Key Takeaways From the 2024 Cultivate Summit

Speakers and experts share insight with women founders on how to “Lead With Intention.”
By: Brianna Rhodes

On Friday, June 21, 2024, 172 women founders in the DMV region gathered at the Convene meeting and event space in Washington, D.C., to participate in a transformative one-day experience to invest in their personal and professional development at the 2024 Cultivate Summit.

The exclusive event brought together women entrepreneurs from various industries, ranging from childcare to beauty, to cultivate a space to access resources, knowledge, and community to help strengthen and evolve their businesses.

This year’s theme, “Leading with Intention,” set a precedent for some of the most notable speakers and organizations making waves in the local and national business space to empower and advise entrepreneurs on how to invest in their leadership growth.

Read ahead to learn more about key takeaways from our speakers on what it means to “lead with intention.”

The quotes from our speakers have been condensed and edited for clarity.

Shannon Herbert, CEO, Wacif

Leading with intention is acting with deliberate purpose and mindfulness: “It’s about articulating clear goals and values, but also understanding how my actions impact others. It’s [also] about creating psychological safety and spaces for folks around me to speak up and [challenge issues].”

Be vocal about the resources you need to succeed: “I [not only listen] to the folks around me, but also to the community…That’s how we create programs to make sure that we’re showing up in the right way every time…I don’t have all the answers, but my commitment is to sit down, listen, and learn so that we can make sure that we get it right the next time…And, if you’re not able to, to show you some grace.”

Rosemary Suggs-Evans, Acting Director, Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD)

You must “lead with intention” and “live with intention”: “As I thought of the word intention, I realized I needed to reflect less on the definition of intention and more on what it means to live with intention. We move through life with intention without giving a thought as to why. Whether it’s work, life, or running a business, we unknowingly approach intent purposefully. Leading with intention is about having a clear vision, making deliberate choices, and taking purposeful actions.”

Leading with intention means embracing innovation and adaptability:  “We at DSLBD are committed to providing you with the means and knowledge to stand ahead in a rapidly changing market. We recognize that your business success is closely tied to your own growth development, and that’s why we are intentional about offering programs that support your historic, holistic development as a leader.”

Leading with intention is about fostering community. “It’s about building networks of collaboration where entrepreneurs support and uplift one another. Each decision you make, challenge you overcome, and milestone you achieve adds to our business community’s collective strength and resilience. So let us [DSLBD] continue to let our intentions help us lead with purpose, and together, we will build a brighter and more inclusive future for all.”

Diedra Henry-Spires, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, The Small Business Administration

Recognize your power: “You are so incredibly powerful [as business owners]. Sometimes, unfortunately, we know our power by the size of the attack. [They] came after the 8(a) program, and the Fearless Fund. Black women, in particular, were getting less than 1%  of venture capital. [They started coming after these resources] when Black women got 1.5%. That’s a lot of fear…so when you have that kind of power, as a woman, you’ve got to know nothing can really stop you. It didn’t stop your grandmothers before you. It certainly didn’t stop your mom right before you, and it won’t stop you, nor shall it stop your daughters that come behind you.” 

​Terrand Smith, Founder and CEO, 37 Oaks

Inflection points or “forks in the road” shape your experience: “As you’re going through these inflection points, they actually start to mold you into who you are as an entrepreneur and what you feel like you can do and what you can achieve. It’s kind of like a new avatar. I know many of us may have avatars for our business, target market, or profile. So, as an entrepreneur, you are morphing into a new avatar. This is a totally new person, and this really does impact what you do for leadership.”

Inflection points play a crucial role in developing your leadership skills. “A lot of the insights you get from decisions, consequences, and ups and downs [from inflection points] establish you as not only an entrepreneur, but it also helps create these boundaries or principles or philosophies in terms of how you will lead your team…You really want to take these opportunities to define who you are because you are the structure of your business.”

Leadership is all about leading other people. “You cannot be a leader if you don’t have followers. People will not follow you if you’re not confident, if you’re not clear, and if you don’t know which direction you’re going [with your business]. You are leading them to a goal, and they have to be able to trust that you can do that…I want you to be intentional in looking at what this means to you as an entrepreneur before you start bringing people into the [structure of your business].” 

Charis Jones, CEO & Chief Designer, Sassy Jones

Be true to yourself: “I hope to inspire my next generation and the women that come after me to be their most unapologetic, audacious selves. [I want them] to go after whatever their dream is, regardless of the odds stacked against them. Regardless of who is telling them no—even if they’re telling themselves no—I just want to be a representation that it can be done on your terms. You don’t have to go and slay for money from investors. You don’t have to burn out. You can do this joyfully. And, so that ‘dare to do it different audacity’ is an example of what I hope to leave behind.”
Stick to the fight on your own terms: “Prioritize your own knowing. What I mean by that is we hear a lot of chatter from family, social media, sisters, sororities, or places. There’s chatter everywhere, and then subliminally, it’s conditioned for us to seek it. [We ask] ‘What do you think? What do you think about this?’ And at a certain point, you just have to get super still to hear what you are saying to you, be bold enough to follow what you are saying to you, and honor what you were saying to you.”