What started as a coffee date with two friends turned into a new networking group for business-minded women in Zionsville.
Kathy Wood, a local Century 21 real estate agent and Debbi Kuller, an Old National Bank assistant branch manager in Carmel, formed the Zionsville Women in Network five months ago as a way for women in the area to build personal and professional connections.
What makes ZWIN different from traditional networking groups is its exclusivity. The group only allows one woman per career field in the group, so at a given time there is only one real estate agent, one attorney and one banker allowed as members, among many other professions.
ZWIN has 10 members, and its first callout meeting will be held on May 16 at Patrick’s on Main Street from noon to 1 p.m. Interested women will be able to hear more about the organization’s mission and application process.
“This will be a time for women from Zionsville to evaluate ZWIN and see if it is a good fit for them both personally and professionally,” said ZWIN President Debbi Kuller.
Kuller said the group meets every second Thursday of the month from noon to 1 p.m., and the location will be at a different local business each time. Meetings typically last an hour and feature a keynote speaker, a problem of the day, networking time and have a community service focus. Every meeting will have a different business-related theme, such as social media and business and how to mentor young women interested in business careers.
“We created the group so that we could make new friendships, business relationships and benefit from each other while helping the Zionsville community,” Kuller said.