There is something quite revolutionary about a room full of women who have decided, collectively, that they will no longer shrink. On the morning of Wednesday, March 11th, 2026, that room was the StarTUp at the Armory — an innovation hub nestled within the historic grounds of Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. The occasion was the annual ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore Women in Business Speaker Series. This wasn’t just another networking event — this was a gathering of women who had climbed, fought, and refused to be turned away — and who had returned, this time, to extend a hand to those still ascending.
Introductions, pleasantries, and business cards changed hands with intention — understanding that access is currency. Each attendee represented a different chapter of the same larger story: what it means to lead, to persist, and to build something meaningful in a world not always designed with them in mind.
To understand why an evening like this carries such weight, one must first understand the institution behind it. The ATHENAPowerLink Baltimore program was founded with a singular, powerful purpose: to equip women entrepreneurs and professionals with the mentorship, strategic advising, and access to resources necessary to grow and sustain their businesses. It is not a passive organization. It does not simply celebrate women — it invests in them.
The Maryland-based initiative draws its inspiration from ATHENA International, a globally recognized organization dedicated to leadership development and the honoring of women who have made extraordinary contributions to their industries and communities. Since its inception, ATHENA International has operated on the belief that when women lead, communities thrive — a philosophy that the Maryland chapter has woven into the very fabric of its programming. Headquartered at Towson University and proudly sponsored by PNC Bank — the program’s founding sponsor — ATHENAPowerLink Baltimore has grown into one of the region’s most respected platforms for women-led business development.
Over the years, the Speaker Series has evolved into one of the program’s most anticipated annual touchstones, drawing diverse audiences eager to absorb wisdom from women who have navigated the labyrinthine corridors of industries that have not always welcomed them. It is a platform for knowledge-sharing, yes — but it is also something more intimate than that. It is a space for honesty, for vulnerability, and for the kind of frank conversation about professional barriers that rarely finds a home in traditional boardrooms.
The Conversation With Women at the Front of the Room
This year’s panel was a masterclass in resilience and range. The moderator, Tracy DeCock — Executive Vice President and Corporate Banking Market Leader for Greater Maryland and Greater Washington at PNC Bank — brought not only expertise but the kind of hard-earned authority that commands a room. Before the formal discussion even began, DeCock set the tone with a simple but disarming invitation to the audience: “I just like you to take a second. You have an intention to be here. I just like you to remind yourself what your intention is.” And then, with characteristic directness: “If you’re here to network, network. If you’re here to meet these amazing women, make sure you do not leave without meeting them.” It was the kind of grounding that transforms a room of strangers into a community of purpose.
Seated beside her were women whose very careers serve as evidence of what is possible when determination meets opportunity. Britt (Tegeler) Arnold, representing Tegeler Construction & Supply, brought the perspective of a woman forging her path in the construction industry — one of the most persistently male-dominated fields in the American economy. Her presence alone was a statement. Judy Neff of Checkerspot Brewing Company offered a similarly compelling narrative: a woman reshaping a craft long considered the domain of men, pint by painstaking pint.
Rounding out the panel was Dr. Deborah Hemingway of Ecphora Capital, whose insights on investment, team-building, and long-term professional strategy would prove to be among the evening’s most resonant contributions. Together, these four women represented industries as varied as they were demanding — construction, brewing, financial services, and banking — and their stories, layered and unfiltered, painted a portrait of modern professional womanhood in all its complexity.
The panel discussion unfolded with the organic rhythm of women who have long since stopped performing confidence and simply inhabit it. Each speaker offered candid reflections on what it meant to climb within industries where they were rarely reflected in leadership — the subtle resistances, the moments of self-doubt eclipsed by resolve, and the hard-won wisdom that only comes from years of navigating spaces not built for you.
Judy Neff spoke with the quiet authority of someone who had wrestled with the instinct to do it all alone — reflecting on the need to be able to let other people in, both personally and professionally — people are very wildly competent and really want to help.” It was an admission that resonated visibly across the room, where heads nodded in the slow, knowing rhythm of recognition.
Britt Arnold’s words were equally unguarded. Reflecting on the many moments she stood at the edge of giving up, she offered the room something far more valuable than a polished success story: “If you believe in what you’re doing, you’ve got to stick it out — because there were so many times where I just thought, I’m never going to be able to do this. But I do believe in myself. And I believed in the mission, and I saw the opportunity. And while it was a risk, it did pay off.” The honesty in that statement— is the kind of testimony that changes how a young professional sees her own struggles.
Dr. Deborah Hemingway of Ecphora Capital, speaking with the measured authority of someone who has sat across the table from both skeptics and champions, offered advice that cut through the noise with crystalline clarity: “Evaluate your team — do what makes the most sense for a person in a position, and also retain those relationships in the long term. You never know when they will come back on your team at a later time.” It was the kind of counsel that sounds deceptively simple until you realize how many careers have faltered for want of it. Relationships, Hemingway reminded the room, are not transactions — they are investments with timelines that extend far beyond any single role or moment.
When an audience member marveled at how she managed to do it all, Hemingway answered with characteristic candor: “People come up to me and say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re superwoman — how do you do it?’ I lean on others.” She continued: “It’s okay to have support. It’s okay to ask for help, and it’s okay to outsource and lean on other people — because the next generation needs female leaders in these historically male-dominated fields. They need them to set examples. They need them to lead and to change the culture. And we do that when we win — and we win when we rally together and have teams supporting us.”
What the Room Was Saying
What strikes any attentive observer at an event like this is not just what is spoken from the podium — it is the young entrepreneur scribbling notes with barely contained urgency. It is the mid-career professional nodding slowly, recognizing her own story in someone else’s words. It is the quiet but unmistakable solidarity that forms when women are given a room of their own and told, without caveat, that their experiences are worthy of the main stage.
A robust Q&A session followed, drawing questions from an audience that had arrived hungry and left, by all appearances, deeply nourished. Men and women alike stepped forward — seeking clarification, asking for guidance, and, in doing so, demonstrating precisely why events like these matter: because the hunger for mentorship does not discriminate by gender, and the wisdom in that room was generous enough to meet it.
As the event drew to a close, Tracy DeCock offered her thanks to the panelists and audience with a warmth that felt entirely earned — underscoring, as she did, the irreplaceable value of networking and the power of sustained professional connection. But it was Dr. Deborah Hemingway who captured the spirit of the night most eloquently:
“Events like this are incredible. I love to see events that bring together community members — and this specifically brought together women leaders to encourage each other, to inspire each other, and to help the next generation of women leaders grow and succeed.”
The applause that followed was the kind that carries weight.
A Movement, Not a Moment
March is Women’s History Month — a designation that, at its best, functions not as a ceiling but as a launching pad. The ATHENAPowerLink Baltimore Women in Business Speaker Series understands this distinction intuitively. It does not content itself with celebration; it demands action. It creates the conditions under which women can see themselves more fully, connect more deeply, and build more boldly.
In a state like Maryland — with its rich history of civic leadership, its proximity to national power, and its growing ecosystem of women-led enterprises — events like this are not ancillary. They are essential. They are part of the infrastructure of equity, the scaffolding upon which the next generation of Maryland’s business leaders will be built.
The StarTUp at the Armory may have emptied that Wednesday morning, but the conversations it sparked did not end at the door. They traveled home with every woman — and every man — who left carrying a new connection, a new perspective, or simply the renewed conviction that the space at the top is wide enough, and that they belong in it.
