Sarah Benken started KNOW Women as a resource book to showcase dynamic women in the community. She parlayed that into an organization that hosts events in 15 North American cities. (Photos
KNOW
More
courtesy of KNOW Women)
National summit for women comes to Civana By Annika Tomlin
W
omen enjoy collaborating with other hardworking women. At the KNOW Women Summit, presented by PNC Bank, women can connect, engage and learn from powerful businesswomen from across the country. The two-and-a-half day summit created by KNOW Women runs Thursday, October 21, to Saturday, October 23, at Civana Spa and Resort. “KNOW Women started in 2017 right here in Phoenix, Arizona, as a concept for a resource guide that showcases women to know and do business with,” says Sarah Benken, founder and CEO of KNOW Women. “It was a vetted guide called the KNOW Book where we selected and vetted and approved women from all different industries, all different ages, all different races to be part of this resource guide to showcase the amazing dynamic women who are doing big things in their industry as well as in the community.” Published in February 2018, the first KNOW Book profiled 130 women. By June of that year, there were 176 nominations for the next book. “I really just did this for my community because I wanted to meet and show the community all of these dynamic women that were in our cities, in our backyards doing big things,” the serial entrepreneur says. Following the launch party of the first KNOW Book, Benken realized she needed to go beyond a book and create a community. “I knew I wanted to be aligned with high-achieving women,” Benken says. “Women who were busy and juggling work and home, and really I wanted a place to let my hair down and be seen, so I created it.” KNOW Women is working on its fifth Phoenix volume, and the organization has expanded to 15 other cities across North America.
Vanessa Shaw, founder and chief executive officer of Business Growth Academy, will serve as a keynote speaker for the 2021 KNOW Women Summit.
“By the end of 2018, we launched four additional publications: Raleigh, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina, where I’m from; Tampa, Florida; and Calgary, Canada,” Benken says. “We have local markets that host these KNOW Books, and we really launched in conjunction with that, along with memberships for women who want to align with our mission of women supporting women. We’ve also just expanded to becoming a full-service media company where we’ve got a podcast and we publish 16 articles a month on our KNOW Women’s site, which are the voices and stories of our members.” OCTOBER 2021 / SCOTTSDALE AIRPARK NEWS /
25
