personal protection education for women of all backgrounds.

“My goal and my why is to build confidence and make sure people know that they are worth it,” Dr. Allen says.

After an early career break, when 24-year-old Elaine Buxton was living in Germany as a trailing military spouse and landed the “fabulous job” of retail operations manager for Wedgwood China Company — where she cultivated her retail interest — Buxton returned to the US and helped her mother launch her new business.

Today that business, Confero, is the premier provider of customer experience research services to leading national brands, and is recognized as a full-service customer experience research firm with a national reputation that was built on mystery shopping services.

Despite the business’s success and Buxton’s rise to thought leader in her industry, she explains: “I’m not interested in being the biggest. I’m interested in being the best, which also means being a good place to work.”

And thanks to numerous nonprofit board positions, Buxton has seen “the good, bad, and ugly” of leadership. Currently serving as the interim chair for the powerful Women Presidents Organization, serving the top 1% of women entrepreneurs nationally and globally, Buxton continues to learn about leadership and life.

In 2023, Katie Gailes was flirting with retirement. While on a Zoom meeting — and despite wearing red glasses and lipstick and being, as she describes herself, “my usual feisty self” — she labeled herself an “official little ol’ lady.”

People quickly decided that she’d misidentified herself and needed to find a more accurate description. As soon as “The Entrepreneur Whisperer” left her lips, the collective response was: “That’s it!”

Gailes has since realized: “I am The Entrepreneur Whisperer. I can see opportunities and solutions that my clients cannot see. I can listen to what they say and then tell them what they mean. I can take complex business concepts and make them make sense to new entrepreneurs. And I can develop workshops and programs that address the real challenges entrepreneurs face.”

When she realized that traditional retirement, or semiretirement, wasn’t going to work for her, Gailes needed to name her business — which focuses on entrepreneurship coaching and training, entrepreneurial mindset development, and strategic planning. “Cute names are great,” she says. “But I decided that my name was just fine, thank you very much.”

As president and CEO of Rewriting the Code, a global peer-to-peer network of women in tech, Sue Harnett is on a mission to increase their power and presence, and maybe even change the world.

“Young women today,” Harnett says, “know what they want and need in their lives and their careers, and if we listen more intently to them, we can empower their dreams and aspirations.”

While observing the ever-expanding presence of technology in our daily lives, she notes that women’s roles in tech aren’t growing at the same rate.

Rewriting the Code helps bridge that gap. In just seven years, it has grown into a worldwide women’s movement with 28,000 undergraduate, graduate, and early career members across 110 countries on six continents. The organization serves women 18 to 30 years old by recruiting business partners willing to offer internships and mentors along with hosting workshops and networking events.

Membership is free — with 160 new members added a week — funded by corporate sponsorships and nonprofits, with support coming from philanthropic organizations interested in career equity for women.

Harnett asserts: “We are rewriting the code for today’s young women in tech and for those that are coming behind us.”

Promoting entrepreneurship for veterans came about for Annette Hibbert Stevenson because although there are numerous nonprofits trying to help the veteran community, “It’s overwhelming to a veteran to get out and learn another language.”

After 10 years of active-duty Army service, Steveson herself had to learn to speak that language — and today serves as an interpreter of sorts for veterans finding a new mission and new purpose.

“Veterans aren’t risk averse. We take the initiative and are willing to do all kinds of things,” she says. “That’s entrepreneurship.”

Believing that if we’re not intentional in promoting diversity — to include veterans — we lose valuable skills, and after decades of advocating for veterans’ advancement with her involvement in the North Carolina Governor’s Working Group, North Carolina Department of Military & Veterans Affairs, and National Veteran Business Development Council, Stevenson acknowledges that although it may be easy to find a big firm to do business with, “We can all do better.”

Small and diverse businesses are the heartbeat of America. If there isn’t access to opportunities or funding, that heartbeat will halt.