Leading Ladies

I wish I could sing, because these ladies deserve their own theme song.  Last Thursday at Charlotte's beautiful Palmer Building, we honored the 2009 Link Leading Ladies.  I'd already met them during our on-air interviews.  I had the opportunity of learning from them, getting inspired by them and feeling hopeful because of them.  The banquet gave them an opportunity to meet each other.  It was a room filled with women who simply make you want to try harder, work smarter, dream bigger, serve better...

This year Cambria Estate Winery and the YMCA of Great Charlotte made it possible to honor these worthy women.  Thanks to them we were able to give a $5,000 check to Leigh Brown, our Link Leading Lady of the Year.  Leigh is a wife, mother of two and a broker and owner of a Re/Max office.  While working tirelessly to run her business she still finds time to volunteer at her church.  Through tears of joy, she promised to use the money to provide housing in Haiti.  Leigh knows a thing or two about helping people who need a home.  She sits on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Cabarrus County. Leigh uses a portion of the commission for every home she sells to go towards building a home for a family in need. Last year, she donated $60,000 to build a home with Habitat for Humanity.

As if that wasn't enough...we received this message from Suzi Alora, one of the other Leading Ladies...

"Just wanted to say THANK YOU for such a lovely evening last Thursday honoring the Link Leading Ladies. I was so moved and inspired by the positive energy in that room.

Great news, Birthday Blessings and Suzi Skinny Cakes are joining forces to give a birthday party for the ladies at Florence Crittenton this Thursday!" 

Laughter, tears, connecting, encouraging.... the 2009 Leading Ladies dinner will be hard to top.  But that won't stop us from doing it all over again in 2010.  There are too many girls and young women who need a role model for us to stop here.  There are too many uplifting people to talk about who we'll never see on the news.  So, we're teaming up with the YMCA and RE/MAX to honor more women.  Nominate the leading lady in your life.