Rising Star Leadership Program

The YWCA Rising Star Equity Leadership Program empowers and equips high-performing women to become equity leaders. This unique development experience strengthens leadership skills and prepares participants for non-profit board service while connecting them to a powerful network of accomplished women leaders.

Sessions are facilitated by local and national experts and cover a wide variety of topics from building executive skills to balancing career, board, and home life. In the spirit of the YWCA’s pioneering history of leading racial justice initiatives, the program presents very direct and specific training on eliminating discrimination and promoting racial and gender equity.

The program consists of 5 ½ full day sessions taking place annually January-May. Graduates receive a “Board and Equity Leader” certification and join a diverse network with access to exclusive networking and educational opportunities.

Rising Star Criteria:

  • High-achieving professional woman with proven leadership qualities and recognized potential to attain achievement in their career

  • Between 25-40 years old at the time of the program’s start

  • Demonstrates community involvement and/or commitment to social equity

How to Nominate/Apply

The deadline to Nominate/Apply for 2024 is now past. Please check back in summer 2024 for 2025’s program!

YWCA Board Registry

Graduates of the Rising Star Leadership Program are certified by the YWCA as ready-to-serve local boards and are added to the YWCA’s Board Registry. Area organizations are able to share their board openings on our registry by contacting Kristi Rohrkasse at (513) 361-2168 or krohrkasse@ywcacin.org.

Legacy

Since 2002, the YWCA has been recognizing outstanding young professional female leaders as Rising Stars in our community. The Rising Star Equity Leadership Program was started in 2007 to further empower our future and present female leaders with generous support from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the Barbara Lindsey Memorial Fund.

For more information or questions regarding the Rising Star Equity Leadership Program, email Kristi Rohrkasse at krohrkasse@ywcacin.org.

We are grateful to the Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee; and Katy Hollister & Deloitte for funding support of the YWCA Rising Star Equity Leadership Program. We are also indebted to Kathy Beechem for her inspirational and dedicated leadership.