Networking opportunity offered for women

WEST ALEXANDRIA, OHIO — Business women in Preble County soon will have a new opportunity to network.

Hot Topics Koffee Talks begin Aug. 1 and will continue on the first Friday of each month. The meetings take place from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Reflections@PMG, 3377 U.S. 35 E. in West Alexandria.

Women in Business Networking of Dayton, a program of the Dayton/Miami Valley Better Business Bureau, organizes the talks as a way to help women in business learn together and support one another. The West Alexandria restaurant, banquet and event center is the ninth location for the talks.

“This is such a great opportunity for women of Preble County to build relationships,” WiBN founder and director Jeanne Porter wrote in an email to the Palladium-Item. “That is what networking is all about.”

In January, Porter visited the restaurant’s grand opening as a representative of the BBB and was impressed by the facility.

“I think this would be a perfect place for a Koffee Talk,” she told Stefanie Price, human resources administrator for Reflections@PMG.

Price, who lives in New Paris, liked the idea and set about making it a reality.

“Preble County just does not have that much stuff … for women,” she said.

The meetings are for women in all types of businesses and in all types of roles. Women from outside Preble County are welcome to attend.

“It’s just another way to network, another way to make connections,” Price said. “That’s what today’s society is all about, really.”

The Preble County Chamber of Commerce is helping Price with marketing and finding future speakers.

“I think it’s an exciting opportunity for our local … women here to get involved with,” said Matt Owen, executive director of the Preble County Chamber of Commerce.

Price would like to see 20 to 25 women at the meetings.

“I hope they come from all over,” she said.