Empowered Women: Business Leadership with Community Heart

Across the globe, women in business are doing more than building profits, they’re creating safety nets, incubating innovation, mentoring youth, protecting rights, and lifting up those most in need.

“When women lead, we lead with heart, with systems-thinking, and with a fierce belief in the collective good. Our businesses don’t just survive in communities—we serve them.” -Julia Boorstin

In Athens, Georgia, I serve on the Athens-Clarke County Human Relations Commission, a board dedicated to promoting fairness, equity, and inclusion across our city. We fall under the Mayor and Commission and we strive to educate, engage, and advocate on behalf of our community and bridge the gap between citizens and government. We focus on housing access, healthcare equity, community safety, education, and protecting the civil rights of all our citizens. But before I ever sat on a commission or walked into a city hall meeting, I was a woman running a business, just like so many members of WomenBelong around the world.

And what I’ve come to believe deeply is this: women entrepreneurs are the best community organizers we have.

Whether you’re leading a tech startup, a wellness practice, a consulting firm, or a family-owned café, you are uniquely positioned to spot what your community needs, because you are already serving them every day.

Here in Athens, I’ve seen this play out firsthand:

• Women-led organizations like the YWCO, which has provided affordable housing, job training, and childcare for over a century, continue to create a safety net for local women and families.

• The Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement, co-founded by educator and entrepreneur Mokah Jasmine Johnson, offers youth leadership programs, civil rights education, and advocacy that directly aligns with our Human Relations Commission’s mission.

• Local women business owners in wellness, education, and consulting are creating trauma-informed spaces, advocating for mental health equity, and giving their time to community advisory boards and nonprofit coalitions.

As women, we are uniquely equipped to see where systems fall short, and to build something stronger. We run businesses and serve on school boards. We balance spreadsheets and organize food drives. We speak out and listen deeply.

The Community is Your Business: How Women Entrepreneurs Can Step Into Civic Leadership

If reading this makes something inside you light up, trust that spark. The world doesn’t just need more businesses. It needs more business leaders who see their communities as part of their mission. You don’t have to be elected or well-connected to make a difference. You already have what it takes. I didn’t know anything about running for office or being involved in local government before applying for my commission, but I’m SO happy I did. Here are a few ways you can begin stepping into your role as a civic leader, right now, right where you are.

1. Start Showing Up

Find your local school board meetings, city council sessions, or advisory board openings. These are the rooms where decisions are made—decisions that affect the very people you serve. Even just being present matters.

In Athens, I joined the Human Relations Commission after seeing gaps in how policies affected women, working-class families, and small business owners. I didn’t have a political science background, I had lived experience, and that was enough. -Fellow HRC member

2. Use Your Platform for Good

Think of your business as a megaphone. Use it to uplift causes you care about: partner with nonprofits, feature local initiatives in your newsletter, or host a donation drive in your store. Visibility is power.

3. Lead with Purpose

You already know how to build something from scratch. Channel that same energy into solving local challenges. Offer your services to grassroots groups, serve on nonprofit boards, or mentor the next generation of women leaders.

4. Create a Civic Culture in Your Workplace

Empower your team to get involved. Give staff paid time to volunteer. Share local ballot deadlines. Encourage conversations about equity and access. A business with civic values becomes a community institution.

5. Connect with Other Women Doing the Work

You don’t have to go it alone. WomenBelong circles—across cities, industries, and even continents—are full of women ready to partner, support, and inspire. Find each other. Build something together.

You Belong in These Rooms!!

Whether you’re running a business in Athens or Accra, Seattle or São Paulo, your leadership matters. When women entrepreneurs step into civic life, our communities get stronger, kinder, more inclusive, and more visionary. It may seem daunting, but you’re already doing the unthinkable. So, consider this your invitation. Your skills are needed. Your ideas are welcome. Your leadership is overdue. As always, I am here to help. You can reach me at morgan.lyle@accgov.com. I’m happy to talk through it and support my fellow leaders.

Content provided by Women Belong member Morgan Lyle